Page 11 of Shattered Trinket

This omega was handpicked by the gods to deliver me to salvation, to save me from total destruction before it’s too late, and I was chosen for her to protect and serve her until my dying breath. To love her with everything I am and to show her what a real alpha/omega dynamic is like after what she was put through.

Omegas are the ones that hold all the power over their alphas, not the other way around. They’re the heart of any pack—of any alpha—and their needs, their wants, hold priority above all else.And an omega always has the final say in who they choose to be with. Who they allow to cherish and care for them. Who they choose to give their heart and trust over to.

Who they give their all to.

Victor didn’t understand that. Didn’t understand that you can’t force an omega to serve you when you should be serving them. Didn’t understand that you can’t build a bond on pain and fear. Didn’t understand that he couldn’t forcibly take from Cozette what was never his to begin with, no matter how much he tortured her or how tightly chained to him he kept her. He might have been able to force a bond on her, but that didn’t mean he’d ever get to experience the full effect of an omega’s love and devotion, not that I think he ever really wanted that. Alphas like Victor only know how to take what’s not theirs and abuse the thing that should be most precious to all alphas.

Victor would have killed her eventually, just like the many before her and the two that came through while she was bound to him, and the thought of the fate she could have met if he had lived any longer makes my blood run cold.

I don’t ever want to live in a world where Cozette doesn’t exist.

I failed to protect her in the beginning, but I won’t let anything—or anyone—stop me from being here for her now. To keep me from protecting her from anything or anyone that could hurt her ever again. Cozette won’t ever be forced to do anything she doesn’t want to do again if I have anything to say about it.

“You feel that, Dove?” I ask her quietly, watching as her breath hitches in her throat. “They beat together in synchrony because I was made for you as much as you were made for me. The gods took pieces of them and hid them away in us until we found each other to bring the pieces back together. Heart of my heart, soul bound from the first breath we ever took. Mine’s tarnished anddirty because of my past, and I wish I’d kept it clean for you, but if you’ll have it, it’s yours for eternity.”

She sniffles, her hand clenching in my shirt, and she tentatively pulls herself as close to me as she can get without being in my lap, letting go and grabbing my hand where it rests at her heart with both hands, holding it there.

“I think both of our hearts became a little damaged along the way before we found each other. Mine’s a little shattered, and there’s probably a few missing pieces, but… you’ll take care of what’s left of it, won’t you?”

Her voice is small—almost child-like—as she stares into my eyes nervously, my hand clenched tightly between hers as if she’s afraid I’ll leave again. With my free hand, I slot my fingers through her curls, gripping her hair with just enough pressure as I bring us nose to nose, her breath fanning across my lips. Her chest rises and falls quickly, her heart beating erratically against my palm. Briefly, I glance at her parted lips, fighting every instinct inside of me that begs me to kiss her because right now, she needs to know that she’s in control. I will gladly give her anything she asks of me, no matter the cost, but I will never take what she doesn’t freely give me.

“Your broken pieces don’t scare me, baby. I’ll find all the fragments that are missing, and put them back where they rightfully belong. I’ll make you whole again, if only you tell me to,” I whisper, our lips so close that I can almost taste her. “I don’t deserve it, but I can promise you I’ll cherish it with everything that I am because I’d rather walk through the pits of hell than ever risk breaking something so treasured.”

I’m never letting you go…

Four

Cozette

I couldn’t sleep tonight, something deep inside of me feeling restless and keeping me awake after everyone else had gone to bed. I’d tried reading one of the books Ripley had given me the day after I came home from the hospital—even though I was never a big reader before everything happened—but after reading the same page ten times several times over, I’d given up. When that didn’t help to settle the restlessness I could feel in my soul, I attempted to watch tv. But even that couldn’t take my mind off whatever was bugging me, and so I quickly turned it offand laid in my bed, the plush I’ve become most attached to from my pile locked tight in my arms as I stared out of my bedroom window.

It wasn’t until I’d been sitting on the windowsill, staring up at the moon and stars with him on my mind that I caught his scent on the breeze that had blown by that I knew why I was feeling so… fidgety. It’s like I somehow knew he was coming for me. Like my soul could feel how close he was.

At first, I thought I’d imagined it. That harsh gunpowder scent mixed with hints of wild jasmine that I know so well that it’s become ingrained into my very being. I felt silly calling his name out into the empty air, but then he stepped around that tree and… I couldn’t stop myself from quietly, but quickly, sneaking downstairs and outside. There was no anxiety tearing me apart inside when he showed himself to me or worry that he was here to hurt me.

Just… relief.

Relief that he was okay.

Relief that he came back.

Relief that he found me, something I’d been secretly pining for since they brought me to the hospital, though I never actually let myself think about that happening.

I didn’t know what would happen once I was finally in front of him without my shackles to hold me back. I barely gave a thought to whether being in his presence would bring back terrible memories or send me spiraling because I already live with those memories daily. If anything, seeing him has only reminded me of why I’ve felt so drawn to him even before I realized it. And when I threw myself at him and he wrapped his brawny arms around me, his body relaxing the moment he had me in his hold, it felt like coming home.

How could what I feel for him ever be wrong when being in his arms feels so right?

I have no fear in my heart when he’s near, no worries that he’ll hurt me. In fact, everything I know about him tells me he’d gladly slam a dagger through his heart before he ever hurt me intentionally.

I might not know everything about being an omega, might not know a lot of things honestly, but I’m not stupid. Learning to listen to my instincts, and to trust them, has been a learning curve. But I’m listening right now, and they tell me that this alpha… this alpha is a part of me. Meant for me.

Mine.

Is this how Ripley feels about her alphas? About River and Kian? When they hold her, does it feel like she’s home in their arms? Like everything is right in the world and like she’swhole?

I don’t know if I feel completely whole, or if I’ll ever really feel like that, but I know I feel better with him.

My Ghost.

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