We were going to be okay. Jay would get better. We’d kick the crap out of the next team, then the guys would take home a championship and the title.

  I refused to entertain any other result. Roan shifted against me, the weight of his hand against my abdomen tightening as he pulled me more firmly into him. He didn’t wake. I put a hand on Jay, wanting to feel him breathing, him there, and I swore he sighed in his sleep. His relief seemed to flow right through me. I lingered there for a while and then finally my eyes drifted close, and sleep swept me away.

  Chapter

  Thirty-Five

  WREN

  Iwoke to warmth and quiet. For a few long, drifting seconds, I didn’t open my eyes. The world was all soft around the edges with weak sunlight filtering between the mini-blinds, the hum of the wind outside, and the slow rhythm of breathing that wasn’t mine.

  Jay’s breathing registered first because I had my hand on his chest. It rose and fell steadily. Then the soft caress of Roan’s breathing teased my nape. He was awake. I could feel it before I heard him shift, the subtle change in the air between us, the careful way his hand moved against my hip.

  “Morning,” he murmured, voice low, still rough with sleep.

  I made a small sound that might’ve been a reply, or just the start of one. My body didn’t want to move yet. To be fair, my brain didn’t want to move either. The exhaustion had sunk deep, the kind built on a house of cards staged on a foundation of stress, overcommitment, and emotional duress.

  “Hey,” he said again, softer this time, closer. His nose brushed the back of my neck, and then the faintest press of his lips followed—barely a kiss, more like a promise of one.

  That was enough to nudge me fully awake.

  I twisted slowly, easing my hand off of Jay carefully so I wouldn’t jostle the bed too much or disturb him. The light caught Roan’s face just right from messy hair that was adorably scruffy, the stubble shadowing his jaw that added a grittier, bad boy vibe to his look and stunning eyes, the clearest I’d ever seen them.

  “Morning,” I managed, voice scratchy, small. “How long have you been awake?”

  “A while.” He smiled a little. “Didn’t want to wake you. You looked… peaceful.”

  I snorted softly. “I don’t think I’ve felt peaceful in weeks.” I almost said ever, but that seemed a bit hyperbolic. The past few weeks, on the other hand, had been rough.

  “Then maybe it’s about time.” He curled his arm around my neck, rolling me over so we were face to face. The gentle brush of his calloused thumb against my cheek, captivated me, My body reacted before my brain fully processed his action, leaning in toward him as I tilted my chin a little higher to give him better access.

  The space between us shrank until there wasn’t any at all. The first touch of his lips to mine was a slow, almost tentative kiss. He tested if I would welcome the contact while not demanding. The man undid me utterly with how thoughtful he was even in passion. There was definitely passion. When I sighed against his mouth aware of the softest pressure, he deepened the kiss with a sweep of his tongue.

  The world around us stayed quiet as he teased his tongue against mine and began to sweep his tongue in and out, The gentle thrusts echoed the way his hips pressed against mine. The thin barrier of his briefs were nothing to the weight of his erection as it seemed to pulse against my belly.

  Behind me, Jay’s soft breathing hadn’t changed though the light seemed to dim, then grow stronger before it dimmed again. A storm front moving in, maybe. That thought drifted past the inferno Roan stoked and became so much ash as he shifted his grip to wrap his hand around my throat.

  My pulse tripped, dashing down a flight of stairs until it was racing. The massage of his lips against mine demanded even as it coaxed. The trembling that haunted me the night before hadn’t fully disappeared, yet it seemed to shift and change as he explored my mouth.

  His kiss was so thorough, I forgot where his mouth ended and mine began. We breathed together, a dance of lips, teeth, and tongues. Every deliberate movement took us deeper, then it was just us communicating.

  He traced the shape of my lower lip with his before daring me with teasing little licks that I had to answer. It was like we communicated in some unspoken language and it rolled through my body like a building storm. The weight of his cock, thick and ridged and right there had me writhing against him.

  The necklace he formed with his hand flexed against my throat as I rotated my hips, seeking to add another layer of tension to this dance between us. I dug my nails into his bare shoulders as he slid a finger under the gusset of my panties, then he was delving deeper against the liquid softness.

  A rush of heat spilled into my system and he bit down on my lower lip, the sting riveting me in place as he thrust one, then two fingers into me and traced his thumb against my clit. I obeyed and began to rock my hips, riding his hand as he laved his tongue over the bite before he deepened the kiss once more.

  I was all but purring into his mouth as he bumped his hips up once and I slid a hand down to wrap around his cock. It poked upwards from his waistband, all hot and silken and utterly hard. Alternating between squeezing and stroking, I answered the motion of his fingers with my own.

  Groaning, he pushed three fingers into me, stretching me even as I caressed a thumb of the blunt tip of his cock where beads of pre-cum leaked. The moisture added to the ease of my strokes and it was my turn to bite at Roan’s tongue. The lightest scrape of my teeth and there was a rip as my panties tore and then he replaced his fingers with his cock.

  He urged me upwards as he pushed just the tip in. Hiking my leg higher, he eased his access and then I groaned as I surged toward him. The first rush of him filling me, stretching me, coiled the tension in my belly even tighter.

  Still, he didn’t release my mouth. Instead, he mirrored the thrusts of his cock with his tongue. He had one hand on my hip while the other stayed firmly around my throat. It should feel controlling, dominating, and overwhelming—but all I experienced was adoration, desire, and fuck—pleasure.

  Guiding the movement of my hips, he sank in deeper with every thrust. There was no hurry to this sex, no rush, he seemed intent on making me feel every exquisite inch of him. I fisted his hair, rocking with him in the deliberate rhythm he set, and glorying each time he ground against me.

  The lazy coils of pleasure tightened inextricably with every hard push of his cock inside and teasing pressure on my clit. When he sucked on my tongue, squeezed his hand, and rolled me onto my back to begin to pound into me, I saw stars.

  The motion stretched me as he pushed into me deeper and deeper with each stroke. The angle added another layer of intensity to his taking and then all I could feel was him. The trembling translated to a full body quiver as the tension pulled so taut, I was ready to burst.

  I wrapped my legs around his hips, helping with the angle and arching my body to meet his thrusts. He played my body as masterfully as he pursued a puck on the ice. Then like a string of bombs detonating slowly but gaining in intensity, my orgasm struck.

  One rolled into another, then another until sobs tore at my chest and Roan licked the screams from my throat. Not once did he let up on the rhythm, slamming me forward from release to release until the world blurred utterly. I was nothing but sensation and motion, obeying his body as he plowed into me and when he let out a shout, I held on as the tremors ripped through him.

  The feel of his knot engorging stole my breath, because he filled me to bursting and still stretched me further. I clung to him, dragging him back in for a kiss, so intimately aware of every single inch of him touching me and how.

  I had no idea an alpha could knot when I wasn’t in heat, but I cherished the feeling of it, the heavy weight and how utterly my body melded to his. The feeling was transcendental. I hung in the space where bliss and desire collided, splintering me utterly and leaving me marked.

  Tears slid out of my eyes, hot and wet, and utterly unexpected. He rained kisses down on me, lapping up the salt before kissing me again. The pressure of his grip on my throat eased and he stroked and petted me as I shook, yet his knot remained so firmly entrenched, we were one.

  Roan didn’t end and he seemed to pound himself into my soul, his breath was mine, his heart pumping the blood in my veins, and his scorching presence etched into my bones. How long we lingered there, I had no idea.

  He buried his face against my throat, his body a hot blanket over mine. We clung together, floating on the lazy river of pleasure until bit by bit, his knot began to deflate. But the rush of cum filling me threatened to leave me drunk on him. The mess was utter decadence and I treasured the connection.

  A shift on the bed registered and I turned my head to find Jay staring at us, pupils blown and his lips curved into the sexiest smile. “Good morning,” he said in a voice thick with need and still a little rough from sleep.

  “Did we wake you?” I whispered, not the least embarrassed for having been caught utterly destroyed in Roan’s arms. Hell, my inner muscles kept fluttering around his cock and it was semi-hard again already.

  “Worth it,” Jay whispered before he stroked a hand over my hair. “Can I kiss you?”

  “Yes.”

  No hesitation, not even a single drop of it. When he leaned in to kiss me, Roan stayed where he was. The stroke of Jay’s tongue against mine tasted like sweetness and hope. It was a balm to the scrapes his injury left on my soul. His kiss was full of heat and hope and—happiness. The bubbles of it seemed to flat through me.

  Roan nibbled kisses to my throat before he raised his head. Jay lifted his at the same time and the two men locked eyes.

  “How are you feeling?” Roan was all captain, all alpha, measuring and testing.

  “Hard,” Jay admitted without an ounce of shame. “Hungry.” Then he dipped his gaze back to me. “Horny as fuck. Waking up to the two of you is the best goddamn thing all week.”

  A shiver raced through me and my nipples went taut. Roan studied Jay for another moment, then glanced down at me. “Do all the work for him, Wren…”

  I grinned, fresh passion bursting through me in a flashfire. I wanted Jay and I wanted him now. Roan’s command just seemed to intensify that desire to utter desperation.

  “I can—” Jay started, but Roan was already pulling out of me as I sat up and between us, we pushed Jay onto his back. I peeled his boxers down and he hadn’t been lying. His cock was thick, the veins bulged out on the underside and the tip was a mottled color, his need so damn apparent it had to be pain.

  “Do you have a hole you want most?” I asked Jay, eying his engorged cock. I could swallow him, if Roan helped, we could lube my ass or…

  “Cunt,” Jay said on a gasp as I wrapped my fingers around him and gave him a firm pump. “I want to fuck you through Roan’s mess. Mark you up and—” The rest ended on a gasp as Roan lifted me and I angled Jay’s cock, and between us, I had Jay mounted and inside of me.

  Roan pulled my shirt upward and off, baring my tits and Jay stared up at me, dazed as I began to ride him. Behind me, Roan stroked my ass. “Harder, Wren. He can take it. He wants to feel every inch of you and you have to pound to let him go deep.”

  It was like being utterly drunk on them and yet hyper aware at the same time. Unlike heat, I wasn’t mad with the desperation to just be fucked. Yet, I wanted to fuck them until they were the ones weeping with it. Jay covered my breasts with his palms, massaging them and then tugging, first gently, then with more of a hard twist.

  Hand on my back, Roan pushed me forward until my breasts were at Jay’s face.

  “Suck her sweet tits,” Roan told him. “She likes it when you give her a little pain.”

  Jay needed no other encouragement, he sucked a nipple against his teeth even as he twisted the other with just a little more force. It was my turn to gasp as I flexed and gripped at his cock even as I slid up and down. The squelch of wetness as he pushed up into me was almost an aphrodisiac and then Roan speared his fingers into my ass, and the pressure filled me to bursting.

  Over and over, I rocked on Jay until he let out a hard grunt, his whole body stuttering and then Roan slapped my ass. The sharpness of the pain coupled with Jay’s shudders sent me over the edge and I came again. The combination of their cum filled me and I let out an almost keening scream before the world seemed to spiral into shatters of light.

  When I floated back to earth, Jay and Roan were taking turns petting me and Roan’s cock was nestled against my cunt and Jay was already stiff again.

  I blinked slowly as Roan fisted my hair and tugged my head back. The nudge of his blunt head pushing into me alongside Jay’s cock where he was still buried in my cunt sent another shock to my system.

  “Yes?” Roan asked—no, Roan demanded. The heat in his eyes had gone from a gentle fire to a raging inferno. I couldn’t have said no even if I’d wanted too. I flicked a quick look to Jay who squeezed my hip to let me know he was on board.

  “Ye—” I didn’t even finish the word before Roan pushed in and Jay and I were both gasping at the intensity of it. What came next was a series of hard, swift pumps as they stretched me past pain into a world where I writhed on pleasure. They were so damn hot and I was fuller than I’d ever been and yet they didn’t relent.

  I heard their sharp shouts as they came, the brutal force so intense, I screamed. I was pretty sure I came twice in those moments before I blacked out utterly.

  Fuck, we might need to burn this bed too.

  Chapter

  Thirty-Six

  WREN

  Jay looked better. Still pale, still moving gingerly, but the shadow that had haunted his face last night was gone. It was replaced by something softer, and—if I was being honest—by the smug curl of a man who’d woken up in the middle of a very pleasant tangle.

  Not that I was complaining.

  My body ached in all the ways that made me want to smirk into my coffee instead of limp to the shower. Roan’s handprint was still faint on my hip, a ghost of possession that somehow didn’t make me bristle the way it once might have. And Jay—damn him—had managed to make being injured look rakish, half-lidded and dangerous when he’d leaned in between us earlier that morning.

  It was ridiculous how easily they both unraveled me. Worse, how easily I’d let them.

  The kitchen smelled like coffee and something buttery, sunlight pooling across the counter where Rhett stood barefoot, shirt unbuttoned, looking every inch the chaos he was. His grin split wide when he caught sight of us.

  “You could at least pretend,” he said, voice low and teasing, “that you didn’t enjoy yourselves without me there.”

  Jay made a sound that might have been a laugh, though it came out rough. Roan only shook his head, calm as ever, reaching for a mug like Rhett hadn’t just accused us of debauchery.

  I would’ve rolled my eyes if my legs didn’t still feel like jelly. “Maybe if you’d been in there, you’d be suffering too instead of ready to go for later.” The last slipped out of me, far dirtier than I intended but I found I didn’t mind it that much.

  Rhett’s dimples flashed, wolfish. He was such a bad boy and so damn over the top with his comments. Not that I was complaining. Nope, not even a little.

  “Suffer?” he scoffed on a laugh. “Sweetheart, that’s not what it sounded like, but I promise to be up to any other pleasuring you might need later.”

  My face heated, traitorous thing that it was, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of a blush. “Keep talking and I’ll make sure later is a lot later.”

  Roan’s quiet chuckle from behind me was almost worse than Rhett’s grin. It slid under my skin, steady and sure, like it always did, like he knew how to disarm me without saying much at all.

  Jay leaned his hip against the counter, eyes half-lidded, that faint, sharp smile tugging at his mouth. “Play nice, Wren. He’s just jealous.”

  “Damn right I am,” Rhett said. “You all look far too pleased for my liking.”

  “Maybe we’re just happy you’re awake before noon for once,” I shot back, reaching for the coffee pot. My hands were steady, my voice light, but under it all, something quiet and full had settled in me.

  Peace.

  It was strange, that word. Foreign. But I could feel it all the same, threading through the soreness, the laughter, the way they looked at me like I wasn’t just an omega to be managed, but a person they wanted to know.

  Rhett swept a hand toward the counter, where takeout containers were lined up like a feast. “Before anyone complains, yes, I went out. Got the good stuff—croissants, eggs, fruit. Don’t say I never do anything for this pack.”

  This pack. That phrase hit hard. Were we becoming a pack? Was that what we were building? Even as I tried to process the words, I tucked them away. If I focused on them too hard, it could disrupt the warm serenity of the moment. I wasn’t ready for that.

  Not yet.

  Jay eyed the spread, then reached for his mug.

  “No coffee,” I said quickly, catching his wrist before he could take a sip.

  He made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a growl, glaring at me through a strand of black hair. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Head injury,” I reminded him. “Caffeine’s a no-go for at least another few hours.”

  Roan was already circling around him, calm and methodical. “Look at me, Jay.” He tilted Jay’s chin up gently, checking his pupils in the morning light. Jay tolerated it, barely.

  “Still reactive,” Roan murmured.

  “Still in pain,” Jay countered, voice rough.

  Leaning against the counter, Rhett folded his arms and watched them both with a faint smirk. “Could probably take another pain med now. Or—” his grin went wicked, “you know, science says orgasms help with pain management.”

  This time Jay didn’t measure his reaction, he half-groaned, half-growled even as he rubbed a hand over his sweet face. “You’re insufferable.”