“I see no issue with that,” Keegan hisses, storming over to the weapons cabinet and adding another knife to his personal arsenal.
“I’m no betting man, but Tally’s tracker is not moving and Kelly having his throat cut from ear to ear are connected. I’ll be forever changing families tonight if she’s hurt. And that includes my own flesh and blood. Paddy shoulda removed Arthur from our world years ago. We’ve been warning him too long about the fucking games at play.”
“True about all you said, Ronin. Des would agree with us knowing something is amiss but also about us being men of our word. If he could talk, that is.”
Both Ronin and Keegan fall into focusing on getting Rafferty ready. No one talks—we don’t really need to—and I pass over the weapons I had ready for my brother, leaving them to help him dress and arm him. They won’t leave until they both feel he’s adequately protected. It’s an Alpha thing, and considering I’ve just smashed their heat and told them our Omega is missing, they’re going to be obnoxiously protective and obsessively challenging everything that happens from here on out.
Leaving them fussing over my brother, I line up travel flasks full of coffee for Ronin and Keegan and an oversized one of hot chocolate for Raff. Not the normal tin stuff. No, Rafferty’s post-heat treat is luxurious and silken melted chocolate imported from Belgium. I hope we get the chance to spoil Tally like this. It’s a balance, giving my brother everything he deserves whiledealing with a deep rage that’s rendering it harder to stay polite and amicable the more time passes.
Rafferty is careful not to be dismissive of the way his Alphas are doting, but nonetheless, he hurries them on. No doubt, his anxiety is made worse because of our twin bond, where he’s also dealing with my impatience.
He turns so Keegan can tighten the custom holster Keegan had made for my brother but is dancing on his feet, dragging us closer to the door too.
“Do we look at Paddy for this? O’Leary’s talk on loyalty seems more targeted than ever now.” Keegan’s voice is deeper than usual, full of the similar emotions we’re all dealing with.
“As far as I’m concerned, we assume everyone is guilty unless proven innocent. I’m not fart-arsing around today, playing handsy because of alliances I had no say in. Any person we question will be given two chances. They choose to lie to me, then the second time they open their mouths will be to beg for mercy.”
Unsurprisingly, none of us has an issue with Ronin’s stance. And while I’m mostly sure Paddy, and Jeanie, aren’t involved, I’m not going to vindicate them of their involvement until the doubt I’m currently feeling is gone.
Locking the apartment down, we step into the lift, and as it starts to descend, I hear them all release a long, hard sigh.
Keegan’s phone rings, and Rafferty keeps a calming hand on his Alpha as Keegan’s stress leaks through his scent, making all the warmth in it disappear completely. Even the temperature in the lift drops.
“Black, tell your mutts to keep their voices down. I can hear them from here, already arguing you don’t owe us nothing. You do. You’ve been rats for us forever and a day. And since you’ve been accepting our money, it’s a sign you are owned. Wouldn’t ya agree?” Keegan’s accent is thicker than usual, his Irish gettinghard to understand even for me. He takes a large breath, letting it blow slowly out through his clenched jaw. “I don’t give a fuck if you’re talking to the Taoiseach or God himself, you’ll come when I tell ya. If you make me wait, we’re at war.”
Keegan hangs up and slips his phone into his tactical pants pocket as the door opens, cracking his neck before speaking. “Black will be meeting us for a debrief once he’s finished pretending he knows how to run an investigation. There was an anonymous tip to police headquarters on Arthur’s killing.”
Ronin’s lip twists into a menacing smile, and he claps his hand over Keegan’s shoulder but looks back to include us too. “Let’s go find Tally girl.”
Rafferty takes the driver's seat, Keegan climbing into the passenger seat. I sit behind Keegan and Ronin behind Raff, and as my brother does a quick check we’re all belted in, the rest of us get on with our own tasks.
I pair my phone with the computer in the car, and the small blue dot is visible to everyone. It blinks on the screen with each pulse her transmitter gives out. I’m sure she won’t be thrilled with discovering how we’re able to find her so fast, but there’s not one person in our pack that has any regrets about getting the doctor who came to fix her after she was stabbed to insert it, either.
Keegan’s iPad is clipped next to the car’s computer screen. From his device is a street view of where we’re going. A rental truck blocks a lot of the view of the row houses. The truck itself isn’t cause for alarm; this side of the city has a huge transient population because of the council estate terraces. They’re cheap and in need of repair. Unless you had a reason or a terrible drug habit, you wouldn’t choose to venture here, which has us all worried, because why the fuck is Tally here?
A text hits my phone, and the news of Tally's guards being found shot in the back of their heads isn’t a surprise, given theirloyalty to us. It’s fucking gut-wrenching and infuriating, though, only adding to the growing storm were all traversing. “Our boys watching Tally have been found. I’ll call through with our condolences to their loved ones.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
TALLY
Asearing beam of light aimed right into my face makes it impossible for me to see, and the headphones shoved over my ears make it hard to hear. I’m basically blind and deaf. All of me aches, my side feels like I’ve been stabbed again, and the restraints dig into my wrists and ankles. And every inhale ruins my sense of smell because they’ve sprayed a scent blocker in my face, made even more destabilizing because there’s a glob of something under my nostrils, and the only thing I can breathe is peppermint. It has to be an essential oil or something, the fumes alone stinging my eyes.
They’ve robbed me of all my senses intentionally. I want to say it’s a good sign they’ll be letting me go, but that could be me being overly optimistic.
I know I’m not alone. I felt the vibration of their arrival through the soles of my bare feet. The frigid cold seeping up from the concrete floor, though, is going to take that sensation from me soon too.
Resting is hard, given the situation, but I try because when the time comes, I’m running. Visualizing what I’ll do to these faceless twats keeps me busy and doesn’t let my anxiety fester.
It doesn’t feel like long, but with all my senses blown, it might be hours or days before the light is moved off my face and the headphones ripped off my head. A bucket of icy water is thrown over me. It leaves me freezing cold, but at least it snapped me free of not being able to see or hear.
Across from me sit three men and Eloise from that bakery. Flicking my head, I try to clear the water from my eyes because them being opposite me doesn’t quite make sense. Until I start to recognize the men—they were in the back room from the event I worked all the way back when I saved Daisy.
I probably look just as bad as the four of them do. One of Eloise’s eyes is swollen so much, you can’t see the color of them. The men are equally battered and bruised. By the way the two men are straining and their focus is arrowed towards Eloise, it's not difficult to assume they’re pack. The last man is older, and his determination to save or help his daughter is as obvious as the features they share.
The scene in front of me doesn’t make sense to me, but it must to someone, given the effort they’ve put into setting it up.
Behind me, there’s a scraping sound, along with someone shuffling on their feet. Before I can turn to see who it is, the light is back in my eyes, blinding me from identifying them.
