10. Cassius
CHAPTER 10
Cassius
This omega was starting to piss me off.
I couldn’t figure out what it was either. I’d been watching her for over an hour now, and I still didn’t get what it was about her that would have Liam falling all over himself to accommodate her and her partner.
I eyed Lucy, waiting for the light to turn green, wondering what had pissed her off enough to choose to sit next to me when there was plenty of room in the back with her alpha.
Her platonic alpha.
I was pretty sure I’d never seen another relationship exactly like mine and Liam’s before. I’d even assumed they were together despite the color of her eyes, but ironically, they were nothing more than friends.
Well, friends was a bit too weak of a word to describe the relationship they seemed to have, but right now, these two seemed to be in some kind of disagreement.
A sassy omega wasn’t anything new, but a vicious one?
I turned my gaze back to the road before she glared at me again. How she always knew when I was looking…I shook my head and pressed down on the accelerator, signaling to get over so I could pull into the morgue’s parking lot.
Most people hardly ever noticed me, and that was purposeful on my part, but she was always aware of me, and I couldn’t figure out why. Could she scent me just like she could Liam despite those damn scent blockers he wore?
I parked the car and tried to ignore how pleased I was when Lucy didn’t instantly jump out of the car. She waited until I put the car in park and set the emergency brake before taking off her seatbelt. Then she waited until I turned the engine off before opening her door, looking both ways before stepping out slowly.
Such a well-trained omega.
Was that her partner’s doing, or was it just instinctual? Hard to tell when she was so closed off. Lucy Parker was a mystery, and I didn’t get very many of those.
Her partner? Decent alpha, but insecure. She took very good care of Lucy, even growling at Liam like she had the pheromones to challenge a legacy alpha. Maybe she did since she was a Lopez despite not getting the red eyes.
Unusual for those from a legacy pack though.
“She’s going to need to eat soon.”
I glanced back at the female alpha through the rearview mirror and saw her raising an eyebrow at me like I should know better. My hands tightened on the wheel, but I kept my expression emotionless.
“Dead bodies always make her hungry,” Frankie told me, smirking as she slid out of the car.
Like she knew just how disturbing that fact was.
I pulled out my phone as I unbuckled my seatbelt and texted Liam to make sure he had food ready by the time we got back, telling him what Frankie had said…word for word.
“Can we go already?” Lucy snapped, yanking my door open when she’d decided she’d waited long enough. “We can’t get in there without you, so stop dawdling.”
This fucking omega.
I snapped a picture of her and sent that to Liam too, ignoring her shock and disbelief. Maybe it would bring the other alpha to his senses, but knowing Liam…he’d probably like her even more for being such a brat.
“I was making sure you had something to eat when we get back.” I stepped out of the car too fast for her to get out of the way, crowding her against the opposite vehicle.
Her eyes widened when I shut the door behind me softly instead of slamming it. “You could have done that inside.”
“I could have,” I agreed, taking a step closer just to see what she would do.
Did she really have the bite to back up all that bark?
Lucy narrowed her eyes but didn’t try to put more distance between us. It was like she was daring me to touch her.
The wind whipped her hair into her face, but the rain had stopped for the time being. It was overcast with just enough sunlight to make her grey eyes gleam like the moon. What color would they turn when she’d been claimed? Would they turn the color of her alpha, or something different?
Her scent alone was barely there, but I’d been able to get a little whiff of it here and there, ever since she’d taken one of the black bands off her neck. It tickled my nose even now with the wind making her long coat flutter.
Black currant followed by the tiniest hint of something sharp and green which was instantly deepened by the patchouli and rose mixed in there. It was a really dark and complex scent for an omega.
It fit her perfectly.
Even her scent was enigmatic – that note of sharp greenery shifted her scent until it blended with all the others around it, impossible for most to detect thanks to the chameleon nature of it. The smell of black currants was intensifying the longer I stared down at her though, strong enough it was almost impossible to focus on any other scent.
She smelled just as dark and appealing as she looked .
“Why didn’t you?” Lucy finally asked, lifting her chin ever so slightly.
“Didn’t feel like it.” I pulled the lapels of her coat up to cover her neck before heading toward the morgue. It was best not to think too hard about why my hands had moved on their own, or why I felt better now that her neck wasn’t so exposed.
None of that mattered. Especially not the way her scent had bloomed in my presence.
Both of them followed me without a word and I threw the door open, letting Frankie catch it so I didn’t get caught catering to that omega again. It was fucking infuriating she managed to yank those instincts out of me despite all these years I’d spent learning how to ignore them.
“Valor?” the receptionist asked – a beta per his scent.
“Yeah, we called ahead.” I pulled out my phone and showed the receptionist the police chief’s letter of approval Liam had managed to get us. “How long do we have?”
“Police will be here in thirty minutes to an hour,” the receptionist warned, taking the phone to put the information into the computer. “I’d hurry if I were you.”
The private detectives didn’t wait for my permission. Frankie pushed through the double doors first and Lucy paused just long enough to give the receptionist a small nod. “Good to see you again, Peter. I appreciate the warning.”
“Anything for you, Lucy.” Peter gave her a wink. “Go do your thing. I’ll stall them if they get here early. Eric is waiting and ready.”
“Thanks.”
For the first time, I got to see Lucy give someone a real smile and I gritted my teeth when she disappeared through those double doors.
It wasn’t my place to worry about her, or even give a shit who she flirted with, but my blood was boiling and my hands itched to strangle this guy’s neck until he couldn’t wink at her ever again .
Not that I could really blame the guy. She had this whole…alluring mystery about her.
Lucy also had this innate grace that made it seem as if she wasn’t really a part of this world – or maybe, we weren’t a part of hers. The way she looked at everything…she saw things no one else could, and I really didn’t like that.
How could I possibly predict what she might do or say if I had no idea what she was seeing?
“Here you go,” Peter said, handing my phone over. “Those two are geniuses. You won’t be disappointed.”
I made a noncommittal noise as I studied this beta who clearly knew her well. “She’s an omega.”
“So?” The beta grinned up at me. “She’s really fucking good at her job and has a stronger stomach than most alphas. Go in there and see for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
I was pretty sure they had nothing more than a professional relationship, but it was nice to see there was someone else in this field that believed in her work and not what her designation supposedly could or couldn’t do.
“You seem to know her pretty well. What kind of food does she like?” I asked as I opened my messages to relay the information to Liam. “Frankie insisted I have something ready by the time they’re done.”
“She usually orders Chinese takeout when she’s here,” Peter said with a shrug. “I think she gets the Kung Pao chicken and steamed buns. Frankie can’t really handle anything spicy, so she gets the Mongolian beef.”
“Thanks.” I was about to text all that to Liam, but the other alpha sent me a screenshot of what he’d ordered before I could.
Kung Pao chicken and steamed buns along with a variety of other things from the Chinese place down the street.
It could just be a coincidence, but with the way Liam had been acting earlier, I doubted it.
He must have stalked her somehow. How else would he know her food preferences when they’d barely spoken for more than an hour? The girl didn’t even have any social media presence.
I pushed through the double doors to see Lucy chatting with the medical examiner instead of Frankie. They spoke in low tones while the beta pointed out various different parts of the body.
Staring at the pale, waxy skin, it was difficult to believe this was all that was left of Gideon. I hadn’t been as close to him as Liam, but I had been the one to find the body first.
I still couldn’t believe he was dead.
We’d had lunch together just yesterday as Gideon and Liam discussed their project, laughing and joking while we ate sushi just like we always did on Thursdays.
Under the bright fluorescent lights, Gideon didn’t even look real. He looked like a bad imitation of himself – the body nothing more than clay. It wasn’t the legacy alpha I’d known for the better part of two decades anymore.
Someone had killed him, and I was still pissed I had no idea who it could be.
It was just shitty fucking luck that the only person who suspected me was smart enough to figure out I’d been there at the scene of the crime at some point between Gideon’s death and when the police had arrived.
I should just tell her the truth, but there was still a chance these two would want to submit any evidence at all to the police, and neither I nor Liam could afford for that to happen.
“The blade had to be at least ten inches long then,” Lucy said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Definitely,” the pathologist agreed, pointing to the wrist next. “This was the first place he was stabbed. Based on the bruising, I assume there were two knives used and this one pinned him down.”
“Hm.” Lucy leaned in closer, holding her hair back so it didn’t touch the body. “There was no damage to the desk, chair, walls, or floor, but I’ll take that into account. ”
“I’ll send you the workup I did on his blood along with the pictures and my report,” the medical examiner promised. “There didn’t seem to be any health complications. Cause of death was blood loss from multiple stab wounds.”
“I didn’t smell any diseases in his blood,” Lucy murmured, leaning close enough I felt the sudden urge to pull her back so she couldn’t inhale the death lingering all over that slab of flesh.
“What else did you smell?” Frankie asked, inspecting the pictures on the computer instead of the body, her complexion a bit green.
“Fear and disbelief.” Lucy straightened and pulled on a pair of gloves, head tilted slightly as her eyes narrowed.
Was she really going to?—
Lucy lifted the left hand and turned it upside down to inspect the other side. “Was he wearing a ring when he was brought in?”
“Mm, let me see.” The medical examiner pulled out his phone to look at the report, frowning slightly. “I’ll double-check with the intern who removed all the deceased’s possessions, but no, he wasn’t wearing a ring.”
“And you noted the tan line here?” she asked, pointing out the pale skin around Gideon’s ring finger.
His wedding ring was gone? How had I missed that?
Honestly, I couldn’t remember much. The scent of Gideon’s fear had me sliding deep into that part of myself that terrified everyone I’d ever met.
Everyone except Liam.
The need to hunt had overtaken me, and I’d followed that faint scent of soap, trying to find who’d killed him but…
“The tan line has been noted,” the medical examiner promised. “There’s also some bruising around the knuckle on that finger.”
Lucy didn’t say anything, but she gently placed the hand down and then probed the wound on his neck. “Make sure to send me the scan of the internal damage too. Was the steel laced with anything?”
“How did you know it was steel?” the examiner asked, absolutely delighted.
“Contact with steel changes the scent of the blood,” Frankie muttered, tapping away at the keyboard. “She assumed it was a knife, but we’ve come across other steel weapons before.”
“Last one was a screwdriver,” Lucy agreed.
She didn’t seem upset anymore, and I leaned against the wall closest to the door, watching her work as I tried to decide if this was going to be a problem or not.
My ability to keep my pheromones in check was the only thing that kept other people from noticing me. If her psychotic sense of smell could somehow pick up on the tiniest changes…that was going to be a problem.
She could easily find out…
The sound of Peter arguing with someone had me cocking my head to listen. The voices got louder before the door to the morgue was thrown open.
“Why am I not surprised to see you here, Parker?” the male alpha scoffed as he stepped in, another one right on his heels. “Always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“A pleasure as always, Hodge. Miller.”
The cops had shown up early. Why was I not surprised?
I forced myself to stay back against the wall and wait this out. We really couldn’t afford more complications with law enforcement right now, but I wasn’t going to let Parker and James get kicked out before they were done either.
“Who gave you permission to be here?” Miller demanded, getting close enough to the body that I actually took an involuntary step forward.
Lucy ignored them, even when they released their pheromones, making the beta cough and take a step back. I couldn’t believe they’d do something so fucking ridiculous. They must be incredibly insecure to try to bully an omega around like that right in front of her partner.
But Lucy just stood there like she couldn’t smell their pheromones at all.
No, that damn omega just arched an eyebrow and took her time stripping off her gloves. “It’s not really your business, is it? Or are you hoping we’ll do all your work for you again?”
“Get out of here before you mess with the evidence,” Hodge snarled, taking another step forward.
If Frankie didn’t intervene, I would, because this shit wasn’t just ridiculous, it was a crime. Their pheromones were filling up the room, clearly trying to intimidate everyone inside…but it seemed they hadn’t noticed me yet.
My lack of presence without my pheromones made me damn near invisible to other alphas, and that skill really came in handy when it came to this kind of asshole.
“I wasn’t the one who tampered with evidence.” Lucy tossed her gloves into the biohazard waste bin without looking away from the alphas. She was cool and calm despite the way she had to be choking on their pheromones.
An omega who didn’t react to an alpha. Have I ever seen anything like this before?
“James, remind me, why do you even bother with this beta?” Hodge asked, grinning at Frankie like a fucking idiot. “You could have been working at the precinct with us instead of making peanuts doing private work.”
Did these fucking assholes really think she was a beta?
I had no idea what to think. Every time I looked at her…all I could see were those pretty grey eyes telling me exactly what she was – what her quiet nature could do for my volatile one…
“Don’t fucking talk to my alpha like that,” Lucy snarled softly, taking a step closer to this cop like she was going to fucking challenge him.
There was no way I could let that happen.
“Your alpha?” Hodge nudged his partner like that was the funniest shit he’d ever heard in his life. “I don’t see any claiming marks on you.”
“What makes you think she’d be the one claiming me?” Lucy smiled slightly when those stupid grins started to fade.
The pheromones in this room were thick enough to choke on and the medical examiner had to leave, desperately clutching his throat. But Lucy still didn’t react, not even when they intensified at her jab.
I stood there with my mouth hanging open like an idiot, not quite sure I could believe my eyes.
They weren’t the most intense, dominant alpha pheromones among average alphas, but they weren’t weak either, and Lucy was just standing there like they didn’t affect her in the slightest – no omega scent perfuming in the presence of alpha pheromones. No physical reaction at all. It was like they couldn’t touch her – as if she’d been claimed by a legacy alpha despite the color of her eyes.
“You should leave before I report you,” Miller muttered, stepping aside to give her the space to leave.
Did an alpha just back down from an omega? Jesus fucking Christ, was I losing my mind?
“See you around,” Lucy told them, tucking her hands in her coat pockets before walking out of the morgue like she had all the time in the world.
Like I didn’t even exist.
Something in me snapped when she slid those grey eyes to mine at the last second, just the tiniest flicker of pain in them before it disappeared.
I waited until the door closed behind her before crossing the room to the two cops trying to goad Frankie into a fight. They didn’t sense me at all until I clamped a hand down on each of their shoulders, making Hodge let out a high-pitched yelp.
“I was pretty sure it’s considered bad manners to suffocate others with your pheromones.” I dug my fingers into their shoulders hard enough they winced .
“What would you know about it?” one grimaced.
I spared Frankie a glance and jerked my chin at the door, but she refused, of course, like the stubborn little shit she was.
Fine, if she wanted to stick around, she could only blame herself for what happened next.
“Not only were you rude, but you used your alpha pheromones to try to bully a beta into obeying,” I whispered in Hodge’s ear. “Pretty sure that’s illegal when you’re a cop.”
“Let go,” the alpha snarled, already sweating and I hadn’t even done anything yet.
“You should know what it feels like,” I mused, releasing them both.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I watched as they tried to turn around, but they froze the second I released the smallest sliver of my pheromones. It was amusing to see the way they reached for their throats like they couldn’t breathe – or maybe they were just disgusted by my overpowering scent.
It didn’t really matter which.
“I’m barely even trying,” I chastised. “Imagine what it would feel like if I was as reckless as you were.”
A third of the full force of my pheromones had them dropping to their knees and gagging, faces turning red.
God, this never got old.
Crouching down to watch them try to catch themselves before their faces slammed into the floor, on all fours as tears streamed down their cheeks – eyes going bloodshot when I focused my dominance on them and them alone…it was incredibly satisfying to see.
“Our society works because we have rules,” I reminded them, pulling out my phone to show them the letter from the chief of police. “We did just that so as not to interfere with your investigation, and yet you came down here and became a problem I couldn’t ignore.”
Tucking the phone away, I watched impassively as their foreheads finally hit the cold tile, fighting my dominant pheromones every step of the way.
“I’m going to have to report you for interfering with the time we were allotted.” I propped my chin on my fist and considered these so-called alphas. “But if you remember to keep your pheromones to yourself, I won’t have to tell them you tried and failed to command a civilian beta while wearing your badges.”
Before they passed out, I pulled back every drop of my dominant aura and stood.
They hadn’t just failed to command a beta though, they’d failed to command an omega .
I slid my gaze to Frankie, glad to see she didn’t seem to be too affected, but she looked like she’d just run a marathon, all sweaty and short of breath. Legacy alphas were something else, even the ones who didn’t possess the red eyes.
“If anything happened to her while you were being stubborn, that’s on you.” I turned on my heel and left, hoping Lucy hadn’t gotten into more trouble in the five minutes she’d been on her own.
An omega who didn’t react to alpha pheromones…
Would she react to mine?
It was impossible not to imagine what it would look like to watch her drop to her knees, panting with those grey eyes looking up at me, only the need to please in them— shit . I couldn’t afford to be thinking about her like that.
Lucy Parker was suspicious of me, and for good reason. Her little hunch was going to be a fucking problem, and here I was, worried what she might think of my pheromones.
But she’d probably shoot me before ever giving into them and for some reason, I found that incredibly…
Compelling.
Lucy was standing outside waiting, staring up at the cloudy sky as if she hoped lighting might come down and strike her.
“You smell like apples,” she murmured, eyes closing when the rain started up again, looking like tears as the droplets of water streamed down her face. “For some reason, I didn’t expect that.”
Before I could think of a response, she was heading toward the SUV like I didn’t even exist.
This fucking omega…
If she wasn’t careful, I’d tie her down and carve my fucking scent into her skin, but with my luck she’d lose her mind just like the other one.
Honestly, this was the last thing I needed right now.
But the lingering scent of black currants had me licking my lips, wondering what that might taste like on my tongue.