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“Oh, shit.” Mellie’s eyes round, and she physically scoots away. “Not it!”

“We know you don’t do emotional regulation if it isn’t in the form of orgasms. Stop looking at Daphne like she’s fucking contagious.” Lacey scoops me into another hug. Kai and Maverick exchange looks before taking my other two sides and pressing close. Their grip is just short of painful, but it soothes my need to be surrounded. Captured.

It’s been a long time since I’ve leaned on them like this. It’s beyond overdue.

Kai pulls back first, leveling me with a narrow-eyed glare. “So, tell us about the dick.”

“She means the pack.” Lacey laughs. “Jesus, Kai. Think with something other than your snatch, please.”

“I meant the shitty alpha, not the actual dick.”

“Oh, right.” Lacey turns to me. “So…?”

I don’t want to rehash it again, especially when I’ve already explained. “What he said hurt me.”

“Of course it did,” Mellie scoffs. “You didn’t deserve that. Honestly, I say fuck ‘em. You can start over with another pack.”

But that’s the problem.

“She doesn’t want another pack,” Maverick says softly. I feel his eyes on me even as I refuse to look up. That observant way he watches all of us, using it to make sure we have what we need, is a double-edged sword and right now it’s pointed at my throat. “You’re scent-sympathetic.”

The bomb drops, sucking all the air out of the room. The last secret I kept for myself. Well, about all this.

“No way,” Mellie whispers.

Lacey turns to me, happy tears in her eyes. “Are you really?”

“Yes.”

“That changes nothing.” Kai’s fingers tap restlessly where they lay on Maverick’s thigh as he hops back onto the counter, wrapping his body around hers. “You’ve been down this road before, and it didn’t amount to much.”

The brief estimation of my last relationship stings, but I know she’s not trying to be malicious. Maverick growls into her neck and Kai sighs. “Sorry. I just mean, you don’thaveto be with any of them just because it’s a scent match.”

“I know.” I pick at the edge of my worn tee. “Nate and Dez have told Connor they’ll leave if he treats me like that again.”

She looks just as shocked as I was last night. “That’s unexpected.”

“Understatement of the year,” I mumble.

“Ho-ly shit. You like them.”

Lacey rolls her eyes at Mellie’s dramatics. “Obviously she likes them.”

“No, shelikesthem. You want to court.”

My chin tips up automatically. “I do not. We just met.”

“You can’t hide from me, Daphne Renee Barnes. We’ve been friends since before our first periods. I know you and I know when you want someone. Youwantthem.” Mel nudges me with her shoulder. “Connor thing aside—becausefuck him—how do the others make you feel?”

It takes a second to find the right words. “Safe. Heard. Respected.”

Loved.

“It doesn’t matter, though,” I argue. “Even if I wanted to court, I already said no, and only Nate and Dez asked.”

Mel taps her nail against her lip. “Let me get this straight. You said no to courting because you’re a chickenshit, even though these alphas make you feel better than Pack Parker ever did. Did I get that right?”

What the fuck is with her calling me that? “I’m not a chickenshit!”