The three brothers looked at Olcan, waiting for an answer. He was their brother, but also their Alpha. Fergus had handed it over to him in order to take some time away with his own family and hadn’t wanted it back when he returned.
“I don’t know. The two of you are young,” Olcan replied.
“We’re not children, Olcan. I’m nearly twenty-six and Ronan is twenty-two. Don’t treat us like babies just because we’re your brothers,” Niall protested.
“Okay, but whoever goes up against Trill is going to need to be Alpha. That’s not optional. Even if you are successful, any clan over there will find harm in your attacking someone above your station.”
“Maybe we can find an Alpha there,” Ronan offered.
“Maybe you can, maybe you can’t. I’ve been thinking about stepping down for a while now. I’ve appreciated my time as Alpha, but it’s time to hand over the reins,” Olcan replied, turning toward Niall. “You’re next in line, Niall. I’m going to call in the rest of the clan and announce that you’ll be the new Alpha.”
“But what if I’m the one that goes up against Trill?” Ronan interjected.
“Then, I’d suggest you have Niall appoint you Alpha in his stead beforehand,” Olcan replied.
“Olcan, are you sure? I mean, I’m honored, but it seems like a lot to just hand the Alpha position over to me, especially if I’ll be gone.”
“We need an Alpha there. Fergus and I can keep everyone safe here without a title to assist in our efforts. Here, it is just a tradition of our kind. Where you are going, it carries far more weight.”
“Do you really think we can get this done?” Niall asked, now sounding more like a man who was thinking things through than the hothead he could be at times.
“Aye. I do. More importantly, do you?”
“Aye. Ronan and I can handle it. We’ll lay low. See what we see and then decide if we go for it or make another plan.”
“All right, let’s do this then,” Olcan told him, picking up the phone to call Frances, the personal assistant who would gather up the clan and get them into the meeting room for the big announcement.
Niall suddenly felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. It was a lot, but he had asked for it. He wanted it. Still, he knew that he had his work cut out for him and what might happen to his brothers and his clan if he failed.
CHAPTER TWO
Deidre
“Who is this?” Niall asked, taking in the doe-eyed girl sitting in the attic bedroom of Andrew Byrne’s house.
Andrew had been the Alpha of Clan Byrne but now served only as their adviser. When the Maguires had attacked the surrounding clans in order to absorb their property and wealth, they had stripped them of all leadership and forced them to accept the Maguire Alpha as their own. That had been Sorley Maguire, but now that he was known to be deceased, it had fallen to his first lieutenant. A man known only as Trill to most.
“This is Deidre Byrne, my niece.”
“Why is she hiding in the attic?” Niall demanded.
“She is hiding from Trill. She is betrothed to him,” Andrew replied, defiance on his face.
“We need to talk to one another alone,” Niall told him through pursed lips.
“Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of her,” Andrew told him.
“You want me to discuss clan business in front of an Omega who is set to marry Trill?” Niall asked him.
Andrew looked back at Deidre and then back at him. “She ran away from him. She has nothing to say to Trill.”
“Do you think Trill would just ask her and she would just say she doesn’t know anything? Do you think he’s the sort of guy who wouldn’t just pull out her fingernails one by one or make knife tracks along her most sensitive bits of skin until she tells him everything?”
“I, uh,” Andrew started to say, noting the look of horror on Deidre’s face.
“The less she knows, the less she has to confess,” Niall said, his teeth clenched.
“Very well,” Andrew told him, following Niall to the doorway, where Ronan stood listening. They stepped outside and closed it behind them, speaking quietly to one another at first, but quickly raising their voices.
“How long has she been here?” Niall demanded.
“She came just a few days before you did.”
“And you didn’t think that was something you should mention?”
“I was just trying to keep her safe until I could get her out of here, away from him.”
Deidre wasted no time in easing over toward the door, careful not to step on any of the boards that creaked. She had gotten quite good at that while hiding in the attic, but she’d tripped earlier and fallen. That was what had alerted the McNally brothers to her presence. She could already hear their conversation, mostly, but wanted to make sure she caught it all, just in case it was something she’d need to know later.