Page 20 of Shattered Trinket
“Well, I, for one, am lovin’ this wee twist o’ fate,” Zeke says giddily, and I kick him under the table, which he ignores.
“Don’t go counting your chickens before they can hatch, sweetheart,” Ma tells Zeke with a sad smile that has his grin turning upside down immediately.
“That girl has been through quite a lot in her short life, and she’s lost a lot in the process. I’m just grateful your sister found her before it was too late.”
My brows furrow at that, and I frown at my mother.
“The hell does that mean?”
She sighs, looking off to the side, her dark hair blowing in the breeze as her eyes close briefly.
“I don’t know the full extent of everything she went through, but I know enough. She’s very skittish around alphas—which is telling enough—but she’s trying, and I’m proud of the progress she’s made. It wasn’t easy for her to warm up to your dads or your sister’s alphas. But she and your sister have gotten quite attached to each other, so I think her trust in Ripley has helped her extend it to the alphas connected to her, if only a little. Ridleigh and them haven’t even met her yet because I know she’s not ready to be around so many alphas. That’s why I haven’t tried getting any of you over for family dinner in a while, not to mention you’ve all been so busy lately. I figured I’d have more time to get her used to the idea of a few more alphas coming into her life before introducing you all.”
My gut clenches and a bead of sweat rolls down my spine despite the cool breeze in the air. I can only imagine why the omega would be so skittish around alphas. Not only do the things I’m imagining ignite an anger in me unlike anything I’ve ever felt, it makes my heart ache, something I’m not at all prepared for considering I’ve only gotten a glimpse of her.
“How did Ripley meet her?” Zeke asks before I can, his voice thick and jaw tight.
Ma clears her throat, the sad smile she wore a moment ago disappearing to be replaced by a curl of her lips as she growls, something that’s so unlike her.
“Ripley found Cozy when she was taken by that… that… awfulman,” she says, gritting her teeth as tears glisten in her greeneyes, making both Zeke and me tense at the mention of what happened to my sister.
“Don’t you remember? I’m sure we told you all about her being there.”
I remember the way Ripley’s new pack had been absolutely panicked, along with my parents and the rest of us. How terrified we were when they told us they couldn’t feel her through their bonds. I’d nearly passed out when Ma called to tell me they’d found her, and she was safe. And I remember Ripley telling me what happened… Maybe dimly that she mentioned another omega that had been there, but frankly it hadn’t seemed that important of a detail at the time.
Fuck. I’m the worst godsdamn brother.
“I– Yeah, I vaguely remember,” I mumble, not wanting to admit how lost in my own shit I’d been.
“Well, when Ripley woke up in that room after she was taken, Cozy was the only other one in there. She was locked in a cage, naked as the day she was born.”
She stops, taking a deep breath and pinching the bridge of her nose before eyeing us both, her lips tucked behind her teeth.
“Cozy is the omega that helped Victor Travis abduct Ripley. And your sister, bless her heart, couldn’t be angry with her after seeing just what Cozy was being put through. How could any of us be angry at that poor girl after learning even a fraction of what she’s endured?”
The tears glistening in Ma’s eyes make my throat constrict, and Zeke’s body is strung tight at my side as we listen.
“Tha’ bad?” he whispers, his voice sounding strained to my ears.
Ma looks like she could commit murder on this omega’s behalf—if only that alpha was still around—as she tries to explain the situation to us.
“She’d been with that tyrant for over a year, put through more than any one person should ever experience, and probably more than any of us will ever know. By the time your sister met her, she was utterly broken and on the verge of giving up. In fact, she tried to sacrifice herself for the sake of Ripley getting free. She was prepared to die if it meant Ripley could get back to her pack, to us. Which is why my crazy daughter put herself in even more harm’s way to save her,” Ma says, a proud glint in her eyes as she thinks about how Ripley took on a full grown alpha and brought him down.
Omega Killer.
That’s what the media had named the alpha that kidnapped Ripley. And my sister—an omega—is the one that ended his reign of terror. It’s something the media has been in a frenzy over ever since, but at her request, the police kept their word when she asked not to be named.
“Your sister is incredibly protective of Cozy. She refused to leave her side the entire time she was in the hospital. They’ve bonded with each other, in part because of the shared trauma, I suppose. Knowing what she’s been through, seeing some of it with her own eyes, she’s determined for that girl to have the life she deserves. When she brought me to meet Cozy for the first time, I couldn’t help but love her immediately. I don’t think there’s a mean bone in that sweet omega’s body, which makes it so much more difficult to swallow the truth of what she went through.”
Ma shakes her head and runs her fingers through her thick hair, but her lips twitch upwards slightly.
“She’s brought out every motherly instinct in me since meeting her, so it felt natural to open our home to her when Ripley asked us. To give her a place she could feel safe and loved after everything she’s endured. Knowing she’s all alone in this world now only solidified it.”
There’s nothing I want more than to wrap my hands around Victor Travis’ throat as I watch the light fade in his eyes, and if my sister hadn’t already taken care of him, I fear I’d be out hunting him down. Cozette’s scent has unlocked something, the alpha in me screaming that she’s… the one. That she’s mine,ours.The omega we’ve been hoping for since we decided it was time, and to know that she might never actually be ours because of what she’s been through… It makes me sick.
We thought we’d found the omega for us, and when Elise left us hanging, it had hurt. But meeting Cozette, even briefly, has completely obliterated the disappointment and hurt I’ve harbored since Elise chose another pack without telling us. We barely know what she endured, and I can’t decide if I want to know it all or not. I fear if I ever learn the full truth, I’ll never be the same.
I want to hit something, want to break the table I’m at as the fury threatens to consume me. Is this what it’s like when you find the right omega? I wasn’t ever angry about Elise choosing another pack. Just upset that she’d chosen not to tell us, seeing how it hurt my brothers. Especially Zeke.