Page 72 of Luna: Posy 2

"Being gay cost me everything once before," he mumbled. "My family, my friends, my birth pack. I don't want to go through that again. If I lost Five Fangs and all of you, I—"

He stopped talking and drew in a deep breath.

"Why would you? I support you, your alphas support you, and I'm sure your brother betas do, too." With a tiny smile, I squeezed his hand. "No one here is going to turn their back on you for being who you are."

"But what if he rejects me? What if the Moon Goddess made a mistake and he isn't gay or she gave me a girl? What if—"

"What if he doesn't?" I cut him off. "What if she didn't? What if this ends up being the best day of your life? What if you find a kind of happiness you never thought possible?"

Getting to my knees on the seat, I dropped his hand and grabbed his bulging shoulders and shook him. Well,triedto shake him. He was a big, solid guy.

"You're going to love him and he's going to love you and what anyone else thinks of that isn't going to matter. Now go find your mate, Emerson Jones!"

#

Wyatt

All of us gathered in front of the Tall Pines alpha house as vehicles began to come up the drive.

The first to park was Tristan's Jeep, and he and Tyler bailed out quickly. Tristan because he wanted to get to Ariel faster and Tyler probably because Tristan's old-man driving had made him antsy. Tristan ran over to Ariel and picked her up and kissed her senseless. Tyler, on the other hand, stayed at the Jeep and looked around curiously, and I figured he was waiting for the other betas.

Waiting for his luna, Granite corrected.

Matthew's truck was the next one to arrive, and he and Crew jumped out and stretched, then joined Tyler. They stood chatting for a moment, then turned to watch as Jay's SUV came up the drive with Emerson at the wheel.

"Mmm!" Sara took a deep breath in through her nose. "My mate smells like rain!"

Maria bounced up and down and clasped her hands under her chin, reminding me of Posy when she got excited, and my heart squeezed. I'd missed her so much the past couple of days.

Only a few more minutes, Granite yipped as he danced around in my head.

"Mine smells like lavender!" Maria squealed.

"What about mine?" Angelo asked.

"We don't know," Sara retorted. "We can only smell our own."

"But we cansensethat your mate is with them," Maria said kindly.

His hands reached for the pistol butts at his waist. When they didn't find them, they clenched into fists and dropped to his sides.

"You can't smell your mate?" I asked him.

Icould smell our girl, but she hadn't gotten out of the SUV yet, and my brothers and I were trying to wait patiently. Talking with the del Vecchio flock helped to distract me.

"He doesn't have a bird spirit, sono, he won't be able to smell his mate. Don't make him feel bad for it!" Sara snapped at me.

"We're not even sure if he'll feel the mate bond or the sparks," Maria said much more gently than her sassy pants cousin.

"Bro! That sucks!" I clapped a hand on Angelo's shoulder and squeezed in sympathy. "How will you know who's your mate then?"

"Not sure." He reached for his guns again, and his empty hands fell to his sides. "Not sure how any of this is going to work. Maybe they're wrong about it all, and maybe they're right. I've learned to roll with it. You can't fight fate, anyway. That bitch always wins in the end."

"Amen." I grinned and dropped my hand.

"Alpha Wyatt, which one is mine, please?" Maria reached over and tugged on my sleeve, her hazel eyes smiling up at me.

"Um, I don't know? I'm not the Moon Goddess." I scowled at her.

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