To protect them, for sure, but more so to protect me. Because while Joe and Harris know who’s courting me, no one else in the police world does, aside from a very select few. Ronin, Keegan, Ty, and Raff are being very obvious, and almost aggressive, in the way they’re telling me how they see our future. They’re also setting it up so, if I decide otherwise and go off alone, I won’t be on anyone’s radar, and that freedom I want so desperately will be there for the taking.
Tynan comes from the side of the house, meeting me where I’m standing still, looking down the road. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I think I am.”
He reaches for my hand but doesn’t actually take it, always leaving it up to me to take what I want. I grab his hand and pull him close, spurred on by nothing more than a growing sense of what I do want—them.
“Take me home, Ty.”
“Always, firecracker.”
Chapter Sixty-Five
TYNAN
Keegan picks up before the second ring. “Is she okay?”
I haven’t taken my eyes off her since we walked into the gym about an hour ago. So I know for a fact, Tally is not okay. “She’s had an interesting day. And it’s not stopping anytime soon.”
Since we got back to Ireland, the weeks have flown. All our time has been spent trying to rule the Irish while helping Tally find soft places to fall. The way she’s taken to our world takes my breath away.
She’s a natural, and is working closely with us behind the scenes as we take the Irish into a new era. The skillset she brings from her experience out in the field, and from a police perspective has allowed us to implement changes to keep what we do as clean as possible, or as untraceable as possible.
In the downtime we have, when she’s not working out at the gym, or at therapy, we’re all out looking for the perfect house for her. So far, we haven’t found what it is she’s after so until we dowe’re splitting our time between living together at her old house, or in her and Raff’s apartments.
It’s no hard ask to be there for her, at all. What is difficult is how fucking stubborn she can be sometimes. On the flip side, Tally regaining her strength, and finding her faith in herself again, is something that blows my mind every damn day.
She struggles more than I want her to, but she bounces back with a determination and drive that makes me question if I’ll be enough for her. I will be, because she tells me constantly we’re in this together forever.
“Want me to come help?” he asks, and I can hear him already racing through the apartment, searching for his keys.
“We’re only downstairs, Kee. I’ll bring her up, but she’s going into heat.”
I hang up on him cursing. Letting my phone drop my from hands, I sink down on my haunches. Her scent clouds around me, making my head spin. From across the other side of our gym, her eyes are locked on me. Her intention is as obvious as she is gorgeous. And it’s a little overwhelming being on the receiving end of an Omega in heat. Kind of blows all my Beta hang-ups sky high too.
Tally throws her workout T-shirt in my face.
“Like that, is it?” I flick my chin her way, encouraging her. Warning her too. I’m a hairsbreadth from pinning her to the mat and fucking the sass out of her.
Her rediscovered confidence is obvious in the sway of her hips, each blink of her eyes. She’s so fucking hot. God, I could blow watching her strut.
“Firecracker…”
She drops her chin down, a wicked smile on her face as she chuckles under her breath. Her laugh is husky, full of her desire, and has me gripping my dick and squeezing it tight. She knowshow to wind me up. We don’t need a lot of words—we talk all the fucking time—and right this second, she’s got me worked up.
She comes in hot, not stopping until she’s pushed me over and parked her arse over my groin. “Enough, Ty. I know you’ve got it, and I want it now.”
“Slightly aggressive. Not sure who’s been influencing you like that,” I tease, reaching up to taste her mouth.
“Wow. Really? You can’t figure out who keeps nurturing that side of me?”
I can. I thank Keegan daily for the way he pushes Tally. Sometimes to her breaking point. But after she crashes out, she’s always whispering in his ear, cuddling on his lap, and sharing her thanks with him. And us.
She pulls back an inch before I can kiss her properly, her eyebrow curling impatiently.
And then, in one sweeping move, and fast enough to have her eyes dilating and her scent leaking, I flip our positions. Pinning her arms under my knees, I dig into my shorts, pulling out the black velvet box I’ve been carrying around.
Of course she found the ring I’d had made for her. Pretty much as soon as I picked it up from the jeweler. Since then, we’ve been waiting for each other to be ready, ready.
