Inefficient || Niam [BoyxBoy]

Chapter 11

Liam expected his time with Niall to go slower than anticipated, but he found himself getting worried over Isaac who'd come and look for him, Louis, and Josh any minute now. He knew that disobeying him would lead to a lot of trouble, but his feelings for Niall overpowered everything else in a rickety train of thought.

He heard a loud knock at the front door when Niall would be coming back from school. With care, he answered the door and was face to face with Isaac and regret immediately pooled throughout his body.

“Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to be back at dawn, Payne.” He crossed his arms and stared deeply into Liam's eyes, trying to figure out a response before hearing it himself moments later.

“I-I have a good explanation!” Isaac clenches his jaw but allows him to speak. “I imprinted someone the night before the meeting. My feelings were everywhere and I couldn't stay away from him even if it required enough force to split us apart. He's my everything right now, and I don't know if I'll be okay with going back to the pack. Nothing else matters, in the long run, but him, Isaac. You have to understand th-”

“I do. I imprinted someone as well before joining in the pack years ago.” His arms crossed slowly, brow arching up at a sudden new smell that made its way closer at a slow pace. He continued to speak, though. “She meant the whole world to me also, but that faded away when she was taken away from me not even two years later. I cared for nothing besides her. She became the reason and purpose for me to wake up every morning.” He lets out a long sigh. “But that all changed when she was found where my parents were murdered.” Chills ran down Liam's spine. He never heard about that incident.

“Gosh, I'm so sorry, Isaac.” He felt truly sorry for Isaac, even his parents were cruel, because he couldn't bear losing Niall who meant more than anything else to him this past week. He's the main reason for receiving oxygen and waking up every morning, and hello never forget that while the days go by.

He shakes his head and glances behind him to see Niall, smirking a little with authority scourging through him in a heated rush. “Is this the man that you've imprinted?”

Niall walked past him when he spoke and didn't expect to feel a hand grab at his wrist after setting a bag of snacks down near Liam. Turning, he looked down at the stranger's hand and instantly began feeling dizzy from how strong he was. Liam saw this and growled, pushing Isaac back in dominance over Niall.

“What the hell are you doing, Isaac,” Liam barked in complete anger, nostrils flaring in seconds. He earns a light laugh from his pack leader before hearing a soft groan from Niall who tried entering the home.

Isaac attacks him again, pinning the puny human against the outside wall of the house, biting at his ear a little when thinking about his own lover from years ago. “I can't believe you're stuck with a fücking Payne... You'd be so much better in my care, with someone who'd treat you with attention and precision. Screw Liam.”

Niall shakes his head against the wall, feeling pain surge through him while Liam's pent up anger continues to grow enough for him to throw Isaac off of his partner.

His leader lets out a small laugh and rolls his eyes, attempting to attack Niall a third time, but Liam pins him to the ground and shakes his head. “You aren't touching my love like that ever again! Get the hell out of my sight before you regret it, Isaac.” His teeth gritted in utter anger and annoyance, their eyes darting together in a different type of battle.

Isaac chuckles and pushes Liam off of him, brushing himself off from the dirt while he walks back. “Oh, I will leave you two alone... I have other things planning in my head as we speak. So enjoy yourself while you can, because nobody else is here to save you, Payne.”

In a flash, Isaac darts off and leaves them alone to catch their breath. Although, Liam immediately tends to Niall's wounds. He takes him into his bathroom and bandages his ear up while listening to the soft groaning.

“I-Is he really going to come back...” Niall did his best to speak, not noticing that Isaac had grabbed at the middle part of his neck. Liam can tell that it's bruised also, grabbing an elastic arm bandage for the Irishman's arm. He could barely move it, wincing when trying to do so. Why did this have to happen to him?

The alpha shrugs, though. “I don't know, but we need to keep you safe at all times because he can strike again at any time.” He begins to wrap the bandage around Niall's arm, figuring it'd work better than leaving his arm out in the open. It wasn't broken, for sure. “I think it'd be best if Zayn, Perrie, and Josh were to stay here at your place.” He nods at his own idea. “They all live together in a community housing, but will still be able to pay for it with their jobs that are close by.”

Niall hums then hisses in pain when Liam jerks his arm on accident. “Shït, Li...”

“I'm so sorry, baby... I didn't mean for any of this to happen, and I thought he wouldn't hurt you if he were to lash out. You have me to blame for all of this because I was supposed to go back and debrief on every-”

“I could never blame you, Li.” Niall his uninjured hand on Liam's left cheek and uses his thumb to rub it gently. “You did what you could to help me, and that's all that matters to me, okay? I'm still alive. Sure, there's a target on my back now, but I have you and the others to keep me safe and nothings going to go wrong.”

Liam smiles a little and peppers a few kisses to his lover's forehead, leaving on the last one for about three seconds until he eventually pulled away. This left a huge grin on Niall's face even when feeling pain surge through his left arm again. Why couldn't have it been his right arm instead? His left was more important.

“I'm going to take care of you nonstop until you feel better from what happened.” He bites his bottom lip and realizes something worth noting. “By the way, don't bring this up to the others until we're all together. I was the only one who knew about Isaac and the different side of him, so having them figure out the truth all at once would prove beneficial for us.” His idea begins transferring to Niall who's beginning to feel dizzy and exhausted. “Does that sound okay?”

With a short nod, he leans forward and rests his head on Liam's right shoulder. Liam takes the hint and takes him to his head, lying him down with utmost care. He plants a kiss to the Irishman's head before grabbing some medicine from where they just were.

After he found and set it down on the bedside table, he grabs an easy glass of ice cold water and brings it up to Niall. He's wanted to take care of him, but the Irishman never allowed it. This incident gave him a huge opportunity that he would use to his advantage, though.

He stayed by Niall's side for the rest of the day, even when hearing the bedroom door get knocked on. “Come in,” he spoke softly. Perrie and Zayn enter the room, their eyes growing wide in concern over their human friend who appeared disastrous, exhausted beyond compare to anything else that they've experienced.

“Jesus, what the hell happened, Liam?”

The alpha wanted to answer her, but Perrie would have to wait until the others came by. He told her and Zayn that and earned short nods from them both. He didn't know how to phrase everything just yet, but would definitely be ready when the others finally came around to hear about such a difficult interaction.

“Isaac came to check up on me right when Niall was coming back from school and bringing back some snacks. He went crazy and attacked him, but I stopped Isaac before he could do anything long-term.” He looked over at Niall and bit his bottom lip, fighting back a low growl. Perrie and Zayn's jaws have clenched. “We need to keep Niall safe in case if Isaac comes back, which I'm sure he will. Everyone needs to stay here and fight against him altogether.”

The two agreed with him, nodding. “Right. We will do whatever it takes to keep him safe, Liam. He's apart of our group now, and we keep each other secure.” Zayn agrees, smiling.

“We're here for you two, always.”

~*~

Author's Note: Don't attack me for hurting Niall! It's for the plot and I hope y'all can understand that. I pray you still enjoyed this chapter and I love you all! Ty for reading x