Chapter 27 #2
She’s been moody, which for anyone else would probably translate to irritable or cranky but since our girl already leans that way most of the time, moody for Liv means her emotions are all over the place.
One minute she’s happy and excited about everything from the farmhouse blueprints I’ve been showing them to the new shipment of shot glasses we’re getting at the club, and the next she’s crying over some commercial on TV trying to get donations for the ASPCA because that could have been our dogs and we need to help all of them.
Clingy, moody, nesting. Liv has been fatigued, and she’s running pretty hot and cold, walking around in nothing but her underwear, standing in front of the box fan in my bedroom window for a while before she’s climbing into our clothes while we’re still wearing them because she’s suddenly freezing.
Or so she says. I think it’s more of the clingy stuff but I don’t dare say that to her, not when Liv is a bit of a ticking time bomb of emotions.
If I didn’t know she’s been taking heat suppressants since she left the shelter, I’d think Liv was going into heat, but she has been, so she’s not.
I’m not complaining.
As a matter of fact, roughly fifty hours of this has been pure bliss for me.
I’ll happily watch whatever commercials she wants and sweat through every stitch of fabric in this place if it means Liv is demanding we’re all together all of the time now.
Especially since I’m the one who gets to sit like this with our girl while three of our mates argue, and the fourth is trying to pace the balcony right off the side of the barn.
“I wish he’d come inside.”
I smile at my girl and keep playing with her hair. “He will when he’s ready.”
Liv sighs against me, snuggling closer as she slips her fingers under the hem of my basketball shorts. “He needs to be ready now.”
“This has been a lot for him, too, love.” I look toward the french doors and watch Rune lumber back and forth on the other side of them. “And I’m sure those three are annoying the shit out of him.”
“He’s not annoyed,” she says with a small chuckle. “I can’t quite put my finger on what he is, but Rune isn’t annoyed.” Liv pauses as she starts tracing designs against my thigh. “Worried. Edgy. A little confused maybe. I don’t know what to call that.”
“An alpha,” I deadpan, then smile when she laughs.
“Yeah, okay. He’s definitely acting like an alpha.”
I open my mouth to reassure her, to make sure she knows that it all comes with the territory of bonds and matches, but stop when her fingers flex against my leg hard and Liv pulls her knees up to her chest with a stuttering breath.
“Are you okay, love?”
She nods against me. “I’m fine.”
“No you’re not.” I frown down at her as my girl tries to curl into the tiniest ball ever. “Don’t bother trying to lie to me about it, my love, it’s insulting to both of us.”
“I think I just need some water.” Liv slowly unfolds herself, sits up, then gets to her feet. “And I have to pee.”
“You go do that, I’ll handle the water.” I stand and follow her to the hall but stop her just before she heads down it. I grab the side of her neck and search her face, my brow furrowing when pain briefly flashes in her eyes. “Liv…”
“Water, beta. Unless you want to come with me to the bathroom first?” She arches her brow and smirks. I swear she talks like an alpha sometimes. “We might be mates with a million bonds between us, but I’m not really ready to start peeing in front of any of you.”
“Not at that stage in our relationship yet?”
She shakes her head and gives me a beautiful smile.
“Soon, though? I’m not sure I can stay committed if you’re not willing to share everything with me.” I dip my chin and press my lips to hers, grinning into the kiss as Liv giggles and grabs the front of my t-shirt to pull me closer.
Finding these five people has made a believer out of me.
I never fully understood what my mother meant about being struck by a cupid's arrow when you find your mates, how your soul literally recognizes the bond before your brain can fully comprehend it, but I do now.
Falling fast for Leon gave me the push I needed to get there, especially with how open he is when it comes to love and relationships, and he helped me embrace it even more as our pack grew.
I didn’t question or fight how I felt, I let it fly, and I found myself falling in love just as fast and hard with four people I barely knew.
My mother is going to hit the ceiling when I tell her.
I haven’t had the chance to tell my parents about anyone besides Leon yet, and when I do, that woman is going to start planning a commitment ceremony and pushing for more grandbabies immediately.
Both things I’m more than ok with, but Róisín Adder can be a lot for most people and considering who I’m packing up with, I’ll have to expose her to them in small doses at first.
“You're stuck with me, you don’t have a choice,” Liv says as she gives me one more small kiss. “You’re mine forever, and commitment has nothing to do with it.”
I bark out a laugh as she grins then turns around and heads down the hall.
Fucking head over heels for my mates, that’s what I am.
Sliding a hair tie from my wrist, I pull my rust-colored waves up into a bun then walk to the fridge, my brows shooting sky high when I see how full it is.
I know we were getting a little slim with all of us being here the last couple days but when Leon took Niko shopping, I didn’t realize they were planning to stock for the apocalypse.
Thirty-seven years old, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much fruit and bottled water in my life. There are some veggies, eggs, cheeses and milk, too, but the bulk of what I’m staring at is spring water and cut fruit.
I hope they got more than this.
I shake my head as I open the freezer. Of course they did. Three alphas alone means we need at least an entire cow’s worth of beef, factor in me and my other omega, and our girl we have to cook for so she doesn’t starve, my freezer is packed to the gills with various meats.
Curious about what else happened when those two went to the store, I check the pantry and find every shelf stocked with all kinds of shit.
Cookies, chips, crackers. Protein bars, protein drinks.
Cereals. Cooking and baking staples. More herbs and spices than I knew existed.
Wine and beer. All sorts of shelf stable things like potatoes and onions, garlic and tomatoes.
Three big ass bags of dog food. And more fruit.
I’m going to have to push the renovation team even harder to finish the farmhouse ahead of schedule just so we have somewhere to store all the food it takes to feed six people.
The grocery bill was never something I thought about before, it makes me wonder what else changes when you find your pack.
I go back to the fridge and take out a couple bottles of water and the bowl of various melons. It’s been a while since Liv has eaten anything. I don’t think she had breakfast this morning, and she passed on lunch.
That’s something else I’ve noticed.
Her appetite has been off.
She snacks during her shifts at the bar, always grabs something on her breaks, and she typically has a container of food Niko made her for dinner.
Lately, Liv has just been more or less picking, and slamming water like she’s been living in the desert.
I stop in the doorway of the kitchen as something occurs to me.
We’ve never talked about birth control.
Not me and Liv, unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to bury myself inside her yet for it to even cross my mind, but I don’t think she’s talked to any of the guys about it, and they haven’t said anything about it to me.
Pregnancy is way more likely between mates who share bonds or are scent matched. It’s not impossible for it to happen outside of that, I’ve seen that first hand, but chances are increased significantly when fate has a hand in things.
If Liv has been on heat suppressants, scent blockers, and alpha pheromone blockers, I’m sure she’s on birth control. She’s too much of a planner not to be.
Not that I’m against having a baby. I want a million kids, I always have.
I’m all for it happening as soon as possible, too, but maybe we should figure out what to do about the random attacks from people who would like to murder one, if not multiple members of our pack before we start talking about a nursery addition.
I make a mental note to bring that up at some point, gently and with as much tact as possible since Liv’s reactions have been less rational lately, then walk back into the living room.
Where two of my alphas and one of my omegas are still going at it about their conspiracy theories and imaginary suspects.
“Listen to me, Nikolai,” Dimitri says through clenched teeth. “It is not the O’Boyles. It can’t be.”
“You can’t possibly know that,” he huffs. “Not unless you single-handedly wiped out their entire clan and since it’s fucking huge, I doubt you’ve made a dent.”
“They don’t come out this far,” I say as I walk past my mates and plop down on the couch, kicking my feet up on the coffee table as they all look at me. “What?”
“You know the O’Boyles?” Dimitri asks.
I nod. “Not personally. My dads know them, my grandad did, too, and they don’t come out this far because of that. And before you ask, no, I don’t know every Irish mob family just because we hail from the same island, only the few that go back as far as ours does.”
“I love it when you talk crime families.” Leon grabs the front of his tank top and twists it in his fingers, his nipple rings catching the light as he groans. “Gives me a boner.”
“Everything gives you a boner,” Dimitri grunts over his shoulder as he maintains eye contact with me. “How far back does your family go?”
I shrug. “Far enough. Our biological father is where the Adder comes from, our other dad came along shortly after I turned two, but the mob tie is from our mom. Róisín Byrne.” All three of their jaws drop and I have to laugh.