Page 16 of Her Knotty Alphas

My brows furrow as I stare at my phone. What photo? But more importantly…

Me

You knew he was coming here and didn't think to give me a heads up?

As expected, my brother had been pissed after he found out about my relationship with Charlie, even if it was after I left. He doesn't know why we ended, just that I was heartbroken enough to leave our hometown of Laguna Falls. Not that he didn't try to find out if he should fuck up the other alpha big time or just a little bit, but after a rather dramatic video call where I called him, screaming at him to not embarrass me more than I alreadyhad been…he relented. Less than a year later the two of them were back to being buddies, and I let it go, since I was three hours away and wanted nothing more than to forget that Charlie Williams ever existed.

Then he shows up here. Calling me "mags" and looking at me like I hung the moon.

As if.

My phone vibrates with my brother's answer, and I stuff my face with another spoon of ice cream to see what he has to say for himself.

Kieren

You guys need to get your shit together. Was I weirded out when we were kids? Hell yeah. But it's obvious the guy is still in love with you.

I let out a muffled scream as I suppress the urge to throw my phone across the car. Charlie was never in love with me. I was simply a placeholder until he found his real omega. Isawthe texts. Cat made damn sure of that.

I'm not even going to grace him with a response.

Maybe I shouldn't have blocked Charlie's social media accounts. Then I would have known he was being traded and been more prepared to see him.

My phone buzzes with another text, but it's not my brother.

Speak of the bitch.

Cat

Don't ignore me, Hannah. We need to talk.

Fuck. Deciding I'm already in a shit mood, I figure I should listen to the voicemails my step-sisters left. It can't get any worse, right?

Less than a minute later, Cat's shrieking voice fills the speakers of my car and I wince, turning it down.

"You conniving little bitch!"My brows shoot up as she keeps going."How the hell did you get that old bat to give you everything?"I nearly drop the phone. Everything? That can't be right. There's no way Nana wouldn't have given her biological granddaughterssomething."One damn dollar! That's what Birdie, Rue and I got! Not a penny more!"

Oh.

A man's voice is quiet in the background and she cuts off, before snapping,"Don't fuckingtouchme, Roland!"Then she starts speaking into the phone again."You're going to give us what we're owed, Hannah! You aren't even related to her!"The call cuts off, and I'm left staring slack-jawed at the phone. Nana left me…everything? Why would she do that?

Well, now that I think about it, it's notthatsurprising, considering I'm the one who's been with her the last twelve years. Birdie, Cat, and Rue hadn't called for a birthday, texted to check on her after her hip surgery six years ago, or even sent a freaking Christmas card the last twelve years.

Nana may not have been my biological grandmother, but she was my grandma in every way that counted. You would think that her own son would make sure his kids were checking in with her, but not even Mom and Paul have been in contact as much as they should have.

I don't know what it is, but Mom changed when she married Paul. Mine and Kieran's dad always had a way of bringing the world around us to life, letting us live in the moment. But then he died in a car accident when I was seven, and Mom met Paul two years later. True, he did bring her out of her depression, but she didn't come out of it the same person.

Not in a way to where I would say grief changed her, but she stopped caring about the things that used to matter the most. Family dinners were no longer a priority. Her hair appointments were more important than coming to my dance recitals.

The first time Cat caught me crying in my room after Mom missed my first solo performance, she told me to quit crying, it's not like her parents ever came to her violin recital. Kieran had been there, and told her to cut it out, and I know that it bothered him that she didn't care about his baseball games anymore. It might have been different if she was so lost in her grief that she couldn't function, but no. She was just lost in Paul.

I can't say I can blame her for it either, broken bonds have killed the omegas left behind. If she had other bonds besides Dad's, it might have been different. They could have grounded her. But she and Dad were a single alpha-omega pair. I don't want to think about what would have happened if Paul hadn't come along. She may never have come out of her depression, and I'd rather have a slight absentee mom than no mom at all.

Shaking my head, I turn off my phone screen and drop it on the passenger seat, opting to finish my ice cream and wallow in peace. That is, until a car pulls into the space next to me. I eye the blacked out SUV curiously until a pack, complete with giggling omega and smirking alphas, get out of the vehicle, laughing and roughhousing as they walk into the ice cream shop together.

Fucking hell.

It's only when I see one of the alphas press a kiss to the pretty omegas forehead before another one hand-feeds her a sample of ice cream do I lose it, stifling a sob.

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