“Not just any shifter,” I say. “She’s a fucking omega.”

He’s silent again, and I hear the creak of his desk chair as he no doubt leans back into it. “That is a pickle.”

“I’d say it’s a whole damned jar of them.”

“And she’s…staying there?”

“That was part of the agreement when she took the job. I can’t kick her out. It would take her, minimum, thirty minutes to get here in the mornings from town. It’s not safe for her to be driving on those roads like that in her tiny little car.”

“Oh boy.”

“What?”

“You like her.”

I blanch. “What? No. I barely know her.”

“And yet you’re sitting here worried about her well-being to the point that you’re calling me for advice.”

“I just don’t know what to do if she has another episode.”

“Did you talk to her about it?”

“I…may have been a bit of a dick to her about it afterward.”

Noah makes a sound that accurately mirrors my own discomfort. “I guess that’s to be expected after Chloe.”

I wince at her name. I’ve done my best to think of her as little as possible in the years since I last saw her, but this week with Tess has definitely made it harder to brush the thought of her aside.

“I don’t know what came over me,” I admit. “I was just so angry that she could be so careless. Then she told me everything that was going on, and I couldn’t help but feel…”

“Feel what?”

“Responsible? Somehow? Like I needed to help her.”

“Alpha instincts,” Noah says with a hum. “They’ll only get worse the longer you stay in close proximity to her,” he warns. “Trust me.”

I run a hand through my hair, mussing it. It’s no secret what Mackenzie and Noah went through last year when they started seeing more of each other only to have her accidentally go into an early heat, and while that worked out for them, I’m certainly not interested in playing their little mating game.

“Can’t you prescribe me some suppressants?”

“I can,” he says. “Although, if she’s experiencing heat symptoms, even they won’t be enough to ensure you won’t be affected by it.”

“So, what? I just ride it out? Hope that I don’t maul her next time?”

“If she doesn’t want your…help, then I suppose that, yes, that’s all you can do.”

“Great,” I groan. “Good talk.”

“I’m a cardiologist,” he says, “not a relationship guru.”

“There is no relationship,” I huff.

“Be that as it may.”

I scrub a hand down my face, realizing that this conversation is pointless. Noah is so wrapped up in his own mated bliss, he probably can’t even see the true gravity of the situation. It’s night and day how different he is after mating with Mackenzie.

Still an android though.

“Well, just…send a prescription to the pharmacy in town, would you? I need all the help I can get.”

“Does she smell that good?”

I think back to her soft scent of baked apples and cinnamon that makes my mouth water, knowing that I’m in danger of running into it around every corner, no escape to be had. I sigh, resigning myself to my fate.

“You have no idea,” I tell him.

His answering chuckle offers no comfort as he answers, “You’d be surprised.”

I run into Tess about an hour after I hang up with Noah, and immediately upon finding her, I can tell that something is…off. Her hair is mussed and her expression is pinched, and she sucks on her thumb while holding a hammer and cursing at the offending tool.

“You all right?”

She jolts at the sound of my voice, turning her big brown eyes on me as her lips part in surprise. I’m hit with her scent, exactly as I knew I would be, and I have to take small, shallow breaths just to try not to be overwhelmed by it.

“I’m fine,” she says. “Caught my thumb with the hammer.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, it’s not my best day.”

There are dark circles under her eyes, a paleness in her cheeks that makes the freckles I’m just now noticing look more prominent, and it makes my alpha stir, makes him perk up and take notice. “You look…tired.”

“Tired,” she scoffs. “Is that code for ‘like shit’?”

“No, just tired,” I chuckle.

“My fucking skin feels too tight. Is that normal? I keep getting these weird cramps in my legs, and I feel so…so restless. I can’t seem to shake it. It kept me up half the night.”

Uh-oh.

I try to keep my tone gentle because I imagine that coming into all this as an adult has to be scary. “Um…have you still not shifted yet?”

“What?” Her brows shoot up. “Of course not. I don’t even know how.”

I chew on the inside of my cheek for a moment while she studies the red tip of her thumb, telling myself to keep my mouth shut. It’s not like the last time I offered her help went so well. Still, I can already feel it, how I won’t be able to walk away from her without saying something. It’s a fucking pain in my ass, truth be told.

“I could show you,” I tell her. “Or try, at least. I can’t say I’ve ever taught someone how to shift.”

“You don’t have to,” she argues hesitantly. “You’ve already done so much. I don’t want to be a burden.”

I frown. “It’s not a burden. And it’s okay to admit you need the help, Tess. Who else is going to show you?”

To my relief, she looks relieved. “Really?”

“If you want.”

“Actually, that would be…kind of great? I’ve been reading some of the pamphlets the doctor gave me, and it gives all these descriptions of what it feels like—but not how to actually do it.”

“Probably because most people do it for the first time as teenagers. It’s just an instinct, really.”

“Well, it sure as hell doesn’t feel like an instinct.”

“Tell you what,” I say. “Meet me out back when you’re done here, and we’ll go through it together.”

There’s gratitude in her eyes, and that has my alpha preening, practically puffed up with pride at the idea of coming to her rescue.

Down, boy.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out.”

“It’s fine,” I assure her. “Someone has to do it, and I doubt your brothers will be much help.”

She winces. “Especially since they don’t know.”

“You haven’t told them?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “I haven’t figured out how to broach the subject of me turning into a fucking wolf and begging strangers for sex yet.”

I can’t help it, I snort out a laugh. “Oh, is that all?”

“I know, right? No big deal.”

She’s smiling at me now, and I can feel my own face mirroring the action. It’s funny how when she’s out of my sight, all I do is worry about interacting with her, and yet when I’m actually doing so, it’s strangely easy. I don’t know what to make of that.

“An hour good?” I ask.

She nods. “Sounds great.”

“All right,” I answer. “I’ll see you then.”

She gives me another nod and a small smile before going back to what she was doing—and I turn to escape the vicinity of her potent scent so I don’t drown in it. It doesn’t occur to me for several more minutes that she’s going to have to be naked for this little lesson.

Fuck.

I’m trying very hard not to be distracted from what I’m trying to teach her, but it’s more than a little difficult, given that my hand is currently curled around her calf. Sure, I’m only teaching her the best way to bend when she’s getting ready to shift, and her clothes are still most definitely on, but tell that to my fucking hormones. It’s like my body can’t seem to reconcile the innocent gesture. Not with her smelling like she does.

We’re in a small clearing just out of view from the lodge; Tess was afraid her brothers might stumble upon us while we were going over things, and apparently she’s not ready to tell them anything. Not that I blame her. I don’t know that I would have an easy time explaining this either.