Rylan reached down and stroked her hair. “That makes sense. Given the way she’s watched with Eva and the media making her out to be some kind of cruel heartbreaker… not only, but her family. You know who her father was? Elias Williams.”

My eyebrows rose into my hairline. Everyone knew who Elias Williams was. A businessman with a reputation for being ruthless yet fair, he’d helped make Slate City into the place it was today, and much of it for the better. But that kind of family, the money and the fame, it made sense her mother had hired a matchmaker. The stories about Esme in the press would only be considered a burden.

“Her whole life has been in one spotlight or another, and from the little clues she’s given, not many people have bothered to look deeper than the surface. I’m not remotely surprised she chooses to sell her paintings under a fake name.” Slowly, Rylan shifted Esme’s head off his chest so he could roll closer to her on his side.

He was the youngest of us, and we often treated him like it. Not in a mean way, but the way I would treat my own younger brother if I had one. But the way he looked at Esme, and the insight he had, there was nothing boyish about him now.

“I agree,” Kade finally said. “I want her to stay.”

All of us agreed, as we often did on the important things. It was one of the reasons we were a good pack. We could fight, but in the end, we always found a way to come together.

Ben chuckled softly. “Avery, I think you and Rylan are up first for the next round. Make sure everyone gets a turn.”

“No.” I took a sip of my water bottle. “I mean, I’m not going to say no, but this is her heat. She’ll need who she needs, and I think she’s going to need all of us in different ways.”

My phone buzzed in my hand. The food was here. I set down her socks on the nest and downed the small rest of my water bottle. “Food’s here. I need to grab some pants.”

The nest was one thing, but I didn’t need the food delivery guy traumatized. We were going to need more than one delivery.

Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

________

ESME

I woke slowly, the smell of something fucking delicious raising me out of the deepest sleep I’d had in a long time. The scent wasn’t one of the pack, but I wasn’t quite awake enough to figure out what it was.

Fever still raced under my skin, the need of the heat growing once again. But I had a few minutes.

Food.

My brain finally identified the smell. That was food, and suddenly my stomach needed it. It growled louder than Kade, and the soft conversation stopped.