Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
KEEGAN
T he alerts on my phone are going off like fireworks, shit is going down, and I need to get out and help. But not until Tally is looking more like Tally and less like she’s about to run for the hills.
It’s hard not to rush over and pick her up; it’s a fight to sit still and let her come to us. Every muscle in my body twitches in eagerness, and a sheen of rage coats my skin from thinking of what she’s been through. It’s not fucking right.
“Kee, you have to relax.” Rafferty reaches over and squeezes my thigh.
Looking up at him should have the noise inside rippling away to nothing, but seeing his blue eyes so listless, the bruises on his face getting more pronounced by the minute, only blackens my mood.
Two Omegas to protect now, and both of them are as battered and bruised as the other. Failure eats at me. We should have been protecting them, not the other way round.
Honestly, the only thing bringing me peace right now is knowing our Omegas are locked inside one of the safest, most secure buildings in Ireland. I should know, since I watched over every inch being built.
She walks out, and I’m on my feet, glaring at the world one minute, staring in wonder the next. Her hair is done, she’s got makeup on, and her lips are set in a hard line, making my blood bubble—for so many goddamn reasons.
“Well, being pissed is a new look for you,” she sasses as she passes.
Guess I didn’t stop glaring. And I probably do it some more when she parks her butt on the farthest stool in the kitchen.
The one closest to the door.
“For fuck’s sake,” I hiss, dragging her seat to the other side of where I had mine.
My outburst comes like a clap of thunder, and no one misses it.
I check on the others. Ronin, of course, is on the verge of laughing.
His smirk is as obvious as her peachy scent mixed with his deep chocolate one.
He currently looks even cockier than usual.
Admittedly, he’s sitting in only his towel, and both our Omegas keep throwing glances like they’re ready to crawl up on his lap.
Tynan is silent. His blank expression gives nothing away about how he’s feeling.
Except his tell is as loud as a megaphone—his fists keep clenching and unclenching, regular like clockwork.
At least he’s as wound up as I am, something that makes me relax, actually.
Well, not relax. Maybe dial back is more apt.
I look at Rafferty, and out of all of us, he’s obviously the most uncomfortable.
Like his twin, he’s shifting and twisting his hands, confirming his anxiety.
And he’s keening for comfort from one of his Alphas, but without asking, I know his biggest issue is Tally.
He’s not his normal self, and neither is his scent.
Usually, his sage and crushed sugar scent is vibrant and full of joy, but right now, like him, it is hollow and flat.
Without knowing Tally the way you know a person after years and years of time spent together, I’m also already attuned to her.
It’s been like this since the second I met her.
Right now, her emotions whip around her like a wild storm, full of conflict and rage, packing a punch and fueling my protective urges.
Throw in the fact Ronin’s rich dark chocolate is all over her like a fine mist, enhancing her peachy scent, making her smell like pack and I’m having trouble keeping my head in the game as opposed to locking her away in my room. To keep her safe. And bend her over.
She clears her throat, dragging me out of my psychoanalyzing of every fucking detail. Her eyes are locked on my face, but her gaze only flitters on mine like she’s afraid I’m going to rip her free will from her.
“And that fuck’s sake was because you realized what a dick move it was locking us all together?” Her voice is dipped low, like she’s been fucked long and hard all night and her voice ruined by the sensual passion she’s been lost in.
I shake my head, trying to clear her sultry voice from my thoughts. The attempt is futile. I’m a sucker for anything I can get from her. Though her anger, not so much. For a woman her size, she’s got a presence more commanding than Ronin, who was born a fucking Alpha.
“Earth to…”
Standing up and crowding in close, I hold my hand out. “Keegan. And don’t act like you don’t know me, because we know that ain’t true. I got well and truly acquainted with every inch of your body in Italy.”
I thought she’d recoil, but her hand comes out for mine. Her touch is like a live wire on my skin, but the wee minx ain’t finished reminding me of her hold over me. The devil woman reaches forward, waiting for me to kiss her cheeks.
I do.
I get lost in the way she brings my senses alive with her peachy perfume as she talks quietly against the shell of my ear. “Tally, but you already know that. Want to introduce me to the rest of the pack, then, Keegan?”
She purrs my name, and under my breath I whisper, “for fuck’s sake” again. No one misses it for the second time, either. I want to press her body to mine, drop my arm over her shoulders, and breathe her in, but instead, I sit back down, getting encouraging looks from everyone.
She’s snake charming me, and I should bark at her to stop, but Ronin didn’t, so I’m not about to miss out on her attention. I point out everyone as I go around the room. “Ronin, our pack Alpha. Tynan, our Beta. And Rafferty, our Omega.”
She hums in agreement, like it brings her pleasure as I do the introductions. Before she leans around so I can’t ignore looking her in the eye, making those green eyes of hers the only thing I can see.
“So how about, Keegan,” she purrs my name, “you explain to me why, when you’ve already got an Omega who wears scars on his throat like a diamond necklace, you need to keep me locked in here.
” She takes a pause, her mouth pouting a bit, before she goes on.
“Or you could explain the reason you broke into the first Airbnb I had.”
“Didn’t break in,” Ronin adds like a right langer.
She ignores him, staring intently at me. “I told you, or whoever it was, I didn’t feel great about that, yet it happened again last night. So, you’ve been corralling me here for a reason, but, sunshine, you forgot to share that reason with me.”
“We’re married.” Ronin again adds himself to our semi-private conversation. There’s no mistaking the cheer in his voice, and I seriously consider if I should send him out of the room.
She doesn’t stop staring at me, even as her eyes squint at his words.
“If you’re talking about what happened on St. Patrick’s Day, we’re all well aware of the reason I said I was your wife.
It was ridiculous two Alphas couldn’t be stand-up men and let those two itty-bitty women know you weren’t interested.
” She mocks the both of us with her words and her tone.
“You had a ring on your finger, and we consummated our marriage more than a few times over,” Ronin says, his humor falling away. “But if that moment wasn’t real enough, then how about you think a little further back, darling wife.”
“To when?” she smarts back, her lips pulling tight.
“Eleven years ago, give or take.”
Interestingly, her eye twitches like she remembers some of that time, but she turns to him for more of an explanation.
“You showed up at my family’s house, just appeared from nowhere. A little girl basically pounced on you.”
“Noinin,” she answers, her face draining of color. “Daisy’s aunt.”
“My baby sister. I’d, no we’d , all promised her we’d be a part of whatever she wanted to do that day. She dressed up for the occasion, she’d gathered everything she needed from her treasure trove, and you walked in with an older boy.”
“My cousin.” Her eyes are glassy, her voice coming from a faraway place.
I stand up, but she doesn’t register the movement, confirming what I initially thought—that she’s been dragged backwards through time as her memories come to life.
Ronin looks at me. His smile is gone, replaced by his grief, but he pushes on because, while it’s gut wrenching Noinin isn’t with us anymore, you can’t think of that kid and not get swept up in the beautiful, free-spirited way she loved life.
“She wanted a wedding because she saw it in her sleep. Our Noinin was a dreamer, for sure, but I swear she had the gift, too, which makes what she did all the more real.”
Watching Tally sway in front of me, I want to hold her tight and be with her in that strange place she’s at—half here and half lost to the scene playing out in her head.
All of us are watching her like a hawk, none of us missing the exact moment she reaches the part where his comments, our comments, really, make a fuck ton more sense.
“I close my eyes, and I’m there with my sister's spirit. She’s so alive, I swear I hear her in my head. Her voice is like the wind, so whimsical but real too. ‘Heart to heart and hand to hand, confirming this our Sacred Vow.’”
Tally’s lips are moving as she recites them herself. A soft smile settles on her face, and her scent gets impossibly sweeter. Until something breaks the moment and her eyes slam shut, her scent vacuuming from the room.
She’s back, but she’s shut down a part of her and I don’t yet know why. As her husband, and her Alpha, clearly, it’s my role to know. For the time being, though, my focus stays on what I can control.
I push a stool loudly over the floor toward her, and she all but collapses onto it. She reaches and grabs one of the water bottles Tynan has ready, going for one that also contains hydrolytes and vitamin supplements. I feel his sigh of relief.
Tally downs half the bottle, then grabs one of the protein rich snacks he always has around. She takes a bite and looks down at it before leaving it on the plate, proving my point she’s my dream girl because I’m not the only one here who thinks they taste like shit too.
After another sip of water, she looks at Ronin, ready to keep talking about our marriage.
“Daisy mentioned your sister had passed. I’m really sorry for that.
And this isn’t me being a bitch, because I completely understand you want to keep your sister alive, but involving me is a bit of a stretch, wouldn’t you say? ”
“Nay, I’d not be saying that in the least, Tally. She knew, and if she was alive, she’d be right here, confirming we’re married too.”
“Ronin, she was a kid! We were kids! We’re not married.” The end of her sentence is spaced up for emphasis.
“I’m with Ronin, I disagree entirely,” I pipe up, finding my voice.
She swings around, her eyes filling with all them emotions again. “Fine, if you truly believe we’re married, prove it. Show me the paperwork.”
A quiet descends over all of us as my pack and I collectively turn to stare at Rafferty, waiting for him to explain.
His blush makes the tips of his ears pink. The heat also amplifies the sweaty, heady notes of his sage and sugar scent.
Rafferty is not fucking shy at all, but getting ready to explain to her how very fucking married we are, he bites his lip nervously.
“Wow,” she says quietly. “You? What did you do? Clearly you did something, since you can’t look at me in the face right now.”
“Don’t be like that, Tally.” Tynan’s not a right prick when he speaks, but he's not being kind either. Ronin's hackles rise, and her hand reaches as if to comfort him, but she rests it on her leg when she realises.
“I wasn’t…” she stammers.
But her backtracking, and his twin backing him, gives Raff the boost he needed. “We were eighteen, and as a joke, I did an online course to become a registered Solemnizer.”
“What?”
“Look, we did lots of stupid shit back then. Ronin’s an accredited Angel Card Reader, and Keegan…”
She holds her hand up, stopping Rafferty from going further. After a quick exhale, she talks softer, less sassy. “Tell me. Please.”
“In the eyes of the law, our wedding is legit because I’m a marriage celebrant.”
Her eyes blank, her voice emotionless as she speaks. Kind of like she’s reached her breaking point. “We didn’t do the notification or fill out the necessary forms, and I was underage.”
Raff pulls a face, probably not intentional, but him being an open book is exactly who he is.
“Well, some of the stupid shit we did might have included forging signatures, filling out necessary forms, and pretending to be your guardian, but Noinin was the driving force. I think we all forgot about it because Noinin was abducted soon after, and the official marriage certificate showed up months later. I was shocked, so Kee did some digging for me, and the five of us are legally married and have been since that day. It’s registered with the Civil Registration Service. ”