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My chest aches at her words.

Family.

“It’s grown a lot in the past month,” April observes.

“What has?” I ask.

“Your family,” she says slowly. “You have a pack now.”

I blink. “Sort of.”

April scoffs. “It’s not sort of, Dev. They’re permanently yours. Nothing can break that bond.Nothing.”

I chew my lip, and she stops at the entrance of the kitchen and sighs.

“I don’t mean to frighten you,” she says. “And I know it can beveryscary, but this is good, Dev. Itis.You have three people that care about you so deeply that they’ve chosen to tie themselves to you.”

I swallow. “It wasn’t like that,” I whisper. “It wasn’t perfect.”

Skylar pauses too. “Defineperfect.”

“The first bite happened in a parking garage,” I say, shame coloring my cheeks.

I hadn’t told them this part. I just said that it was rushed, and not the way I wanted it.

I expect a horrified reaction, but Skylar simply raises an eyebrow. “Oh. So, it waspassionate, then,” she says, exhilarated. “It didn’t even happen in your nest?”

But there’s no judgment in her voice, only excitement. “No. It didn’t,” I say carefully. “But it should have, right?”

I follow April into the kitchen, who is busy making a plate for herself. “There are no rules with this,” she says. “Did it feel right in the moment? Did you enjoy it?”

“I did,” I admit.

The bite with Ace sent me into a high I wasn’t sure I would recover from. I was drunk on the sensation, on the completeness that came once my inner Omega was bonded.

“Is there a reason you set such high expectations for yourself?”

I blink, stunned. “I…I didn’t think that’s how it was supposed to happen,” I say softly.

“That’s silly,” April replies. “Do you remember when you helped me find an outfit for that wedding I went to with my pack? Well, Sophie, one of the Omegas that went, told me she had a mating bite in the middle of a funeral.”

My mouth falls open.

“What?” Skylar drops her fork, and it clangs against the kitchen countertop.

“Yeah.” April chuckles. “A funeral.” She looks past me as she heads toward the dining table. “And she’s happy, Dev. She doesn’t regret it at all. I’d rather it be in a parking garage than at someone’s funeral. Wouldn’t you?”

“I would,” Tammy answers, taking her seat at the table.

I’ve never asked Tammy about her past. All I know is April’s father is alive, but not in the picture.

Judging by the wistfulness in Tammy’s eyes, there’s still a story to tell, and maybe one day I’ll learn about it.

“Did the other bites happen in the parking garage, too?” Skylar asks, taking the chair next to April.

I shake my head. “The others were in my nest, at my apartment.”

“So, where you were comfortable?”