Chapter 27 #3
Ransom and I don’t talk about that very often, not unless we have to, because our grandad left the clan to our dads and our uncle when he retired, and when that happened, our dads decided not to use the Byrne name.
We try to respect that decision and keep our family separate from the name without actually being separated from the clan because of the reputation attached to it.
There was, and still is, a lot of power associated with the Byrne clan, a lot of fear surrounding the big players and the name that became synonymous with political based crime in Illinois.
Don’t get me wrong, Grandad and his men dabbled in more than politics; drugs, guns, and sex work were always on the table. Politics just proved to be the most lucrative for them, and things sort of exploded from there.
In both good, and bad ways.
The bad was what led to our dads making the choice together with our uncle and grandad as soon as he found out he was sick, knowing retirement was going to be forced on him by his declining health.
So it wasn’t like there was bad blood between anyone.
I think my granddad was happy the business would stay tightly woven through our family, continuing and ultimately expanding under my dads and our Uncle Seamus.
He knew he was leaving his legacy in the hands of people he loved and trusted more than anyone; our involvement didn’t end, it just changed.
Ran and I still work with our cousins, Liam and Brennan, who are back home in Illinois and still Byrnes, and my brother and Brennan are technically head of the clan now that our dads and Uncle Seamus have retired.
Not keeping the Byrne name wasn’t an easy decision but it was unanimous and made without hesitation for one simple reason: to protect us, and our mom.
She’s Irish mob royalty, a princess if you will, and being the only daughter of Lorcan Byrne meant she had issues with other families trying to marry into our clan most of her life for all of our connections and status.
It caused a few mob wars back in the day, actually, and my mom was even kidnapped.
Twice. So it made the most sense to put as much distance as possible between Adders and the infamy Grandad had earned over five decades.
That’s why we moved out to Minnesota, too.
It makes for a really cool fucking family history, but we don’t typically talk about it with anyone who isn’t blood, or isn’t filtered through our cousins.
Dropping that little nugget of information, knowing these three have no doubt heard of my granddad, goes against that but I couldn’t resist.
Especially when it means I can put a small part of this ridiculously drawn-out argument they’re having to bed.
“Okay,” Niko says slowly. “It’s not the O’Boyles because we have Irish mob royalty in our pack.”
“Hardly,” I snort. “My mom is royalty, Ran and I are just lucky to have her.”
“I kind of love that you’re a mama’s boy.”
“Loud and proud.” I wink at Niko and his lopsided grin, smirking when his cheeks go pink but the moment is short-lived because the three of them go back to arguing immediately, and I decide it’s time to drown them out.
It was entertaining, now it’s annoying the shit out of me.
We could be spending our time together as a pack in any number of ways, even if it just means having a constructive and educated conversation about both of the unknown parties my mates have turned into blood stains on concrete.
Instead, these three are having a dick measuring contest without actually pulling out their dicks, and there is no fun in that at all.
“Uhm… I don’t feel very good.”
My gaze swings to the hallway as Liv comes back wearing nothing but a tank top and panties. She’s sweating and clutching her stomach, and as soon as she walks all the way into the living room, she perfumes so hard that the four of us involuntarily groan in unison.
“What’s wrong, kotenok?” Niko asks as he goes up to her and cups her cheeks.
I get to my feet and join Dimitri and Leon as they crowd Liv, everyone’s protective instincts kicking in as she winces in pain.
“Maybe you should—”
The french doors fly open and nearly come off the hinges as Rune storms into the room, rips his shirt off and throws it behind him. He drops his sweats and kicks them across the floor at the same time, stripping down completely before he plows directly into Liv.
Her back hits the wall with a thud, our girl gasping as the air is knocked from her lungs, Rune tearing her tank top off then going right for her panties, and it takes a second for any of us to fully register what’s happening.
“Hey!” I shout as I dart forward, grabbing the big guy’s arm and trying to get him to let go of Liv. “Rune, love, you—”
He tosses me off of him with one quick flick of his wrist, sending me backward into Dimitri and Leon then he turns to us and fucking growls and bares his teeth.
Like an animal.
Oh, shit.
Oh, shit!
Rune’s eyes have darkened and his pupils are blown out, he’s panting and snarling.
He’s buck ass naked and painfully erect.
His nostrils are flaring, his body is rigid and poised for a fight.
He isn’t pawing at Liv’s panties right now but he’s covering her with his body, keeping them skin to skin despite the way he’s solely focused on us as if we’re presenting some kind of threat.
Oh no. “He’s in rut,” I whisper as we stand there dumbfounded.
The big guy is in what has to be a full-blown rut, and Liv perfuming was definitely a trigger.
“What do we do?” Niko asks as he shakes his head, almost as if he’s trying to clear his mind and stay focused. “Is he going to hurt her?”
“Not on purpose,” Dimitri mumbles as he nods toward Leon. “We have to separate them.”
I start shaking my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
I know it’s not.
Don’t have to be an alpha to know that’s a bad idea but the only reason I consider listening to him is because Rune is so much bigger than Liv, almost two feet taller and probably at least one hundred and fifty pounds heavier.
If he's in rut and it gets worse, he has the potential to seriously hurt any one of us, and there is no way Rune would be able to live with himself if that happened. Not to mention, this could spark the same in Dimitri or Leon, if not both of them, and since Nikolai is so connected to Liv and happens to be Rune’s scent match, this could turn into a disaster very quickly.
I guess we are going to have to separate them.
Rune growls at us in warning again before an extremely potent wave of his pheromones roll off of him and he turns back to Liv, burying his face in her neck and rubbing his cheek against her skin hard.
She perfumes again, her scent stronger than I’ve ever smelled it, our girl arching into Rune and clawing at his back with a whimper.
Shit.
“Now,” I say as I motion for us to start moving toward them. “We have to get him off of her now.”
Which was apparently enough direction for these three because we act fast and in sync.
Leon, D, and I all grab Rune, trying like hell to get him off of Liv while Niko attempts to get her away from the wall.
It’s a struggle for all of us, the big guy putting up quite the fight as we manage to get him to let go of her with an agitated roar before he turns on us.
Rune lunges and we barely get out of the way, diving onto the couches right before he picks up the coffee table and throws it through the french doors.
He snarls as he sees Niko with Liv, ready to charge them both but that’s when everything becomes clear.
At least, it’s as clear as it can get because even I’m starting to feel a little hazy, and I know our other alphas are as well based on their slow reaction time.
Liv is in heat.
That’s why she’s been acting the way she has, why she’s not feeling so good right now. The cramps finally hit.
I don’t know if her heat is what sent Rune into rut, but it doesn’t matter now.
Especially as I stagger to my feet at the same time Nikolai starts to strip his clothes off.
He whimpers and whines with each piece of fabric he sheds and before I realize it, I’m dropping my shorts right along with Dimitri and Leon.
Oh my god, they’re both in heat.
That explains why Niko has been crabby and argumentative, and why his appetite went through the roof and spilled over into grocery shopping.
If we are going to be a pack, we need to get our shit together.
This is new for all of us in some capacity, there’s no doubt about that, but we need to pay better attention to our omegas and fucking plan for shit like this.
“Oh god,” Liv cries as she doubles over. “Oh my god, it hurts.”
Shaking my head again, I pull my shirt over my head and toss it, then I take my life in my own hands by getting in front of Rune before I take him by the arm and essentially throw him at her.
If that wasn’t what I was doing, if I didn’t give him back to his scent match, he might have torn me to pieces.
Instead, he growls deep and low in his throat as he reaches for her, ripping her panties off, then grabs her by the hips and gets her on all fours in one fluid motion.
Rune plows into Liv from behind, his fingers digging into her ass as he buries himself knot deep in one thrust and begins to pump in and out of her pussy.
She moans in relief the second he sets his brutal pace but she looks up at me, Liv’s eyes glassy and hooded, and they almost seem to be pleading with mine.
“Styx,” she whimpers, and I nod.
She’s asking for me, and I know that, but I don’t have what she needs right now. Not naturally, anyway, and I’m responding too strongly to her and Niko, to all three alphas who are now shooting pheromones out of their bodies like lasers, to think clearly enough to find my knotted sleeve.
So, I try to keep my wits about me as I try to provide for my omegas, both of them, so they don’t have to suffer through this.