Page 110 of Curvy Quirky Omega

“I have all the paperwork ready to go. It can be filed as soon as you sign, Lucy. But only if that’s what you want.”

I did want that. I wanted a family I could lean on, and one who could lean on me. “Send the paperwork over and I’ll sign it as soon as I get it.”

“I’ll send it right?—”

“Francisco.” He went dead silent when I cut him off and I could almost smell his anxiety through the phone. He and Cas had a lot more in common than they realized. “I need to warn you…Liam gave me a choice.”

“What choice did that jackass force you to make?”

I smiled again at the sound of his scary alpha voice, ready to cuss out my bond mates.

“He asked if I wanted to live comfortably and quietly as Lucy Valor, or…if I would prefer that he make a new pack and take over the city as Liam Valentine with Cas at his side…to prove they don’t need Valor to keep me safe.”

I stared down at my hand where he’d bitten into my palm this morning, just hard enough to leave an impression without breaking the skin. The one on my ass did break the skin though and Cas had looked so proud of himself it was impossible to be mad at him even when it hurt every time I sat down.

“Either way, they want me to make the big choices for our pack from now on. They’ll handle the details,” I explained, knowing how insane it was to tell an outsider something this dangerous, but if Francisco was being honest, none of this information would get out.

I wanted to give him one last test.

Just for fun.

Francisco was silent for a long time and then he sighed. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. This is very much like you. Fine…but you need to discuss an official alliance between Valentine and Lopez with Francesca. I’ll be present of course, but I’ll let you two decide on the details. Lopez has never sworn allegiance to anyone, but…there’s always a first time for everything. If that’s what she decides, that’s what will happen.”

I didn’t ask how he knew what name I would choose. Not when Francisco Lopez had as much a hand in raising me as Nevan Thomas had.

“I just wanted to warn you in case you felt like your promise to protect us might end up being too much work,” I admitted. “Are you sure you still want to adopt me?”

“Lucy, I already sent over the paperwork. Can you sign it and send it back before the legacy event? We only have a few more hours and I have an express courier at my door, waiting.” Francisco sounded impatient and exasperated, like I’d asked him if he really enjoyed spending time with me 13 different times in a row just like a child would.

That tone used to piss me off when it came from him, but now…I think I liked it. “I’ll get it done,” I promised. “Have you heard anything about my father?”

“I got approval for you to visit him this morning, but I’d like to wait to fill out the visitor application once your name is legally changed if that’s alright with you. Lopez or Valentine should be fine once the announcements are made.”

So there wouldn’t be an ‘accident’ when I went to visit, I assumed.

Nicolette was right. All this was a lot easier with the resources to ensure my safety and privacy.

If I really didn’t want to be in the spotlight, I could retire early or work exclusively on cyber-crimes. There was no reason for me to be in the public eye all the time if I didn’t want to deal with it.

Liam and Cas would never make me do anything I didn’t want to do.

“I don’t mind waiting, Francisco.” I ran my hand over my laptop and realized I felt weird, but not bad despite what I’d learned. “Thank you for everything.”

“Of course, pumpkin. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

He hung up and I flipped through my apps to my email. It took me two seconds to digitally sign everything and attach my legal identification. Francisco probably had copies of everything, but this way he knew I meant it.

Everything I knew about my father had stayed the same, but it felt different knowing why. What my mother did was disgusting. It horrified me that she could treat her omega like that while hiding behind that pretty smile whenever she decided to spend time with me.

My mother may have been an alpha but she’d never once protected me. My father had. He made sure I was as safe as he could possibly make me even when he wasn’t there – entrusted me to the only alpha he seemed to trust.

It made me feel less crazy to know Francisco was the only alpha in the world he trusted because I’ve always felt the same. He was the only adult alpha I felt like I could rely on if I really needed to, but I’d chosen Frankie because she was the only one who never once used her alpha command on me.

Now I had Liam and Cas too.

The first quarterly legacy event of the year was tonight and the only reason we were going was because I wanted to. Liam didn’t want to. Kept saying it was too dangerous because they weren’t able to make sure Gideon’s killer couldn’t get to me in a place like that.

But I didn’t want to stay locked up in the house until Helen finally exposed herself. I wanted to let the whole city know what I’d decided.

---