I was glad my dark jeans disguised how hard I was, because the second I walked into her cloud of perfume, I was gone.

Even her skittish nature called to me, imagining her running and being able to chase.

“I—” Her swallow was visible. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at this. But you probably already know that.”

“Why would we?” I asked. Clearly, she was referencing what Ben had said, the media painting a picture of her. But I wasn’t going to let her think we came in with negative expectations.

Her cheeks colored, and my imagination took the color and ran. What other parts of her small, curvy body could I turn pink? Pinker than the giant hoodie which swallowed her up.

“I just… quite a few packs have approached my family for something like this, and it never worked. They expected someone different.” Her eyes were on the ground and then they snapped up to mine, rotating through the four of us she could see. “I’m not like her. You know that, right?”

“We do know that,” Luke said.

Esme blinked. “Where is Eva?”

“She left,” Rylan answered. “After I brought you back here. Said to call her if you needed. All our clients are gone too. The only one left is Daisy, our receptionist. She’ll field anyone who comes in.”

“Okay.”

All at once, she dropped her face into her hands. “Fucking hell, I am so bad at this. I don’t even know where to start except for the fact that your scents do things to me I’ve never experienced before—like climbing Bennett in the middle of the dance floor. And based on those hugs it would have been the same with any of you. Even you,” she singled out Rylan.

He shrugged, grinning. Being the only Beta in the pack had never bothered him. Not much bothered Rylan. He was eternally positive, which grated on my nerves sometimes, but he was the lightness our pack needed.

“And I don’t know where to go from here.”

Avery leaned forward, checking in with all of us silently one final time before speaking. We’d already decided, with the caveat we had to meet her first, but this little Omega was ours. I knew it. Deep down as far as I knew I was an Alpha, she belonged with me and this pack. Not everyone put stock in scent theory, that there was always a perfect match, a certain predestined thing which made people perfect for each other.

I’d been a skeptic until I put my nose in Ben’s shirt and my entire world turned upside down.

Now I knew it was true.

Who knew if every Omega had a pack which would be their mates, but this one had one, and we weren’t about to let her go. Not without trying first.