Page 117 of Shattered Omega: Part Two

Roxy rounded on me. “I came to you to protect her!” she hissed. “And you dothis—after everything she went through?”

“I need you to be aware of two things,” I said, crossing my arms and tapping my finger on the edge of the beer as I leaned against the fridge. I could trust Roxy, I believed that. But I needed this from her first.

“Shatter is scent matched to the Lincoln pack.”

Roxy froze, staring up at me with wide eyes, her mouth working soundlessly for a moment. “Why—why didn’t she tell me?”

“Because,” I said. This was the second thing Roxy deserved to know for Shatter’s sake. “I’ve been drugging her every morning before school so that they would never catch her scent. The decision not to tell anyone was mine, not hers. She never had a say in the matter.”

Roxy looked about as disgusted as I expected. “Why?”

“Because I think the universe made a mistake. They don’t deserve her.”

I could see it in her eyes: she thought I was right. Though now she didn’t think Shatter belonged withmeeither.

I cracked the beer and crossed to the couch, reaching for the remote and turning to the TV to flick through channels.

Roxy was having none of it, following me and ripping the remote from my hand before throwing it back on the couch.

“You dark bonded her because ofthem?” she snarled. I could see her working through the new information, piecing it together.

“She’s mine,” I said quietly, cocking my head and fixing my gaze on her. Roxy leaned back, lip curled in a snarl. Her scent was an assault in the room. I’d noticed she’d been usinga dampening spray so her scent was muted, but now it was like being smothered by an angry Christmas tree. Really quite unsettling, actually.

“That’s what this is?” she demanded. “You can’t stand that she’s matched to them after what they did, so you had to one up them?” Her eyes were wild with fury. “You’re fucking sick.”

I stared at her, working through that.

“It wasn’t her fault,” Roxy hissed. “She must have been…” She trailed off, eyes wide. “If they’re her mates?” She looked like she wanted to throw up. “It must have broken her—and you go and fucking break her some more—” She shoved me “—for the sake of some stupid alpha pissing match?”

Okay.

Right. That… that was good.

But Roxy was far from done. “You can’t hide that she’s gold pack—everyone is going to know you stole her freedom—that she was just caught in fucking middle.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, running my fingers through my hair. I dropped down to the couch, all the energy draining from me as I took a swig of the beer.

Good.

“That’s it?” Roxy demanded. “You’ll stop me from seeing her and?—”

“You can see her.” My voice was rough.

“But you?—”

“I have no intention of hurting her.” I shut my eyes for a second. “I just needed…” I trailed off. “Shatter asked for the bond. She was upset, and I was… I was weak.”

Irrational.

Foolish.

Roxy was staring at me in shock. “Why… didn’t you say that at the start?”

“I just needed to know…” My voice was strained. “When the school finds out, I don’t want her hurt again. I needed to know everyone will blame us, not her.”

She’d gone through enough. Everyone had seen the video.

“You’re worried about her image?”

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