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My face must have been talking too loudly because Rian frowned. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Not prying. It’s complicated,” I said, glancing at West for help.

He just shrugged, the traitor.

I decided to answer, but not give the entire reason. “We met in physical therapy.”

Rian immediately looked at my arm. He hadn’t missed the massive scars, even if he was too polite to ask about them.

“After that we were inseparable, and West basically moved in with my family.”

I edited out West’s stint in foster care before moving in with me, in the interest of our comfort.

“Oh, speaking of,” Rian said. “Not that this matters at all, but I was curious since you’re both omegas. Did you take West’s last name, or did he take yours?”

It was really sweet of Rian to treat me and West like we were already a pack and therefore had settled the last name debate. Most packs took the omega’s last name.

“I took hers,” West said.

Because he wanted nothing to do with his crappy family, but that was also going to be oversharing.

“And you two are O’Shea, obviously,” I said.

“Yep.” Rian brought some more vegetables over to Alejandro, brushing by the alpha as he went.

Alejandro, the sneaky devil, was on to something. Cooking gave us a shared activity to talk about stuff while also giving us the chance to steal touches. I wondered if this was what Sunshine did with her pack.

“How did you two meet?” Alejandro asked, giving Rian a smoldering look.

“He seduced me,” Ben and Rian said at the same time. The rest of us laughed, even West.

“Not true,” Rian said, shaking his head. “I was a young musician, looking for a studio. He was much older?—”

“Five years is not much older,” Ben put in, but Rian ignored him.

“—and showed me the ways of making music. The album wouldn’t have taken so long if we didn’t take so many breaks for sex.”

Ben shifted closer so we were finally leaning against each other, his spicy woods scent mingling with the fresh green smell of vegetables. I glanced at the alpha, but realized he wouldn’t seeme looking. Which gave me an excellent excuse to stare at his long eyelashes.

West cocked his head. “You have an album out?”

I hid my squeal. I folded my arms over my chest, instead, the news wanting to burst out of me. But I would let Rian tell if he wanted to.

“I do, only one.” Rian grimaced. “I still play guitar, of course, but it’s easier to back up other people’s songs.”

“Are we allowed to know which it is?” Alejandro looked at me. “Mi carina, you look like you’re going to explode.”

“Nope, I’m good.” I couldn’t stop smiling.

It seemed like a small miracle, to know that Rian was Burns. Man, the hours I’d spent lying in a dark room, crying to “Echoes in Stone” and “Roses and Ruins.” And “Ashes in the Wind.” His husky voice undid me, unraveled dark places of longing and pain inside me.

“You can tell them,” Rian said, looking amused. “You’re happier about it than I am.”

“Rian is Burns,” I said quickly.

West’s face lit up immediately because of course I’d made him listen toFrom Asheson repeat for months. Years.

Alejandro frowned. “Name a song?—”