Page 124 of Curvy Nerdy Omega

“He said it wasn’t safe. For him, or for me.” I leaned down to make sure the laces on my boots were tied tight and tucked them in so they wouldn’t trip me up or get loose then I covered them with the bottom of my skinny jeans.

“Nicolette’s bonded omega and Liam’s other mother, Patricia…the Anderson pack tried to take her out when Nicolette wouldn’t invest in their company.”

Holy shit. “Is she okay?”

I couldn’t remember anything about that, but I hadn’t exactly been interested in legacy packs back then.

“She’s alive, but she was shot three times in the stomach.” Cas crossed his arms over his chest and watched Melinda head inside her house. “She can’t have any more kids, but she’s lucky she can even walk after one of the bullets got lodged in her spine. After that, Nicolette sent her away for her own safety. Then she destroyed the Anderson pack.”

That I did remember.

Everyone thought the massacre was some weird religious shit. It was so bloody and ritualistic they’d been sure there was some weird suicide pact or something. All the weird manifestos they found corroborated it too.

I could see why Cas was so wary of the Valor alpha.

“Patricia came back once Liam graduated from Blackwood Academy but Nicolette sent her out of the country again when Gideon was killed.” Cas narrowed his eyes when Melinda went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Nicolette Valor never really recovered though. She’s big on airtight security, multiple escape routes, and panic rooms. All the cars she assigns to immediate family have bulletproof windows and are able to withstand most car bombs. So this…this is going to be a problem.”

It wasn’t just the security company, it was a member of her own family. What would she do if Dane Valor had something to do with Gideon’s death?

A car pulled up to the gate and was waved through, making Cas dig his fingers into his biceps. That car went through and I grabbed the mouse, clicking on the cameras to follow him. Not two minutes later Liam pulled up to the gate on a motorcycle.

My heart was pounding as I watched the security guard pull into his driveway.

But he didn’t go into his house.

He went around it to cut across the backyard and I lost him in the trees.

Shit.

What were we supposed to do now?

“Dane lives three houses down,” Cas murmured. “If you’re right…”

He clicked one of the cameras and we held our breath as we waited.

It took about three minutes and then Dane came through the trees into Melinda’s backyard, sticking to the shadows.

“Let’s go.” I jumped up and uncapped the lens on my camera, turning it on and checking to make sure it was set for long range photos. “I want clear pictures of their faces, not grainy security footage. If they’ve been doing this for a while, they’ll know how to avoid the cameras.”

Cas put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me behind him as he headed for the back door. “Stay behind me at all times. Got it?”

“Got it.”

I stuck close, keeping one hand on his lower back so he could keep track of me without having to look and pulled my phone out of my pocket to update Liam. Then I set it to record and tucked it in the back pocket of my jeans.

We kept the back door open and I made sure to follow Cas’s footsteps, angling my body the same way he did. I pulled my hood up over my hair and reached in my pocket for one of the black medical face masks I kept in all my jackets for exactly this reason.

Slipping it on, I kept my eyes on the ground so I didn’t step on any branches that would crack or crunchy dry leaves. The last thing I needed to do was trip and fuck this all up.

We went around to the bushes along the side and Cas crouched down. I immediately followed suit and lifted my camera to my eye, testing the angle.

I could see him perfectly. Snapping a photo, the setting took another fifteen with only a single press of the button.

The guard knocked on the back door, his gear blending into the shadows and the black exterior of the house since Melinda didn’t have any lights on outside. A few seconds later she came to the back door and glanced back over her shoulder before reaching for the handle.

I snapped another series of photos, making sure I got the smile on her face when she recognized him too.

The second he was inside, she closed the door and closed the blinds.

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