Page 101 of Shattered Trinket

“One more pit stop before we head home, Firefly,” he whispers to me, stopping in front of the pet store we were at earlier.

I look at him curiously when he knocks on the door, but he just keeps smiling and says nothing. When the woman from earlier unlocks and opens the door with a friendly smile, I smile back and continue to side-eye Micah as we walk in.

“Perfect timing. I just finished getting everything together and loading them up in their carrier. I’ll finish getting the bigger items together tomorrow for you to pick up, but what I have together now should suffice for the night,” she says, leading us to the back of the store.

“I appreciate you doing this and staying late to give us time to get back and get them,” Micah tells her, and I’m still so confused.

The woman waves him off, shaking her head.

“I’m glad to have helped. And I’m happy you guys are taking them. They’ve been here too long, and it breaks my heart that nobody ever gives them a second look. I’m glad to know they’re all going to a good home finally.”

When she pulls out a cat carrier and I look inside, I gasp when I see the three ferrets we were looking at earlier. I whip around to look at Micah, tears brimming in my eyes as my lower lip wobbles.

“You got them for me? All three?” I ask, my voice trembling.

“You wanted them, so of course I did. You said they do better in groups, right? No ferret left behind,” he tells me softly, tucking a wayward curl behind my ear.

I throw myself into his arms and squeeze him tight, thanking him, before I pull away and grab the carrier from the woman with a teary smile.

“Thank you. Are they boys or girls? Or a mix?” I ask her, looking into the carrier with a soft smile when I see the three ferrets curled together in a ball, sleeping soundly.

“Girls. All girls. I can tell they’re going to be in good hands with you.”

I help grab the bags she has for us to get through the night while Micah takes the carrier from me. We leave, and I can’t stop glancing at the carrier in his hands, still unable to comprehend that he did this without me realizing. When we make it to the car, we put the bags in the trunk and he opens my door for me. I slide in, holding my arms out for the carrier, and he passes it to me. Once he’s in the driver’s seat, he glances over at me, his eyes twinkling.

“So what are you going to name them?” he asks as he pulls off, heading home.

I smile as I look in at them before telling him, and he chuckles.

“Couldn’t think of a third name that would rhyme?” he asks with a crooked grin and I laugh.

When we get home, I practically skip up the porch and inside with the carrier in my arms while Micah follows with the bags. Inside, we find Manny, Jeremiah, Ridge, and Zeke in the living room, all of them turning to look at us when we walk in. They all raise a brow when they see the carrier in my arms, and I beam at them.

“You got her a cat? Cheater!” Ridge huffs and Micah snorts.

“He got me ferrets!” I exclaim, scurrying into the living room to let them see.

Jeremiah and Zeke both jump up and move away when they look inside, their eyes wide, and I frown at them. Ridge and Manny don’t have the same reaction, instead snickering at the two overly large men as they stay as far away from the carrier as they can.

“Those are rodents, Dove. Why?”

“They are not!” I gasp in outrage, turning the carrier away.

“Are too,” he argues, and Zeke agrees with him.

I huff, setting the carrier down and opening it up to pull the little floofs out and into my lap. One sneezes before climbing under my arm and promptly falling back asleep, while the other two curl up in my lap together, and I coo at them, petting their little heads.

“You’re both being ridiculous. Ferrets are fantastic animals. They’re smart and silly and they have the best personalities. Just look at them. Aren’t they so cute?”

I look up with a grin, glancing at all of my alphas. Manny and Ridge laugh, sitting beside me to check them out while Zeke and Jeremiah make disgruntled noises that I ignore. Almost like they know neither man is a fan, the white and cinnamon one that I’ve named Perdita and Luna perk up before climbing off my lap onto the floor. When they go to run towards the two alphas that are standing far away from them, both men scream like little girls and jump up onto the furniture to get away. And I completely lose it, falling into Ridge’s side and disturbing the sable one I named Tuna as I cackle. She scrambles away from me into Manny’s lap as I laugh so hard tears run down my cheeks and Micah grabs the other two, putting them back into the carrier while everyone teases the giant men who just screamed over a couple of little fluff balls.

“It’s no’ funny, Ducky,” Zeke grumbles with a mock glare aimed my way as he climbs off the chair he jumped onto.

I snort, unable to stop the giggles from escaping me.

Thirty-Five

Zeke

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