After Six Years The Alpha Begs For My Return Chapter 42
Beyond the corridor windows, the sky had gone completely dark. One by one, the lights of Gray Harbor flickered on, and the bridge over the river became a flowing band of brightness.
I looked out at the lights for a long time before I spoke.
“Next month, once my mother can walk for longer stretches, I’m taking her to Paris.” I turned to Reese. “Does the Tidewatch trade office in Paris still need someone to keep the books?”
He lifted a brow. A slow smile spread across his face, open and unhidden.
“Yes. It does. We’ve been short one person ever since you quit six years ago.”
“This time, it won’t just be for work,” I said. “I’m formally applying to join Tidewatch. Not as someone’s dependent, and not by trading a mate contract for status. I’ll go through the member review and earn my seat on my own merit.”
He looked at me for several seconds, his expression turning serious.
“Your review materials have been more than sufficient for a long time. Your six-year record in the Paris office, the public funds you recovered, your territorial sponsorship—it all counts.” He said, “Tidewatch is accepting Avery Calloway herself.”
He stepped closer, until we stood side by side at the window. Then he gently rested an arm around my shoulders.
It wasn’t as intimate as his hand on my waist had been, nor as casual as just throwing an arm over me.
It was a distance that felt like a promise, not an intrusion.
“Avery,” he said.
“Mm?”
“I got something for you. I was going to wait until Miriam was discharged to give it to you, but seeing you at the window just now… it felt like the right time.”