“My cousin.” Her eyes are glassy, her voice coming from a faraway place.
I stand up, but she doesn’t register the movement, confirming what I initially thought—that she’s been dragged backwards through time as her memories come to life.
Ronin looks at me. His smile is gone, replaced by his grief, but he pushes on because, while it’s gut wrenching Noinin isn’twith us anymore, you can’t think of that kid and not get swept up in the beautiful, free-spirited way she loved life.
“She wanted a wedding because she saw it in her sleep. Our Noinin was a dreamer, for sure, but I swear she had the gift, too, which makes what she did all the more real.”
Watching Tally sway in front of me, I want to hold her tight and be with her in that strange place she’s at—half here and half lost to the scene playing out in her head. All of us are watching her like a hawk, none of us missing the exact moment she reaches the part where his comments, our comments, really, make a fuck ton more sense.
“I close my eyes, and I’m there with my sister's spirit. She’s so alive, I swear I hear her in my head. Her voice is like the wind, so whimsical but real too. ‘Heart to heart and hand to hand, confirming this our Sacred Vow.’”
Tally’s lips are moving as she recites them herself. A soft smile settles on her face, and her scent gets impossibly sweeter. Until something breaks the moment and her eyes slam shut, her scent vacuuming from the room.
She’s back, but she’s shut down a part of her and I don’t yet know why. As her husband, and her Alpha, clearly, it’s my role to know. For the time being, though, my focus stays on what I can control.
I push a stool loudly over the floor toward her, and she all but collapses onto it. She reaches and grabs one of the water bottles Tynan has ready, going for one that also contains hydrolytes and vitamin supplements. I feel his sigh of relief.
Tally downs half the bottle, then grabs one of the protein rich snacks he always has around. She takes a bite and looks down at it before leaving it on the plate, proving my point she’s my dream girl because I’m not the only one here who thinks they taste like shit too.
After another sip of water, she looks at Ronin, ready to keep talking about our marriage. “Daisy mentioned your sister had passed. I’m really sorry for that. And this isn’t me being a bitch, because I completely understand you want to keep your sister alive, but involving me is a bit of a stretch, wouldn’t you say?”
“Nay, I’d not be saying that in the least, Tally. She knew, and if she was alive, she’d be right here, confirming we’re married too.”
“Ronin, she was a kid! We were kids! We’re not married.” The end of her sentence is spaced up for emphasis.
“I’m with Ronin, I disagree entirely,” I pipe up, finding my voice.
She swings around, her eyes filling with all them emotions again. “Fine, if you truly believe we’re married, prove it. Show me the paperwork.”
A quiet descends over all of us as my pack and I collectively turn to stare at Rafferty, waiting for him to explain.
His blush makes the tips of his ears pink. The heat also amplifies the sweaty, heady notes of his sage and sugar scent.
Rafferty is not fucking shy at all, but getting ready to explain to her how very fucking married we are, he bites his lip nervously.
“Wow,” she says quietly. “You? What did you do? Clearly you did something, since you can’t look at me in the face right now.”
“Don’t be like that, Tally.” Tynan’s not a right prick when he speaks, but he's not being kind either. Ronin's hackles rise, and her hand reaches as if to comfort him, but she rests it on her leg when she realises.
“I wasn’t…” she stammers.
But her backtracking, and his twin backing him, gives Raff the boost he needed. “We were eighteen, and as a joke, I did an online course to become a registered Solemnizer.”
“What?”
“Look, we did lots of stupid shit back then. Ronin’s an accredited Angel Card Reader, and Keegan…”
She holds her hand up, stopping Rafferty from going further. After a quick exhale, she talks softer, less sassy. “Tell me. Please.”
“In the eyes of the law, our wedding is legit because I’m a marriage celebrant.”
Her eyes blank, her voice emotionless as she speaks. Kind of like she’s reached her breaking point. “We didn’t do the notification or fill out the necessary forms, and I was underage.”
Raff pulls a face, probably not intentional, but him being an open book is exactly who he is. “Well, some of the stupid shit we did might have included forging signatures, filling out necessary forms, and pretending to be your guardian, but Noinin was the driving force. I think we all forgot about it because Noinin was abducted soon after, and the official marriage certificate showed up months later. I was shocked, so Kee did some digging for me, and the five of us are legally married and have been since that day. It’s registered with the Civil Registration Service.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
TALLY
