“My pleasure, Miss Williams,” he said from up front. “They’re a good pack.”

“You think so?”

He smiled in the rearview mirror. “I do.”

I snuggled down deeper in the back seat, warm and comfy and surrounded by their scents. Imagining that kind of life? It was exactly what I wanted, and I didn’t ever want it to stop.

Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

________

RYLAN

I blew out a breath, watching Kade carry Esme out the front door. The last few hours had been glorious torture with her sprawled across me, sleeping like that. I wasn’t an Alpha, but I wasn’t immune to her scent, and I’d spent the better part of the evening singing obnoxious songs in my head so I didn’t get so hard my dick was jabbing her in the stomach.

“Think we overwhelmed her?” Luke asked.

Avery laughed. “Yes. But I also get the feeling she would have been overwhelmed regardless of the pack.”

“Overwhelmed, maybe,” Ben said. “But she didn’t freak out entirely. Hell, she slept. That has to count for something.”

“It does.” Avery nodded. “And the fact that she couldn’t take her eyes off the nest. It feels like she wants this, even if it terrifies her.”

“But why does it terrify her?” I finally voiced the question which had been nagging me all day. “She was shocked when we said we wanted to court her.”

Kade stepped into the doorway and looked at me. “I have an idea about it, but I plan on asking her more about it when she’s more comfortable.”

“She’s gone?”

“Yeah.” Kade sank into his chair again. “Snuggled in the back seat.”

“What’s your idea about it?” I asked.

Kade sighed. “I don’t want to dive too deep when we don’t know the truth. But I feel like it’s her sister. She made sure we knew she wasn’t the same. Her family hired a pack matchmaker. She didn’t want Eva to come with us or watch a movie with her in it. But I can tell she loves her sister. Which makes me think she gets lumped in with her a lot, and maybe the other packs she’s met have had a… different view of who she is. If that’s all that’s ever happened? No wonder she’s shocked a pack wants to court her for her.”

“Fuck.” I said the word under my breath.

“But like I said. I need to ask, and I’ve told her I’m going to later.”

While she slept, we watched the movie, and Wes chatted with us. He seemed like a good guy. Happily mated, and happy to do his part to help Esme. But he was very close-lipped about our girl. Which frustrated me as much as I admired him for it. Esme needed people in her life who had her back.