Page 71 of Luna: Posy 2

He worry she going to reject him?Lark tilted her head, as confused as I was.Any girl lucky to have Em as mate. Cove a good wolf and Em a good man.

I shook my head, not understanding what was wrong, but determination filled me. He was going to meet his mate, even if it was kicking and screaming.

Scowling, I opened my mouth, but my mates started linking me.

Where are you, princess?

Cutie! We need your hugs and kisses!

We missed you, sweetness.

Honey, we're dying to see you.

Little flower? Is everything okay?

Um, guys?I interrupted them.Emerson is having a ... problem. He says he smells his mate, but won't get out of the car.

They were silent for a long moment.

Posy, Emerson is gay,Cole said at last.For his own reasons, he kept it a secret from most people, but if he's found his mate, the truth is going to come out now whether he wants it to or not.

Okay. And?I asked, worried for my friend and not understanding the issue.

Sweetness, do you even know what being gay means?

No, not really.

He likes boys,Mason said in his blunt way.

Do you mean like as in the way you five like each other? Or—

No, honey,Cole cut me off. Like as in the way we feel about you and you feel about us. He's attracted to males, not females.

So, he's scared because he doesn't want anyone to know about the gay?

Ash giggled for some reason, but Mason and Jayden agreed that was probably the case.

What should I do? I want to help him.

Convince him to get out of the car, sweetness,Jayden said,and the mate bond should do the rest. We'll explain 'the gay' to you later.

Who might his mate be?I asked.Would that information help me convince him?

Uh, cupcake, we're pretty sure it's Angelo del Vecchio, unless the witches are all screwed up, which they might be because I don't know if Angelo is even gay. If theydidmix things up, the only other guy it could be is—

Is who?I coaxed when Ash fell silent.

Leo Halder, he whispered.No one else is here. The rest of the pack is at the motel, in our prison, or dead.

Oh, no. The Moon Goddess wouldn't be that cruel, would she? To give a teddy bear like Emerson a mate like that monster?

To be fair, the boys had explained to me that Leo Halder was possessed by a demon. No one, however, knew how he'd gotten possessed or how much he'd participated in willingly.

Okay, definitely don't use any of that to convince him, I told myself, then linked my mates once more.Give me a few minutes of quiet, please, then I'll be out. I promise.

I closed the link on their whining, wiggled between the two front seats and over the console, and sat next to Emerson. Taking one of his giant paws in both of my hands, I tugged on it until he looked at me.

"My mates explained that you like boys. I don't understand the gay completely, but why are you upset for people to find out? You're still the same Emerson. You're still my beta and friend."

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