Page 53 of Curvy Nerdy Omega

I’d seen it clear as day when she’d looked up at me with so much fear in her eyes.

My omega was afraid she’d give in to her feelings and we’d wake up one day, completely uninterested in her. After everything that had happened to her, I understood why she’d think that, but I hated what it meant.

She didn’t think anyone could possibly want her without being under the influence of her pheromones. She didn’t think any alpha could want her, not just a legacy alpha, or she’d be fine with Cas.

Maybe that was my fault too. She was positive we were an item, and I wouldn’t put it past her to think Cas would never choose her over me. At least, not yet.

We had time to convince her, but there was a deadline.

I wasn’t stupid enough to believe she wasn’t planning to disappear the second she solved this case. I had to tell her before then, but in a way that wouldn’t make it look like I was manipulating her with a desperate plea to keep her at my side even if that was exactly what it was.

Lucy couldn’t feel like I was trying to trap her – her instincts were too good. She’d run as far as she could even if she didn’t want to. Just so she wouldn’t end up like her father.

I wanted to know everything about her father that I could, because I had a feeling that was where I’d find the answer I was looking for – the answer to the question I’d had even back in middle school.

She’d been right next to me every day, but there’d always been this distance between us I didn’t understand. It hadn’t been because she was an omega and I was an alpha either since neither of us had settled into our designations yet.

I’d have to reach out to the warden of the maximum-security prison he was being kept in to see what they’d let me get away with. I didn’t think it would cost much to get Nathan access to the prisoner for a few vials of blood.

There was no doubt in my mind that if Lucy was a dominant omega, her father was one as well, and since we didn’t have access to very many of those I would simply have to convince him to do what needed to be done for his only child.

Despite everything, he’d taught her what she needed to know to survive this world. He’d done what he thought was right to protect her, and if that was still true, he’d give me what I needed.

But I was an alpha, so sending someone like Nathan would get better results as long as I paved the way. Nathan Humphries was too valuable to risk so I’d have to send in some of our guards with him. What kind of alpha would I be if I got a beta I’d sworn to protect hurt? He was a doctor and the only combat training he had was the bootcamp we put all new pack members through.

I snarled softly, wishing she’d just fucking call me already. I couldn’t stand it anymore. What was she thinking about that made her so hesitant? What did I have to do to get her to rely on me instead of making herself suffer?

As if she could sense my frustration, her gaze shifted from the phone back to the camera. Her expression didn’t change, but it felt like she was looking right into my soul and I actually tensed when she finally tapped my contact.

My phone rang, and I watched the rage in her eyes spark when I didn’t answer right away. I grinned, feeling like I was truly losing my mind as I let it ring a second time. I couldn’t help it. Watching the way the fury in her eyes rose with every ring was making my dick harder than a rock.

I desperately needed her to need me, and it was making me reckless as hell, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care. I’d set the city on fire myself and watch it all burn if she would finally admit she needed me.

Answering on the third ring turned off the music that had been playing in her apartment and we stared at each other in the following silence.

Lucy knew where most of the cameras were, but she’d chosen to leave them alone and I was still fucking giddy about it, but this phone call…I had no idea what to expect and that gave me an unhealthy thrill.

I stayed silent, waiting to see what she could possibly want to talk about after ripping her house apart. She should have started with the bedroom because there was no way I was going to give her any more hints.

“Your brother had a second phone. Did you know about it?” Her question felt loud in the silence, and I listened to the slight crackle that let her know I was listening to her through two devices right now.

“No, I didn’t.” Though it felt like I should have. That seemed like something I would have noticed. “What does it look like?”

“It’s the same make and model as the phone that’s registered with Valor Enterprises, but it’s not on the list of evidence, Liam.”

Acid rose up, burning my throat.

I hadn’t expected this conversation. I’d been too focused on the way she’d been ripping everything apart to remember Lucy was far better at multitasking than I would ever be. She’d been at her desk for barely an hour and somehow she’d seen what no one else had.

The problem wasn’t that he had a second phone, but that no one in Valor had noticed when it was explicitly stated all phones within the estate had to be registered. We could detect unidentified devices when they passed through the gates, which meant Gideon had hidden it somewhere outside the estate, or he’d fucked with the security system so it would go unnoticed.

Either way, he was hiding something, and up until a few weeks ago, I was positive I knew everything there was to know about my brother. We’d been close. Gideon and Cas had been my only real friends for years, and come to find out my brother was hiding something like this from me….

Whatever it was didn’t bode well for the future of our pack.

“Do you have any idea where something like that would be?”

Once again, I was amazed by Lucy’s ability to focus on what was important and not all the other extraneous shit. It felt like I kept getting riled up by the smallest things and it was starting to affect my ability to do anything other than watch over her.

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