Page 113 of The Beta's Heart

“I love you, Peri.”

“I love you too.” I squeezed him in my arms, feeling a deep sense of peace settle over us. “And we’ll get through this. All of it. Managing your stress, your parents, River. And you know how I know we will?”

“Because it’s the two of us fighting together,” he dutifully recited.

“Good boy.”

“Arf-arf.”

“Ooo! That’s it, Mr. James!” Leaping away from him, I grabbed the nearest weapon—the wooden spoon out of the sauce pot—and brandished it like a sword, ignoring the red dribbling off of it and splattering on the floor. “Prepare to be smited, you black-hearted blackguard!”

“How about you smite the burner instead, Lady Drips-a-Lot?” he laughed, looking over my head as angry hisses and spits filled the air. “Your spaghetti noodles are boiling over.”

“Ahhh!” I screeched and spun around to save our lunch.

25. Live and Learn

Tyler

At ten a.m. on Saturday morning, I arrived at the medical clinic and jogged up the walk with a spring in my step, happy with the world.

River and Peri had gone on the picnic hike, which he loved—especially when she shifted and he and Dovie had hours and hours to play and roam around together—and our relationship was right as rain again.

Not only that, but the treatments for my scars were going great! At my last appointment, Dr. Myers had helped guide River through easing the restriction on the muscles in my arm and, by the time our session was over, I’d regained full mobility in it. Today, they were going to try the same thing with the one on my chest, and I had high hopes it would be just as successful.

We’d also talked about what to do with the keloids on my back. Now that we knew River could make them better as far as my range of movement went, I didn’t feel that minimizing them was a priority, but Dr. Myers said I should decide on a treatment, anyway. He pointed out that he would need time to research it, then either learn how to provide it or find someone who could.

So I’d listened as he’d presented a variety of options that humans used to flatten them or make them fade, then I’d taken all the information home to Peri. After we’d reviewed it together and Googled more details about each one, we decided on the pulsed-dye laser therapy, and now I was eager to share that with Dr. Myers so he could do what he needed to do.

After he and River successfully repaired the muscles in my chest, Dr. Myers sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers together in front of him while I was busy pulling my elbows back to test how my pectoral muscle stood up to the stretch.

Praise the Goddess, I didn’t feel so much as a twinge!

Thank you, River! You did such a good job!I praised him.

Me good boy?he whispered.

Coming to the clinic always made him nervous and timid. I thought maybe it was the smells. Although they bothered me, too, it was worse for him since one of his very first memories was of me lying in a hospital bed for days on end.

A very good boy. So good, in fact, you deserve an ice cream cone on our way home.

Tanks you, Ty-Ty. Nana dis time?

Sure, baby. Banana ice cream it is.

“Beta Ty, we have something else to discuss,” Dr. Myers reminded me.

“Oh, yeah! I’ve been meaning to tell you this whole time that we chose the laser therapy.”

“That isn’t what I meant, but good. I’ll start looking into that.” He nodded gravely then cleared his throat. “What I wanted to discuss was that I can’t findanythingthat connects Seymour James to you or your mother, Bekah. I know my records aren’t complete—I don’t even have your birth certificate!—but not once in the medical history that Idohave for you does Seymour appear.”

“But my mom does?” I asked to make sure.

“She does. It’s her signature, phone number, address, and email on everything.”

“Do you think alphas Ash and Jay were right? Do you think they were chosen mates? Or that Seymour wasn’t my father?”

“I can’t—and won’t—make theories about that without more evidence. However, Idoknow from the records we have that his blood type was AB.”

---