It feels like being erased with a smile.
I taste the sauce. It's good. Better than good, actually—rich and perfectly balanced.
"It's perfect," I tell her.
"Really?" Her whole face lights up. "Oh good! I was worried. Ragon seems like he has high standards."
"He'll love it."
And he will. They all will. Because Marie is learning them, absorbing their preferences, shaping herself to fit their needs with the kind of focused attention that comes from knowing you're wanted.
I retreat to my room before dinner is ready.
When Ragon knocks an hour later to tell me food is on the table, I tell him I already ate. It's not true, but the thought of sitting at that table while everyone praises Marie's pot roast makes my stomach turn.
He stands in my doorway for a long moment, blue eyes searching my face.
"You okay?" he asks.
"Fine. Just tired."
He doesn't believe me. I can see it in the set of his jaw. But he doesn't push.
"Get some rest," he says finally. "We'll talk tomorrow."
He closes the door gently behind him.
I lie in my nest and listen to the sounds of dinner downstairs. Laughter. The clink of silverware. Drake's voice doing an impression of someone, Marie's delighted giggles in response.
The house sounds happy.
I pull my blanket over my head and try to sleep.
***
Friday morning, Ragon calls me to the kitchen.
Not asks. Calls.
His scent is controlled but purposeful when I pad downstairs in bare feet and yesterday's hoodie. He's at the table with his phone and a mug of coffee, dark hair pulled back, tattoos stark against his forearms.
"Sit."
I sit.
Drake and Eli are conspicuously absent. Marie too. It's just me and Ragon in the early morning quiet.
He doesn't ease into it. "Jasper is coming today. Seventeen hundred."
The name lands like a stone in my stomach. The fourth alpha. The one who's supposed to balance everything. The one who won't be scent-matched to Marie.
The one who's supposed to be for me.
Except he's not mine. He's the pack's. He's Ragon's solution to a problem I didn't ask to be.
"Okay," I say, voice flat.
"He wants to observe first. Get a read on how we function before he commits."
