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“Yes,” I answer, rubbing my thumb in small circles along her thigh.

“Can—can you guys be the ones to help me?”

“We’ll support you in any way you’ll have us,” Kane says, his gaze not dropping from hers.

“O—okay. You guys are the only ones I’d want to go through my heat with, then.” A blush rises in her cheeks and her perfume sweetens, as if she’s imagining what that would look like.

“We have your nest ready for you,” Chase says softly, a sad smile on his face. “I’m sorry I didn’t have it ready soon enough for you to actually see it, but it’s there. All the best and softest fabrics money can buy. Plus, I even had Madden help me install these star lights in the ceiling, so it’s like you’re looking up at a starry night sky.”

“You—You did all that for me?”

“Of course,” Chase answers. “One of the pros of getting forced to do this process is that we get to court you. Prove our worth to you and all that jazz.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“We want to,” Madden says softly. “We want to prove we can be the best pack for you, regardless of who else is interested in you.”

“But—But I’m not interested in any other pack.”

“Have you ever met any other pack?” I murmur softly.

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Then wait before you make any judgments.”

I see my pack brothers stiffen in their chairs at my words, but I shake my head at them. I’m not done talking.

“We don’t want you choosing us just because we’re the first pack that found you after the hell you had to go through. Wewant you to choose our pack because our pack has proven itself to you.”

She bites the inside of her cheek. “Do—do you not want me? Is that why you want me to meet a bunch of other alpha packs?”

“Fuck no! We want you, Moonlight,” Chase yells. If it weren’t for Kane’s hand across his chest, he’d probably have jumped up from his seat on the sofa.

“Because—because I’m your scent match?” She asks softly, not meeting any of our gazes.

I don’t think any of us really know what to say to that. Throughout this whole process, we haven’t quite given that a lot of thought. It hit us hard when we first met her, and it definitely hit me hard when I first scented her, but when we realized she couldn’t tell, it sort of slipped our minds.

We just knew she was right for us. No need to put a label on it that obviously confused Luna and complicated something that was so simple.

“Can you tell?” Charlotte asks, filling the silence in the room.

Luna swallows hard. “I—I don’t know.”

“It’s probably because your hormones are all messed up, and that’s okay, that doesn’t mean that the bond you guys have isn’t there. It just makes things a little more complicated.”

“If I weren’t broken, would I still be forced through the selection process?” Her whisper is so soft, I think the others have to strain to hear her. But I hear her. I feel her tears drip down onto my arm as she practically curls into herself.

My heart feels like it’s being torn from my chest.

“You’re not broken,” I say, my voice thick with the effort it takes to keep from yelling those words. Because she isn’t. She’s perfect. “You fucking complete us, Luna. You bring together all of our broken pieces. That’s why we want you.”

“Even if you’re never able to tell,” Madden adds. “It doesn’t matter. Even if you weren’t our scent match, I don’t think it would’ve mattered.”

Her gaze still stays aimed at the floor. “None of you are answering my question, so I’m assuming the answer is yes, if I were able to tell that you guys are my scent match, no one would be pushing me through the selection process and forcing me to meet other packs.”

“Traditionally, yes, that would be the case,” Kane answers. “But in this case? We can’t be certain.” He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he lowers himself to Luna’s level. “We’re fairly certain there’s an alpha somewhere high up in the circles we have here on the Northside that’s pushing for you to go through the selection process.”

“An important alpha?”