8. Seven
Seven
Ridge
Zeke and I lock up the shop early after completing most of the work on the two cars that were brought in this morning, wanting to stop out at my parent’s place to check on Ma and maybe ask for her advice.
We’ve been so busy lately, working even more than usual after the incident we had with the omega we thought was going to be a good fit for us. So none of us have been able to get out there in a few months, choosing to avoid my mother because the woman is a bloodhound. We knew she’d pick up on how frustrated and disappointed we were.
We really thought we’d found the one, and so quickly, too. But it turns out after months of courting the omega all three of us had been drawn to, she was looking for more than we could give her. It was disappointing, especially because I’d thought we’d been making connections with her until she’d just… ghosted us. She hadn’t even had the decency to tell us herself that she’d found and bonded with another pack. We had to find out about it in the paper two weeks after no word from her. Bonded to one of the wealthiest packs in the city, she was splashed all over the front page for grabbing the attention of a well-known bachelor pack of alphas.
After that blow, Zeke, Manny, and I threw ourselves into our work. Zeke and I worked overtime at the shop, while Manny put in the extra hours at the construction site he’s been overseeing for the last four months. It wasn’t until the other day Zeke pointed out how strange it was that Ma hadn’t called in a while, which is unlike her, that I figured it was time we stopped avoiding her.
“How mad dae ye think she is wi’ us? I’m thinkin’ our arses are about tae be toast when we walk in,” Zeke says from the passenger seat of my pickup, rolling his head to look over at me as we make our way down the driveway.
“Let’s hope not. I feel like shit enough as it is,” I sigh, throwing the truck in park beside Ma’s car.
We haven’t been home in nearly four months, which isn’t normal for us. Not since my sister, Ripley, was kidnapped. But once we knew she was safe, we went back to wallowing in our hurt feelings. Of course, we saw her before hiding under our work, and Ripley told me some of the details of what happened, though I can admit I was stuck in my head during that talk. I know she killed the bastard that took her, and honestly, that’s all I needed to know about the situation.
We both hop out, heading inside without knocking, and Zeke looks over at me with a raised brow at the music blasting loudly through the speakers. I shrug as I head toward the kitchen where I can hear Ma singing loudly along.
“Ma!” I holler as I push open the swinging door to the kitchen and walk in, startling her.
She drops the bowl she was holding with a gasp and turns around with wide eyes as she quickly rushes to turn the music off.
“Boys!” she cries out, her voice high and squeaky, which makes me narrow my eyes at her. “W-what are you doing here?”
Her eyes dart to the door at our back nervously, making me even more suspicious than how high her voice went when we walked in.
What the hell is going on?
“We missed ye, Mama. An’ I’ve missed yer cookin almost as much. Whit are ye makin’?” Zeke asks as he walks around the island to hug my mother, who seems a little tense, though her eyes soften when the giant alpha she’s come to look at as another son wraps his arm around her shoulders.
She keeps looking at the door while telling Zeke what she’s cooking, her voice still higher than normal. She’s hiding something, but I can’t imagine what or why. There aren’t secrets in this family.
Before I can question why she’s being weird, the door swings open at my back and the sweet scent of sugar and tart lemons has my body going rigid and my eyes growing wider than my mother’s.
“Okay, I think I found what—” the voice of an angel says at my back before it cuts off abruptly.
As I turn in what seems like slow motion, Ma rushes to whoever is behind me and Zeke stands frozen where she left him, chocolate coated finger hanging halfway to his open mouth as he catches sight of the gorgeous woman that just walked in and stares in shock.
“Cozy! This is my son Ridge, and his pack brother, Zeke. You remember me and Ripley telling you about them, yes? They decided to surprise me with a visit today,” Ma tells the woman, her tone gentling as she wraps her arm around her.
Her eyes soften as she looks at the omega by her side and my brow raises when Ma glances at me with a warning look.
“Oh. I… Yes, I remember,” she says, tucking a loose, copper curl behind her ear before seeming to take a deep breath.
When she finally looks up at me and I see her fully, the wind is knocked out of me. I nearly stagger backwards at the full force of her stare on me, completely enraptured while her scent invades my very being, imprinting itself on my soul.
“It’s nice to meet you both.”
She is… stunning . Breathtaking.
A literal angel among mankind.
The first thing I truly note about her is how… small she is. She’s short, even next to my five eleven frame, with curves that I can just barely see through the baggy shirt she has on. Her hair is tied up in a messy pony, her thick, copper curls fighting to stay contained within the band. I suspect it flows well past her shoulders when left down. She has full cheeks, the cutest smattering of freckles that span across the bridge of her nose and the apples of her cheeks, and dusky pink lips that aren’t too full or too thin. The blue of her eyes is a color unlike any I’ve seen before, a starburst of honey gold around the iris that spreads out into the clear blue, and I struggle to look away as I nearly get lost in them.
I can’t seem to form a single word as I stand in front of her, my mouth suddenly dry and my throat tight. This is… impossible .
I’m suddenly pushed out of the way as Zeke comes over to introduce himself properly.
“Ignore ma brute o’ a pack brother, lass. Yer beauty seems tae have struck him stupid. I’m Zeke, an’ ye’re… a wee angel plucked straight from the heavens, aren’t ye,” he says, his accent coming out thicker as he offers her his hand, eyes locked with hers.
She seems to hesitate while my mother stands by her side like a bodyguard, ready to throw herself between them if need be, but eventually the omega extends her slender hand out for him to take. Zeke grips it gently, turning it and bending his head to kiss the back, which makes her pale cheeks flush a pretty rosy red that gives her an innocent air and has my cock jumping in my jeans.
Her scent grows stronger as she looks at Zeke in shock, and I have to hold my breath before I’m sporting a hard-on in my mother’s godsdamn kitchen. I don’t miss the raised brow and slightly giddy look in my mother’s eyes when that happens either.
“I’m Cozette,” she says breathlessly with furrowed brows when he eventually drops her hand, and she almost seems to curl into my mother, letting her shield her as she bites her lip with a puzzled frown on her lips.
Ma grabs the hand Zeke released and pats it, looking at Cozette with as much love as she’s looked at me and my sisters with our entire lives. Not that I can blame her. Something about Cozette sets my protective instincts on edge, the urge to shield her and hide her from harm’s way intense.
Who is this omega?
“Sweet girl, why don’t you go tell the dads that the boys are here while we have a chat? We can finish our goodies in a bit,” Ma tells her gently, and Cozette nods, glancing at me and Zeke once more before scurrying out of the kitchen.
Ma watches her leave before turning to us with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face. Zeke can’t seem to stop staring at the place the omega stood only moments before, and I raise a brow at my mother.
“Who… was that?” I finally choke out, my hands clenching the island I’m leaned against for support.
Her shoulders slump and she sighs, nodding for us to follow her as she heads for the sliding glass door that leads out to the back patio once she’s turned the oven and all the stove’s burners off. Dutifully, we follow behind her and take a seat across from her at the picnic table Dad built several years ago. She folds her hands on top of the table and looks at us both.
“Ma, what the hell is going on? I know we’ve been busy, but godsdamn, I didn’t expect to come for a visit and find an unbonded omega here that we’ve never met or even knew about. And don’t think I didn’t clock how protective of her you seem to be. Does Rip and Ridleigh know about this?” I ask, trying to contain the annoyance I feel at this curveball, and failing.
Ma narrows her eyes and snaps at me.
“Watch your tone, young man. It wasn’t kept from you on purpose. We’ve just been… busy. Cozy has had a lot of adjusting to do since she got out of the hospital, and we’ve been trying to help her acclimate.”
Feeling thoroughly chastised, my mouth snaps shut, and I glare at Zeke when he smirks over at me.
Cheeky bastard.
“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… a wful man,” she says, gritting her teeth as tears glisten in her green eyes, 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.
He’s been waiting a long time for an omega. Manny and I putting it off once we’d formed our pack had hurt him, but we wanted to be ready, to be able to provide for our omega completely before finding them. He understood, but it didn’t make it an easier pill for him to swallow.
I glance over at him, noting the pained expression he wears as he looks down at the table. Zeke is a massive man, much taller than Emmanuel and me, but the gentlest of giants. You’d think a man as large as him would be a bit of a tool, but he’s actually the nicest fucking guy I’ve ever met—something that used to irritate me when I first met him. He’s always been almost too perfect, but knowing him all these years, knowing how much he’s idealized his parents and been waiting for a love like theirs, his personality makes sense. Especially after we met them.
Unlike me and Manny, Zeke has refused to sleep around, spouting that he’s saving himself for our omega. Although we used to tease him about his virgin status at his age, he never faltered, telling us about how both of his dads had waited for his mom with no regrets. Growing up knowing that, he’d decided at a young age that if he presented as an alpha, he’d do the same. And he has, holding tight to his conviction while also not faulting us for not choosing to do the same.
The back door slides open, and we all turn to look in that direction, Zeke and I holding our breaths as we wait to see if it’s her and deflating with disappointment when Pops steps out instead, closing the door behind him.
“Damien. Is she okay?” Ma asks him nervously as he comes over to the table and sits beside her.
“She’s fine, my love. She didn’t seem too bad off when she found me and told me the boys were here. Maybe a little spooked, but more confused at not being completely terrified of these two,” he tells her softly, nodding his head at Zeke and me.
“Good. That’s good,” Ma says, closing her eyes and sighing in relief when he wraps an arm around her shoulder to pull her into his side and kisses the top of her head.
“She’s making progress. Give her a little credit. I know it’s hard with everything she’s been through, but you can’t keep treating her like broken glass. I don’t and I think that’s why she feels comfortable with me, even if she doesn’t realize it. You’re all handling her with kid gloves, afraid to break her any more than she already is, while I’m letting her be and giving her the chance to see for herself that she’s stronger than she thinks.”
Ma groans, burying her face in his chest, and mumbling, “I don’t like it when you talk sensibly.”
He barks out a laugh, hugging her to him as he glances across the table at us, his dark eyes heavy with seriousness.
“Your mom told you? About what she’s been through?”
I nod numbly, my chest wanting to crack open to spill its contents all over the table for everyone to see, and he roves a critical eye over us both before he exhales.
“A little.”
“She’s your scent match, yeah?” he asks, his eyes softening marginally at speaking out loud what we have yet to voice.
Ma gasps, nearly breaking her neck when she looks over at us. I clear my throat, eyeing Zeke out of the corner of my eye and seeing his throat bob as he tries to swallow.
“Ay, I think so,” he says hesitantly, his brows furrowed.
Ma’s mouth drops open in shock, her eyes wide on the two of us.
“How did you know?” I ask, needing to know how he came to that conclusion.
Pops rolls his eyes, pushing on Ma’s chin with his index finger to close her mouth.
“Well, let’s see. It could be the kicked puppy expression you’re both wearing after what you’ve learned about her. Or it could be the confused frown Cozette had worn when she found me and told me about running into you both. She might not use her words much, but she says a lot with her eyes. And the look in her eyes, hidden underneath all the fear she holds inside, told me something was different when she saw you. That alone is big for her, to not have been completely terrified of either of you. I can’t think of anything that would soothe the fears in that omega’s heart, other than a scent match, even if she doesn’t realize that’s what it is.”
“A scent match,” Ma whispers, still in shock.
“It seems the powers that be brought her to us for more than just safety, my love. But the question remains, will you three be what helps her completely break free, or will you be what sends her further into hiding? There’s also the possibility that you three aren’t her only matches,” Pops says with a frown.
“What do you mean?” I ask in confusion, my stomach twisting with nerves.
“I don’t know, but something tells me that your pack isn’t complete. Not yet.”
And something tells me he knows more than he’s letting on, but he’s keeping the knowledge to himself. He glances down at Ma, and they share a look of understanding that only serves to confuse me more, until Ma glances at us with a wry smile.
“Aunt Rya’s alphas thought they were complete with Jerome, Max, and Tate before they met her. Only for her to find two more alphas that were also a match for her years after they’d bonded. It was a fluke that Jackie and Aiden were at the same charity event she was because they’d originally planned not to attend. Neither of them had been looking for an omega, but they found one that night. One that already had a pack,” Ma snorts.
I didn’t know that. Aunt Rya is Pop’s sister, someone we don’t see much because they live overseas, but I’d always assumed her alphas had always been a pack before meeting her the few times we’ve seen them.
“And they just… accepted them into the pack after that?”
I can’t help the incredulous look I throw at my parents, because it just seems unfathomable to me.
Zeke and Manny have been my pack brothers for years. We’ve built a life together to prepare for the omega we hoped to one day find. The three of us together, it always felt natural, our instincts telling us we were meant to be a pack. Perfect compliments to each other.
Ma chuckles and Pops joins her.
“Not really. It took a bit for them to warm up to two new alphas coming into what they’d thought was an already established pack, not to mention how odd it felt for Jackie and Aiden because the others had been with each other for years. While they had to get to know their omega, they also had to get to know the rest of her alphas. I suppose it helped them all accept the change because of how obvious Rya was with her feelings towards them all. The power of an omega, eh?” Ma says, waggling her brows.
I don’t say anything to that, and Pop’s eyes me.
“Is that something you think you’d be capable of doing if it turns out there’s someone else out there meant for her?”
Zeke doesn’t even think about it, immediately saying yes, but I keep quiet because the truth is, I don’t know.
Biting her lips, I watch as Ma seems to contemplate before releasing a shuddering breath. Pops hugs her tight to his side, squeezing her arm gently, and she gives him a watery smile before looking back at Zeke and me.
“I’m going to tell you two this only to help you understand Cozy a little more, especially with this new enlightenment. I only found out before she came home, but Cozy was a late bloomer. Not only that, she’s also the daughter of two beta parents, from a community full of betas. She’d been living as a beta before she perfumed, hadn’t even left the town she’d grown up in. She didn’t know anything about being an omega or much about alphas when Victor Travis found her. And the things he taught her about alphas and omegas, the ones that I know about at least, are… despicable . We’ve been working to teach her that nothing he told her was true, but it’s been hard for her to forget what she was taught after… after what he did to get her to obey ,” Ma spits out in disgust, and I clench my hands in my lap. “You need to take care if you’re going to pursue anything with her. Don’t hurt her, baby boy.”
The more I learn, the tighter my chest feels as a rage unlike anything I’ve ever experienced engulfs me on Cozette’s behalf. Neither Zeke nor I know what to say after that, and when we leave ten minutes later, declining to stay for dinner even though we both want to, neither of us says a word on the way home. Zeke is no doubt lost in thought about the broken omega my parents have taken in, while I’m still trying to simmer the burning anger in my gut and figure out how I’d feel if our pack grew by more than just an omega.