Page 67 of Family: Posy 4

"Do you really not notice the scars anymore?" I asked him quietly.

He picked me up, and I was suddenly squished between two huge bodies. His face pressed into my neck on one side and Cole's on the other.

"We'll always know they're there, little flower." Mason murmured, his lips brushing my skin with every word. "We can't forget them because we hate how you got them. We're sickened to know someone caused you so much pain."

Cole interrupted with a growl, his chest rumbling against my spine, and goosebumps rose all over my skin and made me shiver in their arms.

"If the Moon Goddess blessed you and washed them all away, would it change anything?" Mason continued. "I mean, I'm sure you'd feel more confident without the scars, but would it change who you are? Would it wipe away the memories of what you've gone through?"

I sighed, knowing he was right.

"I wish wecouldwash them away," Cole muttered. He slipped his fingers under the hem of my t-shirt and slid them between my back and his stomach to find the place on my spine where Alpha Briggs had branded me with his initials. "This one especially because you arenothis. You never were."

At the same time, Mason traced the moon on my mate mark with his tongue, and I shivered again, drowning in their touch and smell and love.

"Your scars tell your story," Mason went on, "and we love stories, don't we, brothers?"

"Yes, we do," Cole said.

Ash joined us and added, "Especially stories with a heroine who goes through hell and emerges as a badass bitch."

Rolling my eyes, I buried my pink cheeks in Mason's chest.

"Be proud of them, not ashamed." Sparks tingled down my arms as Cole slid the neck of my t-shirt down and kissed the deepest crater on my shoulder. "You are a decorated warrior. A seasoned soldier. No one else has survived the kind of battles you have unless it's Reau. In our eyes, these scars are the marks of valor."

"What's valor?" I whispered into Mason's shirt.

"Courage in the face of danger, honey. Youearnedthese medals. They are marks of victory."

"Like I told you before, you survived and he's in the ground," Ash said. "You still don't get it, do you? That big, terrifying man who hurt you over and over?Youdefeated him.You!Posy Anne Everleigh. You went ten rounds with the devil and won. Every one of those scars is you giving him the middle finger, baby!"

At first, I froze when he began to describe Alpha Briggs, but then I heard his words. Hugging Mason's waist, I let the humor flood through me and shake my shoulders as I silently giggled.

Only Ash would say it like that! The middle finger.

You think it funnier if you knew what middle finger means,Lark smirked.

Probably,I agreed, my smile growing into a grin against Mason's shirt.

The bedroom door flew open and banged against the wall.

"Is she upset?" Jayden asked right as Wyatt said, "I thought you were getting her dressed, not making her cry!"

"You hurt her feelings, Ash!" Cole snapped.

He stepped away from me, and I heard the sound of him slapping Ash upside the head.

"I did not!" Ash protested. "It was you two making her feel self-conscious about her scars!Iwas cheering her up!"

"Posy?" Jayden whispered in my ear. "Please don't cry."

I turned my face and opened my eyes, letting him see my huge grin, and every line of his body relaxed. He gave me a questioning look, and I linked him what Ash had said about the middle finger and Lark's comment.

He chuckled and stepped back.

"She's fine. She's giggling because Lark reminded her that she doesn't know what the middle finger means," he announced to his brothers.

"Jayden!" I whined and stepped away from Mason's warm bulk.

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