"What if I want to?" The words are barely a whisper.
My heart stops. "Want to what?"
"Care about you back." She's biting her lip, not quite meeting my eyes. "Want you too. Would that be—is that allowed?"
Oh.
Oh.
"Yeah," I manage. "That would be—yeah. Very allowed."
A smile tugs at her lips. A real one this time. "Even after I kissed River? And had dinner with Grayson?"
"Even then."
"You're really okay with all of this?" She's watching me carefully. "Really?"
"I—" I stop. Look at her. Really look at her. "This morning, I talked to River and Grayson. About you. About—about all of us."
Her eyes go wide. "You what?"
"We talked. About how we all—" I clear my throat, grip the counter. "How we all want you. And how you seem overwhelmed by all of us wanting you separately. And how maybe—" This is harder than I thought. "How maybe we don't have to be separate."
She's just staring at me.
"A pack," I say, the word coming out clearer now that I've committed to saying it. "The three of us. Courting you together. If that's something you'd want. Eventually. When you're ready." I take a breath. "If you're ever ready."
"You talked about forming a pack." Her voice is faint. "With River and Grayson."
"Yeah."
"To court me. Together."
"Yeah." I grip the counter harder. "But you don't have to—I mean, we're not pressuring you. We just wanted you to knowthat we're not fighting over you. That if you wanted—" I'm rambling now, can't seem to stop. "You could have all of us. Or none of us. Or just one. Whatever you want. No pressure. I just—we thought you should know it's an option. If you wanted. Which you might not. Which is fine. Totally fine."
She sets down the coffee cup very carefully. Then she comes around the counter, and suddenly she's right in front of me, close enough that I can smell her—cinnamon and apples and something warm that makes me want to purr just from being near her.
"A pack," she repeats, like she's testing the word. "You three. Together. For me."
"Yeah." I watch her carefully. "Is that—are you okay?"
"I don't know." Her laugh is a little shaky. "I don't know anything right now. Last night I realized I—" She stops. Takes a breath. "I want all three of you. And that's terrifying. And then you show up here telling me you've already talked about it and I don't know if that makes it better or worse."
"Better?" I offer hopefully.
"Maybe?" She's biting her lip, looking up at me. "Seth, I don't know how to do this. Any of this. I've never—" She gestures vaguely between us. "This is all new and scary and I keep waiting for it to go wrong."
"It doesn't have to go wrong."
"But it could." Her voice is small. "I could mess this up. Hurt all of you. I'm already—" She looks down. "I saw your face last night. At Millie's. I hurt you."
"You didn't?—"
"I did. And I'll probably do it again because I don't know what I'm doing."
I cup her face gently, make her look at me. "Then we'll figure it out together. All four of us."
She lets out a shaky breath, and I watch her eyes drift up.
