Istare into Rafferty’s eyes, and they are the true definition of windows to your soul. Of course he has a pure, radiant soul too, which makes it damn near impossible to shoot him right in the forehead. I want to. Not really, but at the same time, I can’t believe how stupid he was.
“So now you know the truth.”
I take another sip of water. “Our marriage is not real. It’s a fabrication.”
Ronin is already grinning like a crocodile. “Bullshit, Tally. You are as real as we are, and so is the obvious and instant attraction we share.”
I roll my eyes. Perhaps a little too enthusiastically because my head feels all floaty. But given how tired I am and the bullshit they keep dumping in my lap, I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to be thrown and feel the way I do.
Holding the gorgeous bugger’s stare, because he doesn’t intimidate me, I answer him but include everyone in ourdiscussion since it relates to all of us. “That doesn’t explain why you are locking me in here, Ronin.”
“We are pack. You and Rafferty were both attacked last night. I’m locking us in until you’re both better. Nothing else matters,” Ronin says, getting more serious, and louder, like I’m hard of hearing.
“Again, I respectfully disagree. I have my life, and you have yours. Your life does not include babysitting me. What you do with your Omega isn’t my concern.”
“Goddamn it, you are stubborn,” Tynan hisses, like I stepped on his tail.
My frustration at him rises like a cobra, but where he hides his emotions by using minimal words, I hide mine behind a large smile. “Yeah, well, you’re delusional. Back to letting me out of this apartment—it needs to happen.”
“Fine,” Keegan says.
I swing around and stare him down, not trusting him for a second because he was the one who locked the door in the first place. He’s chuckling under his breath. The smirk on his face only confirms he isn’t going to let me out now.
I roll my eyes. “Right, oh, let’s hear what I have to do before you let me leave.”
He winks, unperturbed at being called out. “You need sleep first and foremost. Then we can talk again. If everyone is on the same page, you get to leave.”
My teeth grind down, my jaw aching with all the smart-arse responses that go off in my head, but anything I say will be pointless so I stay quiet.
Ronin jumps in before Keegan gets to add even more fuel to the fire. “I promise, Keegan will unlock the door, and your freedom will be returned within twenty-four hours, if you spend that time sleeping, eating, and talking. It’s up to you, and if thosethings happen and you’re looking a darn sight better than you currently do, it might not even be twenty-four hours.”
“So, sleep, eat, and talk, what else?” I push because there’s no way it’s that simple. He’s acting too confident, too smug.
The roguish smile on Ronin’s face grows, and it's disarming the way he can flip from churlish Alpha to being so charming. “Wedding ring on your finger, or my guns on you somewhere visible whenever you leave the apartment and a guard with you at all times.”
See? I knew it was an act. His words don’t match his expression. I laugh, like snort so hard I’ve actually got tears in my eyes. But I sober up when I realize I’m the only one laughing. “You’re serious.”
“Deadly,” Ronin says, seeming surprised that I’m surprised. “We’re about to go to war with the arseholes from last night. My family is gathering the troops as we speak.”
“Go fight with them, then.”
“No chance. My family knows I’m here, protecting and fighting for my family,” Ronin argues louder. “I am happy to let you have all the freedom in the world, Tally, but you live with us, you wear our ring and our bites, and you are ours to protect.”
“No.”
“It’s not up for discussion. I will not, I cannot, let one of Noinin’s last wishes become only a memory. She’s gone, but our marriage will be as long-lasting as time itself in her honor.”
“Ronin, don’t do this.”
“It’s done, and been done for years now. You’re an O’Connor.” He folds his hands in his lap like he’s done arguing, but I’m only getting started.
I can’t be trapped here with them. It will bring an end to my search for answers as to what happened to my cousin, plus my chance of maybe looking Oscar in the eye and asking how he could let our family down. Throw on top of that steaming pile ofshit the fact I’m an officer of the law, and my job is to break up families like the O’Connors… Well, I don’t need to think too hard about what they’ll do to me if they discover that juicy nugget.
I’m completely calm when I speak again. “I can’t.”
Ronin’s back to being his smiley self again. “You already are, darling. And we’ve consummated our union too many times for you to even think of an annulment.”
Shaking my head, I can’t help but argue back. “You have an Omega! Rafferty, you can’t be happy with this. This is your pack!”
