Page 196 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

“Lyric Ceran, it’s nice to meet you.” Lyric shook her hand and smiled softly. Henry had done a good job scoring this interview and photoshoot, though he claimed they had been the first ones to reach out, wanting the scoop on Lyric and her new bite marks.

Since this was the same magazine that had done the spread Lyric had seen in the magazine in Javi’s truck, she’d agreed.

“Get comfortable, but I don’t think the makeup we’ve designed for you today will take long,” Lola said.

“We’re halfway done,” the artist interjected, and Lola nodded.

Lola lowered herself into the other styling chair out of Lyric’s view, because the stylist tilted her face up to begin applying a silky eyeliner.

“First, let me congratulate you on finishing your first tour. You promoted your second album successfully, and it’s holding its reign at number seven solidly. But those are just numbers. How do you feel the tour went?”

Besides finding my pack? But Lyric figured they’d get to that.

Lyric answered her question safely, sticking to first experiences and sightseeing and what performing on stage meant to her.

What followed were a few more basic questions. Favorite show, most exciting moment of the tour, most draining. Lyric had an answer for each question, and the longer she talked, the less it felt like an interview and more just like two women chatting over coffee. Minus the makeup artist, who finally finished with a flourish of setting spray.

Lyric coughed lightly, hiding a smile at Lola’s grimace of sympathy.

Lola stood and held out her hand, tucking a tablet under her arm. “Let’s go sit on the couch and finish the interview. You look amazing.”

A blush colored her cheeks at the compliment, and she turned to see herself in the mirror. “Wow,” was all she could say. It was minimal, the shimmer on her cheeks, the neutral tones highlighting the blue-green of her eyes, the gloss on her lips. But each addition accented her features and made her look… magical.

“Everything we used today, we’ll mention in the article…” Lola glanced around before leaning close. “But I can slide you a few samples today, just remind me later.”

Lyric laughed. “I’d love that, thank you.”

The set crew danced around them as they made their way through the set and settled on the couch. It was already placed on the backdrop for the shoot, and Lyric sent her alphas and Nohen a grin as she took a seat beside Lola.

“Okay, so now that we’re in a romantic setting…” Lola motioned to the set around them.

Flowers were draped across the couch and all over the floors, matching the ones placed carefully in her hair.

“Now that we’re here…” Lyric prompted hesitantly.

“Before tour, you were living on your own, without a pack. When it came to selecting band members, did you also know you’d be choosing your pack?”

Lyric flushed. “No, I didn’t. To be honest, a pack was the last thing I was looking for when I started this tour. But… I’m glad I found my pack.”

“Can you deny that you came out of the tour a different person than when you went in?”

Lifting a hand, Lyric intended to run it through her curls out of nervous habit, but she stopped herself, remembering the flowers. “No, I can’t deny that. Six weeks may not seem that long, but a lot can happen in that time. It changed my perspective a bit.”

“So… a metamorphosis, right?” Lola hedged, winking.

Lyric glanced at the flowers again. “Yeah…”

Oh. How cool. The photoshoot was designed with her story in mind.

It was oddly touching, and Lyric gazed at the set with more appreciation.

“Tell me about your band.”

“Well, they’re not just my band, they’re my pack,” she said. “Nohen is our lead guitarist, Emerson is on bass. Then you’ve got Adra on keys, and Desi on drums.”

Lyric’s gaze touched all of them across the room as she spoke, and she couldn’t help but smile. Nohen had his hands on his hips, speaking to Emerson with an arched brow. The alpha’s arms were crossed, though a smile was twitching his lips.

“Nohen and Emerson bicker a lot. It’s the cutest thing ever—oh—” Lyric cut herself off, holding a hand in front of her lips. She didn’t mean to say that out loud.