Page 137 of Home: Posy 5

"Beta Roy says she’s awake."

And that was all we needed to hear to race out of the living room and up the stairs.

Our poor little mate jumped out of her skin when we burst through the door, and I almost cried when she scrambled to sit up against the headboard and bared her neck in submission, her eyes fixed on her knees.

Goddess have mercy, Jay breathed in the link, and I knew I wasn’t the only one whose heart broke to see her fear.

When James sat on the edge of the bed, she drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

Trying to make herself smaller target, Granite sniffled.

Obviously scared of him and all his questions, she curled up in a tighter ball, but we could see her shaking hard, and all I wanted to do was hug her and promise her that we were never going to let anything bad happen to her again.

Then Aiden slowly sat on the other side of the bed and tried to hand her a stuffed rabbit, and her eyes widened with panic. She didn’t move and speak.

She not say anything at all yet, Granite pointed out.

And he was right. We had no idea what her voice sounded like.

Just when I thought my heart couldn’t hurt any worse, a tear rolled down her cheek, and I whimpered.

So did Cole.

Ash went to step forward, but Mase put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

I know you want to comfort her,he linked us all, but she’s so scared already. We need to be careful and go slow.

We watched and listened as her brothers explained that Alpha Briggs was gone, and we finally got to hear her voice, even if it was only one word.

"Why?" she whispered.

"Why what, baby sister?" James asked. "Why did he treat you that way?"

She nodded.

"I'd like to know that, too," said Mase.

"I think we all would," Jay added.

The brothers looked at each other, then at us.

"When we were pups, our mother was kidnapped by rogues," James said. "They had her for three months before Father found and rescued her. Seven months later, little Posy was born."

"She wasMama'sbaby, not Father's," Aiden said. "He never forgot or let her forget, either."

It was obvious from her expression that our mate didn’t understand the rogues had raped her mother.

James realized that, too, and tried again.

"Father wasn't your father. One of the rogues was your father. She didn't have a choice. He, uh, forced her." He rubbed the back of his neck, then muttered, "Your mates can explain it to you later."

"Thanks, dude," I grumbled. "Way to pass the buck."

"She’s completely innocent," Aiden murmured. "You can explain it to her after she understands what mating even is."

As James and Posy continued to talk, my brothers and I made some decisions and refined a plan for getting her home with us. I linked our betas to get someone in to clean up the house, especially our bedroom which I was fairly sure we’d left a wreck, and restock our fridge and cupboards.

"Why didn't you take over as alpha when you turned eighteen?" Ash asked once we finished that.

---