Or rather, I only had a tiny smidgen of one. Because the way I had felt when Clay took care of me last night couldn’t have been all that far from the home feeling. Could it?

But Clay wasn’t an option.

He wasn’t going to take a mate, and I’d screw up his relationship with his brother if I agreed to his proposal. So, no. Not an option.

“Have any of your meetings felt like that?” she asked.

“No.”

“What about Hunter?”

I snorted.

She laughed. “Clay?”

“Nah.”

“You hesitated.” She turned toward me, the base of her pruning shears resting against her hip. “Do you have feelings for him?”

“No. We’re just friends.”

“Friends can become more,” she reminded me.

“And people you only sort of like can eventually become home. That worked for Aspen,” I pointed out.

“True. Maybe you don’t need to look as far as you think.” She nodded over my shoulder. I looked back, at Charlie. “He stayed up longer than Hunter did after they brought you back here. I think he took your injuries personally.”

“So I should have a meeting with him? I don’t even know if he’s single.”

“I think you should start calling them what they are, and consider dating the people you already like and trust.” She held up two fingers. “Clay, and Charlie.”

“Clay’s not an option.”

“Then your decision is a pretty easy one. Mate with Charlie, or tell Hunter it’s his turn to start dating people.” She winked at me, then turned back to her bush. “You’re overthinking it. It shouldn’t be this complicated. I think we both know why you’re having such a hard time with it.”

“Please, enlighten me.”

“You like Clay. He likes you. Hunter complicates it. So uncomplicate it.”

“You want me to kill Hunter?”

She snorted. “No. Just tell him and his wolf to go fuck themselves. I’m surprised you haven’t done that already.”

I had, in the beginning. But it hadn’t worked, and with him being Clay’s brother, it genuinely wasn’t as easy as she wanted to think.

“I would rather lose Clay and spend my life alone than destroy his and Hunter’s relationship,” I admitted.

It hurt to say it aloud. I didn’t want to spend my life alone.

“Then tell Hunter that.”

She had a point.

Until I talked to Hunter, nothing was ever going to be resolved.

“Alright, fine.”

“See if he managed to break into that phone yet, while you’re at it,” Sydney called after me.