Chapter Forty-seven — Trinity
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
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TRINITY
The concierge had a million and one packages for us. Cat necessities for Cinder, something for Aiden, and a few other packages. It wasn’t quite a million, but enough.
Cinder climbed my shirt, eager to look around her new home. She had a tiny squeak that was precious. I loved her already.
“It is the package we wanted,” Aiden said.
Sounds of approval came from the rest of my Alphas. Theo touched me on the shoulder. “Why don’t you put your suitcase away and set up Cinder’s litter box before meeting us in the living room?”
“Where should I put it?”
He thought about it for a second. “Here.” I followed him to a small door in one of the hallways. A utility closet that didn’t have much in it, and what there was rested on shelves, leaving the floor free. “We can get a little door installed.”
“You hear that, Cinder? You’re going to have your own door.”
He laughed softly. “Meet us when you’re finished.”
I quickly put my clothes in my laundry basket and poured litter into the box before letting Cinder see and smell it. She climbed right in and used it. She was so tiny, but she looked proud of herself. I was proud of her, too.
“Do you want to come with me or explore?” I held out my arm for her to climb if she wanted, but she was already zooming down the hallway.
I ran after her. “Wait, silly.”
She was already around the corner. I slid to a stop in front of Logan’s door. It was open, and I was distracted by what I saw: the closet no longer had a door.
Slowly, I ventured inside to see if I was hallucinating. No. The space where the hinges would go was empty, and there was no door to be found. You couldn’t be locked in a closet that didn’t have a door.
Tears of gratitude flooded my eyes at the same time as memory.
Matt came into the living room and looked at me. “Follow me, Trinity.”
“I’d rather not.”
“It wasn’t a request.”
Dread swirled in my stomach. If I said no, he’d make it happen anyway. “Let me guess, Val wants to see me?”
“You’re getting better at this. See how easy it can be?”
I didn’t say anything.
Slowly, I followed him, putting my phone in my back pocket. I was supposed to go to Isolde’s house later, and I was waiting for her call.
He led me to the guest room on their side of the house. It was decorated the way most of them were: plain and boring. But Val had taste that lived at the crossroads of beige and mass-produced.
“Good, you’re here. I have a party in an hour.”
“I’m going to Isolde’s house, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
She smiled at me, sickly sweet. “Except I do have to worry about you, because you’ll come back in the middle of my party, and then I’ll have to explain why some sloppy teenager is letting themselves into my house.
But I also don’t want your scent on my clothes having to drag your ass into my closet, so I came up with a solution. ”
I took a step backward out of instinct. “I’ll spend the night. I won’t bother anything.”
The gaze she gave me was pure poison. “The fact that you fucking exist bothers people, Trinity. Don’t you get that?
No one wanted you. You were left on a doorstep, and Cecil, though I love him, doesn’t stay to be around you, and the rest of us didn’t sign up to be parents.
So shut up, do as I say, and I won’t kick you or your father out of the house. ”
Fear crept up my throat. I would have nowhere to go. She was right. Dad never stayed. He hated staying in one place. He would hate me if I was the reason he couldn’t travel.
“I’ll just stay in my room then.”
“That’s not good enough. Come here.”
Right then, I saw the locks on the closet doors. That was the kind of lock that didn’t go on a closet. It went on a front door. Serious and heavy-duty to keep things out. Or, in this case, keep things in.
“It’s comfortable,” she said. “There’s a pillow and a blanket. And we’ve soundproofed it. It’s the best place for you. You won’t bother anyone.”
I curled my hands into fists, trying to stay brave. “I’m not going to stay in a closet all night because you don’t like me. I will go to Isolde’s house and stay over. End of story.”
Val grabbed me by the shirt and pulled. She used her other hand to open the closet door and threw me inside. “Get in there. I’ll let you out once everyone’s gone and you can’t fuck anything up.”
I sprang to my feet and rushed her, but she was ready for me.
She spun me back and grabbed the phone out of my pocket before shoving me again.
“It’s better this way, Trinity. You’re going to make everyone so happy by staying in here.
This is what you’re good at. Quiet and out of sight. It’s the only place anyone wants you.”
“Wait, no.”
I lunged for the door again, but she shoved it closed in my face. The air sealed into the too-quiet space. Like being in a recording studio, or the music practice rooms at school. There was a small light, so at least I wasn’t in complete darkness.
Still…
I sat against the wall. This wasn’t a walk-in closet. It was tiny. There wasn’t even room for me to lie down and stretch out. She took my phone.
Maybe she was right. Nothing she said about me was untrue. My mother didn’t want me. They didn’t want me. Dad didn’t always want me. Whenever I said anything to defend myself or help, it was twisted into something worse. It was better not to speak in case I fucked it up more.
Ocean and Isolde liked me, but would they stick around if they knew that everyone in my life wished I didn’t exist? I would never find out, because they were never going to know.
I’d tell Isolde I got my period and fell asleep. She’d believe it. I shoved the door, making it rattle. But it didn’t move. I kicked it and screamed at it, stood and threw my body at it until I started to bruise, and nothing happened.
There was nothing I could do but stay here with the reality that no one wanted me, and no one was coming to save me.
I shook myself out of the memory. And that’s what it was. A memory. Not a triggered flashback. I could still breathe, and nausea wasn’t clinging to my gut. Because Logan had done this. He didn’t ask. He just fixed it.
Peeking into Brooks’ room next, his closet door was gone too. I knew without checking that all of them would be gone. They must have removed them right after it happened.
No one had come to save me then, but they had saved me now. My Alphas. As soon as they realized what had happened, they made sure I was okay. Held me and washed me. They didn’t make me feel guilty for vomiting on the floor or retreating into myself. All they wanted to do was make it better.
Something warm and vast grew inside me. I knew what it was, though I wasn’t yet ready to give it a name.
On that note, I had one more sneaky stop to make. The giant octopus Bastian had won for me was going to magically appear in my Alphas’ rooms in different poses. They’d never know where or when, and I was sure I could find increasingly comical ways to surprise them.
Since he’d won my new friend—whose name was Victor—Bastian’s room was first. I posed Victor on top of the clothes in Bastian’s now-doorless closet, weaving his arms through the hangers so he was staring into the bedroom.
Perfect.
Cinder sprinted past me once I came out of his room, giving in to the long hallway and the temptation of zoomies.
“We’re going to have to get her a collar that either has a bell or a tracker so we can find her. She’s already exploring.”
I entered the living room and slowed to a stop. All five Alphas sat around the living room, staring at me. My heart started to pound. My toes curled under into the carpet and I pressed my lips together. What did I do? Did I break a rule?
Theo saw my distress. “Breathe, Trinity. Nothing is wrong, and you’re not in trouble.”
“I’m not?”
Brooks cracked a smile. “No, baby. And if there was something we needed to address, we wouldn’t ambush you with it.”
The fact that there was no tension in the room made me relax. “Then why are you all in here staring like a firing squad?”
“We have a proposal for you,” Aiden said. “A ritual.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
He smirked and leaned forward on his elbows. “We agree with you about the practicalities of permanent collars or bracelets, and we understand not wanting a collar outside the house. That’s a big step. But we still want a physical mark of ownership.”
Perfume shot out around me so fast I felt dizzy. I pretended that I didn’t, and that we all didn’t know how aroused that made me. “I’m not tattooing your face on my ass.”
Brooks shook his head, stifling a laugh. “Brat.”
“No, thank you,” Logan said. “The last thing I want while fucking you from behind is to stare at my own face.”
“But you’re so pretty.”
“You’re prettier.”
I flushed at the compliment.
“Trinity,” Theo said, the tone unmistakable. “Come kneel in front of Aiden.”
The motion felt so much more natural than it had before I started training. Theo noticed and nodded with a smile. The warmth of the approval helped settle me as I knelt between Aiden’s legs.
“This is our solution to the collar problem,” he said, holding out his hand.
Two tiny padlocks rested on his palm. No bigger than a charm for a bracelet. But they were open. They were real. He opened his other hand and showed me the tiny matching keys.
“Give me your wrist.”
I offered him my left hand, palm up.
Aiden took one of the tiny padlocks and wove it through the latch of my bracelet before clicking it closed. My heart started beating faster. It was locked to my wrist. I couldn’t take it off without the key. The tiny locks weren’t big enough to draw any attention.
Taking one of the tiny keys, he slid it into the padlock and opened it with a quick turn.
Theo cleared his throat. “Every morning, before you leave the house, one of us will lock the bracelets on you. Or, if something happens where we can’t, you’ll lock yourself in them. In the evening, we’ll unlock them to take them off.”