Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
TALLY
I stare into Rafferty’s eyes, and they are the true definition of windows to your soul. Of course he has a pure, radiant soul too, which makes it damn near impossible to shoot him right in the forehead. I want to. Not really, but at the same time, I can’t believe how stupid he was.
“So now you know the truth.”
I take another sip of water. “Our marriage is not real. It’s a fabrication.”
Ronin is already grinning like a crocodile. “Bullshit, Tally. You are as real as we are, and so is the obvious and instant attraction we share.”
I roll my eyes. Perhaps a little too enthusiastically because my head feels all floaty. But given how tired I am and the bullshit they keep dumping in my lap, I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to be thrown and feel the way I do.
Holding the gorgeous bugger’s stare, because he doesn’t intimidate me, I answer him but include everyone in our discussion since it relates to all of us. “That doesn’t explain why you are locking me in here, Ronin.”
“We are pack. You and Rafferty were both attacked last night. I’m locking us in until you’re both better. Nothing else matters,” Ronin says, getting more serious, and louder, like I’m hard of hearing.
“Again, I respectfully disagree. I have my life, and you have yours. Your life does not include babysitting me. What you do with your Omega isn’t my concern.”
“Goddamn it, you are stubborn,” Tynan hisses, like I stepped on his tail.
My frustration at him rises like a cobra, but where he hides his emotions by using minimal words, I hide mine behind a large smile. “Yeah, well, you’re delusional. Back to letting me out of this apartment—it needs to happen.”
“Fine,” Keegan says.
I swing around and stare him down, not trusting him for a second because he was the one who locked the door in the first place. He’s chuckling under his breath. The smirk on his face only confirms he isn’t going to let me out now.
I roll my eyes. “Right, oh, let’s hear what I have to do before you let me leave.”
He winks, unperturbed at being called out. “You need sleep first and foremost. Then we can talk again. If everyone is on the same page, you get to leave.”
My teeth grind down, my jaw aching with all the smart-arse responses that go off in my head, but anything I say will be pointless so I stay quiet.
Ronin jumps in before Keegan gets to add even more fuel to the fire.
“I promise, Keegan will unlock the door, and your freedom will be returned within twenty-four hours, if you spend that time sleeping, eating, and talking. It’s up to you, and if those things happen and you’re looking a darn sight better than you currently do, it might not even be twenty-four hours. ”
“So, sleep, eat, and talk, what else?” I push because there’s no way it’s that simple. He’s acting too confident, too smug.
The roguish smile on Ronin’s face grows, and it's disarming the way he can flip from churlish Alpha to being so charming. “Wedding ring on your finger, or my guns on you somewhere visible whenever you leave the apartment and a guard with you at all times.”
See? I knew it was an act. His words don’t match his expression. I laugh, like snort so hard I’ve actually got tears in my eyes. But I sober up when I realize I’m the only one laughing. “You’re serious.”
“Deadly,” Ronin says, seeming surprised that I’m surprised. “We’re about to go to war with the arseholes from last night. My family is gathering the troops as we speak.”
“Go fight with them, then.”
“No chance. My family knows I’m here, protecting and fighting for my family,” Ronin argues louder. “I am happy to let you have all the freedom in the world, Tally, but you live with us, you wear our ring and our bites, and you are ours to protect.”
“No.”
“It’s not up for discussion. I will not, I cannot, let one of Noinin’s last wishes become only a memory. She’s gone, but our marriage will be as long-lasting as time itself in her honor.”
“Ronin, don’t do this.”
“It’s done, and been done for years now. You’re an O’Connor.” He folds his hands in his lap like he’s done arguing, but I’m only getting started.
I can’t be trapped here with them. It will bring an end to my search for answers as to what happened to my cousin, plus my chance of maybe looking Oscar in the eye and asking how he could let our family down.
Throw on top of that steaming pile of shit the fact I’m an officer of the law, and my job is to break up families like the O’Connors…
Well, I don’t need to think too hard about what they’ll do to me if they discover that juicy nugget.
I’m completely calm when I speak again. “I can’t.”
Ronin’s back to being his smiley self again. “You already are, darling. And we’ve consummated our union too many times for you to even think of an annulment.”
Shaking my head, I can’t help but argue back. “You have an Omega! Rafferty, you can’t be happy with this. This is your pack!”
“We can talk about that another time, Tally. Have some water, sweetheart. Let’s focus on getting you better.”
I stare at him, Omega to Omega. “Please let me go. I’ll get better. You can’t let them do this. Please, Rafferty.”
“That’s enough for today, Tally!” Ronin’s bark is sudden and unexpected. He doesn’t deliver it with anger and volume, but it still needles me into submission.
I hate the way I respond. All my fight drains, and it’s completely overwhelming how one part of me feels so safe while the other part of me fights against the press of his designation.
In this strange space, my consciousness is altered, but my instincts to protect myself keep pushing on.
After a few slow blinks, a little more of my awareness returns.
It’s hard to properly describe how I feel.
I’m still angry, furious, really, but I’m also okay being here.
I definitely don’t remember unholstering Ronin’s guns or placing them in my lap.
I’d never be so careless with weapons, and I know never to hold them as a threat.
Guns aren’t a joke, they’re serious, and… I look up, and the room spins.
The more I focus on the room righting and stop freaking moving, the more my vision blurs on the periphery. I go to say something, but my words get lost when I realize my mouth feels dry like the desert.
Nothing makes sense until I look up again. Not at the room, at them.
Ronin doesn’t appear spooked by me having his guns in my lap, Tynan’s expression is guilty as shit, and Rafferty is back to appearing angelic, and apologetic. I twist to Keegan, and his arms are already outstretched.
“You drugged me?” My voice sounds weird, and my words come out slurring together.
“Had to, little wife,” Keegan says as I list to the side and slide right off the stool.
“Why?”
“Because we’re arseholes,” he says as he catches me.
I have to concentrate to form my next words. “Can see that.”
Keegan’s arms around me muddy my thoughts more, making me feel safe and secure. “Only because we care.”
When I try to answer, nothing comes out, but that doesn’t stop him from talking.
“I know your bedroom is your special space, and I’m sorry I’m going to be in there with you, but it’s still happening.
I’ll watch over you when you sleep, like a creeper.
If you need anything, you can glare at me and I’ll get it for you, but your peachy arse is not getting out of that bed until I say so.
And let's not pretend I won’t drug you again if need be. ”
The rock of each step he takes makes me even sleepier, and my fight gets weaker and weaker too.
Tynan joins us. Even though he doesn’t use words, I know it’s him.
My traitorous mind relaxes even more, somehow knowing he’ll always be the one to make sure I don’t get waylaid by Alphas wanting their own way.
“Sssshh,” I tell myself, but my mouth doesn’t work, so it comes out like bubbles of air popping.
Tynan is instantly in my line of sight, his hands brushing the hair off my face, his eyes searching mine. Geez, he sure has pretty eyes when there’s no anger in them.
“You’re okay, firecracker.”
The last thing I remember is being snuggly warm, with my favorite blankets wrapped around me. Long, slow, lemon-scented tickles running up and down my face.
When I wake up, it’s clear I’ve been sleeping for a while.
Stretching like a cat, I twist and turn, testing out if my aches and pains are deeper than the result of sleeping in one position for too long.
The television is on in the lounge room, the flickering light and the sounds reminding me of when I used to live with Mom.
I know I’m not alone. And even though I’m very aware of the sneaky fuckers slipping something to knock me out, them being in my apartment doesn’t send my hackles up.
Climbing out of bed, I pad quietly to the bathroom before brushing my teeth, that faintly tastes of chocolate and pepper.
I pull on a hoodie, only realizing after the fact that it’s not mine, and then it stays on for the simple fact I like wearing it.
If Tynan didn’t want me claiming his hoodie as mine, then he shouldn’t have left it here.
Pulling on a pair of my socks, I nearly leave until I see Ronin’s guns are on the dressing table, in full sight.
As my fingers trail over them, I’m not shocked to also find the wedding ring they continue leaving out for me too.
He keeps telling me he wants me to wear one or both of them, so all this is a reminder.
Picking up the ring is like the key to some part of my memories that have been locked up. I heard Ronin’s recount of us being married, but it’s quite different to remembering it myself. I sit on the bed and open myself to it all.
Nearly sixteen and ready for a summer of fun, we arrived at someone’s house, and Uncle Oscar laid down the rules—stay out of trouble and be ready to leave in twenty minutes, tops. He left me and my cousin, Liam, on the driveway while he had an “adults only” meeting inside.