"Da, no. I'm putting my foot down. If you want a party, we can have one later when you've completely recovered." Rory gave the brother—or cousin, who the hell knew who was who around here—closest to him a shove. When the guy fell back, Rory smirked and carefully sat at the edge of his father's bed. He wrapped both of his hands around Seamus's. "Da, please don't make me be mean. You made me your second for a reason. Remember what you said the day I was promoted?"
Seamus looked grumpy as fuck. "Ay. And I think you're wanting me to regret it." He huffed, yet smiled affectionately. "As I recall, when I made you my second I told you that I trusted your judgment."
Rory nodded, prompting him to continue. "And? I seem to recall there was something else said that day."
"Someone's feeling awfully full of himself, I see. So this is what happens when I'm not here to keep you in line." Seamus groaned when Rory didn't respond to anything. "Fine. Make me say it. I don't remember the exact wording but I believe it was something along the lines of wanting you to keep me honest and help me with the hard decisions. And even worse, I made you promise to give me a boot in the arse whenever I was acting the fool."
"There it is," Rory crowed, his eyes twinkling with mischief as he subtly got his way. Or almost did. Even I could tell that his father was about to give in when the doorbell rang.
Patrick hopped up and backed out of the room. "Don't everyone move at once, I'll get it."
Mark—I was pretty sure I had his name right, at least—flipped Patrick the bird. "Quit yer bitchin'. You know the rules around here. Whoever's closest to the door gets it, so shut up and get to it."
Patrick's extended middle finger was the last thing to leave the room, even making a final appearance around the corner of the door jamb before finally disappearing when the doorbell rang again. Rory and his father quietly talked as Rory briefly told him about the Chen Triad. I was about to chime in when the bright orange end of a Nerf dart came flying at me.
The suction cup tip hit me dead center in the forehead. I plucked it off with a puzzled frown and looked around. I don't know where they came from but a room full of Nerf guns started firing—and every last one of them were pointed in my direction. Rory covered his face with both hands, shaking his head as if he couldn't even deal with his family right now.
Seamus started chuckling and nodded toward his pillow. "Welcome to the family, son. This is how we blow off stress. The clinic and sick rooms are filled with stashed guns and Nerf darts. Reach under the head of my bed here, I've got one loaded that will take care of all my boys at once."
Rory dropped his hands, shooting me a warning glare. "Don't do it. You'll only encourage them into a full-scale war."
His father caught my eye. "Rory doesn't get the healing power of blowing off steam. Go on now, grab it before they take you down like a big baby." I heard several guns cocking and forgot all about not irritating my mate as I ducked.
As soon as I hit the floor, I saw my prize hidden directly under the head of the bed—a gaudy-looking orange belt-fed plastic toy machine gun with a fully loaded belt. Cackling to myself, I seized it gratefully and came up firing. One of the brothers tried to stop everything by holding a Nerf bazooka at the back of Rory’s head while shielding himself from my bullets with his other arm.
"Stop or the black sheep gets it! Drop your gun and step away."
I took one look at the tiny Irishman with the gun pointed at my mate and snorted. "No chance, dickhead. I have brothers. Do you really think I've lived as long as I have without knowing better than to ever surrender my gun? Besides, I don't think you have the balls to shoot your brother with that big-ass bazooka-looking thing."
The guy shrugged. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Or maybe Rory is seeing that his wimpy alpha won't protect him when the chips are down."
Rory stood and spun in one fluid movement, grabbing the gun from the other guy's hands. "Screw you, Shane. Why would I need protecting? Especially from the likes of you." He tilted the barrel up and fired the gun when Shane started to run. The whole crowd split apart like Moses at the Red Sea—funny how good they were at that—and the big-ass oversized bullet went right down the middle.
My eyes went wide and laughter bubbled from my throat when I saw who'd been at the door as the visitor walked into the room just in time to catch the Nerf monstrosity before it struck him in the center of his chest. My pops wrapped his hand around it and thrust his arm over his head like he was proclaiming victory or something. Vasily stood behind him, rolling his eyes and trying not to look jealous of Pop’s cool entry.
Pops shook his head, laughing so hard he could barely speak. "Seamus, you dodgy old fart. It's always an adventure when I come to visit you. Here I came expecting to soothe your family and offer comfort while we waited for you to come out of that Sleeping Beauty act you had going. Instead, I walked into sheer bedlam. And damned but if that doesn't make my day."
Seamus fumbled for something on the side of the bed. When I saw what he was reaching for, I quietly shoved the bed's remote into his hand. His eyes flashed with gratitude before he turned his attention to my father, raising his bed as he spoke until he was in a seated position. "Well, now. Ain't this a treat. Don Novak himself has left the protection of that fancy manor to visit the likes of me. How the hell are you, Francis? One of you boys, go and grab the don and his son a chair."
Chairs were produced and half the crowd disappeared before Pops had a chance to sit down. Vasily ignored the one offered to him and came over to stand beside me instead, leaning against the wall while we watched the private meeting between two titans.
The two of them trash talked each other for a few more minutes before Pops grew solemn. "This was a bad thing that happened to you, my friend. What's the world coming to when a man of our stature can't go for a private walk without a couple of two-bit thugs thinking they can get the jump on us?"
Seamus took a deep breath, letting it out with a loud sigh. "Thinking they could? From where I'm sitting, it appears they did." He got a calculating look in his eyes as he glanced at Rory before looking back at my father. "I suppose I'm correct in guessing that our boys met after your family offered assistance?"
Pops looked over his shoulder, his smile broadening when he spotted the mating mark on my neck. "Of course. Your son Patrick came to my door when you went missing. I sent Vasily and Misha to offer whatever help we could give. I never would've guessed it would end with our families being connected. This is a good day, Seamus. For both of us."
"I agree. I was just explaining to Rory why we need to bust me out of this bed and have a party to celebrate. Not only are the two best families in the city combining, but our sons have found the best gift of all—a fated mate. But Rory says I need to wait until I've recovered or some such bullshit." Even though Seamus spoke affectionately, it was obvious how much it rankled to have his son put his foot down.
Pops gave his hands a clap. "Yes, a party. This is indeed cause for celebration. I agree with Rory though, there's no need to rush. And we all know you'll have a better time if you're operating on all cylinders."