The room goes very quiet.
Bea stares at me, lips parted.
"Me too," River says.
"Same," Grayson adds, his hand finding the back of her neck.
A tear slips down her cheek. She swipes at it, frustrated. "This is so unfair. You're all perfect and I'm a mess and I don't—I don't know how to do this."
"You don't have to know." I cross to kneel in front of her so we're eye-level. "We figure it out together."
She touches my jaw with trembling fingers. "I'm falling too," she whispers. "For all of you. It's terrifying."
"Good terrifying or bad terrifying?"
"Both." But she's smiling now, watery and genuine. "Definitely both. Also—just so we're clear—I called you all perfect and none of you corrected me, so I'm holding you to that standard forever."
I can't help but laugh. "Noted."
"When your heat comes," Grayson murmurs, "we'll be there. However you need us."
"What about work?" Bea asks, practical even through the hormones. "The hardware store?—"
"Julian's covering it," River says. "Him and Reid Harper. It's handled."
"You really planned all this?"
"Of course we did."
She's quiet for a moment, then: "What about bonding?"
The room goes very still.
"What about it?" River asks carefully.
"During heat, if you bite me—any of you—we'll be bonded. Permanently." She's picking at her sweater hem now, not looking at us. "And I know part of me wants that. God, do I want that. But—" Her voice cracks. "Three weeks ago I was running from Terrance because he wanted to bond me immediately. Lock me down before I could think. And I swore I'd never let anyone rush me into that again."
My chest tightens. She's right.
"So I need to ask you—" She looks up, eyes shining. "Can we wait? On the bonding? I want to go through my heat with you. I want all of you there. But the biting, the permanent bond—can we save that for after? When my head is clear and I'm not drowning in hormones?"
Relief floods through me. She's thinking clearly. Protecting herself.
"Yes," I say immediately.
"Absolutely," River adds.
"Whatever you need," Grayson says firmly.
She lets out a shaky breath. "You're not disappointed?"
"Disappointed?" River catches her hand. "Bea, you're being smart. You're protecting yourself. That's exactly what you should do."
"But what if you want to bite me during my heat?" Her voice goes small. "What if your instincts?—"
"Then we don't," Grayson says, steel in his voice. "We control ourselves. That's what alphas do for their omega—we put your needs first. Always."
"So we're clear?" She looks between us. "No bonding bites during my heat. We wait until after. When I'm sure it's not just biology talking."
