It didn’t feel like it was my eyes that stared at the door. I couldn’t exactly say how, but it felt like I saw more, scented more as I took in a deep breath, catching the stale Cheetos and Diet Coke stink of Evan, along with Candy’s bright taffy sweet scent.
“Riley,” came Evan’s whine. “We’re supposed to report to a meeting of department heads. Don’t be late.”
“Down, girl!” Candy hissed, slapping a hand down on my arm, right up until my focus shifted down to her grip. She yanked it back, then held a wavering finger in front of my face. “Sit. Sit and stay.”
“I can hear you in there,” Evan whined.
“Of course you can,” Candy shot back. “We’re just finishing off our hot, hot lesbian scientist make out scene. As soon as I can get Riley to leave my clit alone, we’ll be there, but this girl just can’t get enough.”
“Fine,” he grumped, then stomped off.
“OK, so we need human Riley back right fucking now,” Candy said in a low voice. “Like if jizz cures what ails you, then you’ll get a whole lot of it as every department head spontaneously ejaculates when they realise they have an actual latent transitioning into an omega in the building, with a fully functional wolf to call. But you’ll be on the other side of the microscope, girl, the subject of some fuck’s study, an anonymous footnote in their paper.”
Candy knew me so well, the sheer disgust I felt at that scenario forced my claws to recede, my teeth becoming reassuringly blunt again.
“Department heads?” I asked. “What the hell will this be about?”
She let out a hysterical little laugh at that, pointing at me and shaking her head.
“What the fuck? What the actual fuck? You just… Then you…” Another frenzied laugh as she raked her hands through her hair. “Like, I am convinced five days out of ten that you aren’t actually human and are just some kind of android that Crowe plonked down here to troll us, but fuck, Riley.”
“Fuck Riley has a meeting and so do you,” I said, getting to my feet and somehow feeling more certain about what I was doing, not less. My head felt clearer, my eyes had stopped aching, and my steps seemed longer, taking me to the door and out of it, leaving Candy to lock up after me. She hustled to catch me up, jumping in the lift with me, where Windsor was waiting.
“Good to see you, Riley,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting you in today, but it’s fortuitous that you are. Gideon has a proposal for the team.”
I took in his smug smile, the way he stood tall, and nodded graciously in response. This was gonna be good, I could just feel it.
Chapter 39
When Gideon walked into the boardroom, it was hard to see how he wasn’t an alpha. He had that kind of presence that drew every person’s eyes to him, and he just nodded slightly in recognition before taking a seat at the head of the table.
“Thanks for joining me at short notice. Recent developments in a brand-new genetic study I have no doubt you’ve already heard about led to me calling this meeting,” he said.
Candy reached under the table at that, giving my hand a squeeze, because Gideon turned all that intense focus on me.
He was a good-looking guy, that was for sure. He’d been featured in as many magazines for his good looks as for his scientific and business achievements. His suit did everything it could to emphasise his broad-shouldered frame, but it was those eyes that made you feel like you were sinking into them. Dark cornflower blue and twinkling with a magnetic combination of intelligence and charisma, they made you feel like you were the only person in the room.
Which unfortunately reminded me of some other eyes that had done just the same. I frowned slightly, then straightened up in my chair, holding my head high. This, this was a much better situation to find myself in, one I actually had a chance to succeed in. So I inclined my head in recognition of Gideon’s attention and then listened hard to what came next.
“We are about a year out of the big symposium being held in New York. We’ve already identified several studies we hope to present there.” He listed each one of them, acknowledging the department heads they came from. “But I think the Crowe Institute’s keynote address needs to come from genetic disorders.”
A slight murmur of discontent there, but I just allowed myself a small smile. I’d heard the brief descriptions of the other studies, but c’mon. Anyone with half a brain had to know ours was what was gonna get bums on seats.
“Candace came to see me late Friday and pitched the idea to me.” More mumblings, because damn, that took some balls. I shot my friend a quick sidelong look, but she just smiled serenely, staring down the table. “The study entails looking at the attempted transition of a latent omega into a functioning one, due to her exposure to a pack that believes she’s their fated mate. And Riley Taylor will be the keynote speaker.”
Right then, all the exhaustion and pain were blasted away, because I couldn’t feel a fucking thing. The room got whiter, brighter, any sense of my body left as whatever was left of me seemed to just float, amorphous and strange.
What the hell had Candy done? Had she stalked into Gideon’s office in just new Manolos and nothing else, promising Gideon a thousand decadent pleasures? Because if she was using the power of the thot for my benefit…
I came back to my body abruptly and found my heart was pounding, my head aching with it as everyone in the room stared my way. But me? I tried to swallow the lump in my throat and utterly failed as I turned to look at Candy.
I knew she was a good friend. We were an unlikely pairing, but she was relentlessly, endlessly supportive, whether I wanted her to be or not, but right now… Her eyes sparkled right now, a smile forming, a look of the sweetest pain on her face, one I recognised because I felt the exact same thing.
Gideon was going to put forward whoever presented this study as a keynote speaker. Windsor probably hoped it was him, but I’d given Candy carte blanche to claim the study as her work, to prevent the conflict of interest of me studying myself. But damn her, she’d gone on up to the top floor and argued for me, for me to present at one of the most prestigious medical conferences in the world, as the keynote speaker for our company.
“Riley? I hope that’s OK with you?” Gideon prompted gently.
I let out a little laugh then, which was half sob, half snort.