20. Liam

The way Lucyglanced up at the hidden camera with her thumb hovering over my name made my dick throb. I grinned as I watched her, pleased to see it hadn't taken her long to feel like she needed to reach out to me.

My omega was still annoyed with me, but it wasn't something you could tell just by her face. The blank expression she usually wore made her look bored, but her eyes…her eyes were like a thunderstorm that promised to strike me with lightning over and over again.

Watching her work hit just as hard as it had the first time, but she wasn't as calm and collected as she'd been in my brother's office. No, Lucy was just barely holding it together if the music she was listening to was any indication. It was loud and chaotic. Each thump of the base vibrated the walls and by default, the cameras.

How she could think with it that loud was beyond me, but Cas did the same thing with his metalcore music, except he had the decency to use his headphones.

Even across the hall I could feel the bass from her speakers.

I knew I'd want an apartment as close to hers as possible when I took a look around her building, but I hadn't expected to use it so soon. It was the best way to keep her safe though since Cas couldn't always watch over her and I had everything I needed to work remotely while I did the honors.

The Lopez pack might not have figured out who the girl in the photo was before I had them all taken down, but if she really had lived with them, it wouldn't take long. I couldn't risk anyone coming after her while being too far away to do anything about it when she insisted on keeping her distance from us.

Considering the look on her face when she'd seen how quickly Cas had responded to her request told me she was very aware that one of us was never far, but I highly doubted she suspected I was this close. At least, not yet.

Eventually she'd run across the sale in my records, but what she had up on her monitors told me she was focusing more on Gideon now instead of potential suspects.

Lucy dropped her gaze to study her phone instead of the camera. I watched her contemplate for a long time – living in her own world while I desperately wished I could live in it too.

I had to remind myself this was better than nothing. Just being able to see her, even if it was through a camera…it was something I never thought I'd be able to do again.

Nothing had gone according to plan since the first day she'd run into me at Valor Enterprises, but somehow it felt as though it had only been a few weeks since the last time I'd seen her, holding the small tank with the pink axolotl that she'd given me.

That first day I saw her again I'd thought I could wait to tell her until after the case was solved, but things had progressed far more quickly than I could have ever anticipated. It had never crossed my mind that she'd get sick, and or go into heat.

There were so many times I'd wanted to tell her – so many times I'd promised I would the very second there was an opening, but right before I was about to tell her at Bite, she'd gone to the bathroom where all hell had broken loose.

Taking care of my omega was literally the only thing I'd been able to think about for weeks. That need was so strong I kept ignoring everything else until I was so sleep deprived and exhausted I'd made a fatal mistake.

Lucy had discovered how truly depraved we really were before I could build up any kind of trust – before I could tell her I've been obsessed with her since she let me sit with her at lunch, protecting me whether she knew it or not.

She was a constant tease, even if she didn't realize it. I doubted anyone but Cas could understand what it felt like to watch the tall, graceful omega chewing on her lip like she knew I was watching her every breath.

This time apart was necessary even if it was killing me.

At least she had those three black lines around her neck. Lucy had redone her scent blockers in the way I preferred, even going so far as to make the one on the bottom thick enough to completely cover one of the spider lilies.

I licked my lips and let my eyes wander while she stood there, fighting the urge to call me.

Today she was wearing those thick, black-rimmed glasses along with her huge, oversized shirt. It had skeletons in different sexual positions and the word ‘Boning' over it. The damn thing was nearly long enough to cover the cute, black bike shorts that went down to her knees.

The urge to text her that I'd like to try every position with her that those skeletons on her shirt were in was harder to resist, but I managed it. Barely.

I'd be worried she would get cold, but she wore a long, cozy-looking black cardigan over it that was even longer than her shirt, and the heater was on in her apartment. That was the only reason I was able to keep myself from walking across the hall to wrap her up in one of the weighted blankets she had on her couch.

But I had to keep my distance no matter how I felt about it.

Lucy was sure the only reason we wanted her was because of the effect her pheromones had on us. Nothing could convince her otherwise. Not even telling her who I was would have persuaded her at that point.

I'd seen it clear as day when she'd looked up at me with so much fear in her eyes.

My omega was afraid she'd give in to her feelings and we'd wake up one day, completely uninterested in her. After everything that had happened to her, I understood why she'd think that, but I hated what it meant.

She didn't think anyone could possibly want her without being under the influence of her pheromones. She didn't think any alpha could want her, not just a legacy alpha, or she'd be fine with Cas.

Maybe that was my fault too. She was positive we were an item, and I wouldn't put it past her to think Cas would never choose her over me. At least, not yet.

We had time to convince her, but there was a deadline.

I wasn't stupid enough to believe she wasn't planning to disappear the second she solved this case. I had to tell her before then, but in a way that wouldn't make it look like I was manipulating her with a desperate plea to keep her at my side even if that was exactly what it was.

Lucy couldn't feel like I was trying to trap her – her instincts were too good. She'd run as far as she could even if she didn't want to. Just so she wouldn't end up like her father.

I wanted to know everything about her father that I could, because I had a feeling that was where I'd find the answer I was looking for – the answer to the question I'd had even back in middle school.

She'd been right next to me every day, but there'd always been this distance between us I didn't understand. It hadn't been because she was an omega and I was an alpha either since neither of us had settled into our designations yet.

I'd have to reach out to the warden of the maximum-security prison he was being kept in to see what they'd let me get away with. I didn't think it would cost much to get Nathan access to the prisoner for a few vials of blood.

There was no doubt in my mind that if Lucy was a dominant omega, her father was one as well, and since we didn't have access to very many of those I would simply have to convince him to do what needed to be done for his only child.

Despite everything, he'd taught her what she needed to know to survive this world. He'd done what he thought was right to protect her, and if that was still true, he'd give me what I needed.

But I was an alpha, so sending someone like Nathan would get better results as long as I paved the way. Nathan Humphries was too valuable to risk so I'd have to send in some of our guards with him. What kind of alpha would I be if I got a beta I'd sworn to protect hurt? He was a doctor and the only combat training he had was the bootcamp we put all new pack members through.

I snarled softly, wishing she'd just fucking call me already. I couldn't stand it anymore. What was she thinking about that made her so hesitant? What did I have to do to get her to rely on me instead of making herself suffer?

As if she could sense my frustration, her gaze shifted from the phone back to the camera. Her expression didn't change, but it felt like she was looking right into my soul and I actually tensed when she finally tapped my contact.

My phone rang, and I watched the rage in her eyes spark when I didn't answer right away. I grinned, feeling like I was truly losing my mind as I let it ring a second time. I couldn't help it. Watching the way the fury in her eyes rose with every ring was making my dick harder than a rock.

I desperately needed her to need me, and it was making me reckless as hell, but I just couldn't bring myself to care. I'd set the city on fire myself and watch it all burn if she would finally admit she needed me.

Answering on the third ring turned off the music that had been playing in her apartment and we stared at each other in the following silence.

Lucy knew where most of the cameras were, but she'd chosen to leave them alone and I was still fucking giddy about it, but this phone call…I had no idea what to expect and that gave me an unhealthy thrill.

I stayed silent, waiting to see what she could possibly want to talk about after ripping her house apart. She should have started with the bedroom because there was no way I was going to give her any more hints.

"Your brother had a second phone. Did you know about it?" Her question felt loud in the silence, and I listened to the slight crackle that let her know I was listening to her through two devices right now.

"No, I didn't." Though it felt like I should have. That seemed like something I would have noticed. "What does it look like?"

"It's the same make and model as the phone that's registered with Valor Enterprises, but it's not on the list of evidence, Liam."

Acid rose up, burning my throat.

I hadn't expected this conversation. I'd been too focused on the way she'd been ripping everything apart to remember Lucy was far better at multitasking than I would ever be. She'd been at her desk for barely an hour and somehow she'd seen what no one else had.

The problem wasn't that he had a second phone, but that no one in Valor had noticed when it was explicitly stated all phones within the estate had to be registered. We could detect unidentified devices when they passed through the gates, which meant Gideon had hidden it somewhere outside the estate, or he'd fucked with the security system so it would go unnoticed.

Either way, he was hiding something, and up until a few weeks ago, I was positive I knew everything there was to know about my brother. We'd been close. Gideon and Cas had been my only real friends for years, and come to find out my brother was hiding something like this from me….

Whatever it was didn't bode well for the future of our pack.

"Do you have any idea where something like that would be?"

Once again, I was amazed by Lucy's ability to focus on what was important and not all the other extraneous shit. It felt like I kept getting riled up by the smallest things and it was starting to affect my ability to do anything other than watch over her.

"Well…" I trailed off, knowing she would hate this answer. "If it's not somewhere in his house, I have no idea where he would keep it. The problem is, all unregistered devices would have been detected by our security system. If it wasn't triggered, he didn't bring it into the property, or he messed with the program somehow."

Lucy opened another drawer in her armoire but didn't move anything. She just eyed the sweaters like she was trying to figure out what I'd touched. My fingerprints were on everything though. If she felt like looking for that kind of evidence, she'd see exactly where I'd been, but for some reason she didn't seem to mind.

"I can go through the security system for the estate and see if it's been tampered with," she offered. "I have a few programs I can use that will go through everything and tag anything suspicious, but it'll take a few days."

She closed the drawer and then opened the one on the bottom where she kept all her quirky socks. "Did you ever get Melinda to open that safe for you?"

"I didn't need her to open the safe. Gideon gave me the code when they moved into that house." I rested my elbows on the table and leaned forward. She wasn't tearing this room apart like she had the others and I couldn't help but wonder why. "The items that were in his safe are at my house in the city, not the Valor estate. I didn't ask her to open it either. I simply had Cas go there when she was out and do it for me. Melinda doesn't know the code to that safe anyway."

"No extra phones?" She kicked the drawer closed and looked up to study the books on axolotls stacked above the figurines.

"Cas would have told me if there was, but you can look through everything whenever you want."

Lucy slammed the doors to her armoire closed and eyed her vanity table next. I hadn't expected her to have one, but there wasn't just makeup and skincare. She'd stuffed random trinkets and jewelry in there as well as colored pencils and other drawing supplies.

It wasn't where she'd find her answer, but it was closer.

"Why do something that would let me know someone was here who shouldn't be?" she demanded.

"Do you really think I shouldn't be there?" My grin widened when she looked up at the camera in shock, her lips slightly parted – like she couldn't believe I could say something so audacious.

I expected her to insist that I didn't belong in her apartment, especially when she nor Frankie had been there—that breaking in and spying on her was repulsive, but Lucy did none of those things. She just stared into the camera with those big grey eyes like she couldn't believe I'd even want to.

"I just don't understand," she whispered, like we were telling each other secrets in the dark. "Why do you want to be here?"

"A lot of reasons, Lucy." I got up from the dining room table and crossed the empty apartment to the front door. I stared through the peephole to see her door directly across from mine. "But the main one? I can't imagine my life without you. I want you to look at every single thing in your house and think of me, the same way everything in this world makes me think of you."

The sound of her breath catching made my fingers twitch toward the door.

"Text me with a list of what you need and I'll get it for you. Now, get back to work Lucy, or I might just come in there and give you a reason to be so distracted."

Hanging up on her was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but Lucy needed to get some work done or she'd start panicking again. As much as it might seem like I was doing all this for me, she was my highest priority.

And always would be.