Page 46 of Curvy Quirky Omega

“Let’s get you upstairs,” I said softly, offering her my hand.

For once, she didn’t make a face as she took it. Lucy let me help her out of the car, giving me a little more sanity every time she let me do something for her. This was why I existed after all.

Being able to control our surroundings was supposed to be a part of that. Not that I could do shit about who I was, but going out in public didn’t usually cause this kind of insanity. Cas and I were hardly ever bothered even when we drove something flashy.

That the reporters and paparazzi showed up in droves like that meant someone had called them. For whatever reason, someone wanted me to be seen with Lucy in public before I could arrange it myself.

Who the fuck would do that other than my mother?

But my mother didn’t know I was going to that café today.

Frankie pulled off her helmet and told me, “It’ll be easy enough to figure out who tipped them off. All we have to do is check what Lucy pulled from the firewall.”

“It doesn’t really matter,” Lucy stated as she moved toward Cas and away from me.

Any other time and I’d complain about the distance just to tease her, but Cas looked like he needed her soothing presence just as badly as I did. I hated that I couldn’t feel what she did from him.

“Why doesn’t it matter?” Cas watched her brush past him to the stairs that led into the main part of the house. “They need to learn how to mind their own fucking business.”

Lucy paused at the bottom of the stairs and eyed the three of us like we were mindless alphas too worked up to see the bigger picture. Not that we were that far off. We were irritated and reactive, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all.

“What did you two do before I was around?” She didn’t wait for an answer, she just went up the stairs and popped in the code to the door, heading inside as if what had happened at the café was really no big deal.

I had no idea what she was thinking, but it was a big fucking problem the paparazzi showed up when they did. This wasn’t just about our privacy, but the fact that the whole world would know Lucy was at that café today.

With me.

Maybe it wouldn’t matter, but whoever was behind my brother’s death was going to notice something like that. They’d see there was someone else I cared about – someone who was actively trying to figure out who killed Gideon.

I didn’t know what the motive for killing him was. I wasn’t smart enough to figure something like that out when even Lucy couldn’t, but I did know there was a possibility it could have something to do with me, not Gideon.

What if, for some unknown reason, they wanted me to become the next heir? If that were the case, they could consider Lucy a threat or at the very least an obstacle if they found out I was going to leave Valor and start my own pack.

“Where is he?” an annoyingly familiar voice demanded from inside my fucking house. “Where is my son?”

I sprinted up the stairs and Cas beat me to the door by only a fraction of a second. We pushed inside at the same time to see the alpha of Valor prowling through my foyer. My mother turned toward me when she heard the door slam into the wall, her bright red eyes flashing in anger.

I couldn’t decide what made me more furious – the audacity she had to use the key I gave her only for emergencies for something as stupid as this, the way she ignored Lucy like she wasn’t standing right there, or how angry she was that I was caught up in something I had no fucking control over.

“I told you to lie low,” my mother snarled softly. “Why can’t you follow such simple instructions?”

Lucy kept her eyes down and pulled her turtleneck up even higher to make sure nothing was exposed – not her tattoos, her scent blockers, or the bond marks.

Cas ignored my mother and went over to Lucy, letting me deal with the alpha of the Valor pack like he always did. Not that I blamed him. My mother could be a bit of a bitch.

Like now.

“I’m sorry, did you or did you not make me the point of contact for the Genesis detectives?” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the doorframe so Frankie would have some room to get inside.

But she stayed next to me, eyeing my mother from head to toe like she was wondering just how strong of an alpha she really was.

Maybe I wasn’t the only crazy one here.

I probably shouldn’t find that reassuring, but I did.

“As always, you like to twist my words,” my mother snapped. She whipped around and ran her fingers through her long, blonde hair like I was somehow taking another decade off her lifespan. “I don’t see why you needed to go inside that café or take that ridiculous car.”

Lucy gave me a look as she sat down on the couch that said, I told you so, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling even if I wanted to.

---