Tynan squats, then rolls the towel up to the level he needs, waiting until I hold it up with my hand, giving me back control of the situation.
“I need to massage it for about twenty seconds. If it’s too much or it hurts, you need to tell me.” He talks louder, enunciating his words properly so I can lip read as well.
“Okay.”
I close my eyes to ready myself. It’s been a huge day in terms of touches, and normally, I’d be well past my saturation point. His hands on my leg are nearly impossible to describe. Without telling him where a constant dull, painful ache radiates, he finds it himself and circles his fingers through the knots and wide, and very tender, scar. I flinch involuntarily a few times, and he looks at me, asking if he should stop, but I try to smile encouragingly.The twenty seconds feels like it stretches out exponentially. I nearly have to get him to stop, but right at the worst, a gentle heat radiates from the worst pain point.
“We’ll do that a couple of times a day. I’ve been working the naturopath so hopefully it doesn’t mark or stain your clothes. Let me know if does.”
He rises up slowly, and when he’s standing in front of me, he’s no longer got his PT hat on. “You’re a beautiful, formidable woman, firecracker. And I’m going to tell you every day what you mean to me.”
He squeezes my hand before walking out, leaving me with a giddy head and a racing heart.
I’m walking in a daze and nearly walk straight into Rafferty. The trouble in his eyes makes butterflies take flight in my stomach. “Everyone is staking their claim already, Tally bear. Will you listen to mine while I help you get dressed?”
He smiles like an angel while flickering his eyebrows up suggestively, coming in close to whisper in my ear. “When we get home, you’re not leaving my arms. I’m going to spoil you rotten and treat you like a goddess. All snacks and drinks will be provided, blankets too. If you want to go somewhere I’ll be going with you, because you are not leaving my arms.”
Rafferty kisses my cheek, and rubs his face over mine, leaving me coated in his scent. “We’re going to watch movies, in between baking cookies and shopping for anything and everything that brings us joy. It’s important that you, and your Omega know you’remine, andtheirs. Having sweaters in every colour of the rainbow, with matching socks and frilly panties, along with pillows and towels, linen and blankets, all coordinating, in every nook and cranny in our house, is going to help you understand you are not going anywhere.Because you are Pack. For the rest of our lives too.” He pulls over my head a t-shirt saturated in his twin’s scent. “Every day I’m going tohelp you unlock and embrace your designation, so you can see her how we see you. Besides being one of the best undercover, kick-ass, bad bitches ever, you’re also going to be an Omega not ashamed to show the world that marshmallow heart you have.”
Rafferty’s eyes are glittering with his sweet sincerity but more importantly I can feel it, whispering against my skin, burying under my defences.
“You are everything to us, Tally. Everything. I’m going to show you how good it’s being an Omega. All those sweeping emotions, the constant need to touch someone, to fuck them stupid, to hold them tight is going to become as easy as breathing.”
He nips at my throat, using more tactile reminders to emphasis his words. “My fingers are going to be inside your pussy morning and night. My mouth on you all the time in between. Intimacy and orgasms are life-blood for Omegas, and you are going to shimmer in your vitality. I’m also going to wrap you up in all my nesting blankets before I do the most debauched things to your body, and then when you think you can’t take any more attention, I’ll prove you can. Starting now with giving you something I know you’ve gone without for too long. Think of this as medicine for your soul because that’s what your scent is for me. I’ve got a pair of my semi-clean boxers for you to put on. I stole Ty’s sweatpants, one of Keegan’s t-shirts and Ronin’s hoodie. And his socks. So what say you, gorgeous, ready to fall in love, and lust? And let me show you how good we are together? But also how fucking amazing I think you are?”
Of all the things I could say, I blabber out, “Semi-clean boxers?”
“Yep. I wore them after my shower. Had a hard-on the whole time, might have slicked them up a bit too.”
“I’m on suppressants,” I admit.
“I know. No biggie. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll help you flush them down the toilet. Until then, though, you still get a constant supply of all these perfectly smelling gifts. Your Omega might not get the full impact of her pack but doing this will help her recover as much as PT with Ty or yelling with Kee will help you regain your strength.”
I stare at him. I think I’ve reached that point of where I might need to run out in the snow again. After I had all these wild assumptions about how much they’d loathe seeing me again, turns out, I got every one of them wrong.
“There’s nothing to doubt here, Tally. You are ours. You are mine. I am yours. We are yours. Don’t let anyone or any situation you’re reliving take another second away from our future. I’m not saying your trauma isn’t valid or important, because we’ve all gone through the absolute fucking worst things imaginable, but we’re all here, alive and kicking ass. Together, there is nothing we can’t do.” He finishes his speech with the softest kiss on the tip of my nose. He doesn’t pull away. He hovers, smiling and staring deep into my soul.
When he sees something in my eyes, he gives one last kiss before helping me change. He doesn’t say anything about all the new marks and scars, but he does look at me, asking in his own way, without using words, if he can touch them. I’ve never been able to deny Rafferty anything, and that doesn’t change today.
I walk out dressed in Pack O’Connor clothes, and I can’t stop the glow to my cheeks. I climb up on my chair and huddle under a blanket, watching while Tynan works in the kitchen, Rafferty curls up in a corner and reads, Keegan stares at me from across the room, and Ronin sits at the table and works. I feel him checking on me, probably as often as I do him. Out back, I can see Joe and Harris walking the perimeter, and I watch them until my eyes close.
Honestly, considering I’ve only had one nap today, I think I’ve done pretty well.
When I wake up, I’m not curled up on my favorite chair, looking at the fire. I don’t know how they managed it, but while I was sleeping, I got bundled into a snow jacket that smells of Keegan, while my body is wrapped in Ronin’s arms. We’re sitting on pretty much the same spot I always run to when I’m drowning in fear. I have no idea how he knows this is my spot, but of course he does.
Ronin is quiet, his presence calm and peaceful. He rocks us gently, but I’m not sure he’s aware of what he’s doing.
“Tally girl,” he says whisper quiet against my good ear. I guess he does realize I woke up. “You can’t ever leave me again. I nearly didn’t make it.”
I get a sense now’s not really about me talking but about Ronin saying what he needs. I understand that clawing need, so I relax and sink back into his body, leaning my face against his.
“I wish you told me about Liam. God, it sent me spiraling pretty fucking bad when I found out. I’ve got no words that could possibly bring you any comfort, except I know now. I know everything about him, and if you’d told me when he went missing, I would have believed every word you said.”
I blow out a long, steady breath. Now I get why he brought me out here.
“It’s hard to accept, Tallula Rose, but nothing we could have done would have protected Noinin or Liam. Nothing, baby. I’ve relived Noinin being taken way too many times, and while a part of my mind always taunts me that I could have done more, the cold hard facts is, I did my absolute best. Just like you did. I won’t let those voices in your head tell you different. Because of you, there are people in the world who will never have to ask themselves the questions we’ll live with. Families won’t feel the endless torment and deep regret. Instead, they’ll get the chancewe never got, but isn’t that a wonderful thing? Makes me feral with rage, knowing we missed out on that chance, but we’ve got our lives that needs living too.”
He gives me a moment to get the race of my heart to slow down, and he drops his head on top of mine, leading the way through a series of breathing exercises only people who have lived through trauma know.
