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Jealousy stabbed me. I wondered if she liked Burns. If she was as passionate about “From Ashes” as she was Evermore West. Or, apparently, Kinsey.

I shoved the bitter, helpless feeling away. I was hopeless.

Ember grinned at Ben and then me. “I know you didn’t let me loose in the studio to fangirl all over the musicians, though.”

“Oh, please.” Ben sat down at the fader table. “Kinsey thinks he has, like, three fans. It would do him some good.”

“What? No.” Ember’s mouth dropped. “Hell no. There’s a massive cult following on the Internet.”

Kinsey looked more and more pleased, like he couldn’t quite believe his luck.

I wanted to warn him, tell him that was the path of madness. Finding out you were suddenly famous, enough that completestrangers told you how much your music helped them, was exhilarating but terrifying.

There were many more people to disappoint. But then, Kinsey wasn’t me. Maybe he’d get over his own fears and produce more albums. The one we were working on was almost done, and Ben was sure it would be a hit. Ben was rarely wrong about those things, and I agreed.

I pulled some bottled water out of the mini fridge, and Ember sat on the faded brown leather couch. Her scent got a little bit stronger when she sat where Ben and I usually sat. And sometimes decided to fuck each other senseless when no one else was around.

Ember asked about the studio, and Ben was in his element, talking about how the different pieces of equipment worked. But then she turned her big blue eyes to me and asked about playing guitar for the album, acting like it was an amazing thing.

Pulled into her spell, lured like the fey creature she was, I talked about playing the same few chords over and over, how it was almost soothing.

The conversation switched over to indie artists and soon I was laughing.

Ember stood up to admire the extensive album collection to the left of the room. “Oooh, you have original LPs.”

“Nothing sounds like vinyl,” Ben said in his “I will be taking no argument” tone.

“Careful, you’ll date yourself,” I said, fiddling with the hair tie on my wrist. “I’m pretty sure we’re older than Ember.”

Ember smirked and it was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen. It made my heart lighter to see, like I was a dying plant needing the sun. “He already did that. He told me about making mixtapes. It was the cutest thing ever.”

“Oh, damn.” I wanted to touch her, to brand my scent on her skin too. “I guess we’re both older. I’m only five years younger than Ben.”

“Yep,” she said, sitting next to me. I suddenly wished Ben was sitting on the other side of the couch, and then our scents could really mingle. “I’m twenty-four.”

“A baby.” I turned to her, and she looked up at me like I was the moon, a light in the darkness. Her face was shining and open and I knew I’d put that look of joy on her face, somehow, by being myself.

At least, part of myself.

“I still have a better record collection than you,” she said. “I inherited my grandma’s LPs and she has some original Danny Ray.”

Excitement raced over me.

Ben nearly fell out of his chair. “Stop. No, wait, you’re serious?”

“As a heart attack,” she said, looking pleased with herself. “It holds the place of honor in my collection.”

“We need to have a listening party.” My gaze traveled over her green shirt. The fabric looked soft, and I wanted to trail my hands over it.

“At my house?” She sounded hopeful, her eyes shining brighter. “You could come over and meet West and Alejandro.”

“Is that this new alpha?” I had no idea if I wanted to deal with two new people, but I couldn’t say no anymore. Not with her scent so close and her talking about music like she needed it to breathe like we did.

“Technically he’s not new,” she said, watching my face. Probably looking for censure. “He’s been sending me food sight unseen for six months.”

“Sight unseen?” Ben cocked his head. Some of his blond hair fell in his face and I wanted to shove it out of the way.

“My cousin bonded an alpha chef last year and she brought in the most epic lunches. I would steal a bit, but then Alejandro started sending food for me. But he hadn’t met me yet, so he didn’t know I was good-looking.” She sounded uncertain and embarrassed.