Kings of Anarchy

by Caroline Peckham

  I hopelessly pushed my fingers into my pockets as if I might miraculously find a pack and looked up as the brush of Tatum's fingers in my hair drew my attention from my search.

  She perched on the arm of the couch and slowly stroked her fingers through the dark strands until she'd teased the elastic from it and surprisingly, it alleviated my need to light up as I concentrated on what Liam had to say.

  "It turns out that those men you butchered weren't just hired thugs," he said. "They were employed by a mutual friend of ours who has been looking for them with rather a lot of determination."

  "Are you saying the clean up wasn't good enough to hide us?" I sneered, knowing it would piss him off for me to suggest that but not giving a crap about it. If his men were incompetent then I wasn't going to sugar coat it.

  "Of course not. But the problem is that they know those men were after Donovan Rivers. And one of the men, a guy called Mortez, was apparently a fairly important cog in their operation."

  "Just spit it out, old man, I don't see the need for the riddles," I growled as Tatum continued to play with my hair.

  "Watch your tone with me, lad," Liam growled and I mentally cursed myself and him.

  "I just need to understand what all of this means for me, Grandpa," I added placatingly while hating the fact that I had to make that much effort.

  "Well, it turns out that the men were sent by the leader of Royaume D’élite," Liam said casually. "And as you know, a lot of our business dealings are held via that club. I don't want to ruin our working relationship with them. So, I've decided to come clean and offer up a prize valuable enough to clear the debt we now owe them."

  A cold, hard knot seemed to tie itself in place in my gut even as he began blathering on about it being the best move for the family and making comments about me having my fun already, because I knew that this wasn't good. Not good at all.

  "What prize?" I growled, my gaze flicking to Tatum as she watched me while chewing her bottom lip like she could tell what a bad turn this conversation had taken just from my body language alone.

  "Don't worry, I have that all sorted out," he assured me. "All I need you to do is to show up at the club tomorrow to make a formal apology. And bring your little toy, too. Everyone likes to see a pretty face like hers during tense times."

  My hand landed on Tatum's knee and I gripped hard enough to bruise, but I didn't care. I needed to feel her there beside me, be sure of the fact that she was solidly present at my side.

  "I've already sent Niall to collect the two of you, so it might be worth getting an overnight bag together."

  "But-" The line went dead before my protests could even form on my lips and I crushed the phone in my fist as I leapt to my feet and launched it across the room where it skidded across the carpet into a corner.

  "Kyan?" Tatum gasped as I began pacing, my mind whirling with all of the possible ways this could work out.

  It was clear that this wasn't up for negotiation. Liam had already decided that the price he was going to pay for this debt was the life of the girl I loved. And I knew they'd accept. She was one of the most stunning girls I'd ever seen. Couple that with the fact that she was Donovan Rivers' daughter and I knew exactly what they'd do with her once they had her too. They were going to keep her as a toy for sale in that fucking place. Auction her flesh off to whatever dirty old bastard wanted to fuck the daughter of the man who'd released the Hades Virus into the world and then do it again the next night. And the next. And the next.

  "Fuck!" I roared as I paced more frantically, my mind whirling. Niall was already on his way. He'd do whatever the fuck he had to to ensure he took her back with him when he left. If those were Liam’s orders then he’d follow them and he wouldn’t have even bothered to ask why.

  I was going to have to kill him. Which wouldn't be easy, but I'd do it. Family or not, I didn’t give a fuck. The link of our blood meant less than shit to me. I'd chosen my own family with the Night Keepers and I would kill everyone and anyone who threatened them.

  But that wouldn't be the end of it. Even if I managed to kill Niall, I had eight more uncles, countless cousins, endless hired thugs, all of whom would be sent here one after another until one of them managed to take her. And they'd probably kill the other Night Keepers to punish me for trying to stand against them.

  "Kyan? Tell me what's going on," Tatum demanded, stepping in front of me and planting her hands on her hips to stop me from pacing anymore.

  I stared down at her with my heart pounding and the rage in my flesh prickling with this deep intensity unlike anything I'd ever known as I silently vowed to protect her with everything I was. But it wouldn't be enough. I knew it. I could give everything, and it wouldn't be enough to stand between her and the O'Briens and this fucked up fate my Grandpa had chosen for her.

  "My family have realised that the men we killed came from Royaume D’élite," I said, moving closer so that I could take her face between my hands and force her to hold my eye as I delivered the worst of it. "And Liam has decided that rather than try and cover up their involvement and mine, he wants to come clean and pay retribution."

  "What's the price?" she asked, her breath catching like she'd already guessed.

  "I'll die before I let him sell you to those animals," I snarled, my grip on her face tightening. "There has to be another way. I'll think of another way."

  "Kyan..." The fear in her eyes was enough to break me in two and I shook my head defiantly, capturing her lips with mine and kissing her like I was drowning.

  She bowed to the demands of my mouth against hers, our tongues warring, breaths panting, my grip bruising and yet none of it fucking mattered. It didn’t matter if I was willing to burn the world down for her because Liam O'Brien couldn't be convinced to change his mind. I knew it more certainly than I knew my own heart. Once he had decided on a path, nothing would ever turn him from it, unless it became detrimental to the family.

  The fucking family I hated so damn much and which he cared about more than anything in the world. Not the individuals though. He didn't care one iota for our happiness or love. All he cared about was our blood. He'd fight tooth and nail to ensure that no member of our family was ever killed unless it was absolutely necessary. The only exceptions he made were for traitors. But I wasn't a traitor. At least not that he knew. I'd agreed to his terms, to being his puppet in exchange for him leaving the people I cared about alone, but I should have known that that wouldn't really extend to Tatum. He never saw partners as valuable unless they were married in.

  My breath caught as my mind snagged on that idea and I pulled back from Tatum, breaking our kiss so suddenly that she stumbled forward a step.

  "There might be a way," I said to her, my heart pounding as the idea took root in me and I found that it wasn't just some means to an end - I actually fucking wanted it. I'd never felt anything for a girl the way I did for Tatum. I'd never wanted to keep anything or anyone the way I did her. And I was more than eager to tie her to me in more ways if I could. To make it impossible for her to escape me. "Liam won't touch you if you're family, baby."

  "What?" she murmured, frowning at me as the idea I'd had captivated me and I couldn't help but smirk at her.

  "Look, I know that I'm a dirty, fucked up son of a bitch and pretty much the last man any girl would really want to tie themselves to for life. But I swear to you, if you say yes to me, I'll spend every day making you laugh and scream and moan my name and I'll bathe myself in the blood of any and every motherfucker who ever so much as looks at you wrong."

  "What the hell are you going on about, Kyan?" she asked, half a laugh escaping her lips at my words even as her blue eyes were still filled with concern.

  I leaned forward and kissed her hard, stealing the breath from her lungs and using it to fuel this madness which had struck me. I moved my mouth to her jaw, carving a line down her throat and biting down on her collar bone before dropping onto one knee before her.

  "Marry me," I said as he
r full lips parted and she stared down at me like I was insane.

  "Kyan... What?"

  "Marry me, baby, do it because you own me and I own you and you never want it to fucking end. But do it today because you wanna live and the only way Liam will spare you now is if you're an O'Brien by marriage."

  Tatum half shook her head, biting down on her bottom lip as she considered my insane request. "But if I marry you, I’ll be a Roscoe, not an O'Brien-"

  "My mom is an O'Brien, that's all Liam cares about. I'd have the name too if they hadn't needed me to take Roscoe from my father so that I can use his businesses to front their money laundering. To him, everyone with his blood is an O'Brien and everyone who marries in is too."

  I tugged the ring from my little finger. It was a platinum skull with diamonds set into its eyes which I'd mostly bought because I'd known that Saint would hate it and I'd been utterly correct in that assumption. If she let me marry her with this thing and wore it forevermore, he was going to lose his shit in a spectacular fashion.

  I caught Tatum's left hand in mine and looked into her eyes as I pushed it onto her finger, my pulse spiking as I realised she was really letting me do it. I'd never actually imagined I'd ever do this with a girl, let alone give a shit about her answer, but the way it felt to place my ring on her finger was making me smile like a fucking idiot.

  "This is fucking crazy," she breathed.

  "I'm gonna need a yes from those lips, baby."

  She kept me waiting way too fucking long for that answer but when she gave it, my racing heart actually tried to leap out of my goddamn chest.

  "Yes."

  I growled hungrily as I shoved myself back to my feet and kissed her again, loving the way her arms felt as they wound around my neck and she tugged me closer like she was just as exhilarated about this as I was. Yeah it was insane, it was fucking absurd, but it was also a solid fucking plan.

  That kiss was a promise of something so much more than a get out of jail free card. I could taste the want in her and I was sure she could feel the need in me too. This was more than just us signing some piece of paper and exchanging rings and bullshit vows. I was all in with this and it felt like she was too by the way she tugged me closer like she was trying to taste my soul.

  I forced myself to pull back, smirking at her like the cockiest asshole who ever lived. "Your aunt is your legal guardian, right? We just need to get her to sign off on it as you're a minor and-"

  "I'm not," Tatum interrupted me. "My birthday was actually a few weeks ago. I just didn't want to make a fuss over it."

  I narrowed my eyes at her even though this was technically a good thing, but not telling us about her birthday was just plain wrong.

  "You just let your birthday slip by without celebrating it?" I asked her, arching an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes at me.

  "That seems like the least of our concerns right now," she pointed out as she spun the ring on her finger. It was still too big for her, but I'd do something about getting it resized after I made her my wife. Fuck, the others were gonna flip out. But I didn't even give a shit. This was the only answer to this problem and I had no issue at all with making her mine in another way.

  A heavy knock sounded at the door and I cursed as I quickly shoved Tatum away from the windows, pushing her into the shadows in the area beneath Saint's bedroom and pressing a finger to my lips.

  I hurried over to the safe hidden beneath a flagstone by the door to the crypt and tugged it open, entering the code and taking Tatum's gun from it.

  I tossed the weapon to her and she caught it, quickly checking it was loaded like she'd done it a thousand times before and then holding it ready as I moved to the door.

  I had my hunting knife at my belt and if I had to use it on my uncle, I would. But this whole thing would go a lot fucking smoother if I didn't have to. For a start, Liam would be less than pleased if I killed an O'Brien while working to fuck him over with this marriage and that could be a big enough betrayal to sign my death warrant on its own. It wasn't worth the risk. So if I had to stab him, I’d be aiming for something not too vital then hog tying him somewhere out of sight until after the wedding.

  But I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. Niall was actually the one member of my family who I might just stand a chance of turning to my side on this and I was going to have to hope I could convince him.

  I tugged the door open, not even batting an eye at my uncle's wide grin as he stood there with his arms wide like he expected a hug or something. His frame was as broad as mine though he was fair where I was dark and the tattoos that marked his flesh had more colour than mine in them too. He had a scar over his right eyebrow which I’d never gotten an actual story for and the darkness swirling in his eyes always made me feel like an innocent little choir boy by comparison. Even so, I was going to stand against this hell dog for my girl and make him see my side of this or I’d take my chances against the darkness in him for her if that was what it took.

  “Kyan, lad!” he greeted enthusiastically.

  "I know why you're here Niall," I said to him, seriously hoping my girl wasn’t going to have to splatter his brains on the walls as his smile widened. "And I have a counter offer."

  ***

  It had taken me less than ten minutes to convince my uncle to agree to my plan to marry my girl instead of selling her to a bunch of filthy old men like a piece of meat. For a deranged psychopath, Niall actually had some seriously strong feelings about rapists and he'd cut off more than a few sets of balls over the years to prove it so as I’d been hoping it hadn’t been that hard to sell him on the idea.

  I knew it had something to do what had happened to his wife years ago, but I also knew better than to ask for the details of that story. All it really came down to was that there used to be a family called the Nelsons who went up against the O'Briens at every turn. They'd taken Niall's wife as part of a strike against us and in the resulting backlash, he'd wiped out every last one of them. But she'd already been dead by the time he got to her. I could only imagine that there was enough evidence there to let him know that they'd been raping her before the end and that was where his hatred stemmed.

  I couldn’t remember him that well from before it had happened but everyone in our family said that was what had unhinged him. And the man I knew was definitely unhinged alright, like the kind of chaotic and unpredictable that often ended with someone getting stabbed with an unexpected object and left to bleed out with no warning.

  So despite the fact that I knew that he was absolutely the most likely of my uncles to kill me one day, he was also my favourite. The only one amongst my entire family who gave me any reason at all to believe he had something more to him than just hate and violence.

  It also helped that he loved fucking with plans and changing course from the obvious narrative so of course, he'd been more than happy to let me fuck up Liam's scheme so long as I was happy to take the full blame for my decision. Which I was.

  I'd decided to do the dishonourable thing as far as the other Night Keepers went and had sent a single text to the group message telling them that we'd be back later and then I'd left my cell phone on the dining table beside Tatum's and walked out before they got back from their run.

  We didn't have time to dick around with hurt feelings and arguments over this being fair or any of that shit because it would all come to the same thing anyway. To protect Tatum from Liam she had to be my wife and we only had a few hours to make that happen.

  So as we shot down the highway on my bike, Tatum's arms wrapped tight around my waist as we chased Niall's blacked out SUV towards the city, I couldn't help but laugh at the turn of events.

  Niall was leading the way to St Mary's, the huge Catholic Church where every member of our family had gotten married for the last three generations and where I assumed we were going to get the priest to do us a quickie wedding without any notice. Luckily enough, Father Bernard was well used to accepting donations to his church for all kinds of
strange situations that the O'Briens threw his way, so I was sure he would be amenable to it.

  Before we made it to the church, Niall pulled his car down a side road and drew to a halt outside a bridal shop. That hadn’t been in the plans, but as I considered the idea of Tatum putting on a white dress for me, I decided I liked that a hell of a lot, so I made no complaints.

  Tatum squeezed my waist tighter as we looked around at the empty streets while Niall made quick work of forcing the door and I turned my attention to check further down the road to make sure no one was coming.

  "Wait here a second, baby," I said, climbing off the bike and heading over to the store. All of the businesses were closed due to the lockdown restrictions for the Hades Virus and I kept my helmet on with my visor down as I moved along the front window of the bridal store.

  Of course, Tatum ignored me, shoving me aside as I made a move to follow Niall inside. He'd already disabled the alarm and had the door open and I couldn't help but be quietly impressed by his work.

  "If I'm getting a dress then I'm going to be the one picking it," Tatum hissed at me. "You go upstairs and find a suit. I'm not marrying you in a pair of jeans and a wifebeater."

  I barked a laugh as she moved away into the store and Niall pointed out a sign for menswear that directed me up the stairs.

  I made quick work of selecting a suit. It wasn't like I didn't know how to dress up when I had to, it just wasn't really my preference.

  Tatum was waiting by the bike when I made it back downstairs and Niall took the suit I'd chosen from me, tossing it in the back of his car alongside a white dress bag that made it impossible for me to get so much as a glimpse of what she'd selected but made my heart beat faster at the idea of finding out.

  "You're getting into this, aren't you, baby?" I teased as she slid back onto the bike behind me and she scoffed lightly.

  "I only plan on getting married once, Kyan Roscoe, so I'm going to look hot as fuck for it. Besides, you strike me as a secret romantic and I can't wait to see you tear up at the sight of me walking down the aisle."