Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Storm calls me in, so I step inside.
I glance around and realize the setup has changed. The laptop is turned toward the room, and Storm and Damien areseated at the table. One chair is empty. Gessler must have been sitting there.
On the screen is a man I don’t recognize, wearing dark-framed glasses. He has a sour grimace. It looks like I walked in on their conversation.
When they see me, Damien and Storm stand, nearly identical surprise and mild confusion crossing their faces.
"Well," I clear my throat, "I’m back."
"Oh."
"Yeah… I just couldn’t stay away," I say, suddenly aware of how stupid that sounds, like I’m apologizing for something.
I straighten slightly.
What exactly is there to be embarrassed about?
"I thought it through. I weighed the pros and cons, and I’ve come to the conclusion that this might not be the worst idea after all, especially at this weird point in my life. It’s a safe option."
A heavy silence falls.
Storm turns toward the screen, where the unfamiliar man in glasses is still looking at me.
"Jordan, this is our client, the one we talked about. Eliano, this is Jordan Arnold, our lawyer."
Only then do I notice scratches and redness covering one side of the lawyer’s face. He is half-reclined, propped against a pillow behind him. It looks like they called him in the middle of his recovery.
"Um, Eliano, so… we might have a bit of a problem," Storm mutters.
A problem? My eyebrows shoot up.
"It took a lot for me to come back," pops out before I can stop myself. "So I hope it wasn’t for nothing!"
"We just had a conversation with Mr. Gessler, who is against accepting you. He also just checked the Beta Activation program rules," Storm responds gloomily.
"And? What’s the problem?"
"It’s about the whole True Mates thing," Damien murmurs.
"Well, I doubt it’s even real. How would that be a problem?"
"Mr. Gessler is convinced that if you are, in fact, True Mates, then you’re not eligible for the BA program. TMs don’t require fertility stimulation. It happens naturally."
My mouth opens involuntarily, and I stand there, staring at them.
On the screen, Jordan lowers his head and scrolls through something on his tablet, seemingly staying out of the conversation.
"Wait… so what would that mean for me and Salt if we don’t qualify for the BA program?"
Storm grimaces slightly, then lets out an awkward chuckle.
"No idea. Second Chance wouldn’t take you either. They require you to have a house and pay the full price of the contract, which wouldn’t be the case if you entered the BA program."
"But the TM thing is bull! We’re worrying over nothing."
Storm rolls his eyes. "What you believe doesn’t matter. Gessler already saw you react to Salt’s touch; it looked legit."
