Page 1 of Riley Goes Home

Chapter 1

Riley

“Are you going to get my mum pregnant?”

“Evie…”

I snorted as I opened the door, ushering Evie, her mother, Lily, and grandmother, Carmen, into my office. Evie was the one who asked the question, and despite being only ten years old, I knew I couldn’t fob her off with the same kind of pat answer I used with other kids her age. Evie was, to my knowledge, the only female alpha in the world and also precociously smart, so I had to answer her the only way I could.

“Maybe,” I replied, gesturing to the seats.

I watched Lily rub her daughter’s back, seeing that simple gesture in a new light. This was a mother trying to soothe and redirect her child. If I hoped for some sort of hint on how to master that, I was about to be disappointed.

“You always say that.” Evie wrinkled her nose as she peered past me to where my degrees hung on the wall. “How come, when you’ve studied science for so long?”

“Evie.” Lily’s tone was soft but firm. “We’ve talked about this.”

The girl’s lips thinned down but she nodded.

“Asking lots of questions is rude.” For a moment, I thought we’d get a break, but her eyes flicked up to meet her mother’s. “But why?”

We all chuckled at that.

“Are you sure you want to have another baby?” Carmen asked Lily.

“I think so.” Her hand went to her stomach. “If possible. I think it would be good for Evie to have siblings, a pack she can bond with.” I waited her out, because outside of surrogacy, no woman could go through childbirth for altruistic reasons. “I mean, I always thought I’d have more kids. I couldn’t even think of it before, but now…”

Now Lily had found her fated mates. I knew exactly what she was feeling, and the fact that it was hard to put into words maddened me. The scientist wanted to evaluate, analyse, and distill this urge down to a strange concoction of oxytocin and rising progesterone, but that’s not what happened. Instead, the deeper I investigated, the more confused I became, until I ended up like this. My hand came to rest on my swollen stomach. Lily noted this and flushed in response. It was this primal need that pushed past good sense and brought all of us here and right now, that meant I needed to help Lily.

“Knock, knock.” Candy came sauntering in, a big glass jar of treats on one hip. “Hey girlfriend, how’s it going?” She held up a hand and Evie gave her a high five. “Ready for testing time?” Candy hefted the lolly jar. “I got some new treats. There’s those peanut butter cups you like.”

“Fine.” Evie slipped off the chair and moved towards Candy. “But can I have two this time?”

“I think I can swing that.” Candy winked at Lily. “As long as Mum says it's OK.”

“It’s fine,” Lily replied.

“Three if the needle hurts,” Evie bargained.

“Y’see, if we play like that,” Candy started steering her towards the door, “then you’re putting me in a difficult position. Do I do a bad job and make it hurt so you get more treats, or do I do my usual amazing work and you barely feel a thing? Up to you, girl.”

I shook my head as the door closed behind them and then refocussed on the two ladies left in my office.

“So, you’ve developed a new drug?” Carmen asked, leaning forward. The woman was a highly competent OB-GYN as well as being Evie’s grandmother, so she’d followed the developments of this closely. “It’s a variation on the kinds of drugs that betas use during a round of IVF?”

“More or less,” I said and then started to push some printouts their way. “We are theorising that all betas are not made the same. We’ve really codified people into alpha, beta, and omega based on things we can observe: physical characteristics, attraction, mate bonds, et cetera, but the deeper we get into the genetics, the more complicated it appears to be. It seems like people are more of a continuum, with alpha and omega being at the very end of either side of the spectrum.” I tapped the line on the document. “While I don’t think you are an omega, I think you’re closer to that end of the spectrum than say the average person.”

Both of them nodded as they looked at the diagram, then back at me.

“So…?”

Lily’s question was the one they both wanted to ask, which had me smiling.

“So we’re developing a new drug, and if you want to join the trial?—”

“Yes.”

Lily’s reply was immediate. I wanted to warn her of the possible side effects, but something stopped me. We shared a look then before nodding.

---