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“What if?—”

“What if this is a great decision, and you hiding in the back room is preventing it from happening? What if you’re adorable and loveable, and you deserve good things to happen to you?” Skylar insists, turning to me. Then she makes a face. “Gross. I sound like my therapist,” she mutters.

I sigh. “Your therapist is right. I can do this.”

As terrified as I am, I alsowantto say yes to Connor.

And I didn’t make it twenty-one years by living in fear.

“You’re an Omega, damn it,” Skylar adds, nodding. “Go claim that Alpha.”

I stick out my tongue out at her, then head back to front of the cafe. Ben is nowhere to be found, April is brewing coffee, and Connor is looking at me expectantly from the register.

“Sorry about that,” I mumble, my face flushing.

“I’ve never had someone run away from me after I asked them on a date,” he says, amused. “But Ben said you can be shy, so I’m hoping the answer isn’t no.”

At the mention of Ben’s name, I relax.

Ben wants this for me. For us.

“The answer is yes,” I say, and suddenly it’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Connor’s answering smile tells me I did the right thing.

* * *

“I can’t believeyou guys talked,” I murmur to Ben as we cuddle on the couch.

It turns out he arrived at the café to pick me up from my shift. I had lost track of time due to how busy it was, and once Ben showed up, my shift was over.

It was a happy accident Connor was there at the same time.

“It was only for a moment.” Ben shrugs, wrapping his arm around me tightly. “This is all about you, babe. I didn’t want to make it weird.”

I squirm. “Isn’t this weird, though?” I ask. “I don’t know how to do this, Ben.” I bury my head in his arm and whine.

“Yeah, I’m not going to pick out your boyfriends for you.” Ben laughs. “I can only do so much, Dev. And I know you want this, so stop trying to get out of it.”

Here’s the thing. I’ve never actuallydatedan Alpha before.

I’ve never had a pack.

This is all brand-new to me.

It’s exciting. My inner Omega has wanted one for so long, and now it might actually happen.

I let out a tiny growl and bite Ben’s bicep, and he playfully pulls my hair.

“I wonder what he’ll do when he finds out that you’re a growler,” he murmurs. “And a biter.”

“What do you think will happen?” I pull my face from his arm and study Ben’s face carefully.

“I think if he’s smart, he’ll fall in love with you immediately,” he says. “He’ll see what I see and wish he built a time machine to meet you sooner.”

I break out into a ridiculous grin, and Ben mirrors my smile.

“Dev. Any guy would be lucky to have you in his pack. It’s your job to decide if someone is worth it. You don’t need to be nervous.Hedoes. I was nervous when we started dating,” he admits.