Page 33 of Curvy Quirky Omega

A whole ninety seconds later, a maid opened the door and the way she studied me from head to toe before looking at Frankie made it obvious she knew exactly who I was. “Ms. James, I appreciate you being on time. Mrs. Valor hates tardiness more than anything.”

Doubtful, but I kept that thought to myself.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not here alone,” Frankie told the maid. She crossed her arms over her chest and stayed put instead of following her inside. “This is my partner, Lou Parker and she’s an essential part of this investigation.”

The maid slid her gaze back to me. “Right…Ms. Parker. Please come in.”

I adjusted the strap of my messenger bag. This maid’s constant scrutiny was making me uncomfortable.

“This is going to be fucking annoying, isn’t it?” Frankie muttered as she waved me forward first. “Man, I don’t miss this shit.”

“And yet, you’re planning to reclaim your legacy,” I whispered as I stepped into the house that was a larger version of the same layout Melinda had. “Say the word and we can move across the country and start our own agency.”

Frankie smirked back at Liam and Cas as we followed after the maid. “You think your alphas can handle that kind of work?”

“Are you implying I don’t have stamina?” Liam sounded like he was threatening her, but all I could feel was amusement through the bond.

“I’m implying you don’t know how to pace yourself,” Frankie corrected as she set her hand on my lower back. “Lucy is exhausting to keep up with.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes, but just barely. “Can we please focus?”

The maid was obviously eavesdropping, but her expression didn’t change from the judgy look she’d had ever since she first laid eyes on me.

She brought us to a sitting room that was almost identical to Melinda’s, but it was very maximalist in comparison with plants everywhere. A couch faced the center courtyard and the other chairs were placed to enjoy the greatest amount of sunlight possible.

I looked up to see it was more of a sunroom than a sitting room since the southern-facing wall and ceiling were all made of glass held together with artistic wrought iron. It gave me an art nouveau impression with a modern touch.

Circles and curling vines with greens and blues. The occasional pop of red balanced the tones nicely and I couldn’t help but notice there wasn’t a single flower. Just greenery. It kept the air clean and uncomplicated, which I liked.

Surprising, if I were honest with myself. Though, I couldn’t say what I’d expected from Nicolette either.

“Please, wait here,” the maid told us. “I’ll bring coffee and pastries in a moment.”

I wandered over to the white house plant that had to be thousands of dollars if Frankie was to be believed. It was completely white without a single streak of green, which I’d heard was incredibly rare.

“Oh my god, do you think she’d sell me a cutting?” Frankie gushed as she practically pushed me aside to get a closer look. “I’ve never seen one this white before.”

“Don’t you have one that’s completely pink?” I didn’t really get it, but plants made her happy.

“If you do, I might be willing to trade.”

I stood straight and turned, keeping my eyes down as I held on tight to the strap of my messenger bag.

Frankie was a lot more graceful about her shock than I was. She stood slowly and grinned at the other alpha over her shoulder. “I’d definitely be down for that, Valor.”

Right, the official title of the pack’s alpha. Since Frankie was from a legacy pack, this was all familiar to her.

“We don’t need coffee though,” Frankie told her, waving at the sitting room as she turned to face Nicolette. “Just Melinda. This shouldn’t take long.”

Amazing how they could ignore the rest of us like we didn’t exist, but they managed it effortlessly.

Cas stood in the corner like he was nothing more than one of the larger potted plants while Liam stared out the windows with his hands in his pockets as if he were completely unaware his own mother was in the room with us.

Just like I’d asked him to.

“This better not be a waste of time,” Nicolette warned Frankie. “I was told Genesis would send the best and yet I’ve been waiting weeks for results.”

Miraculously, neither Cas nor Liam reacted to that.

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