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I didn’t understand.
“Why?” My eyes burned with tears, but they didn’t fall. I’d never let them fall. Especially in front of him. “Why do you even care? You’re not my alpha, and yet you took me here against my will.”
“Actually, I did get permission.” Liam’s smile widened slightly and it was sharp enough I took an involuntary step back. “You were incapacitated last night and your emergency contact is Frankie who also happens to have the legal right to make medical decisions for you if you happen to be unconscious. She’s the one who agreed to bring you here after seeing how much you improved in my care. I have her verbal consent recorded. So, if you want to leave, you may now do so.”
“But not alone?”
“No, not alone.” Liam checked his watch. “You have five minutes to decide before Cassius leaves the property.”
I was still angry and hurting, but his logic and all the choices he was offering made me hesitate.
What was I supposed to do? Did I really believe it was my pheromones hurting her? Did it even matter when she’d been so insistent this was the right choice? Frankie was doing the work on this case I couldn’t do, and I did have my laptop.
I was even in Liam Valor’s personal residence so I could take a look around before going to see Gideon’s house.
Looking down at my wrist, I could barely feel the platonic bond between me and Frankie. The scent of tangerines was already fading even though she’d held my wrist just a few minutes ago. “What the hell is happening to me?”
“Have you decided?” Liam looked up from his watch to pin me with that icy red stare. “You have three minutes left.”
“Don’t call her back.” I shook my head, not sure I believed him, but at the same time…the doctor would have some answers in a few hours no matter how much I hated the idea of leaning on an unfamiliar alpha. “But…I still don’t understand.”
“Would you like to hear my theory?” Liam took a step toward me and I inhaled sharply when he suddenly looked hungry.
He was massive when he wasn’t slouching against the wall or letting me push him around. Liam’s shoulders were so fucking wide and his tapered waist…
The smell of oranges clung to the fabric of his clothes, but it was just a little different than what I’d scented the day before. Did he use some kind of soap that matched his pheromones or was I really, truly losing my mind right now?
“You’re not defective, Lucy.” He didn’t try to touch me, but he did get closer, crowding me enough I took another step back to avoid the heat emanating from his body. It made my heart race every time he said my name and I didn’t trust myself not to reach out for him if he got too close.
“Would you like to hear what I think?” This time he reached out and stroked one of my curls longingly, but he still looked dangerous.
“Why not?” I did my best to sound like I didn’t give a shit what he thought, but it was impossible to take another step away from him when he was looking at my hair like that. And I didn’t smell any pheromones coming off of him at all. How the hell was I going to react if he decided to take off his scent blockers?
“Do you know what a dominant omega is?” Liam asked, releasing my hair to slip his hands in his pockets. His expression shifted until he looked as cold and unfeeling as I’d always thought he was.
It wasn’t easy to focus on his question with him so close, but I racked my brain for any memory of reading about something so ridiculous.
“I’ve heard of it,” I admitted, remembering one of the more obscure medical journals I’d read over the years in my endless search for answers. “But they’re extremely rare, if any of them are left at all.”
“Dominant omegas are very similar to legacy alphas,” Liam explained, as if I hadn’t spoken at all.
Why did he always choose to be such a prick?
“They don’t respond to weak alphas, and their pheromones can make those alphas submit, much like a legacy can.” He tilted his head then and that sharp smile widened. “It’s said that only a dominant omega can survive a strong legacy alpha’s pheromones without losing their mind. Would you like to test that theory?”
There was a glint in his eyes that made my racing heart simply stop, like a rabbit before a fox.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I managed, suddenly remembering I was wearing nothing but an oversized shirt that barely covered my ass.
“But don’t you like solving mysteries?” Liam asked, reaching out to grab hold of the white shirt before I could take another step back. He didn’t pull me forward, but it was enough to wonder what the fuck he was trying to accomplish.
“I do like solving mysteries,” I admitted slowly, torn between making him suffer and finding out if he was right. “But what makes you think I could possibly be one of these dominant omegas? It’s not like I haven’t already been confirmed as an omega. So, why would it manifest now?”
“Dominant omegas are special for quite a few reasons.” Liam smirked and released the shirt. “Most of their pheromones don’t manifest their true potential until they find an alpha strong enough to handle them. It’s a very caring and empathetic omega trait if you think about it. Otherwise, you would have been making those around you suffer this whole time, right?”
…that did make sense, even if it fucking terrified me to know what it implied. Just because he was a strong alpha, that didn’t mean he was my alpha, right? I did like his scent and I found it calming, but…
It was impossible not to laugh, especially when that weird vertigo hit as my entire world fell apart around me.
