Page 134 of Luna: Posy 2

"Ow! Why does everyone always attack myhead?"

"Because there's nothing to damage?" Cole suggested.

Of course, Wyatt tackled him with a growl, and they wrestled around on the grass. With war cries of their own, all the younger brothers dove on top of the two and quickly became a knot of tangled limbs.

"Big brothers! Big brothers!" William shouted as he and Winnie came running. "Us, too!"

Ash grabbed Winnie and Jayden grabbed William, then they rolled around on the grass with them, which I thought was such a nice thing to do. The babies got to play with "big brothers" without the risk of getting hurt in the dog pile.

And Mason, smart boy that he was, used everyone's distraction to kiss the breath out of me.

26: Swimming with Heathens

Peri Barlow

After I opened all of my birthday presents, I asked Posy to help me carry them up to my room. I appreciated her help, but what I really wanted to do was give her a gift of my own.

"I have something for you," I said as she carefully placed her armload of my presents on my desk.

"For me? But it'syourbirthday, silly!"

"A belated birthday gift for you." I grabbed the shopping bag out of my closet, then sat on my bed with it. "Come sit with me."

Once she was comfortable and turned to look at me, I gathered my courage and met her eyes.

"Cole told me about your scars." Yeah, I put it out there just like that. "I know you probably didn't want anyone to know, but he was so upset and needed to vent, and I guess I was just in the right place at the right time. Or the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, he told me."

You're rambling, murmured my wolf.

Dove, you know I always do when I'm nervous.

"And I figured that was probably why you weren't interested in shopping for a swimsuit and haven't wanted to go swimming. Now, I'm not saying you need to do either of those things, but I think you should have options. Options are really important to me. Without options, I feel trapped, so I wanted to provide you with options soyoudon't feel trapped. What you choose to do is entirely up to you, and it won't hurt my feelings no matter what you decide."

She didn't say anything as she stared at me with wide eyes.

Probably waiting for your word vomit to stop, Dove snickered.

"Here's what I got you." I pulled out the suit I liked the most and held it up. "This is a one piece with good coverage on the front and lower cut legs, but most of the back is out. Cole didn't go into too much detail, so I wasn't sure exactly where your scars are or how much you want or need to cover."

I held it out to her, but she only looked at it with wide eyes. Laying it on the bed, I refused to give up and pulled out the next suit.

"This one's called a tankini." I held the top against me so she could see how long it was. "It has a scoop-neck tank top and shorts. It's probably the most coverage you can get outside of a surf suit."

I laid it on the bed, too, then reached for what I thought she'd consider the most risque piece.

"And of course, this is a bikini. I loved the blue and white pattern and the bows on the shoulders. The bottoms have a high waist with moderate cut legs. The top has a scoop neck, so your girls aren't hanging out. I knew when I bought this one that you might refuse it outright because so much skin would be on display, but I wanted you to have the option to say screw it and let the world see the proof of how strong you are."

She stared at me for a long moment before tears filled her eyes.

"The scars show how weak I am, not how strong."

"No. You're wrong." I reached over and took her hands in mine. "You survived what tried to kill you. The scars are a testimony to that."

"They only show I was weak enough to be broken."

"We're all broken in some way, Posy." I squeezed her hands. "But broken doesn't mean failure. We only fail when we give up. When we don't piece ourselves back together after we break."

The sorrow and fear in her eyes hurt my heart.

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