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Ben loved me no matter what, but we bonded when I was a struggling musician. I hardly ever wrote my own songs anymore, preferring to work as a backup guitarist at Red Rock Studio, the place Ben co-owned with his business partner Stan.

Did Ben wish I’d made more music? Wrote more songs? He’d heard the attempts I made over the years, the unfinished tapes, the half melodies. My alpha told me over and over he didn’t care; he wanted me happy.

And I believed him with all my soul. I felt it from him every day.

But Iwasn’thappy. Making music was part of me, but every time I tried to produce something amazing, the perfect follow-up album, the pressure threatened to crush me.

Dreams could be light and airy, could carry a person away on the thinnest filament of hope. But they could also turn sour, strangling them with the lost potential, dead fruit rotting on the vine.

Ember smelled like everything I could have wanted in another bondmate, but I was already nursing the death of a dream. I couldn’t handle it a second time.

Chapter 5

Ember

After Ben and Rian left, I nearly gave in to the urge to run home for lunch so I could jump West and get rid of the chemistry building under my skin.

But today wasn’t one of West’s remote days. He was at the office in San Francisco, and I’d see him when I got home. I suffered through the simmering sexual tension until it disappeared. Mostly.

Besides, Sunshine was at Cosmic Bonds today, which meant lunch was going to be awesome. I stopped by her office and paused to make sure I didn’t hear muffled sounds.

I’d gotten used to bursting into her office until she started dating the pack of her dreams six months ago. Now they were bonded and there was a good chance one of her packmates would be in her office doing the horizontal mambo.

No sounds. I knocked, pausing before I opened the door, pausing before coming in. “Is it safe?”

“It’s safe.” Sunshine laughed, her blonde hair in a ponytail. “Logan’s doing the lunch rush, Luca has a big case at the firm, and Julian’s on call.”

“Good.” I plopped down in the chair across from her desk. “I’m starved.”

“You smell nice. Find a nice alpha?”

“Nope. Just some intake. There was a sexy alpha/omega pair, but it was a ‘look, don’t touch’ situation.” I made grabby hands at her and tried to sound pitiful. “I’m wasting away.”

Sunshine’s smirk was unbearable as she passed me a black lunch box. It was like a fancy nesting doll, with squares fitting inside themselves. “Chef Alejandro offers his compliments.”

Six months ago, when Logan was trying woo Sunshine in the only way the grumpy chef knew how, he started sending her lunch. Of course, delicious food had to be shared, so I made it part of my day to check on my cousin.

Stealing her lunch was also a good excuse to see how she was doing since she was struggling with managing the event business. Now that she had an assistant, things went smoother, but it was a nice routine. Nice and delicious.

It was also during that time Sunshine started handing me lunches made by Logan’s sous chef, Alejandro. She’d told me he liked being able to experiment with food.

I accepted it, but six months later it was weird that I was letting an alpha feed me and I didn’t know what he looked like. Sunshine said he was hot, but that didn’t mean anything. He could be hot and not smell good. I didn’t understand why he hadn’t asked for my number yet or tried to meet me.

At this point, I was scared to break the spell. It was nice that somewhere out there, an alpha wanted to feed me sight unseen. He could hate how I smelled, though I doubted it. I’d been told over and over how I had an unusually potent omega scent, and I hadn’t met a lot of alphas who didn’t find me appealing.

My omega instincts preened at being fed. I’d saved leftovers for West until Alejandro found out somehow and sent over two lunches. One for me, and one for West.

I opened the box and fragrant aromas hit me. My mouth watered. Chicken enchiladas with queso, refried beans, Spanish rice, and mini churros, all in their own little compartments.

It smelled like pure heaven. “Did they have a Tex-Mex lunch special at Talk of the Town?”

Sunshine looked even more smug. “Nope, they did steak frites.”

Alejandro went out of his way to make me lunch that wasn’t just extra from what he was already cooking.

“I’m headed over there tomorrow morning,” Sunshine said casually. Too casually. I wasn’t an idiot. “Logan wants me to help with menus since we’re going to change up the catering for the retreats this year.”

“And you need me why?” I couldn’t help it: I popped a churro in my mouth. Pure fried dough bliss, with the perfect hit of cinnamon and sugar. I sighed.