FRACTURED (36 page)

“He speaks the truth,” Janner added, joining the party in the living room. “Truth and fiction were so interwoven that, now, it's hard to tell one from the other. You have to understand that we never consciously knew what Tobias' plans were or that he was even using us at all. He orchestrated this entire thing―let us go on purpose―then strategically guided us along the way.” His eyes fell to the floor, ashamed of what had happened. “I'm certain now that our meeting was hardly a chance encounter.”

“Did you come here to take her away?” Cooper asked, his eyes harboring the tiniest glint of gold in them. “I would answer that question
very
carefully, friend.”

“It is as I said, Cooper. Fact is too hard to filter from falsehood right now. It's as though two separate parts of our brains ran at the same time. We were, for all intents and purposes, our true selves. The moments where we truly felt like we were one of you were genuine. They were our stories, our personalities, our accounts of how events unfolded, at least for the most part. Other times...I just can't explain it. I can't remember saying or doing certain things that led us to this point, but I
know
they happened because I can clearly replay them in my mind. Whatever Tobias stumbled upon is a truly frightening creation. You don't realize what's happening to you even as it's happening. There is no conscious action, even though there is consciousness.”

“I don't believe you,” Cooper growled. “Part of me knew that what I was doing was wrong, I just couldn't remember why.”

“Yes,” Beckett said, coming to stand beside Janner. “But you had only just started wearing Deacon's tags and you're Ruby's alpha. Your connection to her is much stronger than ours. We've worn our tags for far longer than I can remember. We've become desensitized to the feeling you speak of, but I know it. I had it too, once. The way he started with us was so slow and subtle that we never really realized what was going on.”

While Cooper and Sean grilled the three men, I tried to reach out for what they were feeling, and more importantly, to see if I could detect any of that strange reserved energy that I picked up from them previously.

There wasn't an ounce of it left. Whatever hold Tobias had once had on them was gone. For good. The question that plagued my mind was, if they could be controlled once, could they be manipulated again?

I realized that Cooper was asking me something and snapped out of my trance-like state.

“What do you think?” he asked, looking fully annoyed that he'd had to repeat himself. “Should they stay or leave?”

“Stay.”

My voice was firm as was my stance on the issue. They were not a threat to me, or anyone else for that matter―not any longer. Furthermore, it wasn't their fault. Would I hold their unconscious actions against them?

Would I want whatever mess Scarlet had caused in my absence held against me? I cringed at that thought, thinking that was a conversation I still had to have with her.

Sean inhaled deeply and slowly beside me. He wasn't happy with my plan.

“And do I have a say in this?” he asked, cocking his eyebrow at me.

It wasn't in a playful way, though I wished it had been.

“What is your say?” I was avoiding his question with another one, which usually worked about as well as trying to outrun him, but I threw it out there anyway to see what would happen.

“I don't like it,” he informed me, “but I suppose if certain ground rules are laid and Cooper agrees, I will allow it.”

The Maine boys and I whipped our collective heads toward Cooper to see what his final deciding vote would be. He looked as uneasy as Sean felt. With a loud sigh, he delivered his verdict.

“They can stay.” I squealed, then stifled the rest of it to let him finish. The look he flashed me informed me that I was interrupting the rest of his speech. “But on one condition. They answer to
me
. They are mine―part of the pack, and all that that implies.” Janner looked relieved.

Beckett looked indifferent. Alistair looked sad. “And if any of you fuck up in the slightest, you're dead, understand?”

They all nodded once.

“I'm trusting you to handle this, Cooper,” Sean said in tone that let Cooper know who was
really
in charge. “Don't make me live to regret it.”

The two formidable men eyed each other tightly, saying nothing.

The tension grew by the second, and I just couldn't deal. Something had to give.

“Group hug!” I shouted, diving at the newest pack members. They laughed at me as always, but loosened up enough to let me know that there was genuine affection on their end. “Cooper, get in here,” I ordered mockingly. “Come feel the love, big guy. It's a beautiful thing.”

“I'm good,” he replied, still standing next to Sean. “I'm getting tons of love over here. No need for more.”

After getting my squeeze on with the new guys, I turned to address the brooding duo a few feet away from me. A quick scan of the room alerted me to a glaring absence. Two absences, actually.

“Where's Peyta?” I asked, moving toward the door to get a clearer view of the room. “And Jay?”

Just as the others began to look concerned, a voice from the stairwell calmed them all.

“Out here,” Jay called, sounding mildly sheepish. He opened the front door and walked in with Peyta trailing behind him, her hand clasping tightly to his. It made me smile.

“So,” I started in my most badgering tone. “What have you two been doing? Did you get everything all worked out?”

“We're good, Ruby,” Peyta replied, blushing slightly. “We had a little talk.”

“Oh, did you? And did you talk about
everything
?” The look I gave her was one of warning―one that said that now was the time to air her dirty laundry to him and not keep it a secret. I knew a lot about how badly that approach ended.

“Yes.
Everything
.”

I smiled and gave her a nod of approval. She blushed slightly and tucked her head in close to Jay's arm, sheltering her emotions from her audience.

“Sean,” Jay said, sounding uncharacteristically formal. “I wish to be bound to Peyta. It is your job to pick the Healer for the PC and bind her to us, but we have chosen each other. What is to be done?”

Sean looked pensive for a moment, weighing something heavily in his mind. It was the moment I'd feared and dutifully ignored for months.

I'd always hated the thought of Peyta being tethered to our life of violence, but eventually reconciled the fact that it was who she was. It was meant to be. Official or not, she was already surrounded by the chaos that the supernatural world was fraught with. That was a fact I had slowly come to terms with.

What I hadn't come to terms with was knowing that Sean would have to be the one to bind her to the brothers.

“I will find a solution, Jay,” he said finally, breaking the silence that had been growing. “For both our sakes, I will find a way.” Peyta bolted for Sean and did one of her flying squirrel moves, latching onto him at the last second and hugging him violently. “You're welcome, Peyta,” he said, wrapping his arms around her tiny frame, emphasizing their vast size difference.

“Um, P?” Cooper had the most perplexed look on his face. “Isn't your mother going to shit a brick when she hears about this little marriage idea? What exactly are you going to tell her? She doesn't even know what Jay is, and thinking he's a werewolf isn't any better. And then there's your whole age issue...”

“I'll deal with her,” she said, climbing down from Sean. “She's so happy lately that I'm not even sure it'll be a problem.”

“Well, either way, I would make sure the firearms aren't loaded first. And make sure Jay isn't with you. It'll be safer for everyone.”

Peyta and I gave each other a knowing glance then started to giggle.

“That's a problem for another day,” Sean informed us over the laughter. “It's late. Time for everyone to go.”

Cooper made his way over to me and scooped me up, lifting me easily off the ground.

“I'm sorry, Rubes,” he whispered in my ear.

“Water under the bridge,” I whispered back. “I love you, Coop. That guy―he wasn't you. For my sake, please, let it go.” He gave me a parting squeeze then set me down on the ground.

“Alice, Jan, Becky: you three ready to head out?”

Their looks were murderous, especially Alistair's, but it was all for show. They were excited to have a new home, a new pack, and maybe, one day, a new family. I knew what it was like to feel that way.

The PC brothers had slowly filed out over the course of the evening, once Sean realized the trio wasn't a threat to anyone without their tags.

Peyta and Jay hesitated for a moment at the door, undoubtedly not wanting to have to part from one another. Ronnie wasn't going to be jazzed about Jay sleeping over without the presence of danger, and we all knew it.

“Peyta, do you guys want to go to my place?” I asked the pining pixie.

“Can we? I'll call mom and tell her I'll be crashing with you.”

“That's fine. Go ahead.”

The two smiled in unison at me before heading out the door together, still hand in hand. As I watched them leave, I realized that everyone was crashing at my house but me, and it made me feel left out. I looked up at Sean with tired but saddened eyes. Instead of being met with the uncertain, closed-off look I expected, I got one of my favorites―the Cheshire cat smile.

“You want to stay at your place, don't you?” His question was a formality; he already knew the answer.

I nodded.

“I want to give you something first,” he said, reaching into the neck of his shirt to pull out a chain. A chain with my platinum ring dangling at the end. “It seems like now would be a good time to return this.”

“My ring...how long have you had this?” I asked, wondering how I hadn't noticed it before.

“I've worn it since the moment I could retrieve it from the floor the night Scarlet took you from me. I felt closer to you with it on...”

“But you said that you eventually thought I wanted to stay gone, like I wanted to be away from you.”

He shrugged in response.

“The heart does not always make sense, Ruby. It wants what it wants, even if what it desires does not want it back. Keeping this with me reminded me that you and I will always be connected―for better or worse.”

He unclasped the chain, sliding the ring off of it to hand it to me. I looked at it momentarily before tucking it away safely in my pocket. I had only just gotten Scarlet back. I did not wish to see if placing the ring on my finger would cage her once again.

“Thank you,” I whispered, averting my gaze, “for not giving up on me.”

“My fear and my ego drove me to believe that you chose to leave me. I could not find you...my failure was more than I could bear, but my heart never believed you would abandon me. You are mine...”

“And you are mine,” I countered, a seductive smile playing across my lips.

It pulled the most delightful rumble from deep within his chest, a possessive noise that made my legs weak and my heart race. He would always claim me as his.

And I would always let him.

“Let's go then. I want to make sure none of them crash in your room. I refuse to sleep on the floor.”

I cocked my eyebrow at him and threw as much sauciness as I could into my voice. “Who said I'm letting you sleep? I nearly died tonight; I don't want to sleep. I want to feel
alive
.” His eyes widened and darkened to alarming levels. It seemed he liked my plan.

“Alive...,” he said softly, stroking the side of my face. “Let's keep you that way, shall we? And be sure to tell Scarlet that she and I will still be having that little chat soon. She has some explaining to do.”

And boy did she ever. Three weeks was a long time for her to do all sorts of horrific things, including rack up a body count. I hoped she'd be forthcoming with the facts, but knowing her, that was a total pipe dream.

She'd been as quiet as a mouse since her return, and I couldn't help but feel that her silence didn't bode well for any of us.

“She does indeed,” I agreed before turning the tables on him, “but so do you―like how you knew where I was, or what had happened? I know you know everything, Sean, but that was a stretch, even for you.”

“I had a little help,” he replied, guiding me out of his apartment.

“Help?”

“Yes. I'd say that your
Boy Scout
earned himself another merit badge tonight.”

“Matty?” I blurted out, utterly stunned.

“I'm inclined to say that he and I are even now,” he continued while descending the stairs to the second floor. “He was trailing you. He has been for a while. At the first sign of an ambush, he went to Peyta and gave a detailed description of where Cooper had taken you. The rest...well, you know that part.”

I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude and guilt. After all that had happened, Matty still wanted to keep me safe like he always had, and I was immensely thankful for that. My guilt was in knowing that I had no idea how to return the favor.

Matty was on borrowed time, and I knew it.

36

My promise of not sleeping was a complete farce. We arrived at my apartment to find bodies lying all around the living room―alive, but snoring. Cooper had the couch and the boys peppered the floor around it.

I assumed that Peyta and Jay took Cooper's room, unsure as to whether or not Sean and I would be returning.

I fell asleep the second I hit my bed, bloody clothes and all, which surely amused Sean to no end. He knew I'd been full of it back at his place, and I gave him all the ammunition necessary to never let me live it down. My hope was that he crashed just as quickly.

Sleep may have come easily, but it didn't stay long. I woke up with an uneasy feeling in my stomach that I just couldn't stifle. I decided to have a shower and clean off the reminders of what had happened, then try to go to bed again. I was ruining my good sheets.

Five minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom―clean clothes, wet hair, and all. I sneaked down the hall to my room as quietly as the old wooden floor would allow and crept into bed, not wanting to wake Sean, who was sleeping peacefully. I loved seeing him that way.