Chapter 16 #2
“You keep kicking and screaming when anyone tries to take Tally from you. I know, it’s freaking me out too. You being all territorial and downright violent towards anyone but your pack.”
“Pfft, you know she’s ours. She always has…” I go to sit up, but Ronin drops his hand on my chest, holding me down.
The way he looks at me, the shine of color in his eyes and the soft run of his fingers as he brushes the hair off my face, makes it even harder to keep my eyes open.
“Sleep, Raff. You’ll feel better when you wake up.”
“Where’s Tally?” It’s even harder to say the words now. Everything is so sluggish, but I fight again to sit up. His hand is getting heavier.
“Right next to you.”
When I wake up, I’ve got no clue how much time has passed, it doesn’t seem important anymore when my eyes open and Tally is next to me.
I snuggle and blur lines, but I’m running on experience and instinct when I press closer. If I woke up in a strange nest, surrounded by a virtual stranger, I’d scream. I just hope I convey how safe she is with my touch and scent.
Propping up on my elbow, I lift the comforter and smile at seeing her in one of my T-shirts.
She’s still got her panties and bra on. Over her side is a large white gauze, the small dots of blood seeping through from the inside indicating either stitches or staples.
Pulling my shirt down to cover her up, I trail my finger over another bandage on her arm before I gingerly touch the small butterfly ones on her face.
A wave of guilt hits. She only got these because of me. I know I’ve got similar bandages covering me, too—honestly, there are probably bruises on bruises—but nothing hurts as bad as my elbow. The more I think about how much I hurt, the more my memories of last night return.
The way my elbow is strapped only confirms the pop I heard was it dislocating. But nothing hurts as much as realizing Tally is out cold because of me.
Before I can fall apart too much, there’s a faint knock. I already know without twisting around that it’s my Alphas.
“Hey,” I whisper, which is “get in here right now” in code.
Ronin and Keegan crawl closer, and I rest my head back down, watching the way they both move. If it was just us, they’d be naked instead of wearing the grey sweats and sexy tight T-shirts. Tynan is the last one in, and he pulls the door shut behind him, locking us in my nest.
I can feel the three of them take a collective breath of relief.
I don’t need to ask if the house is locked up, but after one look at Tally, it’s not an option. “We’re good, right? No one can get in?”
Ronin growls into my ear, biting down on it as an answer. He curls around me and sprawls backwards over a sea of pillows, his decadent peppery-chocolate scent warmed by the shower he recently had.
Keegan and Tynan take a position on the other side of Tally, and the four of us shift until we can all look at her.
“We’re going to freak her out if she wakes up in here,” Kee says quietly, but he doesn’t make a move to give her any space.
My eyes jump to his face to get a better read on him, and my stomach drops. He looks like shit. “Kee, are you hurt? What’s wrong? Roll over so I can see you.”
He reaches over and nabs my hand, squeezing it until I look into his eyes.
“Calm down. It was a big night, is all. You’re still off your tits on meds, but you got beat up pretty bad, Raff.
Same as Tally. Then all the stuff with Daisy.
Singularly, those things don’t sit well with me. All together, and you know…”
I groan quietly. Only because Keegan is our Enforcer. He’s seen bad shit, and lives with it constantly, but for him to say last night was bad means it was bad. I knew it, but it’s always different when someone says it out loud.
Ronin growls against my ear again. “Stop. You did nothing wrong.”
I have to close my eyes, breathing through the warring emotions. “I’m sorry I was useless. I feel so shit not asking if Daisy is okay. You know how much I adore that girl, but…” I come to a stop, all my words drying up.
Kee’s hand brushes my hair back off my face while Ronin squeezes my hip and tries to comfort me too. “You did good protecting our wife, Raff. You’re going to have to share her. You know that, right?”
Like always, I’m instantly calmer. The way these two Alphas can sway my emotions and make me believe them so effortlessly blows my mind but doesn’t surprise me. We’ve always had that instant and electric connection.
Back to Ronin’s question, though. I shake my head, disagreeing, but I twist to smile against his mouth too.
Whatever conversation we were going to have gets lost in a slow kiss, full of reminders of how important we are to each other.
He stops, letting me breathe, but he also makes a space for Keegan to reach over and do the same.
“Came too close to losing you today, Raff.” Keegan’s breath blows in my mouth, and more of the anxiety I didn’t realize I was still holding releases. “Did you eat?”
I nod, and he looks down at Tally in the space between us before slumping backwards, his arm bending behind his head.
He looks tired. Exhausted, really, and I pull up the oversized blanket so it covers all of us.
The lighting in my nest is soft, and the reassuring scents of my pack, and the actual feel of Tally pressed against me, has me fighting to stay awake.
I don’t want to miss a second of this. Us all together.
Finally, after so many years. We’ve got so much to talk about, but now isn’t the time.
Behind me, Ronin’s breathing slows, while in front of me, Keegan’s on his side, watching me and Tally until his eyes finally shut.
Above him, I can see Tynan already asleep. We’re all together. We’re safe.
The smell of pack surrounds me, warmth from them seeping into my bones and chasing out the cold reality that this nearly didn’t happen. It might be minutes or hours that I think over that very real possibility, but when I roll over, I come face-to-face with Tally. And she’s awake.
Her eyes are open. In them, I can see her emotions but also the medication still affecting her thoughts. She watches me carefully, like a mouse does a cat.
“You’re okay. I promise, Tally. We couldn’t hurt you at all.”
She looks at me some more, and I wonder if my words are registering or if she’s more medicated than I thought.
Her hand lifts, shaking like a leaf as she stretches over the small space between us.
She’s all out of sorts; nothing is smooth in her movement, including her breathing, and her eyes jump between my face and my hair.
“How did you hair grow back so fast?”
I smile, already knowing she hasn’t figured out that Tynan and I are two people. Thank God she at least recognizes me, or that would have been super awkward.
“It didn’t.” My hand holds her fingers in my hair, and a purr bubbles up from my chest. The sensation of her fingers combing through my hair is heavenly. My very tangled hair. But seriously, it could be on fire, and the only thing I’d notice was Tally’s consuming touch.
She stills. Her fingers come to a complete stop as she looks around, trying to figure out where she is. “Am I dreaming?” she asks after a few moments.
“No, Tally. You’re not dreaming, this is real. You’re home with us.”
“With you? You’re not making sense.” She goes to sit up, but her eyes bug out. A loud whimper of pain follows, and she starts to panic.
As Ronin sits up behind me, her eyes fly to him, and the panic in her eyes flares to all-out terror. She grits her teeth and sits up, which costs her dearly, judging by the sheen of fear coating her skin.
“Where am I?”
“Not Genoa,” Ronin says, moving me up to sitting too and shifting me out of the way. Carefully. “Slow down, Omega. You are safe. We won’t hurt you.”
His voice is heavily weighted by his dominance, making it impossible for her to ignore what he’s saying. And he keeps talking, explaining what’s going on. “You were working the event behind the bar. Do you remember that?”
She doesn’t move a muscle, but you can see she’s listening. He goes on. “You saw us there and recognized us too. Didn’t you?”
He’s being a little patronizing, but at the same time, he’s doing a great job giving her information, reminding her she’s safe. “You remember what happened after you saw us?”
A small nod.
“You risked your own safety to help those people escape from the back. And you rescued a little girl. Do you remember her? She has flame-red hair and crazy curls. Exactly like her sisters, and her mother. The family who got to see her again because you risked yourself to get her out.”
She swallows before taking a large, shaky inhale. She’s listening and aware, but I’m still not sure how much is actually registering.
“That was Daisy.”
“Named after Noinin,” she whispers. Her voice is so soft, you can barely hear it. It’s the exact moment I know Tally is aware.
“Do you remember what happened next?”
Without answering him, she roams her gaze all over my body, including all the places she can’t see.
Ronin keeps talking softly to her. “You apparently weren’t content with saving one of the most importantpeople to our pack and family, you had to save two.”
“Huh?”
“Daisy O’Connor is my niece.”
There’s a vacuum of noise before her eyes go impossibly bigger and her distress bubbles out of her as fast as her words. “Her guard! She said it was her guard! He took her…”
Ronin goes to reach for her. “We know who it was. He won’t live long once we’ve found him.” He stops moving and speaking when she starts to shrink in on herself.
Tally’s hands cover her face, like it’s all a bit too much. And it would be. She’s surrounded by people who feel like strangers to her, in my nest, hurt and completely at our mercy. Her movements stop when she’s looking down at herself.
I felt shit before, but the realization of what I must have insisted—bringing her in here—only exacerbates the feeling ten times over.
One of Ronin’s hands rubs over my shoulder. But my distress has Keegan moving, too, and Tally freezes when she realizes even more men surround her.
“You’ve still got your bra and panties on,” I say, watching her but not looking at her face.
Ronin takes over. “The doctor had to cut your top off, gave you seven stitches to your side too. The stab wound missed major organs but is going to take a while to heal. There’s medication for you, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory, on the island.”
Dropping her hands, she turns, and I thought she looked panicked before, but now more than ever, you can see she’s going to run.
And the way her fear and confusion twists through her peach scent makes my chest squeeze.
It takes a few moments that seem like hours, but after staring at Keegan, then Tynan, she finally looks back at us. I have to drop my eyes from hers; I can’t handle what I see in them.
“My apartment has the same layout as yours. Exactly the same,” I offer, unable to hide the devastation from my voice. I want to argue with her that she should trust us, that she should stay, but I also can’t bear to be the reason she’s so overwhelmed.
Her lips purse together, and she takes a series of slow inhales and exhales before her eyes drift downwards.
Without another word, not even a small look at any of us, she starts to move. It’s painful to watch, and each small movement makes her face twist in discomfort, but the fear filling my nest means no one says or does a thing to help.
Tally stumbles to her feet, a small whine escaping. Or maybe it’s a sob. It resonates through my nest like a living creature. Her hand shakes as she finds the wall, and she doesn’t turn around to see where the doorknob is, because she doesn’t trust us.
I try not to move, but my stomach lurches.
Ronin’s touch presses firmer against my back, and it saves me from hurling.
The lock disengages, and she opens the door only wide enough to pass through. As soon as she disappears from view, Keegan is on his feet. He turns on the monitors, and we all watch as Tally uses the wall to keep her upright as she hobbles away.
She walks straight past the kitchen and nearly to the front door before she half collapses. Her arms curl around herself as she slumps against the wall, barely able to hold herself up. But she still goes back to the kitchen to get the tablets before moving even slower to the front.
Her hand slides off the door on the first and second try. Ronin is there before she even has the energy to try for the third time.
It’s easy to see him talking to her, but it’s impossible to hear. My heart swells with pride in the next moment—for both of them—when he swoops her off her feet. He opens the door effortlessly, and I want to scream, “stop, come back,” as our front door closes after them.
The simple action of the door closing hollows my insides and has me scrambling for my pack.