Page 140 of Home: Posy 5

He reached for her, and she scrambled away, her eyes huge, and my heart busted for the millionth time since we found her.

"I won't hurt you." He let his hands drop to the bed. "None of us will ever hurt you. It may take you a while to believe that, but we'll prove it to you every day. Now, can you roll over so we can help you?"

It was plain as day she didn’t want to, but she did, and Cole moved her lank, greasy hair out of the way as Wyatt rolled up the hem of her shirt. They didn't get far before the fabric stuck, and she hissed as it pulled at whatever wounds were there.

"Warm water," I said. "I'll be right back."

I hustled off to the bathroom, listening as Cole asked her if her father had done this.

None of us were convinced her brothers hadn’t hurt her, and we didn’t trust that damn beta, either.

I got a washcloth out of the linen closet, held it under the warm water at the bathroom sink, then wrung it out and hustled back to the bedroom in time to hear Cole trying to get Posy to say what her father had used to injure her.

Leave it for now,Mase wisely said. We’ll find out soon enough, anyway.

Dabbing gently, I worked my way up her back, soaking the blood-crusted fabric and Wyatt began to ease the damp shirt up until it was at her neck, exposing long, deep cuts. I carefully wiped away the dried and fresh blood and examined the wounds.

"A knife?" Mase rumbled. "He used a knife?"

A silver one, too, by the looks of it,I linked my brothers.

Oh, my Goddess. Jay put a hand over his mouth and tears sparkled in his eyes.

Cole growled low in his throat, but knew he had to hang on to his temper. For one, our vulnerable, scared mate was here. For another, he was helping Jay control Quartz, who wanted to kill every single person in this pack and wasn’t accepting no for an answer.

With a nearly soundless whine, Wyatt leaned down and softly kissed her left shoulder above the bloody cuts, and she squirmed around a bit.

Do you think she liked that or was uncomfortable with it?he asked nervously, his usual swagger gone.

She’d be too scared to tell you either way,Jay murmured. As hard as it is, let’s keep touching to a minimum.

"This is good to heal now, little wolf," Wyatt murmured, and we watched as she jerked each time one of her wounds zipped closed.

Our poor baby, Cole breathed.

"Let's get you a fresh shirt," Jay said. "Take that one off of her."

She didn’t like that suggestion, and we all knew why when we realized she didn’t have a bra on.

"Shh." Cole laid down next to her and stared into her dark blue eyes. "We won't look. You have nothing to be embarrassed or worried about. We only want to take care of you, okay?"

While he had her distracted, Wyatt eased her arms out of her sleeves, and Cole moved her hair out of the way again.

Oh, I can’t wait to play with all that hair!I squealed inside.

Me, too, Ashy!Sid jumped around.We learn pretty braids for mate!

I nodded, watching as Wyatt pulled the shirt over her head, then skimmed his fingertips down the protruding knobs of her spine. She jumped, and I scolded him.

Didn’t Jay just say minimal touching? She’s scared!

"Sorry," he muttered to her and us.

Jay pulled off his t-shirt because none of us, not even Mr. First Alpha, had planned ahead enough to fetch her a clean one. He handed it to Wyatt, who slipped it over her head, and we all exchanged encouraging looks when she sank her nose into it and hummed almost happily as she inhaled his scent.

I can't wait to find out what we smell like to her!

Cole and Wyatt got her arms through the sleeves and were tugging the back down as far as it would go while it bunched up at her collar bones in the front.

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