“Noted,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Well,” Ronan continued. “I’m sure you were told who we are. I knew my father was a bit of a player. He liked to sleep around and then toss money at the omegas he knocked up. I’m sure Nikolai and I have plenty of siblings we don’t know about.”
“Ronan and his brother are the ‘legitimate’ heirs,” Nikolai said.
The way he said it had me cocking my head.
“Alessio is my brother, and he is quite possibly the worst human being on the planet. Even worse than our father, who runs the entire operation,” Ronan explained.
“What makes him so bad?” I asked, wanting to know what I was possibly getting mixed up in.
“He’s reckless, narcissistic, selfish, and has an inflated ego, which is honestly a volatile mix. My father mostly keeps him in check, but he’s always hated who I am and what I stand for. I’m first in line to take over the Crows, and the fact that I have loyal guards is just another blow. He uses people and doesn’t form connections. It’s going to bite him in the ass one day.”
When the waiter came back, sliding our drinks onto the table, I picked up my champagne and took a sip.
Before I could go back to tearing the straw paper, Leon’s hand covered mine. He didn’t hide it under the table, instead holding it right there in the open.
The other three noticed but didn’t tense or say a word, in fact, Ronan grinned.
“So,” I prompted. “You found Nikolai because you were tracing all the children?”
“In a way,” Ronan admitted. “I had looked into some, but something about Nikolai stood out. Perhaps the pack bond was pulling me that way. When I found out he was a fighter, I went and watched him and decided right then and there that I wanted to bring him in despite my father’s warnings.”
“He knew you were looking into his illegitimate children?” I asked.
“My father knows everything that happens on his compound. And I had asked a few too many pointed questions.” He shrugged, not looking like he cared much what his father thought.
“Wait,” I said, my brain catching up as I looked at Nikolai. “Fights?”
He let out a breath, worry echoing in the bond. “When I said I’d secure us a way out, I’d been talking to someone who ran an alpha fighting ring. He was going to provide us with a way out and a place to live?—”
“Nikolai, I never wanted you to?—”
“It was never your choice. It was mine,” he said firmly, cutting me off, too. “And it was the only way I could’ve gotten you out. I was willing to risk anything for that. I couldn’t watch her do that to you anymore.”
I looked away, and he continued, knowing I needed to hear it.
“When you disappeared, we looked for you. Everyone involved was fucking useless. They said you must’ve been a runaway omega, even when I explained everything. But you know how your mom had a way of talking the police out of anything.”
“I do,” I said, that old pain rising again. She used her omega side to manipulate them, making them look the other way. She did it enough times that her body became a get-out-of-jail-free card.
“So, you kept looking for me after I was gone. What else did you do?” I asked.
“I fought to earn money on the side and spent every other moment searching. He paid me extra for fights that I wasn’t under contract for, and I took my frustration out on my opponents.”
“He’s undefeated,” Ronan added, amused. “Even after all these years, he’s a bit of a legend. The Hellhound.”
There was brotherly pride in his voice and I was smiling without a second thought. I was grateful that Ronan found him, that my alpha wasn’t forced to face all that grief alone.
Our food arrived and we dug in. This time the small talk wasn’t forced and the tension was gone. For the first time since they burst into our lives it felt like maybe this could turn into something.
“How do you fit into all of this?” I asked Luca.
“He was my best friend,” Luca said, gesturing to Ronan. “The son of one of my father’s contacts. We spent a lot of time together growing up and realized we were a pack. It made sense for me to join him. He’s good with intel and I’m good with computers. It worked out and Victor Crow liked having an extra asset on board.”
“So, we’re pack, and you’re heavily involved in crime… how did you see that working out?” I mused. My tone was light butthe topic was anything but. “I left that life behind. My life here is peaceful.”
“We’re not all bad. We’ve done more for omegas and knocking out these operations than the government ever could,” Ronan pointed out. That smug confidence was back. I could tell he meant it.
