Page 30 of The Beta's Heart

Did she think someone was going to hit her? Did she think my brothers would everallowsomeone to hit her?

“Lark.”

Oh, dear. Notthatwolf,I thought and glanced at Jay to see Quartz’s golden eyes staring back at me.Well, shit.

“Come. Here. Now,” he ordered his little mate, who couldn’t argue with his alpha command, but poor little Posy’s body called it quits and crumpled in a slow fall.

Thank the Goddess, Quartz caught her before her head hit the floor, and I breathed a sigh of relief. A brutal bastard Jay’s wolf might be, but he’d rip his own fangs out before he ever hurt his mate. Holding her would keep him in check, and that would keep the rest of us alive.

While I was still processing everything that had happened, Mase gently took my elbow and guided me towards the exit.

“Come on, Per,” he said softly, his tone steady and reassuring.

We stepped outside into the warm afternoon, and Mase led me to the waiting SUV. The scents of blooming flowers and the distant laughter of shoppers filled the air, a stark contrast to the tension we’d just escaped. I looked over my shoulder, relieved to see Quartz following us, still holding Lark-in-Posy’s-body protectively.

Mason unlocked the doors, and Quartz crawled into the backseat, cradling Posy with care. The sight of her frail form nestled against his broad chest tugged at my heart. Mase opened the front passenger door for me, gesturing for me to get in.

“Everything was going so great, Mase,” I sniffed, my voice breaking as tears welled up in my eyes. “I thought we were becoming friends. Do you think she hates me now?”

“Of course not,” he scowled, his usually cold gray eyes softening a little at the sight of my tears. “She doesn’t know how to hate anyone.”

“She’s going to be okay, right?” I asked, my voice trembling with worry, a knot of anxiety tightening in my chest.

“Yeah. Don’t worry. I’ll fix it.”

I believed him, too, since fixing things was one of Mason Price’s areas of expertise, so I nodded, taking a deep breath and wiping my tears with the back of my hand. As he started the engine, I couldn’t help but glance back at Posy, hoping she would be all right and that my chance to become her first friend hadn’t been ruined.

#

Later that day, I sat in the kitchen, trying to distract myself with a book. The house felt unnatural to me without half a dozen noisemakers there to liven it up. As my mind kept drifting back to Posy, the silence weighed heavily on me, amplifying my unspoken worries.

A knock on the back door jolted me from my thoughts, and I glanced out the window to see Cole standing on the porch, his expression tense and weary.

“Hey, Sissy,” he rumbled in his basement-deep voice after I opened the door. “You have time to talk?”

“Of course,” I replied, stepping aside to let him in.

We moved to the living room, and I sat down on the couch, motioning for him to join me. He hesitated for a moment, then sank into the armchair across from me, looking more upset than I’d ever seen him.

“Do you want to talk about what happened while we were shopping today?” I asked, trying to help him out.

“Sure, but we already apologized to her and gave her a big surprise that she really liked, so don’t jump down my throat about it,” he warned me, and I rolled my eyes.

Oh, yeah. He’d screwed up big time.

My brothers, though well-meaning, have a lot to learn about handling someone as delicate as Posy,I thought to myself.Should be a good learning experience for them, if Posy’s strong and patient enough to endure it.

“Callie and Keeley saw us and came over to ask if the rumor was true about us finding our luna,” he began, and I made a quick mental note to link the twins later and see if their story matched up with the one I was about to hear.

I was sure it would, though. He had the devil’s temper and tried to solve problems with his fists more than his words, but Cole Barlow was dead honest, even if a lie would get him out of trouble or make him look better.

“Wyatt and I were about to say yes and that Posy was there and we could see if she was up to meeting them, but then three human girls came over and butted into the conversation.”

“Link me their faces,” I demanded, already knowing the most likely culprits.

“I’ll link you the whole scene,” he muttered.

So I watched as Korine, Heidia, and Olivia, those brides of hell, started flirting with Cole and Wyatt, who were absolutely clueless as usual, and then Heidia touched Cole’s chest and ran her hands all over it while he stood there with his jaw dropped. Of course, that’s right when Posy walked over to them.

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