Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
RONIN
M y wife sits like a statue beside me.
Tally met my mother with a wide smile on her face, laughing, even, when Daisy refused to let her put her down when Ma moved in for a hug. Her confidence wavered when she turned to Da, and Daisy did get put down then.
She read the moment properly and gave Paddy O’Connor the respect he deserves.
Which Paddy returned in spades. Tally is, after all, a hero to our family, saving Daisy the way she did, but it’s also Tally’s connection back to Noinin that gives her a head start in our family.
It won’t buy her favors, but it should mean she gets a better welcome than she received from Paddy O’Connor’s inner circle.
Paddy O’Connor has sat at head of the Irish Mafia since before I was born.
He never took a pack, and there’s certainly no requirement for anyone in power to have a pack behind him.
What Paddy has is my mother. Jeanie O’Connor is a strong woman.
A fierce protector of our family. The two of them have forged a name for themselves together.
Then, exactly like you would see in any successful organization, Paddy has at his disposal a group of trusted men who act on his behalf in certain situations—his inner circle. Ultimately, though, decisions and responsibility rest with Paddy. And Jeanie.
If I find out Paddy whispered in Father O’Leary’s ear about the importance of loyalty, I better also find out his intention was to silence the discontent of those closest to him. And not an attempt at passively threatening my wife.
I wouldn’t put it past him.
She’s locked up tight, even her scent has all but disappeared.
Father O’Leary’s gaze sweeps through the nave and settles on Tally as he speaks. “Without loyalty, we are not truly living righteously as God expects nor are we serving others devotedly.”
“That’s fucking it. We’re going,” I hiss at Keegan, who’s sitting on the other side of Tally.
“Ssh,” Tally says without moving a muscle. Her gaze is locked on the clergy standing before us, her face devoid of emotion as she assesses Father O’Leary while he openly stares at my wife.
Once he looks to the rest of his congregation, she squeezes my hand, drawing me out of thoughts about filling Father O’Leary full of bullets.
Keegan is reading the room the same as I am—all these fuckers are trying to intimidate our wife.
Trying to get her to leave our side. Keegan’s scent is bitter, and people in the pews behind us are anxiously shuffling in their seats as a result.
She goes to grab his hand, but Keegan’s got other intentions about what needs doing.
Before he does it, though, he touches her hand softly.
In the middle of Father O’Leary’s sermon on loyalty and the sin of those who are not, Keegan stands. He draws more of the focus from the clergy, waving at people who are turning to see what’s going on.
For a second, I’m worried to look at my father, considering he’s a devout religious man, and this is God’s time. But I misjudged my father. Instead of anger, there’s only respect on his face, because as important as our organization is, family is something equally worth fighting for.
It seems, though, the rest of his inner circle doesn’t feel the same. While my da is nothing but supportive, the patronizing distaste that paints the expressions on his most trusted is quite the opposite.
Keegan doesn’t miss seeing it, either. It only adds more fuel to his showboating.
Keegan’s got the eye of the congregation on him, and he doesn’t rush the moment because of it, either.
He removes his suit jacket and places it around Tally’s shoulders.
Then, as if to emphasize the fact he’s armed—which is not something Paddy generally allows in God’s house—and ready to protect, he rolls his neck and twists around, letting every fucking man, woman, and child attending Mass know who has his loyalty.
When he sits down, he keeps making his intentions known, curling his arm around her shoulders. With his free hand, he grabs her, sliding closer so there’s no space between him and her. There are no mixed signals to anyone watching; Keegan is publicly laying claim to Tally.
She’s fucking mortified, but she is also accepting of what he did, and why.
Tally knows exactly what he did, declaring very publicly where his loyalty sits, and when I lean down and kiss her forehead to reinforce the message, she sighs but also scents for me.
My parents do the same—reinforce the message, that is.
Jeanie has stars in her eyes that she doesn’t hide when she looks at Tally and my pack.
My father nods his head, a grand gesture for him.
I immediately return the nod, my pack, and my wife, following suit collectively, reiterating our loyalty to him.
But now the world knows our wife is equally important.
I get this is what she’s been avoiding, but realistically, her being an unknown in our world was never going to happen. Much like, my pack and I were and are never going to let her walk away. Our destiny was foreseen by an angel who graced our lives for a few short years.
Genoa was a sweet reminder of what was coming. Tally arriving in Ireland and booking one of our properties was fate. And only a stupid man would run from his fate. Even when said man had manipulated a whole lot of everything to get his wife home.
“Nearly done, Tally girl,” I offer, as Father O’Leary’s sermon finally starts to wrap up.
She turns slightly, looking at me before her eyes jump to Rafferty.
I slide my hand up her face, pulling her focus from everyone else. “He’s fine. Everyone is more worried about you.”
Tally rolls her eyes.
But since I have her attention, I ask the question that’s been bugging me nonstop. “Why’d you take a blocker today?”
“Because I knew it would be a shit show. From where I’m sitting, Ronin, there’s some rather obvious hostility in the ranks that’s being thrown my way.” Her eyes jump to where my father’s most loyal are sitting.
I question her with a challenging stare.
“Everyone knows what I look like now, and they don’t need to know my scent.
Today’s sermon and me being here is going to be a red flag that those with nefarious intentions or a guilty conscience are going to exploit.
Mark my word, our relationship is about to be tested.
So, yeah, keeping my scent safe from the dogs pretending to be good God-loving folk is the least I’ll be doing. ”
“You’ll be resigning from your job, then?”
She laughs under her breath, pulling a face as she tries to contain the volume.
“No chance. You need me there more than ever. I didn’t realize Arthur Kelly was so close to your father.
He, along with every person in the row behind your parents, have been at The Shamrock or O’Malley’s, bitching about the O’Connors being done. ”
I grin at her, feigning surprise. “Is that so?”
Tally shakes her head, seeing straight through my act like she usually does. “As if you didn’t know.”
“You’re right. I did. Makes you working there more of a risk.”
“Incorrect. No one has made a song and dance about it. Although, that was when we were doing the whole discreet thing.” Her lush lips pull into a tight line. She doesn’t need to add anything more. I know I changed everything by asking her to attend Mass with us while wearing our ring.
“There certainly are some people getting vocal about it not being right that Paddy will be announcing me as his heir and stepping aside very soon. But it’s the reason I was born, Tally.
Nothing they do or say is going to change that happening.
Mark my words, our pack will be sitting on that front pew soon enough.
And you, our darling wife, will be in the center of us. ”
“Because of Noinin.”
“Along with about hundred or so other reasons.”
A faint line of uncertainty sits on her pretty face. So, I lean down and whisper in her ear some of those reasons to try to get her a little more confident in her belief.
“Wife, let me list the reasons for you.”
She digs her nails into my hand and hisses, “Wait until after Mass.”
“No. God will wait for us. He understands sometimes a man needs to make his wife understand more than listening to one of God's own men drone on and on.”
She goes to pull away, but I hold her close.
“First, you’re our scent match. Second, we’re your scent matches.”
She laughs, but I ain’t finished. “Plus, Tally girl, you take my knot like no other. I’m going to take a photo of you on my knot so you get where I’m coming from.”
“Ronin,” she growls under her sweet breath. A blush taints her cheeks, amplifying her beauty and her spirit. “We’re in church!”
“We’ve not committed a sin. We’re married. So, talking about seeing my wife on my cock isn’t going to offend. Besides, you’re the one needing reassurance about our faith in you. Keegan, Rafferty, and Tynan would say the same thing. If you gave them a chance.”
Emotion burns in her green eyes, and she clamps her jaw, trying not to answer.
Keegan pokes our little bear some more. “It’s true, Tal.”
“What is?” She swings around, baring her teeth at him.
“You do look mighty fine on Ronin’s knot, but you look better on mine.” He sits back once he’s done making our wife blush even more, though he doesn’t feign innocence, in appearance or scent.
Both Kee and I clamp a hand on her knee to stop her escape. She needs to get used to being told by her Alphas she’s desirable. We plan on ravishing this Omega with our attention, plus everything we own, much more than she’s currently allowing us.
She goes back to pretending to listen to Father O’Leary’s sermon. At least now, we’ve given her more than loyalty to think about.
Turning to Rafferty, I find him smiling at me, and of course I spoke to one Omega loud enough so the other could hear. He’s completely in on how we’ve done everything with Tally to date, as is Tynan.
Although, it’s not hard to see our Beta is working through some heavy shit this morning.
His detachment makes his lemon scent even more subtle than it usually is.
But no matter how hard he tries, he can’t stop his focus from gravitating to our gorgeous, blushing bride.
I know without asking, he’s fallen hard and fast for Tally. Same as us, but slightly different too.
At fucking last, Mass ends, and the congregation whispers “thanks be to God” as Father and his entourage head towards the entrance doors to bless everyone on their way out.
Following behind him are my parents, then my sisters and their families. Usually, I let Paddy’s inner circle go before us, only because I don’t trust the fuckers at my back, but today, I flick my head at Keegan for him to move.
The rest of my family, it seems, have also had a gutful of the disrespect we’ve been receiving recently, and they hold everyone back so Keegan, Tally, and I stand behind Da and Ma today.
Talking loudly without using any words, they throw their support around my pack as the incoming rulers of this world.
Tally’s feet drag, but I guide her with a firmer hand. “It’s how it is.”
I can see everything in her big green eyes; the war she constantly fights, the secrets she’s intent on holding tight, and the longing.
“Wear my ring, he says,” she growls under her breath, talking to herself again. It’s something she does more than she realizes. Pretty similar to how she lets herself occasionally get lost in us before she gets pulled back away by whatever is holding her back.
I’ll keep pulling her into us too. I have no qualms about manipulating her and whatever situation needs because Tally will be ours.
If I didn’t see that pining in her eyes, I didn’t scent her craving for us the way she does, I’d let her go.
But I won’t back off. Her inner demons are just another name on my list of those enemies I’ll be slaying.
Tally rolls her shoulders back, raising her chin and leveling me out with another of her looks—challenge and submission—twisting through her green jeweled gaze, making my chest hammer.
I witness her decision and see the cost in her eyes. She thinks she’s losing something, but I’m about to hand her the keys to our fucking world.
She doesn’t move an inch, making everyone wait longer, and only when Rafferty stands next to her, Keegan and I shuffling forward to make room for them and Tynan taking point at the back, does she move. Making her own statement—two Alphas to protect, one Beta at her back who she trusts.
A wave of pride sweeps through me at her obvious play.