15. Cassius
CHAPTER 15
Cassius
Black currants and dark roses filled my nose until there was nothing left. Only the weight of the omega in my arms who slept so deeply she hadn’t noticed that Liam wasn’t the one holding her anymore. She trusted me to keep her safe when she was at her most vulnerable.
Whether she knew it or not.
Being able to care for her eased some of those raging instincts her pheromones induced – instincts I’d spent most of my life squashing until they didn’t exist, but for her…
I wanted to hold her like this forever.
Even the idea of sinking deep into her wasn’t quite as irresistible as this quiet moment. Pheromones made it so that sex was practically an inevitability between unclaimed alphas and omegas, but trust and comfort were something else entirely.
It actually terrified me when I thought about how she might wake up and panic all over again when she saw I wasn’t Liam. But that bastard was right. My pheromones weren’t bothering her at all. If anything, she kept seeking them out when she rubbed her nose against my chest in her sleep.
Liam had left the office a while ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to move from this position. I couldn’t look away from her either. It was like those damn pheromones of hers had me under a spell, and the way they mixed with Liam’s…
It was intoxicating – more potent than any drug in existence.
The door opened and I lifted my lip in a snarl before I realized what the fuck I was doing. Liam just smirked but Frankie looked shocked to see her little omega happily sleeping in my arms.
No, Lucy was Liam’s omega.
I could never forget that.
“Jesus,” Frankie muttered, covering her nose and mouth. “It’s never been this strong before. Not even when she’s in heat.”
How the fuck anyone could ever think Lucy was a beta was beyond me. The girl had a complex scent and, yeah, she was taller and stronger than normal, but she still had this delicate beauty about her with sharp edges…
Like a rose and its thorns.
Keeping my eyes on Frankie, I waited for Liam to tell me what to do. If he didn’t, I might just kill this alpha Lucy seemed to be so fond of.
“Did you get everything ready?” Liam asked.
Even that commanding tone in his deep voice couldn’t distract me from the other alpha. Frankie might not be a threat, but she had the barest of claims on Lucy and it would take nothing to rip them away from her.
All I had to do was lick the scent of tangerines from Lucy’s wrist and their platonic bond would be nothing more than a phantom memory. Liam would let me take that small piece of his omega.
Wouldn’t he?
Liam had the fucking audacity to snicker when I didn’t respond. “I’ll call the doctor and gather her things. All you need to do is hold her for now.”
For the sake of the omega in my arms, I was glad Liam knew me as well as I knew him because my hindbrain was making it impossible to do more than stand here and hold Lucy without killing everyone in this fucking room. Words? That was asking way too much of me right now, and the fact that Liam thought I could hold this omega who clung to me while performing my usual duties…
This had to be another test.
“Can you get the car ready?” Liam asked Frankie, pointing to the keys on my desk. “Same car he drove to the morgue.”
But Frankie was staring at me like Liam didn’t exist and I could see her stiffen, ready to challenge me for the right to carry this precious cargo.
There was no fucking way I was going to let that happen.
Frankie coughed when she took a step closer, but I hadn’t released any more of my pheromones.
Narrowing my eyes, I watched her try to take another step toward me and I tensed when Liam didn’t stop her, but he was watching her just as closely as I was.
Then she coughed like she was choking, but she seemed to get a handle on whatever it was she had going on because she reached for Lucy.
Liam’s pheromones exploded outward once more, bringing Frankie to her knees before either of us could remember this was not the way things were supposed to go if we wanted Lucy to ever speak to us again.
“Don’t,” Liam warned, eyes flashing dangerously at Frankie as he walked around to stand by my side. “I’m doing my best to be cordial about this, but if you try to take her away, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
The female alpha glared up at me and then Liam, but she was covering her nose and mouth, clearly struggling with all the pheromones raging in here.
Tangerines tried to take over, but Liam flexed his dominance and the scent died before it could cling to anything more than air.
My grip on Lucy was too tight, but she didn’t seem to mind. If anything she held on to me just as tightly and it was doing things to my fucking head that I didn’t think I could ever erase. I’d always know what it felt like to have a strong omega trust me when she was at her weakest and I was pretty sure I could never go back to the way things were before she’d crashed into my life.
“Liam, I need you to take her.” Before I lost my shit and licked any trace of Frankie from her body right here and now.
Or worse, challenged Liam for the right to have her.
“Figure it out,” Liam snapped as the phone dangled from his fingertips like he’d forgotten what he was doing, eyes only for Frankie. “We need to handle this before we try to leave this fucking building. Isn’t that right, Frankie?”
“I thought she was no one to you,” Frankie growled, fighting Liam’s overwhelming dominance with everything she had.
“Yeah, well. I lied.”
Even if I didn’t want to admit it, it was impressive how hard Frankie fought. There was something to be said for legacy genes even if she wasn’t quite strong enough to get the red eyes.
“I may just be her platonic alpha.” Frankie gasped, clearly having a hard time breathing. “But I swore a long time ago I’d keep her safe. You can’t just take her from me.”
Liam knelt down and yanked Frankie’s hand away from her mouth and nose. “How can you keep her safe when you can’t even handle her pheromones? They’re making you dizzy, aren’t they? It’s not mine or Cassius’s, but hers and they’re making you sick.”
Well, this was certainly an interesting turn of events, but I wanted to get the fuck out of here and take this vulnerable omega somewhere safe – somewhere I could protect her…
No, where Liam could protect her.
“Daphne wasn’t made for you.” Liam smirked when Frankie paled. “She was mine first, Francesca Lopez, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. ”
“How…”
I couldn’t take it anymore.
Walking to my desk was surprisingly easier than I’d expected considering the fact that Liam wasn’t holding back at all. He was showing Frankie just how futile her resistance was and I bit back a smirk as I carefully shifted my hold on Lucy to grab the car keys.
“Come on, Frankie. Show me what you can do,” Liam purred. “Prove to me you can take care of her…but you can’t, can you? She got pheromone sick today and yours just aren’t enough to cleanse her of those offensive scents.”
Liam better be fucking careful. If he kept pushing, Lucy might never forgive him. Frankie was still her friend and partner. Their lives were permanently intertwined and I had no doubt Lucy would always pick Frankie when it came down to it.
Pheromones be damned.
“Liam, let’s wrap this up. I think she gets the point.” Stopping at the open door, I glanced back just once to see him smirking up at me like he’d fucking won something. “Because it’s up to Lucy in the end, isn’t it?”
Liam’s smirk dropped, and I gave him a small smile.
We both knew I was right.
“Get that doctor on the phone and then get your ass downstairs. We have a sick omega to take care of and you two are having a pissing contest. It’s pathetic.” I didn’t slam the door closed behind me even though I really wanted to.
It would have woken Lucy up if I had.
For the first time since I’d discovered just how strong of an alpha I was, I purposefully released all of my pheromones, covering up any trace of Lucy’s addicting scent and warning anyone and everyone to stay the fuck away.
They’d die if they didn’t and I made sure that threat was clearly reflected in my pheromones.
The elevator ride down to the parking level felt like an eternity but it was over in the blink of an eye. All I could do was stare down at her like a lovesick idiot and even the excuse of her pheromones wasn’t enough.
The way her scent changed when it came into contact with Liam’s was mouthwatering. She affected mine as well, sweetening my tart apple until it almost smelled like apple pie. But it was the way her scent shifted into something even more tart and complex when mine joined hers that had me lost in the sharp lines of her face.
Like glass.
This omega’s scent had changed so drastically in the last eight hours it was almost as though she’d been empty – living her life as nothing but a shell of what she could be until she’d come into contact with me and Liam.
I couldn’t help but feel like…I’d been made for her.
For Liam.
It was a dangerous thought and I shoved it away as the elevator doors opened.
Lucy didn’t like me and she certainly didn’t trust me, even if our pheromones were more than compatible.
She was dangerous.
I laid her down in the back of the Explorer, filling the vehicle with my pheromones as quickly as possible so she wouldn’t freak out when I let go.
Forcing myself to sit in the driver’s seat instead of with her so she could use me in whatever way she saw fit was more difficult than it should have been considering my ‘legendary’ control.
My knuckles were white as I gripped the steering wheel and I kept my eyes on them instead of the omega in the back as I waited for Frankie and Liam. I had a very bad feeling that there was nothing I wouldn’t do if she would just let me hold her one more time.
Lucy was dangerous for so many reasons, but the biggest one? I wasn’t positive that I wouldn’t challenge Liam for her if she asked me to.
This was fucking bad .
I’d have to put some distance between us if we were all going to get through this alive.
Otherwise…
I might end up being the murderer Lucy thinks I am.