“Shit, Raff, sorry,” I murmur, covering him with my body, not giving him much space to catch his breath.
I know firsthand how life can change in the blink of an eye, so me stealing a few seconds with Rafferty…well, the world can kiss my arse if it so chooses.
“You good?” he says softly, his voice still strained as he wheezes past my weight on him. But he doesn’t push me off; he pulls me down more.
I shake my head against his hand.
“We’ve done all we can. Let’s go get Ro and find our girl.”
“She’s here, Raff. I know she is. Ty hasn’t come back yet. Even with all the fighting going on here.”
“You better not be thinking that’s a bad sign.”
I push my forehead to his, taking as much as I can from his energy and his anchoring sage and sugar scent. All the things I should tell him, like how he’s one of the first things on my mind when I wake up, or fall asleep, need saying, but no words ever seem enough. I brush my lips over his, whispering as I kiss him softly. “I love you, Rafferty.”
“I know you do.” He smirks before dipping his eyes. “I love you more, I think.”
“Impossible,” I growl before checking over my shoulder, to make sure the coast is clear.
When I pull him to his feet, Rafferty moves straight back into battle mode. It’s such a fucking turn-on, watching the change wash over him. Every time I see him straddle both lines—Omega and man—it only confirms the simple fact it’s my fucking privilege to be his Alpha.
Now I just need the world to give me a fucking minute so I can go save my other Omega. Honestly, I don’t have the emotional capacity needed right this second to delve too deep into having two Omegas to love and protect. So instead, I take a leaf out of Rafferty’s book and become a different version of myself.
“Fuck!” Ronin’s roar bounces through the Cathedral’s high-vaulted ceilings, and Rafferty takes off in the direction, with me close on his heels.
Ronin is red in the face, sharing with the world how truly pissed off he is, using both his presence and scent to emphasize the fact. Poor Rafferty starts coughing, and I have to clench my fists not to smack some sense into Ronin, but like me, he goes to water at Raff’s distress.
“Shit, baby, sorry.” Soft words from an angry man, but we’re all aware Ronin’s anger isn’t directed our way.
Without hesitation, I move to Ronin’s back, in protection and also to let him know I’m here for him. I get a one-armed hug as he pulls me into the space where Rafferty and he are already.
“Paddy’s being a stubborn cunt. He’s insistent on walking out the doors. I’m wasting time arguing with him instead of finding Tally.”
I pull back, questioning him with a look for more.
“I’m fucking torn, Kee. What if something happens to him because he’s being so pigheaded he won’t listen to me? But worse, what happens if Tally is here, and she needs rescuing?”
“Who’s with Paddy?”
“Jeanie. And…”
The way the world works is something no one can predict. There’s nothing—no training, no person’s love, no magic on earth, no fortitude in mind or spirit—that prepares a person to face what happens next.
Two critical moments happening in complete synchronicity with devastating effects. The only way destiny knows how to work.
Somehow we witness our worst nightmare as it unfolds in slow motion.
Paddy O’Connor pulls the front doors wide open, shouting at his enemies, “Faugh a Ballaugh.”
They do “clear the way.”
They pump his chest full of bullets.
Then they do the same to Jeanie, making her body fly backwards as she’s riddled with bullets.
I never hear the sound of a gun going off.
My ears, instead, lock on Tynan’s broken and desperate cries.
