Page 110 of Mates: Posy

That may be true, but Cole is very powerful. I can't imagine he was ever made to submit like James and Aiden were, I thought with a frown.

They should have called the king as soon as James turned eighteen and Father stayed alpha,Lark retorted.

"It's okay if she has a soft heart, Cole," Wyatt said. "She can forgive as she likes, and we'll always be there to help her if something bad comes out of that."

"And," Ash chimed in, "her brothers were young and dumb and scared."

"They're older than you," Cole retorted, "although I agree with dumb and scared."

"Yeah, but I had Jay's parents and, later, yours to guide me. All of us did. Who did James and Aiden Briggs have? An old beta who was as broken and controlled as the rest of the pack?"

"Stop making excuses for them!" Cole barked.

"I'm not making excuses or justifying anything they did. I'm only reminding you of their predicament. You can't know how you would react in a situation until you're experiencing it."

As they went back and forth, I thought about everything - what my brothers had told me, what my mates said now, and what I knew from my own experience. I took my time and tried to look at it from different angles.

Could James and Aiden have done more or asked for help sooner? Maybe. Were they wrong for wanting to solve the issue on their own? Probably. Did I suffer due to their inaction? Definitely.

The longer I thought, the more questions came to my mind, and I didn’t have answers for all of them.

Would I ever trust them with my life again? Could I rebuild a relationship with them? Did I want to? And if I did, what would I do if they turned their backs on me a second time?

In the end, I decided that I didn't want to think of my brothers as the cruel bullies my father had forced them to be. I wanted to think of them as my best friends, like they were in the photo they'd given me, the one Wyatt had hung up in my special room.

I could never forget everything that they had said and done under my father's rule. I would most likely always have a little fear of them as well as worry that they'd abandon me again. Even so, I had no room for hate in my heart.

And if that makes me naive or too kind, so be it. I lost years with my brothers. I don't want to lose any more.

Mason's voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"Regardless, they're aware of their mistakes now. They won't make them again."

Something about the way he said that made me suspicious.

"Did you do something?" I asked him. "Before we left Green River, did you do something to my brothers?"

"We had a talk with them. That's all."

I held his gray gaze, but he didn't even blink.

He would never lie to you, sweetheart. It really was just a talk.

Garnet's voice was crystal clear in my head. I'd been able to hear my mates' wolves before I'd marked them this morning, but it was in an underwater sort of way. This was so much better.

Thank you, Garnet.

"All right. I trust you, even without Garnet vouching for you." I gave him a sweet smile that showed my dimples.

"Now that we got that out of the way, let's run!"

Ash leapt to his feet, reached between Wyatt and Cole, and picked me up under my arms like a little kid. Ignoring their protests, he lifted me straight up until we were face to face. Startled by the suddenness as well as how high I was off the ground, I wrapped my arms and legs around him and clung tightly.

"Don't drop me!" I squeaked.

"Of course I won't, princess."

"Aren't I heavy? Father said the reason he didn't feed me was because I was too fat."

---