43. Lucy

"I'm goingto make sure we have everything we need for the next couple of days. Will you be okay with just Liam?" Cas pulled me down from the desk and gently set me down in my chair. "I want access to whatever we might need since you two are insistent on doing whatever you want. Weapons, vehicles, clothes, and equipment. But I don't want to leave if you're not ready for it."

Wrapping my arms around his waist, I breathed in the soft scent of the pheromone neutralizing detergent on his shirt and tried to squeal that he was asking me just like he said he would.

"I'll be fine. Will it take long?"

"Most of it is already across the hall, but I need to do inventory and then go get whatever else we need from the house in Chinatown." Cas ran his hand over my hair in a soothing rhythm that almost had me purring.

"I want to finish going through Gideon's computer anyway." I looked up and Cas already looked calmer than before. "Just hurry up."

He smiled and kissed the top of my head. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

Liam and I watched him prowl over to the front door and then head into the hallway. I heard another door open two seconds later before closing.

They really rented out the apartment across from mine.

I don't know why I was surprised.

Liam grabbed Frankie's chair and pulled it around to my side so he could see what I was doing. "I'm kinda surprised you aren't mad about River. And maybe a little disappointed."

"It's hard to be mad when you called her father a narcissistic opportunist who was trying to capitalize on your family's grief. You even told him if he tried to bring it up again, you'd consider that enough evidence to have the police bring him in for questioning."

Out of curiosity, I went into Gideon's files regarding the Steele pack. If they were doing something shady, Gideon would have to know about it, right? He was smart. So, why would he get into an argument with Liam about giving them another chance when they kept incurring losses?

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think River had anything to do with whatever's going on with the Steele pack."

"Because she's an omega, or because you want to believe that?"

Liam winced when I eyed him. "Both?" He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "She may be brilliant but her pack is very, very traditional. River does whatever they tell her to, but she doesn't have anything to do with their businesses. She's simply an asset."

Well, wasn't that just horrifying.

I narrowed my eyes at the screen and clicked on one of the reports that went over what materials were damaged before arriving at the construction site. Taking that time and date, I checked Gideon's schedule.

"He met with the Steele pack about three months ago regarding one of the shipments." I pulled up the Valor footage for that day and went through until I found him getting into his Benz. "Who's that?"

I pointed at the man kitted out in all black, para-military gear. He looked like one of the Aegis security guards.

Liam leaned forward and I could feel his confusion through the bond. "That's Dane Valor. One of my cousins on the alpha side."

"Okay. Why is he getting in the car with Gideon?" I pulled up the information from his primary phone to get their destination. "Dane Valor went with him to meet with the Steele pack…and he works for Aegis."

I showed Liam the location they'd gone to and watched his face closely. All his emotions were faint and staticky, like he didn't want me to feel any of them.

"This is definitely not a good look," Liam muttered as he pulled his own phone out of his pocket. "Where is that asshole right now?"

Leaning over to see what he was pulling up, I felt my eyebrows rise all the way up when I saw he still had access to every single member of his pack's whereabouts in real time, give or take a few hours.

Most of the information was from the trackers on their cars and phones.

"If someone tries to kidnap anyone, we know where they are," Liam explained as he tapped Dane Valor's profile. "I don't usually look at what they're doing every second of every day if I don't have to. That's what the security company is for. I also want to give them as much privacy as possible while keeping them safe."

"And they know they're being tracked?" Dane's profile showed a little dot at the Aegis security building.

"Every single one of them." Liam sighed and tossed his phone on the desk. "The kids don't get phones until they start driving and even then they only have restricted access to any kind of social media until they're legal adults. Technology is a blessing and a curse, but we haven't lost any kids this generation thanks to monitoring them, so I consider it worth it."

Why did that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

"One of you should go speak to Dane. He's a blood cousin," I reminded Liam. "And he has access to your security company. If he's the one who killed Gideon, we can't let him walk around the Valor estate where those kids are."

"It needs to be me." Liam stood and ran his hand through his hair. "I may not technically be a part of the Valor pack anymore, but he doesn't know that. And he works for me. Not Cas."

The front door flew open, scaring the shit out of me.

"Why do you feel so anxious?" Cas demanded, glaring at Liam and then me. "I don't like it."

Liam explained what I'd found to Cas and my phone rang, vibrating loud enough I jumped at the aggressive sound – my heart was pounding like I'd been caught doing something bad, but I couldn't say why exactly.

The phone vibrated again and I frowned when I didn't recognize the number.

Tapping the green button, I set it to record the call and then put it on speaker. "This is Lou."

"Hey, Lou, this is Erin from the Tree of Life Omega Center. You asked me to let you know if someone from your list came in to see us."

"Right…which one?"

"Melinda Valor just came in for her first appointment."

Nervous excitement flooded me and I did my best to make sure it didn't come through in my tone. "Thank you, Erin. I'll be there as soon as possible. Can you put me on the schedule?"

"Will Frankie be coming with you?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll ask."

"Perfect! I'll get it all set up. See you then." Erin hung up the phone before I could tell the other omega goodbye.

Thank god she had a huge crush on Frankie or this wouldn't even be possible.

I popped up to get changed and ran toward my room, but Cas's arm around my waist caught me and I slammed back into him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"The clinic?" I blinked in confusion, not sure why this was an issue. "It'll be fine as long as one of you comes with me, right?"

"Explain first."

I had to get to the clinic as fast as I could if I wanted any chance of finding out anything about her pregnancy, but this was Cas we were talking about. He was the opposite of Liam. Nothing he did was impulsive.

"Erin is an omega who works at an omega only practice behind some pretty heavy-duty security. It's supposed to be one of the most secure medical offices for omegas – safe enough to go to alone if I need to. Alphas are allowed inside, but only if they're bonded and vetted with a background check. They even hire zetas exclusively as security guards so there will be no chance of endangering omegas with pheromones."

Most people would never get an appointment with the omega specialist she worked for as they catered to the wealthy, but thanks to Frankie, I was one of the select few who was able to see Dr. Grover.

Not that she'd been able to do anything for me, but still, she was one of the few doctors I didn't hate.

"If I can get proof that Melinda's seeing a private practitioner for her pregnancy, that would give you a reason to legally order a genetic test, right?" I looked over at Liam since I couldn't feel much through the bond. "If I can get access to a workstation, I could see if they've already done the genetic testing. We'd have the answer we need but you would still be able to demand legal proof."

"How exactly are you going to go in there without running into Melinda or looking suspicious as hell?" Liam raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "I need to get to Aegis and grab Dane before he does anything stupid. We also can't leave you or Frankie alone. That means she would have to go with me and Cas goes with you. Can you handle that?"

Ugh, why did everything he say make me melt?

I looked up into those pretty red eyes as I considered the best possible play. "I've seen Dr. Grover before as a patient. Erin can get me a last-minute appointment easily enough. All she has to do is cancel someone else's. That'll also give me access to her work station."

"What excuse would you use to see her again?"

"Well I've had a lot of unprotected sex lately. Who knows if those little candies work for a dominant omega?"

Cas shook his head. "You're not pregnant, but it would be plausible for you to want to ask her about birth control."

"How do you know I'm not?"

"Your scent hasn't changed," Liam explained. He leaned against my desk and watched us with narrowed eyes. "It's been stable since we bonded you, but I would have noticed even before then."

Why didn't it surprise me these two were insanely sensitive to the changes in my body?

"Okay, you can go to the clinic," Cas decided. "But only if you take me with you. I'll stay in the lobby and we'll keep a channel open while you go in there. I want you to wear a hidden camera too so I can see what you see."

"Can you handle me and Frankie going over to Aegis?" Liam tilted his head like he wasn't sure I could. "It hasn't been long since we bonded you."

I covered the marks on my neck with my hand, feeling just how sensitive they still were. They were already scabbed over. Considering how fast they were healing I'd say they'd be silver marks in just a few days, but wearing scent blockers would be painful.

"It'll be okay," I said, trying to convince them and myself. "Even if the scabs rip off when I remove the scent blockers, it'll be fine. I'll heal. This is more important than a little pain and discomfort."

"If that's what you want, then that's what we'll do." Liam came over and wrapped his arms around the both of us. "I made you a promise and I intend to keep it, but be a good girl and listen to Cas, okay? Don't stress him out too much."

I bit my tongue, telling myself I definitely should not ask what would happen if I was bad. "I'll do my best."

He chuckled and ruffled my hair. "Now, go get dressed while I update Frankie."

"Whatever you say, Alpha."

Liam growled softly as I ran toward my room, glancing back only once to see him watching me with those dangerous eyes that wanted to devour my heart and soul.

I would never get enough of that.