45. Lucy
We pulledup to the gate at the Valor estate as I dug around in my messenger bag for my ID. Cas rolled down the window of the black Explorer and gave the security guard a nod.
I handed Cas my ID and we went through the whole process I did the last time I was here, except Cas didn’t make any small talk. He didn’t thank the guard either when everything was handed back to him.
The gate opened and I felt jittery as I texted Frankie and Liam our progress.
After her appointment at the clinic, Melinda had gone straight back to the Valor estate.
We couldn’t follow her right to her house, but we could keep an eye on everything through the cameras they had inside the estate.
“I brought my good camera,” I told Cas as I pulled it out of my messenger bag. “Just in case.”
He turned down one of the roads lined with jacarandas and a ringing sound filled the car. Cas accepted the call and all I could hear was the sound of wind and a motorcycle revving in the background.
“I couldn’t read the text, but Dane left Aegis before we got there,” Liam practically yelled. “Where are you now?”
“We’re heading to your place at the Valor estate.” Cas glanced over at me, just as worried as I was. “Why?”
I was even more worried that I couldn’t feel anything through the bond other than the distance between us.
“Well, I’ll be seeing you soon then.”
Then I felt it.
A spike in his emotions – an awful mix of anger and fear that suddenly made it hard to breathe.
“Dane’s on his way to the Valor estate right now.”
Shit.
“Do you think it’s a coincidence?” Cas asked as he pulled into Liam’s driveway.
“At this point, I don’t think anything is a coincidence.” I pulled out my gun and made sure it was fully loaded. I slipped it back in the holster and dug around in my messenger bag for the spare magazines, tucking them in the pockets of my denim coat, hoping the sherpa lining would hide the outline of my gun.
I studied Liam’s house as I clipped a few more magazines to my belt next to my knife. It looked abandoned. Lifeless.
Has he ever lived here or did he live exclusively at his brownstone in Chinatown?
“Don’t do anything before I get there,” Liam warned.
Pulling out my knife, I tested the edge to make sure it was still sharp enough to slice through bone. “I’m not going to do anything, but I will get whatever pictures I can.”
“My house is on the other side of Gideon’s backyard,” Liam told me. “There’s no fence between our properties either. Just wait inside until you see something you might need to leave the house for.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not as reckless as you might think. Where’s Frankie?”
“She’s headed over to the Lopez compound. I asked her to work on getting a meeting with the Steele pack as quickly as possible.”
“Lucy…” Liam trailed off and I could feel him getting closer through the bond. I could also feel just how scared he was. “I trust you. Just be careful. I’ll be there in less than ten minutes.”
“Don’t stop him from going wherever he’s going to go,” I warned. “I want to see if it’s really just a coincidence or if it’s something else.”
“…Cas?”
“I’ll make sure she’s okay. Don’t crash your bike trying to rush over here.” Cas hung up on Liam and dropped his head back against the headrest. “You’re not going to need any of that, Lucy.”
“Probably not, but better safe than sorry.” I slid my knife back in its sheath and pulled my good camera out of my messenger bag, settling the strap around my neck before yanking my black turtleneck all the way up and over my scent blockers. “Getting evidence is more important right now. We don’t need to stop him from doing anything unless he gets violent.”
He ruffled his hair, making it fall into his eyes again. “This is insane.”
“Very.” If I was right…then someone blood related to Gideon was fucking his wife right under everyone’s noses. “Are you ready?”
Cas nodded and got out of the car, heading right for the front door of Liam’s house. I followed him as quietly as I could, checking my blind spots as I went.
It was so quiet that it instantly gave me bad vibes.
Shouldn’t there be sounds of children playing somewhere? Or people getting ready for dinner? It was a Friday but no one was out and about in the estate. The Lopez compound was completely different and I couldn’t figure out why.
There were massive group dinners on Fridays and Saturdays at Francisco’s house, but I couldn’t hear anything like that despite the way the forest encapsulated this area. Sound should carry on an estate like this.
“It’s been like this since Gideon died,” Cas muttered as he entered the code to the lock on the door before pressing his pinky finger to the scanner. “Everyone’s scared.”
I followed him inside the dark house, not surprised when he didn’t turn the lights on.
We walked straight through to the back door and I realized Liam’s house had the exact same layout as Gideon’s. I made a face, hating it already.
“I don’t like it either.” Cas opened the sliding glass door and held out a hand, signaling for me to wait.
Once he was satisfied he closed it and I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “We’re not going over there?”
“Don’t need to.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the office. Except it looked more like that weird room down in their murder basement.
There were too many monitors to count and even more computers.
Cas let go of my hand and started booting them up, entering in his credentials before pulling the chair out. “We can access everything from here. So, let’s watch and wait.”
I sat down, studying every single one of the little squares that showed a different area of the Valor estate as I rubbed my clammy hands on my jeans. “What do we do if he goes to his house?”
The silence between us was loud.
He knew what I really meant.
Would he leave me here to help Liam kidnap this guy or would he make us sit here and watch him do it alone?
“Every house on the estate has a panic room.” Cas went over to one of the walls and pulled the bland painting aside, revealing another access panel. He placed his whole left hand to the scanner this time and then entered in a passphrase.
A hissing noise filled the silence in the room and then there was a click. There was suddenly a visible door in the wall and it slid open slowly. Cas grabbed one of the machines that weren’t hooked up and used it to prop open the door so it couldn’t close on its own.
“If I have to leave you here, go inside and close the door. It’s programmed so only Liam or I can open it from the outside. It’s been bomb-tested so you should be fine.”
Jesus. They weren’t fucking around.
“Even Francisco doesn’t have this kind of stuff. Why does Liam?”
“Do you remember why he had to leave for Blackwood Academy?”
Cas sat down next to me and enlarged the square of footage that was focused on the gate and the guardhouse. Then he did the same for Melinda’s house in three different monitors for three different angles.
“He said it wasn’t safe. For him, or for me.” I leaned down to make sure the laces on my boots were tied tight and tucked them in so they wouldn’t trip me up or get loose then I covered them with the bottom of my skinny jeans.
“Nicolette’s bonded omega and Liam’s other mother, Patricia…the Anderson pack tried to take her out when Nicolette wouldn’t invest in their company.”
Holy shit. “Is she okay?”
I couldn’t remember anything about that, but I hadn’t exactly been interested in legacy packs back then.
“She’s alive, but she was shot three times in the stomach.” Cas crossed his arms over his chest and watched Melinda head inside her house. “She can’t have any more kids, but she’s lucky she can even walk after one of the bullets got lodged in her spine. After that, Nicolette sent her away for her own safety. Then she destroyed the Anderson pack.”
That I did remember.
Everyone thought the massacre was some weird religious shit. It was so bloody and ritualistic they’d been sure there was some weird suicide pact or something. All the weird manifestos they found corroborated it too.
I could see why Cas was so wary of the Valor alpha.
“Patricia came back once Liam graduated from Blackwood Academy but Nicolette sent her out of the country again when Gideon was killed.” Cas narrowed his eyes when Melinda went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Nicolette Valor never really recovered though. She’s big on airtight security, multiple escape routes, and panic rooms. All the cars she assigns to immediate family have bulletproof windows and are able to withstand most car bombs. So this…this is going to be a problem.”
It wasn’t just the security company, it was a member of her own family. What would she do if Dane Valor had something to do with Gideon’s death?
A car pulled up to the gate and was waved through, making Cas dig his fingers into his biceps. That car went through and I grabbed the mouse, clicking on the cameras to follow him. Not two minutes later Liam pulled up to the gate on a motorcycle.
My heart was pounding as I watched the security guard pull into his driveway.
But he didn’t go into his house.
He went around it to cut across the backyard and I lost him in the trees.
Shit.
What were we supposed to do now?
“Dane lives three houses down,” Cas murmured. “If you’re right…”
He clicked one of the cameras and we held our breath as we waited.
It took about three minutes and then Dane came through the trees into Melinda’s backyard, sticking to the shadows.
“Let’s go.” I jumped up and uncapped the lens on my camera, turning it on and checking to make sure it was set for long range photos. “I want clear pictures of their faces, not grainy security footage. If they’ve been doing this for a while, they’ll know how to avoid the cameras.”
Cas put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me behind him as he headed for the back door. “Stay behind me at all times. Got it?”
“Got it.”
I stuck close, keeping one hand on his lower back so he could keep track of me without having to look and pulled my phone out of my pocket to update Liam. Then I set it to record and tucked it in the back pocket of my jeans.
We kept the back door open and I made sure to follow Cas’s footsteps, angling my body the same way he did. I pulled my hood up over my hair and reached in my pocket for one of the black medical face masks I kept in all my jackets for exactly this reason.
Slipping it on, I kept my eyes on the ground so I didn’t step on any branches that would crack or crunchy dry leaves. The last thing I needed to do was trip and fuck this all up.
We went around to the bushes along the side and Cas crouched down. I immediately followed suit and lifted my camera to my eye, testing the angle.
I could see him perfectly. Snapping a photo, the setting took another fifteen with only a single press of the button.
The guard knocked on the back door, his gear blending into the shadows and the black exterior of the house since Melinda didn’t have any lights on outside. A few seconds later she came to the back door and glanced back over her shoulder before reaching for the handle.
I snapped another series of photos, making sure I got the smile on her face when she recognized him too.
The second he was inside, she closed the door and closed the blinds.
“We need to get closer,” I whispered.
Cas moved, staying low as he kept to the perimeter and I followed, snapping more photos of their shadows against the blinds. They couldn’t hide from me forever. That fucking house had a million windows.
I looked up, making sure my memory was still as good as I thought it was.
One downside to the vaulted ceiling design was the twelve-foot windows. Most people didn’t cover the tops with curtains since they wanted natural light as well as privacy.
Normally, I’d climb a tree but there were no trees close enough to the house.
Why would I need a tree when I had Cas?
He set his back to the wall in a squat and braced himself without me even having to ask. I put one foot on his thigh and took the hand he offered me.
One, two, and three.
I activated my core and jumped, pressing down on his thigh as I stepped up to place my other foot on his shoulder.
We both took a breath and then I did the same thing.
One, two, and three.
My other foot landed on his shoulder and he smoothly stood, wrapping his hands on my ankles to brace me. For the first time in my life, I was glad I was tall for an omega.
Slowly pulling the camera up, I adjusted the lens to accommodate for the change in distance, focusing on the couple sitting on the couch together. I snapped another series of photos and kept going as Melinda pulled something out of her purse.
It was the sonogram.
Focusing on that, I made sure to zoom in so I could get all the details on it that showed just how far along she was, where it had been taken, and who the omega was.
Melinda Valor.
I refocused on them and Dane took the sonogram, staring at it like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
Did he know she was pregnant, or was this the first time he was finding out?
“You know…it feels different seeing it,” Dane said.
I recognized that voice.
Moving the camera out of the way, I realized this was the same security guard that had let me through the gate the first time I came here with Liam.
Well, fuck. That meant he had access to the logs that tracked everyone’s coming and going at the estate.
This would explain how these two never got caught and how she was pregnant with his child. That was definitely a good motive, wasn’t it? He couldn’t be with her when she was with Gideon.
Removing him from the picture would definitely work to his benefit and Dane was a blood cousin. If Liam was out of the picture, there was a chance he could be chosen as the next heir.
Melinda was already five months along though. How did they plan to explain that? Didn’t really matter I guess, but I was curious.
“We’re having a girl,” Melinda told him in that soft voice omegas used to drive alphas wild. “Do you think she’ll grow up to be an alpha, or an omega?”
Dane jumped to his feet when there was a knock on the door and I snapped another series of pictures, realizing he had the red eyes of a legacy alpha, they were just so dark they looked black.
He was definitely a candidate for the heir to Valor if Liam was out of the picture.
Cas must have felt my spike of fear because he tapped my ankle. I looked down and he raised an eyebrow, silently asking what I wanted him to do.
Slinging the camera around to my back, I reached for his hand and jumped down. “I think Liam’s at the door.”
Footsteps had Cas shoving me behind one of the bushes as he turned and the back door slid open.
I took more pictures, doing the only thing I could in this situation. If I tried to help, that would only make things worse plus my methods wouldn’t exactly give us the answer we needed.
If you’re alone with an alpha, shoot first and ask questions later.
Dane stepped out and closed the door behind him, scanning the backyard and still somehow missing Cas. I took more pictures and bit the inside of my cheek so I didn’t laugh at how stupid he was.
How could anyone not notice Cas when his aura was this deadly?
Alphas could be so careless.
I heard Liam’s voice and Melinda’s breathy responses, gritting my teeth at the flirty way she was talking to him right after meeting up with her secret baby daddy.
Then I smelled sharp green apples and cedar.
Dane grabbed his throat, eyes wide as he tried to find the source of those suffocating pheromones.
I couldn’t wait to see what face he’d make when he realized.
Moss and cedar grew until the other alpha dropped to his knees and he started choking, gripping his throat with both hands now. I’ve seen this before, but this time it was Cas doing it.
Turning the lens on my alpha, I snapped another picture of the way his blue eyes glowed in the dark like the true predator he was. Even the look on his face was just like Liam’s and I felt my heart skip a beat, knowing there was something seriously fucking wrong with me to find this kind of effortless violence insanely attractive.
Cas might not be a legacy alpha, but he was forcing one to submit like it was nothing—killing him. He didn’t even have to touch him. All he needed was that deadly aura and his pheromones.
I zoomed out and took another series of pictures right as Cas wrapped his massive hand around Dane’s neck.
That’s when I saw it. The reason they were all so afraid of him. I could see why Cas needed Liam to protect him – why Liam needed Cas.
No one else who could hold a candle to his strength…no one other than Cassius Valentine.
Cedar and moss was heavy on my tongue with the slightest hint of apples as Dane Valor, a legacy alpha, choked at Cas’s feet.
My alpha leaned down and placed his mouth right next to Dane’s ear and gave a sharp grin full of violent promise. “Let me show you what it really means to be loyal to Valor.”
Cas pulled a syringe out of his pocket and uncapped it with his teeth before plunging it into Dane’s neck who stared up at Cas like he couldn’t believe he’d just done.
My alpha tossed the syringe aside and watched Dane slump over. I felt a little thrill of excitement run through me when those dangerous eyes found mine, and all I could think was how he was even more beautiful when he was like this.
Letting them bond me was absolutely the right choice because these two…
They were perfect.