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When I raise the soft blue square and breathe in, I let out a sigh: sun-warmed grass.

The Alpha smells like both safety and home. I would bet anything that he’s the golden retriever of the group.

Maybe I can trust my Omega instincts.

Something in me settles.

I drop the portfolio into my lap, but I don’t want to give it back yet. I need to feel close to these Alphas, despite not understanding it.

“This pack,” I say, emphatically. “Ten.”

“The good news is that makes things simpler. They live in your town.” Dr. Lawson cocks her head. “I take it by your reaction that one of them is a scent match.”

“The plaid shirt.”

Dr. Lawson’s eyes light with interest. “He’s the leader of their pack. He’s also the Fire Chief, which makes him perfect as a volunteer.”

I sit up straighter in my chair, alarmed. “Hold up a damn minute. Are you seriously telling me that this is the Fire Chief in Oak Hollow?”

“Are you worried because he is older? He’s forty.”

“Hey, Rhett Cole is more dominantly handsome than any kid half his age. Every unbonded Omega in Oak Hollow wishes he would rut them. My sister has told me gossip...stories of Omegas trying to tempt him into their nest since he was in college, but no Omega has managed to bond him. None of that is the problem. I’ve never met Rhett. We don’t move in the same social circles. He’s from the Cole pack.” When the doctor doesn’t react, I wave my hand around like it should be obvious. My sister is going to have a field day. “The founders of our town.”

“Why would that mean you can’t spend your heat with him?” Dr. Lawson asks, coolly.

I glance down at the plaid cloth.

I try to remember seeing the Fire Chief when he’d attended emergencies.

I have a shadowy memory of a remarkably tall and powerful Alpha with dark hair and piercing blue eyes.

Everyone knows about the mansion in the center of town, Cole House. And everyone knows about the tragedy with the wildfire, when Rhett was only a teenager, which wiped out his family.

It left him the sole heir in that empty mansion, save for one Alpha with whom he later bonded, though I’ve never seen him. And as it turns out, a third one I didn’t even know about.

“Why would the wealthiest Alpha in Oak Hollow, our respected Fire Chief, want me even as a temporary Omega?” I ask.

“Why not?” Dr. Lawson’s eyes narrow. “This is his first time volunteering. He also volunteers to lead the fire department. Don’t you believe in people supporting their local community? You were part of it before, and you can be again. Think about this and make up your own mind. You know a little about his past?”

“Unluckily for him, it was public.”

I wince because I know how painful losing your pack is, but I was able to hide away. When it happened to Cole, however, he was a college kid. He was forced to drop out and take on his pack’s estate in the cruel glare of press attention and town gossip.

It was fucked up.

“Would Rhett have done better to isolate himself in his grief?” Dr. Lawson continues. “Spending his money on himself and his pack for the rest of his life? Or could it have been healing for him to instead focus on helping his small town? Using his talents and hard work, as well as his wealth? Make change? Only you can decide on this as your first step as well. You’ve already made decisions. You’re making huge progress.”

Her praise soothes me.

Dr. Lawson ignores me for a moment, pulling out her phone and typing something into it with a pleased expression.

I must admit that she’s right.

I have made choices that I never thought I could when I woke up this morning.

“What about the rest of his pack?” I stroke over the remaining two patches of cloth.

“A thirty-year-old game warden, Luca, who specializes in search and rescue.” Dr. Lawson slides her phone back into her pocket. “And a twenty-three-year-old paramedic. The paramedic is especially helpful because he can monitor you medically, during the heat. If he wasn’t a member of the pack, then we’d have to send a Beta medical member of staff on the home visits. I’ll email you the Cole pack phone numbers, as they’ve agreed. They will message you at least once daily over the next week, so that you can become comfortable around each other.”