Page 46 of Curvy Nerdy Omega

We’ve never had this many air purifiers in our apartment before and I was desperately trying not to read too much into it, but it was impossible when that damn word kept repeating in my head like a curse.

Why, why, why, why, why?

Was it the lingering traces of my pheromones making her sick, or was it that she didn’t want me to deal with whatever remaining hints of her rut was left? Honestly, it didn’t smell like she’d had a rut at all. At least, not here.

So, then where?

I didn’t try to fit the puzzle piece into any available opening, but studied the options for a long time, inspecting the details of each edge as I tucked a curl behind my ear.

The doctor had monitored me for an entire hour before he finally let me go home. I still had to check my blood pressure every hour though and keep track of how I was feeling, but other than that, everything seemed to be fine.

At least we had one less thing to worry about now.

If the regimen of suppressants worked as the doctor assumed they would, I’d be able to live normally again. I wouldn’t have to worry about catching a whiff of anyone’s pheromones and losing my shit like I had in the basement.

It was already helping.

I had to get my blood drawn and heart checked every day but so far, it was working without causing even more problems, or creating irreparable damage. Nathan was very pleased with my progress and had already started lowering my dose a milligram at a time.

At this rate, it might only take weeks to finally be at my new normal without needing suppressants.

Things could change if I didn’t see Liam or Cassius again…or if I did.

Sliding my finger along the edge of my scent blockers, I tried to focus on the puzzle and not the memory of Liam tracing my neck just like this. He’d looked so melancholy as he’d stared at the adhesive too.

His admission that he preferred the way I normally wore them had affected me more than I’d expected. He’d phrased it in a way that almost turned it into a request. I don’t know how he’d managed to get me to understand what he was inferring either.

Normally, that shit went right over my head, but I’d understood what he really meant and for whatever reason, that affected me more than any alpha command from him would have. He’d asked, as if I had a choice.

Liam and Cas kept giving me choices and it was wearing down any willpower I might have left to resist them.

I gently placed the piece he’d left out for me in the spot where it belonged. The way it clicked into place so effortlessly was extremely satisfying. I looked up at the corner in the ceiling where one of the cameras were and raised an eyebrow, wondering what the purpose of this little game was.

Maybe it was nothing more than a reminder he’d snuck in here and left me proof that he could touch every single aspect of my life and no one would notice. Not even Frankie. I was the only one who’d be able to see it.

Just like whatever it was he took.

I shoved the unfinished puzzle off the table to the floor, giving in to the sudden impulse and destroying the whole thing in one go…hours and hours of work gone in a single second. It was oddly satisfying to see something so perfectly white and pristine in a messy heap on the floor.

Liam wanted to make sure I was the only person in the world who would ever see what he was doing and I just couldn’t figure out why. What was it he was leading me to? What secret did he want me to find?

Whatever it was, I knew that no one else would come to the same conclusion I would when I finally found it and that scared the living shit out of me.

What the fuck did we have in common that would give me an answer like that?

I almost didn’t want to know.

CHAPTER 18

Lucy

My lack of progress with Liam’s stupid game was starting to piss me off.

I took a deep breath and ran my fingers through my curls, tugging the knots out and I reminded myself I had a job to do. Whatever he took didn’t change anything. I still had a case to solve and all this personal crap was distracting me from finding the patterns that would lead me to Gideon’s killer.

We were thirteen days behind schedule and I had to make up for my shortcomings or I could kiss my hard-earned reputation goodbye.

There were only so many people who had access, or the knowledge to gain access, to Gideon’s office.

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