9. Lucy
CHAPTER 9
Lucy
Sliding my gaze from the pool of blood to the hulking brute in the doorway, I inspected those blue eyes first, but saw nothing that would indicate he was nervous or trying to act normal. Cassius was glaring at me with his arms crossed over his massive chest and his tablet tucked under his arm.
He had a compelling motive, but I still couldn’t commit to the idea of him as the murderer. Not when this tasted like revenge instead of a means to an end. And he stood there so calmly without a single drop of sweat on his forehead.
The dispassionate way he seemed to exist would fit the way Gideon had been murdered though.
My instincts were telling me Cassius was dangerous – that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill someone if he needed to, but Gideon? Maybe the answer would be on his computer. If what Liam had said was true, I might be able to track his activity. If Cassius was busy typing at any point during the window of the murder, he’d have a decent alibi.
But I wasn’t here to clear anyone’s name. I was here to find answers.
Liam had left almost an hour ago, and he hadn’t come back. It made me uneasy when I didn’t know where he was, but that didn’t mean I needed to be able to see him at all times either. Tracking Liam’s movements was important, but he was probably just tired.
Even still, he’d insisted on us having an escort. Did that mean Cassius was going to watch over us for the rest of the day? I wished Liam was the one standing in that doorway, not the one who hated my very existence.
We’d need to reach out to some of our contacts if we wanted to keep track of any movement among the legacy alpha packs in the city. Having eyes and ears in various places would make sure we didn’t lose track of Liam, Cassius, or Melinda Valor.
Considering how much this felt like a hit, we’d need to consider reaching out to our other contacts as well as the one in the nearby precinct. If someone started hiding evidence that would be the biggest indicator of guilt.
That Liam hadn’t refused a private autopsy made me think he had nothing to do with his brother’s murder, but I couldn’t rule anyone out until we had proof of their alibis and lack of involvement.
I pulled out my phone and opened an app for a taxi as I headed toward the door, eyes down so as not to aggravate the blue-eyed alpha who always looked like he wanted to get rid of me by any means possible. Maybe that was just his normal face, but his presence was suffocating when he forgot to pull it back.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Cassius asked, grabbing my arm before I could walk past him.
I showed him my phone instead of answering. Partially because I knew it would irritate him, and partially because the idea of talking was suddenly exhausting.
“The store? You don’t need to call a ride. I’ll drive you there,” Cassius told me, plucking the phone from my hand, surprisingly unbothered. He didn’t ask me why either, which I found fascinating. “Which store do you want to go to?”
“We should see the body first,” Frankie interjected, snatching my phone out of Cassius’s hand. “So take us there instead.”
I didn’t bother taking my phone back and tucked both hands in my coat pockets, waiting for the two alphas to finish bristling at each other so we could get shit done.
“I need to warn Liam about this, but you can take the private elevator down to the parking garage. Level four. The Black Ford Explorer. Do me a favor and don’t leave without me.” Cassius handed Frankie the car keys before turning on his heel and heading toward the stairs.
“Hard to ditch you when we have no idea where the body is located,” Frankie muttered, eyeing the car keys like she didn’t think they’d really work.
They would, but I was just as shocked. Not by the keys, but the car he’d chosen. Was that Liam’s car or Cassius’s? Either way, they both made too much money for them to be purchasing such a normal vehicle for financial reasons.
Were they trying to blend in?
It was impossible to remember what car they were normally spotted in. The cars were always black, but I was positive they were sports-car-shaped. Maybe those had been a choice – approved to be seen by the public eye.
Well, now I wanted to know how much they’d gone around undetected.
Celebrities were pretty good at going incognito since they used disguises. Those never worked on me though, not if I’d met them before or heard them on TV. Voices and scents were too distinct for me to miss, and yet I’d rarely heard Liam speak until today.
He didn’t like to do interviews if he could help it.
Frankie pulled me toward the elevator and I resisted on instinct, grimacing when she gave me a look.
“I’m not walking down seventy flights of stairs and then some,” Frankie growled, yanking me into the elevator when the doors opened and then smacking the right button. “Plus, you could slip and fall since you’ve already done that twice today.”
I grimaced again, hating when she used logic against me.
Resting my forehead against the cool metal of the wall, I tugged her closer and she slid her arm around my shoulders. The scent from her wrist was so subtle no one else would notice it, but this close to my nose…
I breathed in the scent of her floral tangerines and let it wash away the awful tang still sitting in the back of my throat.
“I’ve never seen you react to pheromones like that before,” Frankie murmured, turning her body to face mine. It blocked her mouth from one camera, but the other would still be able to see it.
Then she sighed and rested her forehead on my shoulder, curling her body around mine.
Reaching up, I pulled off one of the black bands around my neck so she could breathe in what little scent I possessed and recalibrate.
“You don’t even react to my father’s scent like that,” Frankie whispered. “I thought you were immune to alphas.”
So did I.
Tucking the black scent blocker adhesive into my pocket, I chewed on the inside of my lip as I watched the numbers on the screen count down.
“Are you going to be okay?” she asked, pulling me closer by the lapel of my coat.
“I don’t know.” It was instinct to run my fingers through her red curls to soothe her, some small part of my omega instincts picking up on her distress. “I’m fine for now though.”
“Liam’s wearing scent blockers. What happens if he takes them off?” Frankie held onto my coat as we descended, clinging to me more than she usually did.
“To be honest, I’m more worried about you.” Pushing her hair back, I forced her to look at me. “How close is your rut? ”
Her tired smile made my stomach flip-flop. Should I just send her home?
“Before you freak out, I have about a week. Maybe two if I’m lucky.” Her arm slid around my waist, those alpha instincts always so much worse when she was this close to her rut. “At least by then I’ll know if those two can be trusted if I have to take some time off.”
I didn’t like the idea of that, but it was really the only way when we were in the middle of a case.
“Is that why you keep bristling at them?” I asked, gritting my teeth when the elevator paused for what felt like an eternity on the fourth level of the parking garage.
“Partially.” Frankie gave me another tired smile before slipping my phone in my pocket and putting space between us when the doors opened. “But I think it’s mostly the way you reacted to them.”
She pulled me along and then stopped to inspect the row of black cars. This level must be where the Valors kept their personal cars.
“Too bad he didn’t give us the keys to that Lambo.” Frankie hit the button and one of the black SUVs flashed their lights. “Do you think he’ll let me drive?”
“No.” I eyed the woman who’d been my partner for the last five years, and my best friend for nearly fifteen. “He’s even more annoying than you are.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Cassius said, plucking the keys from Frankie’s hand as he walked by.
Jesus, where had he come from? Had he run down all those stairs?
Frankie glared at his back as she watched him get into the driver’s seat. “I really don’t like him.”
“Why?”
I knew why I didn’t like him, but my partner usually liked everyone. Other alphas never bothered her, and she didn’t really get territorial around me. All this was new for the both of us, and I very much did not like this added variable while working on the biggest case of our lives.
“He’s not wearing blockers, but he has no scent? Either he has something to hide, or he’s defective.”
She walked toward the SUV, but I stood there, not quite sure I’d heard her correctly.
“What did you say?”
Frankie turned around and seemed surprised I wasn’t following her. Then she sighed and looked away. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then how exactly did you mean it?” There was no way I could keep the hurt out of my voice, not about this.
“I meant… fuck . Look, I didn’t mean he was defective without a scent.” Frankie reached for me but I took a step back, too irritated to let her touch me right now. “I just meant he was a weak alpha and it’ll be hard to trust him with your safety.”
Narrowing my eyes, I tried to assess her tone and posture, but I was too angry to really read her clearly without putting my own assumptions and feelings into the mix. “His scent doesn’t have anything to do with his strength or weakness. Betas can be just as strong and dominant as some alphas.”
“Lucy…”
“Don’t say shit like that, Frankie. I don’t care if you’re feeling all hormonal.” The last thing I wanted to do was get in the car with that asshole, but we still had a job to do. “You’ve said yourself that my barely there scent doesn’t mean I’m not an omega.”
I evaded her hand as I walked past her, not the least bit interested in being comforted. I went to the passenger side of the SUV and yanked open the door to the front seat harder than necessary. Even Cassius seemed surprised that I would choose to sit beside him rather than in the back.
Slamming the door closed, I propped my chin on my fist and glared out the window, waiting for the other two to get their shit together so I could get back to work and ignore how much that single statement had bothered me.
I was still an omega, even if I was defective. I could still breed with an alpha, even if it would be more difficult than it was for other healthier omegas. There might be some alpha out there who could detect my scent, and even if they couldn’t, I was sure one of them wouldn’t mind how weak it was.
We still had functioning sex organs and a whole other set of hormones that worked just fine. I felt desire and pleasure. Someone would be fine with my career. And there were plenty of betas to choose from who didn’t care about the intensity of pheromones the same way alphas did.
My extremely weak scent didn’t mean I wasn’t an omega. Just not a very popular or desirable one.
Surprisingly, Cassius didn’t say anything or ask any questions when Frankie finally got in the backseat. “Seatbelt,” he reminded me, refusing to even start the car until I’d clicked the damn thing in place.
See? All alphas could be annoying and domineering even if they didn’t exude a strong scent.
They were all overprotective assholes who liked to put their foot in their mouth.