Page 30 of Curvy Nerdy Omega

“I still don’t think we should rule it out based on one tiny piece of evidence,” Frankie muttered, rubbing her temples like I was giving her a headache. “There’s another list under the one I sent you that contains anyone in the Valor pack who stands to gain from Gideon’s death. Under that are those outside the pack who’d also get something out of this mess.”

Scrolling down, I nervously licked my lips when I saw Liam’s name at the top of the list. Ironically, she hadn’t included Cassius in that one, but he was at the bottom of the third list. Her father was at the top.

Then under him were the other two legacy packs in Acheron.

“Why is Francisco on here?” It was shocking enough to pull me out of my insanity spiral to focus.

“There’s a piece of land Valor and Lopez are vying for over at the docks. Valor was going to expand into shipping to cut some of their costs, and Francisco has always wanted unrestricted access to a freighter.”

For trafficking whatever had caught his fancy no doubt. Sometimes it was art, and sometimes it was experimental drugs. Hard to say what he might be into next.

I chewed on my cheek harder when I remembered how messed up Arturo had looked. Did Francisco know where he was? Did Frankie?

“There’s something I have to tell you,” I whispered.

Frankie leaned in closer and this time I moved toward her instead of away, pressing our foreheads together just like we’d done a million times before – back when we were teenagers and she’d hide with me under the blankets so we could whisper secrets her pack would never hear.

Secrets only three people in the world knew. Me, her, and Francisco Lopez.

“Frankie, when I was at Bite?—”

“Lucille Parker?”

I grimaced and turned away from her to see the nurse giving me a polite, but empty smile.

“Dr. Humphries is ready to see you now.”

Frankie stood when I did and took my hand in hers. It wasn’t for me, but her. My best friend was trembling at my side and I pretended like I didn’t notice, letting her pull me toward the nurse to make it look like she was in control – not me.

To the outside world, Frankie was the alpha and no one could ever see her as anything else or she’d be even worse off than me.

I squeezed her hand in reassurance and followed behind her, glad the ringing in my ears was finally gone.

The mystery of who had a more compelling motive to kill Gideon had done exactly what I’d needed it to. Once again the ocean of blood was held back by a fresh layer of steel until the next time it cracked.

Frankie might have abandoned me, but she knew how to overcome my insanity better than anyone.

Liam though…Liam kept pounding against the steel in my mind with manic glee, almost like he wanted to drown in all that blood right along with me and I had no fucking idea why anyone would want that.

Cassius…he had his own river of blood, but he wanted to redirect that river into my ocean until it all became one big mess. Even if it didn’t make any sense, I understood that he saw something in me he recognized.

Something he wanted.

Both of them were dangerous, but ironically, not because of the basement full of bodies.

They were dangerous because they made me want to rip off all my masks and stop pretending. They knew I wasn’t okay, and didn’t care.

A legacy alpha had let me go. Cassius had let me put a knife to his throat and smiled.

They made me want to say fuck it and swan dive right off the cliff just to see if I could breathe underwater.

* * *

The doctor didn’t seem surprised to see Frankie with me, but he did swallow like he was nervous. His gaze flicked to one of the corners of the ceiling as he sat down, making my entire body stiffen as I realized Cassius and Liam were probably watching us right now and Nathan knew it.

Even Frankie noticed.

Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t follow the doctor’s gaze either. We both kept our eyes on Nathan as we waited for him to explain what the fuck was going on with me and why.

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