I have to assume that’s a shifter question.

The problem, I think, is that after that day in the snow…I can’t stop looking at her. My eyes gravitate toward her whenever she’s in the same room; they search for her when she isn’t. And even if it’s biology, if it’s just instinct, it feels impossible to stop. I’m doing it right now—watching her chatter into the camera that her brother Kyle holds as she gushes over the original wood floors she’s unearthed by ripping up the seventies-style carpet that was covering it. She’s so much more animated in front of the camera, so light and not nearly as serious as she normally seems, and I…like this side of her. It makes me want to get to know that side of Tess.

“If you keep staring at that girl, you’re going to burn a hole in the side of her head.”

I jolt in my seat at the front desk, whipping my eyes away from the opening to the great room, where Tess is working, to find Jeannie looking down at me with an amused expression.

I feel my cheeks heat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Her lips purse; she’s holding Reginald in her arms, the massive fur ball giving me a look much like his mother’s that screams, Bullshit.

“You wanna tell me why I can smell you on her?”

I tense. I’ve been so concerned with making sure Tess’s brothers didn’t suspect anything that I didn’t give any thought to my very much shifter aunt, whose sense of smell would no doubt be the biggest threat to our little secret. I try to make myself look busy by typing something nonsensical on the ancient Gateway computer—I’m not even sure how it still works—and shrug.

“Maybe we bumped into each other.”

“ ‘Bumped into each other,’ ” she echoes blandly.

I shrug again. “Maybe.”

“One hell of a bump,” Jeannie chuckles.

I glare up at her from my seat. “Say what you want to say.”

“I’m not saying anything,” she urges. “Just worry about you is all.”

“Well, I’m fine.”

“I just remember how you were after Chloe—”

“It’s not like that,” I cut her off forcefully. “She’s…going through some things.”

Jeannie cocks her head. “What sorts of things?”

I glance back at Tess, who is still recording. It’s not really my place to spread her business, but then again, I know that Jeannie won’t say anything, and honestly, I could use advice from someone who isn’t my android cousin.

“She didn’t know she was an omega until two weeks ago.”

Jeannie rears back. “What? How is that possible?”

“We talked about it.” After I talked her through an orgasm. “Apparently, it’s called ‘late presentation.’ Her entire life, she thought she was a beta. Then the day she shows up in Colorado, she finds out that she’s actually an omega.”

“Wow.” Jeannie glances in the other room, scratching Reginald’s head idly. “Poor girl.” Her eyes widen suddenly. “Wait, does that mean she’s never shifted before?”

“She hadn’t,” I tell her. “Not until a week ago. I…taught her how. I’ve gone out with her a couple evenings this week to help her practice.”

Unfortunately, with no more happy endings.

Wait. Unfortunately? That’s not right. It’s a good thing she hasn’t shown any more symptoms.

“That must have been terrifying,” Jeannie notes.

I think back to Tess’s alarm after first shifting, nodding idly. “Yes, I imagine so. She seems to be doing better now though.”

“And you’re just…helping her? Out of the goodness of your heart?”

My brow furrows. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“Well…” Jeannie chuckles to herself. “You aren’t exactly known for doing anything out of ‘the goodness of your heart,’ so…”

I roll my eyes. “You make me sound like an asshole.”

“I prefer the term ‘stern,’ ” she says.

“Whatever. There’s no one else around to show her.”

Her brow cocks. “You could have asked me.”

That gives me pause. Mostly because it’s the simplest solution, but it didn’t even occur to me until this very moment. Even now, considering it, something inside me withers at the thought. As if my instincts have decided it’s my responsibility to help Tess.

Jeannie, sensing my internal struggles, just laughs.

“Goodness of your heart.” She hums. “Right.”

“Don’t you have something you should be doing?” I grumble.

She pats my shoulder. “Yes, bothering my favorite nephew.”

“I’m your only nephew,” I mutter.

Which is true, since she’s my only aunt on my dad’s side.

“Still.”

Movement catches my eye, and my heart rate picks up slightly when I notice Tess heading toward us from the other room. Then I have a mini internal inquisition about why my heart rate would be picking up at all from such a thing. I conclusively reason that it’s definitely because I know what she looks like naked.

Which is to say…good. Very good.

Jesus, it’s been too fucking long since I’ve been with someone. I’m practically acting like a virgin when it comes to Tess.

“Hey,” she says. “Thomas and Chase have finished sanding down the floor in there. Want to come look at the stain samples we brought? I’m leaning toward a cedar-esque shade; I think it will go really well with all the rustic elements we’re keeping original without overpowering the shiplap we’re putting up on the walls. But I want to make sure you agree before we move forward with staining.”

I’ve noticed she talks with her hands a lot when she’s excited about something, which is usually only when it has to do with the project. Even now her slim fingers are waving around her face and her animated expression lights up while she’s describing something as simple as wood stain.

I glance over at Jeannie, who clearly caught me staring at Tess while she talked, ignoring her smirk as I answer, “Sure, I can do that.”

“Great,” she answers with a grin, one that makes her cheeks dimple and her eyes crinkle at the corners. They’re a few shades lighter than mine, with green flecks near the iris, which somehow makes her eyes seem even larger than they are, and her moods easy to read just by the shape of them.

“You should come see too, Jeannie,” she says.

Jeannie shakes her head. “No, no, I need to get started on lunch. I’m sure Hunter has everything covered.”

She winks at me as if sharing a joke, and I roll my eyes again. Of course she would have fun with this entire situation. Heaven forbid she ever finds out about Tess’s mini heat situation; I’ll never hear the end of that one. Jeannie will have us mated off in her head by sunset.

I hop down from the stool at the counter, circling it and following after Tess as she explains the shots Kyle needs to get while they’re staining the floors. I have to admit, I know absolutely nothing about the TikTok side of the things she’s doing, but she sounds so confident when she talks about it, so sure of herself, that it’s a little hard not to sit up and pay attention. It’s a far cry from the uncertainty she exudes regarding her sudden change of designation.

Her brothers are in the opposite corner of the room, by the fireplace; the new stone they’ve brought in admittedly makes the old thing look warmer and more inviting even being only half-done.

The largest brother, Chase, nods at me when our eyes meet. “Hey, man, tell my sister her cedar is too light, yeah?”

“Don’t listen to him,” Tess grumbles. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“I know you don’t pair cedar floors with this sandstone fireplace,” he chuffs.

She rolls her eyes. “You do when the walls are going to be as dark as they are. You need the contrast.”

Chase gives me a look that seems to say that his sister is off her rocker, and my alpha prickles at his ribbing her, so much so that I have to shove it down. This is her brother, I remind myself. They’re just teasing each other. It’s fine.

“So this is the cedar I was talking about,” she says, pointing at a swatch of stained wood. “And then there’s this one, which leans more cherry. I personally think this one overpowers the space, but Chase likes it, which means we’ve been arguing about it all morning—”