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Miles lays a hand on my thigh and I meet his eyes. He motions with his hand, taking a deep breath to show me that I need to as well. I do, in through my nose and out through my mouth.
“Thank you for your offer, Ms. Conroy. I would be honored to have you represent me.”
“Good,” she says in a no-nonsense tone. “Because I have a contact at Vertigo Press, and I already sent a proposal over to her. They also loved your manuscript and would like to work with you. I can send you the details via email, but this is big, Riley. As I’m sure you know, Vertigo Press is one of the Big Five. No doubt the advance will be in the six-figure range and they’ve expressed interest in acquiring more work from you.”
“Oh my god. Yes! Yes, definitely!”
I cover the receiver so I can squeal, the Alphas all around me purring and grinning from ear to ear.
“Welcome to the publishing world, Riley North.”
She continues with some preliminary details, and my voice shakes with every response to her questions. When we end the call, my hands are trembling so much that I drop the phone to the floor.
“Well?” asks Levi, leaning forward in his seat. “What did she say?”
“They’re working on a deal for me,” I say in a daze. “They loved the manuscript. They want to do a series.”
The room explodes into cheers, and Fox yanks me toward him, claiming my mouth with his. “I knew you could do it,” he says when he pulls back. “We all did.”
“I think this calls for a celebration,” says Thane, standing up. Levi turns off the television, the movie forgotten. “Let’s go out for dinner.”
“Fuck yeah,” says Fox, pumping his fist. “Tacos. Please say tacos.”
“Tacos,” I agree, too giddy to care about what we eat. This is really happening. I’m going to be a published author under my own name. Soon, I’ll be part of the Woods pack. I can scarcely breathe for fear that I’ll find out that this is all a dream, and I’ll wake up back in my lonely bed in the Betas-only apartment building. Pretending to be something I’m not. Trapped. And alone.
We all dress and head to our favorite Mexican restaurant. The one I’ve asked Thane to order delivery from at least four times since I returned from the hospital. If their tacos are incredible after being driven twenty minutes to the Woods’s mansion in little sweaty Styrofoam containers, I can’t imagine how amazing they’ll be fresh!
After we’re seated and the table is filled with oversized margarita glasses, Thane clears his throat.
“I got a call from Dad today,” he says, and my pulse quickens. “If you still want to, they’ve opened up a place for you in the new treatment trials.”
I gasp, my eyes filling with hot tears. “Really? When?”
“Three more weeks at the most.” He pauses, and hesitation flashes across his expression. “It won’t be a good time, Riley. The treatment will probably make you very tired, and you’ll often feel sick. But the results have been good. So good. I don’t want to get your hopes up, but they might have really found something that works. Maybe not a cure, but the closest damn thing to it that I’ve seen in… well, ever. It’s massively promising.”
My throat is clogged with emotion, and I can’t speak. I’m suddenly hot all over, my palms sweaty.
I glance around the table and find that I’m not the only one struggling with their reaction. A tear runs down Miles’s face, and Fox is wiping under his eyes. Suddenly, I can picture a future with them, a healthy future. No more pain. No more hospital beds. No more withering away until I die at last, leaving them alone to mourn my loss like my mother left me. Left my fathers.
“And on that note,” says Thane, his voice thick. “I’m also stepping away from practicing medicine. I want to be there for you, Riley, during the trials. You need someone to take care of you twenty-four seven, and I’m ready to be that person.” He takes my hand. “I want to be that person.”
“Are you sure?” I ask.
He nods. “It’s not just for you, although even if it were, I’d still do it in a heartbeat. I need to leave medicine. It’s… it’s not meant for me. It’s eating me up inside, even in endocrinology. This gives me a chance to find out what I really want to do.”
“Which, of course, has nothing to do with the flyers we received in the mail from the culinary academy,” Fox teases. Thane blushes and shrugs.
“Culinary academy? And your parents are okay with this?” I ask, because even with all they’ve done for me, I can’t imagine the Woodses approving of this news.
“Okayis a strong word,” says Thane with a wince. “More like they’re tolerating it, with a lot of grumbling. But I don’t have to go into witness protection, not yet.”
“That’s practically approval in your family,” I say, leaning over to give him a soft kiss. As our lips touch, a thrill shoots down my spine, and I feel my neck and face flush with heat. He pulls away, his expression contemplative, and a wave of need hits me. Thane’s nostrils flare, and his eyes darken.
“Riley,” he murmurs, brushing my hair away from my forehead, his thumb lingering on my skin. “You feel warm. Are you all right?”
I frown, realizing that I do feel hot. I’ve all but chugged my icy margarita and still I want to tear off every non-essential layer of clothing.
“Do you think I’m having a reaction to the medication? I don’t feel an attack coming on. I feel… great.”
