Old Version Shatter Pieces

Chapter 43: Scars

Carter

I stared in shock at what lay on Elinn's shoulder. It looked as though it had just been put there yesterday. I imagined the way it must have felt to have something like that placed on your shoulder. The raised burn looked anything but pleasant.

"How did this happen? Nevermind you probably don't want to talk about it," I didn't want to push her farther than was comfortable for her.

"Master decided it would be best to teach a lesson to me and one of his men. He tried to stand up for me, I guess he learned better huh. Master forced him to burn the brand into my skin for an hour. I couldn't work for three days afterward because of the pain it caused." Elinn said letting out a little laugh.

I traced my fingers over the mountain range with an MH burned into her skin. He must have spent some time burning it into her skin if it was still here. Werewolf healing could usually erase scars, but this one remained. Was this the only scar that remained as a permanent reminder of what had happened to her. A realization hit me and moved so I was facing Elinn.

"Elinn, will you please roll up your sleeves?" I knew I had struck a cord when she didn't look me in the eyes. My assumptions had to be correct.

"I don't think you'll be very with what you find under there. You won't think I'm pretty if I show you, you'll realize how weak I am." Elinn's voice was so small and defeated.

My wolf wanted to rip apart all the people who had ever made her feel like she was worthless. The people who had trained her to believe that she didn't matter to anyone. Those who had told her she was inferior, ugly, or stupid. They had all grated at her self-esteem and confidence until it was no longer there. When they were able to make her believe the words they hurled at her like stones.

"Elinn," I tilted her chin up so she was forced to look at me. Her eyes were filled with tears and she looked like she was trying really hard not to let it fall.

"You are beautiful no matter what you think of yourself. You are the most amazing, beautiful, brave girl I have ever met. I know that you don't believe it, but it doesn't make it any less true. I'm not the only one who thinks so either, your brothers and anyone in my family will tell you the same thing." Pouring out my heart was the only way I could get her to really understand.

Tears flow out of Elinn's eyes as she looked questioningly down at her own hands. She seemed to be thinking about the merits of what I had asked her to do. I hoped that she trusted me enough to share this piece of her with me.

"If I do this, do you promise that you won't push for answers even if you really want to know. That's the only way I can do this, I don't want to be forced to remember the details of my past. Then we will go to dinner with my parents and you won't bring any of this up, can you promise me that." Elinn grew solemn as she held out a hand for me to shake.

I took her hand and shook it sealing our deal. Noticed that her hands were shaking violently and took them in my own. I gave her a reassuring squeeze before I released her hands so she could do what she needed to.

Elinn grabbed the sleeve to her shirt and looked at me one more time. I smiled encouragingly down at her letting her take this at her own pace. This was a big deal for both of us and I didn't want to scare her out of it. I looked in her eyes as she pulled up her right sleeve and then her left. I looked down and my hand shot to my mouth without a thought.

The skin on her arms was riddled with scars. It was hard to find a section on either of her arms that was unmarred in some way. Some of her scars made patterns that let me know they had all been made at the same time. Others were raised enough to let me know they had probably been cut open multiple times.

I let my fingers run over her left arm and noticed some letters that spelled out different things. A way for her captors to permanently remind her what she was to them. They had marred her skin with words like trash, whore, and slave. It was obvious that other words had been written, but they were covered by the other scars that graced her skin.

I could feel the tension in my mate's body as I studied her imperfections. It was apparent that she thought these marks would change the way I thought about her. I needed to calm her irrational fears, but I knew words would not be enough. She had a tendency to disregard them as meaningless.

Leaning over her right arm I began kissing each of her scars. Letting her know that I loved each and every one of them, they didn't change who she was to me. Elinn was my mate, these were just a sign of her strength and endurance. These were the scars from her battle out of hell and I wasn't going to let her believe that they made her worth less than anyone else.

"Carter, will you please kiss me?" Elinn's question had me looking up at her surprised.

"I just need to know that you're really here and you're not going anywhere. I know it sounds silly and needy but..." I cut her off letting my lips take hers. I would never get used to the novelty of being able to kiss this goddess in front of me. She was everything I could ever ask for and more.

She shocked me when she let her tongue dart out and lick at my bottom lip teasingly. I smiled against our kiss as her tongue receded and mine moved forwards to meet her lips. I brushed it against her bottom lip, but she refused to let me in. So I grabbed her hips and pulled her forcefully towards me. As she gasped I slipped my tongue into her mouth.

Our mouths moved in a perfect dance of feeling. Reality seemed to melt away when I was with her, but this was different. The only thing I could feel or see was her and the beauty that surrounded her.

Suddenly someone burst into the room causing Elinn and me to pull away. I pushed her behind me not wanting whoever was intruding to see her exposed arms. It didn't bother me, but I knew it would make Elinn uncomfortable.

"Whoa, sorry I didn't mean to interrupt the make-out session. You gotta lock your doors if you are gonna get down and dirty Carter. Don't want people walking in and seeing your mate in a precarious position now do we?" Nate said in between fits of laughter. Luca didn't find it amusing and growled at him menacingly.

"Look, Mom told me to come up here and get you two for dinner. If I had known you were working on....getting to know each other better I would have just linked you. Good to see you again Elinn, my mate wants to have you over for dinner sometime. She says you two need to have some quality girl time." Nate says rolling his eyes.

"Ummm....maybe we'll go later this week," Elinn said without much conviction but I was proud that she was able to get an answer out. Nate left after a chuckled goodbye and I turned to face Elinn.

"Well, let's go have your first official family dinner. What could go wrong?"

AN: ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-NINE THOUSAND!! This is getting pretty crazy, I never thought I would see numbers like that on my book. Thank you all so much for the support you give me on every chapter I write. Also thanks to everyone who follows me we just hit ONE HUNDRED followers. If you guys read this sound off in the comments! Let me know what you guys are thinking of the book and any suggestions you might have. Until next time, bye bye!