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.
Itwasentertaining, 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 thengoing 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 fuckinggrowlsand 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 abadidea 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 himselfif 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.
