42. Liam
CHAPTER 42
Liam
I stared at the tray full of food I’d put together for Lucy and wondered what the fuck I’d been thinking.
Making sure she had something to eat when she woke up was the way one would care for an average omega, but Lucy wasn’t average by any stretch of the imagination.
I should have known she’d freak out when she woke up and I wasn’t there. Especially when she was still hung up on the way I’d left when we were kids. Her abandonment issues weren’t my fault exactly, but I couldn’t help but feel responsible.
And walking into the bedroom right as she asked Cas if he wanted to know why her father killed her mother…
Pretty fucking sure I’d never experienced panic quite like that before.
Lucy was a fucking genius. I’d always known that, but hearing it was always a shock even if I couldn’t say I hadn’t expected it. She may not have figured it out yet, but she was going to. I had to tell her before someone else did, or all the hard work Cas had just done would be for nothing.
I was impressed. He’d found a way to avoid lying to her without making her suspicious.
He kept saying he couldn’t read her, but it seemed like that was no longer true. Cas could read her just as well as I could, and there was a twinge of jealousy deep down that made me worry he might actually be better at it than I was.
They were so alike sometimes.
I’d been born an alpha, but I hadn’t felt hunger the same way Cassius and Lucy had. My pack was wealthy, and I’d been handed everything I’d ever wanted.
No, the first time I’d experienced true hunger was when I’d watched the little girl who was too busy reading to look at me. I’d realized right then and there that she’d never give me what I truly wanted, because it didn’t matter to her.
I was not important in the grand scheme of things.
What was important to Lucy was different than what other people considered important. She wanted novelty and discovery – all the answers to her burning curiosity. Back then, she’d never needed my attention or felt like I should need hers.
But over time, she’d started looking for me. I’d show up at the same time every day for that exact reason. The moment the sun started dipping toward the horizon, I would see her look up from what she was doing to see if I was walking toward her and every time I was…
She’d give me the smile that destroyed me every single time I saw it.
I set my hands on the mattress and leaned back to stare at the ceiling as the sounds of Cassius doing his best to remind Lucy how good it could be if she stayed filtered into the room.
One day during a sandbox excavation, Lucy had explained to me that she couldn’t remember faces well but she was very good at remembering voices and scents. So, being the lovesick brat I was, I’d tried about a thousand different soaps until one of them made her comment on how nice it was.
I've worn that soap every day since.
The company producing it had gone out of business about seven years ago and I’d panicked. I’ve never asked my mother for anything, but I would have begged on hands and knees to buy that company if she hadn’t agreed the first time. I was pretty sure she’d been too stunned that I had any interest in business at all, so she’d agreed without hesitation.
Now I was the proud owner of the company that produced the soap Lucy had liked so much. It was ironically close to the scent of my pheromones, and I vividly remembered how shocked I’d been when my eyes settled into the deep red of a legacy alpha.
How had she known? That was the only thing I’d been able to think about when the scent of my own pheromones had forced my entire class to their knees. All I could think was she must have known, and that meant one day she’d be my omega, because no one else would be that sensitive to my scent and its changes.
That was the same day I met Cassius. He’d slammed me against the wall hard enough I snapped out of the shock. He’d even managed to demand I tone down my pheromones without directly challenging me, but I was pretty sure I’d been too stunned that he was the only one still standing to care if he was ordering me around like I was a beta.
Cas was special, and the way he was handling Lucy proved it to me for the thousandth time.
Which was why I was in here instead of the bathroom, giving him time alone with her. They both needed it, and Cas deserved a reward for how well he was managing her.
Neither of them were what I would call calm, and I could smell fresh blood, but she was also making little sounds of pleasure I just knew she hated .
She was still in the throes of her heat and would be for a few more days if my guess was right. It would be easy to keep her here while she was desperate to ease the pain and emptiness, but once it was over, I had a bad feeling she’d do everything in her power to push us as far away as she could.
Lucy was terrified. That much was obvious from what she’d said to Cas, but I didn’t think it was for the reason she’d implied.
Most alphas wouldn’t like having their omega doing such a dangerous job, but that was because they weren’t very good alphas. If they couldn’t keep their omega safe while they lived their life, then they should just say that instead of putting the responsibility on their omega.
But I also knew Lucy didn’t understand just how far either of us would go for her, and we needed to find a way to prove that or she’d leave us because she was too terrified to rely on us.
She couldn’t risk trusting us after what had happened with her father.
Now that I knew why he’d done it, it was hard to be mad. I understood exactly why her father had killed those alphas and I couldn’t fault him for that, but I could still blame him for putting Lucy through so much grief and trauma.
He should have done a better job of covering up his tracks. Maybe then Lucy wouldn’t think she needed to isolate herself like this.
The sounds of her pleasure settled some of the rage I felt at the idea of her leaving us, but it wasn’t enough. I needed her reassurance – with words or bodies, I didn’t care. I just needed to know she wouldn’t disappear the second we were asleep.
From now on, neither of us could sleep at the same time. Not until she was bonded to at least one of us.
This psychosis Lucy had would take more than a week to ease, and I couldn’t go longer than that without losing my mind. I’d tried it once, just to see – before Cas’s rut synced with mine, I’d needed to see if I could stay awake during his cycle to make sure nothing happened that he couldn’t manage alone.
Once again, I felt overwhelming gratitude that Cas had chosen to tie his life to mine. If it was just me and Lucy, I wouldn’t be able to do what needed to be done. I may be a legacy alpha, but even I could only go so long without sleep.
Getting Lucy to stay with us wasn’t going to be easy, and despite our past connection, I knew I couldn’t do this alone. It fucking rankled my pride to admit it, but all this was my fault. If I’d just stayed, she never would have stopped relying on me.
I would have been there every step of the way, and now…
Now, I’d just have to make up for it.
The sound of the water splashing in the bathtub told me she was close to an orgasm, but her stubborn streak was showing. Otherwise, she never would have lasted this long. Lucy didn’t want to give Cas the satisfaction of coming as quickly as she would have if he hadn’t riled her up like that.
I grinned and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I listened to him ask how long she planned to be a little brat and deny him her orgasm. I wanted to tell him she’d always be like this, but it would be more fun to let him figure it out for himself.
Sliding my gaze to the nightstand, I considered how I wanted to let this play out.
The timing had to be perfect. I couldn’t let Cas knot her again so soon or I might just stab him, but he needed this moment – he needed to see what she looked like when all her attention was on him and no one else.
Then he would understand why I was so fucking obsessed.
If he didn’t already.
Once she came for him, I’d let him get right to the edge. The moment he fell over…
My grin widened and I reached over to tug open the drawer of my nightstand. Inside were two things I planned to give Lucy, and neither of them were an engagement ring. I wouldn’t hide something like that in such an obvious place, and that was something I wanted her to choose.
I grabbed the stash of emergency contraceptive candy and popped one in my mouth, biting into the hard candy and crushing it to nothing but dust. I chewed what was left and grabbed one more.
These handy-dandy little things were brand new, courtesy of some scientist Nathan had asked me to sponsor. They worked on alphas, betas, and omegas. As long as the omega ate one within seven days of the first time they had unprotected sex, they wouldn’t get pregnant even with an alpha knotting them.
That omega scientist was just as damaged as Lucy, if for different reasons, but it had made her fucking brilliant.
Eating one before I came inside her would make sure I couldn’t impregnate her for at least a week. It killed me to do it, but I refused to give her another reason to run away. If she didn’t want us to breed her, then we wouldn’t. I’d just make sure we got a lot of practice in for when she was finally ready.
If ever.
It was fine. We didn’t need kids. We only needed Lucy, but I wasn’t going to lie to myself and say I wouldn’t be disappointed. It just wasn’t worth losing her over and never would be. There were enough kids in the pack to satisfy our alpha needs. Giving all the Valor children a safe place to grow and thrive would be more than enough.
But I wasn’t going to let her think I didn’t want that from her. No, she would be treated as the most precious omega to ever exist…who just so happened to like working in a dangerous field.
The small sashimi knife tucked next to the candy was so sharp she wouldn’t even feel it slice through her skin until it started to sting. It was my favorite knife and I was curious what Lucy would think of it.
What she would do with it.
It was only fair to experiment with her too when I knew she was going to keep testing us. How crazy did she plan to get? Would she stab one of us to prove we weren’t safe around her?
Eyeing the edge of the blade hurt my eyes and I had to squint to see anything at all – it was that sharp.
It was precious really, just how far she would go to protect her alphas.
Lucy wasn’t like other omegas and never would be. That’s what I adored about her. She loved the same way I did – viciously. And the way she was bringing Cas out of his shell made me curious.
How did he love someone? I wanted to see it. Would he really die for her?
I licked my lips in anticipation. These two were really testing my patience. If I didn’t think pushing them would destroy everything I’ve been working my ass off for, I would demand to see it now.
But I could wait. I’d learned how to do that very well thanks to Lucy.
Standing, I slipped the candy in my mouth – the orange one. It was tart instead of sweet and I knew she’d like it for more than a few reasons. I slid my thumb across the blade as I rolled it around my tongue and watched as blood dripped to the floor.
Smearing my bloody thumb across my lips, I made my way toward the open bathroom door.
We would get her through this heat, and then help her get the answers she needed from Nathan. Once that was done, and I knew she was stable and healthy, I’d tell her everything.
I would tell Lucy who I was, and how long I’ve been searching. I’d tell her anything she wanted to know. It couldn’t wait until the case was over. Not anymore. She was too afraid of her own desire.
Lucy wanted us, but for whatever reason, she didn’t think she could have us.
Did she think I cared what my pack thought about such an untraditional omega? Or maybe she was worried we’d abandon her when she needed us most? Probably neither of those things considering who she was.
I leaned against the doorframe and watched her ride Cas with her hands around his throat, choking him as he slammed her down on his cock. The water was pink with the dried blood that had stained her skin as well as the fresh blood slipping down her chin from the cut on her lip .
Cas was grinning up at her like a psycho and Lucy was fucking loving it. She could deny it all she wanted, but this fervent obsession we had for her was the only thing that could ever ease her fears.
Sliding my thumb over the knife again wasn’t exactly intelligent, but I managed not to hit bone and it was fucking worth it to see Lucy look up when a fresh wave of my blood hit the air.
Her grip loosened on Cas’s throat and he growled at her, forcing her attention back on him. Lucy looked down at Cassius with her lips slightly parted, pink tongue darting out to lick the blood from it in such a way I felt both knots swell at the promise of sinking into my omega’s heat.
She seemed distracted though, hesitating as she stared down at Cas, but she didn’t look away from him when I meandered toward them, leaving a trail of blood in my wake.
Maybe I should have taken those suppressants Nathan gave Cas instead of the contraceptive candy, but I was no longer interested in making myself more palatable in front of omegas or anyone else. Lucy could handle exactly who I was and then some.
All I had to do was keep her interest.