13. Lucy

Frankie watchedme shake the packets of sugar and then flick them a few times like that was really going to do anything to help, but I was too mentally unstable right now to pretend to be normal like I usually did.

Ripping off the top of the sugar packets, I poured them into the steaming cup of coffee, trying not to touch the Styrofoam if I could help it. Why they didn't use paper cups, I didn't know, but if this thing made that awful squeaky noise, it might just be my last straw. I'd toss the whole thing across the café if it did.

My knee bounced under the table, but I was careful not to let it shake the whole thing as we both waited to see how I'd react to the highest dose suppressant I could possibly have for my body weight. It was a risk the doctor wouldn't normally take for anyone who wasn't a legacy alpha, but we didn't have any other options.

If this didn't work, then I had no fucking idea what we would do.

Stacking up the tiny little creamer cups, I started the process of adding them to my coffee as the sounds of the café swirled around us. It was freezing in the café on the bottom floor of the building where Nathan had his private practice thanks to the industrial air filters being on the highest setting, but it was also nice to have nothing but the smell of coffee filling my nose.

I've always been able to smell others' pheromones, I just never reacted to them. It took a lot to make my stomach queasy, but the slight hint of Frankie's fermented tangerines was hitting me harder than I expected.

The overpowering scent of ground coffee beans helped settle my stomach.

Carefully stirring so I didn't touch the Styrofoam, I decided to be nice for once and let Frankie off the hook. We had bigger problems than my hurt feelings and holding a grudge wouldn't help anyone.

She'd earned my unconditional forgiveness at least once.

I pulled open my note app on my phone and typed out what I'd found in Liam's basement using the code we'd made up in high school. There was a possibility Liam might have mirrored my phone as well as whatever tracker he'd put on it, but there wasn't a single program in existence that could crack this code. I'd made sure of it.

Sliding my phone across the table, I turned my gaze to the window and watched as the cars whizzed by.

When Frankie slid the phone back across the table, it slipped over the edge and she lunged forward to catch it, but I caught it before it hit the floor. Her eyes went wide when she saw I hadn't even looked but now it was in my hand, unharmed.

It was getting harder to pretend to be normal and I really, really needed the higher dose suppressants to kick in already so I could get the fuck out of here and do my job. Anything to help me stop thinking about those two crazy assholes.

"I wonder who my father will pick for his heir now," Frankie muttered as she stacked my unused creamer cups in a perfect line.

I raised an eyebrow and sipped the bittersweet coffee. Her reaction wasn't really a surprise, but still…

Her performance has always been a million times better than mine and even I forgot sometimes that she was pretending just as much as I was.

"Maybe it'll be you," I whispered into my cup.

Her glare made me smirk and I drained the whole thing, hoping the acidity of the coffee would get the suppressants to start working faster.

"We both know that'll never happen." Frankie pulled her phone out of the pocket of her leather jacket and started tapping away at it. "Did you know the mess at Bite made the news? Then it was like it never happened. I couldn't find a single article mentioning the incident only twenty-four hours later."

The Lopez pack wouldn't want that shit known to the public and neither would Valor. Either of them could be responsible for scrubbing the incident from the internet, but if someone managed to take screenshots before it was taken down then it would be even more obvious they were trying to cover something up.

Not that a cover up like that would surprise anyone.

"There was a picture of him going around as he carried you out of the restaurant, but it didn't show your face." Frankie showed me the screenshot of the image on her phone and I grimaced, hating how clingy I looked. "They have no idea who the woman in the photo is, but everyone's talking about it. They're trying to find out who Liam might be with and if she's an omega or not. Thankfully, your heat helped everything die down a bit since there's been no new pictures since then."

I wanted to redirect our conversation back to the case, but this was also important. It would help us decide how to proceed. If I had to hide my face and work behind a desk, I could do that, but Frankie didn't like working alone in the field and it wasn't safe.

Someone else would have to go with her, and I hated that I was failing her on so many levels.

Why couldn't I just be better?

I dropped my head in my hands and bounced my leg even faster as I tried to figure out what we should do now, very carefully avoiding any plan that might hinge on Cassius or Liam.

"During your heat, I was able to finish the interviews with everyone who was at Valor Enterprises that day. I was also able to interview Melinda at the office when she came to meet with her assistant. She didn't tell me anything new, but I was able to slip your tracker on her phone."

Dammit, I should have done that when I was at her house, but I'd been too anxious about doing my first interrogation in ages to remember to ask Liam to get me access to my equipment.

"I've also emailed you everything me and our team of interns have been working on. We tagged the footage we thought you'd want to see as well as the deals Valor has been working on over the last six months. It shouldn't take long for you to go through all of it since I didn't really find anything concrete. Don't make that face, Lucy. I had to take a week off too. So, don't feel bad."

Right. Her rut. Well, that was something at least. We had one less thing to worry about now.

But normally, we had a decent lead by the end of the first week, if not more. Then we get the biggest case of our lives and we were still floundering three weeks later? It was pathetic.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?" I picked at my cuticles, watching as I pulled on the hangnail until the skin went down to my first knuckle.

"Don't act like we've actually been working on this for three weeks when that's not the case at all."

I looked up in surprise, both eyebrows raised as I considered my partner. Her sharp blue eyes were cold as she gave me that knowing look. She set down her phone and crossed her arms over her chest, the bright red of her hair framing her pretty face, but every line was sharp.

Frankie was pissed.

"You've been on this case for maybe three days altogether and we both know the pheromones are fucking with your head. It makes it harder to make any connections when you're not feeling well, so don't beat yourself up like you've been wasting time. You know I hate when you do that."

I definitely wasn't at my best, because this was the second time she'd surprised me today. Why was I forgetting how well Frankie knew me? Was it all the fucking pheromones, or was it me subconsciously being a petty bitch because she'd handed me over to Liam?

"You're right, but that doesn't change the fact that it's been more than three weeks and we have nothing to show for it." I considered my empty cup and wondered if I should get another. "Do you think a certain someone would go so far as to murder their spouse if they found out something surprising?"

Anyone could be listening, but Frankie would know who I was talking about.

"I think it's very likely, but I looked at the prenup files you sent me, and it seems like it would have been better for them to dissolve their contract. The second party wouldn't have lost anything going that route."

If it had been Gideon, Melinda's death would have been the one we were asked to investigate, not his.

"Reason and logic isn't typically used when someone is feeling overly emotional," I reminded her. "But it does seem like an overreaction unless something else was going on."

I selected the note app and erased what I'd written, wondering why Frankie wasn't asking me more about what I'd seen in Liam's basement.

Tapping out the potential scenarios using our code, I tried to ignore how the queasy feeling in my gut was getting exponentially worse until I was sure I was going to throw up right then and there.

The only way to keep myself sane was to ignore it.

I handed Frankie the phone and grabbed my stupid Styrofoam cup before heading back to the counter where they had all the brewed coffee. More sugar and cream wouldn't help wash away the bitterness on my tongue as I forced myself to consider the possibility that Melinda's baby was Liam's.

That kind of nonsense would explain why Melinda's pregnancy could cause Gideon's death though. If she was cheating on her husband with the younger brother of the heir and wanted power to fall to her child next, then getting rid of the competition would make the most sense.

Liam didn't seem to care about who became the next leader of his pack, but Melinda…

Frankie whipped around and I headed back to our café table in the corner, pretending like I couldn't see the outrage and disbelief in her eyes. "You really think he'd go for someone like her?"

I flopped down in my chair and ignored the way the hot coffee burned my hand as it sloshed over the edge. "I don't really know him well enough to say whether he would or not, but they seemed close."

Until they didn't.

"If nothing else, she was very into him." Alphas were stupid around omegas. If she'd made those pretty eyes at Liam when he was near his rut, then it wouldn't matter if he was into her or not. "It's just biology at that point."

"I keep telling you not to say only half your thoughts out loud. I can't read your mind." Frankie took a napkin out of her purse and wiped the now-cold coffee from my hand. "Are you talking about how he's an alpha and she's an omega?"

"If she's good enough for his brother, then she's good enough for any legacy alpha, right?" I didn't know why I was saying any of this, but I refused to let my own emotions cloud my judgment. "It's only a hypothetical, Frankie. There's no evidence to suggest one way or another. I'm just saying. It's a possibility."

She frowned when I shook three more sugar packets, but didn't stop me. One long red nail tapped my phone as she considered the possibilities. "Those two took care of you for thirteen days and constantly sent me updates. I have a hard time believing that legacy alpha gives a single fuck about his sister-in-law after what I've seen."

I shrugged, not bothering to argue since Frankie was better with people than I was. The queasy feeling in my stomach started to die down though.

"You're not concerned about what I found down there at all?"

Frankie sighed and erased what I'd written in the app. "I grew up in a legacy pack, as did you. I'm shocked you assumed they weren't all like that."

I tsked and looked out the window again, annoyed by what she was implying. "And I'm surprised you aren't trying to find every single camera in our apartment right now."

"I'd rather deal with cameras than whatever he'd do instead."

We shared a look and I shuddered, agreeing with her wholeheartedly.

"For a legacy alpha of his caliber, he's shockingly restrained," Frankie muttered as she tapped something into my phone. "He just spent thirteen days steeped in the pheromones of a very powerful omega in heat. That you're sitting here without him breathing down your neck means he's got more control than most alphas I know. Cassius too."

I eyed the phone she was typing into, deciding not to tell her about the tracker. "As soon as they detox, everything will be fine. They'll live their lives like they did before and we'll solve this case. Boom. Done. Never to be seen again."

Frankie snorted and grabbed my wrist so I'd stop shaking the sugar packets. She placed the phone in it and raised an eyebrow like I was being purposefully stupid. "What's there to detox from when they've been watching you like hawks since the first moment they saw you?"

"That's not very reassuring." I ripped my hand out of hers and tore open the packets of sugar with my teeth so I could read what she'd written and finish making my coffee just sweet enough to hurt.

I wanted to throw my fucking phone across the café when I was done reading but I set it down as gently as possible and decided to forgo the cream this time. I drained the cup of scalding hot coffee and glared at my best friend, wondering if I was the only one losing my mind here or if she was too. "Absolutely not, Frankie."

"Oh, so you'll go instead?"

I narrowed my eyes when she crossed her arms over her chest again, giving me the same sassy look she had when I'd insisted on getting my driver's license and she'd been convinced I'd crash and die.

Yeah, I'd crashed, but only because it was raining and the tires were bald. That shit wasn't my fault and we both knew it. Plus, I didn't die. So there.

"I don't want you traipsing off to visit your father right now when Liam has Arturo in a fucking cold locker," I hissed, leaning so far across the table the whole thing nearly tipped over. "Plus, what if someone sees you?"

"They won't." Frankie smirked. "And we both know my father recognized you in that picture. Do you really want to deal with him interrogating you about that when you have no idea how you'll react to another legacy alpha's pheromones right now?"

Ugh, I hated that she wasn't wrong. I hated that I was being shoved aside because I was an omega and my stupid pheromones were finally ‘working'. Was I really going to be stuck behind a desk or forced to have a babysitter for the rest of this case?

Frankie checked her watch. "Do you feel any different?"

"My heart hasn't skipped a beat once." I tossed all my trash in the empty Styrofoam cup and tried not to freak out about what could happen if Francisco Lopez decided to use Frankie as collateral when it came to this case.

Did he care about his heir enough to use his own daughter against Liam? Did he have something to do with Gideon's murder? If he did, Frankie might have to choose between her father and me yet again.

I chewed on my lip and decided it didn't matter which one of us went, but it was too dangerous to go alone. "Fine, you can go, but only if you take Cassius with you. See if you can figure out what happened with the property at the docks too."

Frankie was going to need someone who could resist the pheromones of a legacy alpha, one who was just as powerful as Liam Valor.

I erased the text on the note app and swiped to my messages. Liam had programmed his and Cassius's number into my phone before letting me go, and I was annoyingly grateful he'd done that.

Relying on either of those two was the last thing I wanted to do, but Cassius could blend into the background better than most professional bodyguards, and no one would ever realize just how powerful he was until it was too late thanks to that little trick of his.

"As soon as we know I'm not going to have a heart attack or a seizure, I'll start sorting through what we have. Hopefully I'll have a list of places we can check out by the time you're done talking to him."

"We're going to need access to the Valor compound again," Frankie muttered as she eyed the people going in and out of the café. "This reeks of an inside job."

"Make me one more list before you go." I pushed my phone over to her and tried not to wonder if Cassius would respond to my text or not. "I need you to tell me everyone who might have access to the blueprints for the Valor Enterprises building – anyone who would know the intricate details of how that building works whether it be cleaning crews, engineers, whoever. Then I'll see what kind of maintenance work they've recently done on the building as soon as the doc lets me leave."

"You're going to Genesis by yourself?" Frankie seemed skeptical, but she didn't argue.

"No, I'm going to work from home today." I desperately needed to shower again and I didn't want Liam getting anxious about me wandering around on my own either. Staying where he could see me and not triggering his protective or territorial instincts was probably the best way to keep him away from me right now.

But it wouldn't work forever.

My phone rang before Frankie could finish typing out the list and she answered it for me. "What do you want?"

The crackle of Cassius's deep, gravelly voice over the phone sent shivers down my spine. "Let's go. I'm outside."

We both looked out the window to see a familiar black Explorer parked in the loading zone.

They weren't just monitoring my every move anymore. They've escalated to full blown stalking.