“No,” Roan said immediately. “She wouldn’t.”

  That was the truth of it. Wren wasn’t the type to just… disappear. Not without a reason.

  I rubbed at my aching shoulder, already half-bracing for the scolding she’d give us when we finally saw her again—because of course she’d find a way to make us feel like the idiots for worrying. God, she had talent and I adored her for it.

  That’s when Roan’s phone buzzed.

  He frowned, thumbed the screen, then froze. The faintest sound leaked through the speaker—a low, playful tone that sent a pulse of adrenaline straight through me.

  “Same place as last time… and consider this an open invitation to chase. I’ll be the omega on the run… claim me if you can.”

  For a moment, the three of us just stared at each other, the words hanging in the air like a live current. My pulse kicked up, shoulder pain forgotten. I didn’t even try to hide the grin spreading across my face.

  “She didn’t,” Rhett said, but the gleam in his dark eyes said he knew she absolutely had.

  “Oh, she did,” I murmured, already feeling the thrill of it deep in my chest. It wasn’t a biological tug, not with me, but it was still there sharp and electric because it was a challenge from Wren.

  Brilliant. Beautiful. Breathtaking. From the classic cut of her sleek blue-black hair to the sharp intelligence in her whiskey-colored eyes, and the silken softness of her pale skin that never seemed to hold a tan—Wren captivated me. Just thinking about her was enough to make me hard.

  Yet, my admiration for her smarts and my physical reaction to her body did not add up to the full sum of my feelings.

  I loved Wren Foster.

  Pure and simple.

  Every delectable inch of her. I’d have loved her if she was alpha, beta, or omega. I needed her like I needed my next breath of air. She needed us too.

  No doubt existed within me. If she hadn’t, she’d have never sent that open invitation. Framed as a challenge with her impossible mix of control and chaos, she dared us to come after her on her terms.

  Roan’s jaw tightened, the smallest hint of a smile ghosting at the corner of his mouth. “She’s at the cabin.”

  Rhett straightened immediately. “We’re going after her, right?”

  There wasn’t even a pause. “Yeah,” I said. “We’re going.”

  One nod from Roan, all captain’s calm and quiet command. “We give her a head start. Then we chase.” Yet, there was a certain relish in his voice and his eyes. Despite his vaunted control, he was no less enticed than we were.

  Laughing, Rhett tugged on a jacket. “Oh, she’s not going to make it easy, is she?”

  “She invited us this time,” I reminded them both, heart thudding as anticipation tangled with something deeper, sharper, real. “She even gave us a clue. But do we really want her to make anything easy for us?”

  Steady and knowing, Roan met my gaze and smiled slowly. “That’s part of what makes her worth it.”

  Just like that, even the most dominant of our trio confirmed this wasn’t about instinct, or dominance, or even the echo of the finals still burning through our systems.

  It was about her. It had always been about her. Our omega—our Wren—who never let anyone define her except on her own damn terms.

  RHETT

  I couldn’t stop grinning. Which, given the situation, probably said a lot about how messed up my head was.

  Because, sure, normal people woke up the day after winning a championship, nursed their hangovers, kissed the trophy, maybe ugly cried a little in private. What did we do?

  We packed up our gear, loaded into Roan’s SUV, and decided to chase our omega into the goddamn wilderness.

  Totally normal Tuesday behavior. I couldn’t fucking wait.

  Roan drove, jaw tight, eyes on the road like he was plotting a military campaign. Jay sat shotgun, shoulder still taped but looking about ten pounds lighter since we’d heard Wren’s message. He was trying to play it cool, but every few minutes, his mouth twitched like he couldn’t stop smiling either.

  As for me, I sprawled in the back seat, boot tapping, heart thundering. That voicemail was still looping in my head like a song you couldn’t shake.

  “Same place as last time… and consider this an open invitation to chase. I’ll be the omega on the run… claim me if you can.”

  It hit so hard that it rewired my pulse. I laughed under my breath. “You think she practiced that line?”

  Jay snorted. “Doesn’t sound like practice.”

  “No,” I said, leaning back, letting my grin stretch wide. “It sounds like a goddamn challenge.”

  Roan’s hand tightened on the wheel, and I could feel the energy rolling off him, not anger, not really, but something deeper. A heat that had nothing to do with the truck’s vents.

  “Wren doesn’t do anything by accident,” he said. Cool confidence kissed every single word. Sometimes I wanted to just poke him, like one would a bear, to see what would make him snap. Other times, I appreciated his control and leaned on it when my own frayed. Today? I wasn’t sure which I wanted more.

  “Yeah, no kidding,” I muttered. “Woman throws down a gauntlet and disappears into the mountains like some kind of mythic creature. What are we supposed to do, not follow her?”

  Jay shot me a look over his shoulder. His longer hair, fell over his forehead. Man needed a haircut, but he did messy bedhead well. Bastard. “Pretty sure that’s the point.”

  I barked out a laugh. “Then we’re already playing by her rules. God, she’s good.” A shiver went through my system. The craving for her had never really gone away, even when I worked to contain the reaction. With her permission, it boiled up to the surface and I didn’t have to leash any of it.

  The highway rolled by in silver streaks of early light. The mountains loomed ahead, dark and endless, the same ones we’d chased her through before. That memory was sharp and wild—Wren bare in that cabin, her body flushed pink with need and heat, her eyes blazing and the scent of her heat pounding into my pores.

  She’d invited us back.

  My blood was thrumming. Every nerve wired for motion, for her. I wanted to see her. Talk to her. Hell, I wanted to bury my face against her neck and just breathe. But first, we would play this game, we would bond our omega, and she would be a part of us forever.

  Roan’s jaw flexed again. The man looked like he was holding the universe together with willpower alone.

  “So,” I said, leaning forward between the seats, voice light, “what’s the plan, Cap? We get there, we split up, we sniff her out? Or we play it slow, all dramatic, let her think she’s got the upper hand?”

  “You really can’t help yourself, can you?” Jay turned toward me, smirking.

  “What?” I grinned. “I’m contributing to strategy. I’m like—team morale.”

  “You’re a distraction.” Roan huffed out a sound that might’ve been a laugh.

  “Exactly,” I said. “And distraction’s a valid tactic.”

  Truth was, the humor helped. It always did. Kept the edges from cutting too deep. Because underneath the jokes, the teasing, the easy charm—my blood was boiling. The wildness in me wasn’t quiet anymore. It wanted her. Wanted us together.

  Yeah, maybe that scared me a little. Because for all the jokes I cracked, all the smirks I threw around like armor, I knew one thing for sure: when it came to Wren, I didn’t just want to chase. I wanted to catch.

  Jay twisted the radio knob absently, static humming. “You think she’s already there?”

  I glanced out the window, the pine trees thickening as we climbed. “If she’s not, she will be soon. She’s too smart to leave a trail she doesn’t want us to find.”

  Roan nodded once. “Then we’ll find her.”

  “We’re bonding her, right?” I had to ask. We had the chance before, when her heat had been so out of control, she would have done whatever we asked. Begged us to bond her if we’d forced it.

  Not that we ever would have. Roan had the right of it, leashing us, so that we filled her need and took nothing from her. Not then. Now? Now, she’d opened the door and I wanted to dash through it.

  “Yes,” Roan said. One syllable. Firm. Unyielding. “All of us.” He shot a look at Jay. “You’re in this.”

  “Damn straight.” Jay gave a hard nod of his own. “She’s ours.”

  I smiled at that, the absolute certainty in their voices. The way they both declared it like a promise, an oath.

  Outside, the horizon split open into a wash of gold light. The mountains rose up to meet us, sharp and endless and alive.

  “Guess it’s official, boys,” I said, stretching, heart hammering as that wild, electric heat rippled through me again. “The chase is on.”

  Beneath all the laughter, all the bravado, there was this truth sitting heavy in my chest, what happened next would change all of us. We would mark her, take her, and when it was right, we’d knot her. She would be ours forever then. No one else for us and no one else for her.

  I couldn’t fucking wait.

  “Don’t suppose you’d consider driving faster?”

  Roan didn’t answer, at least not verbally. He did, however, put his foot down and my grin seemed to just grow.

  We’re coming, boots. Then you will be…

  ROAN

  The storm was coming in fast. You could smell the metallic tang of rain on the air, clouds boiling dark and low over the ridge. The trees were already whispering, restless, and the gravel popped under the truck’s tires as we pulled up.

  Her car was there.

  That simple fact hit me like a punch and a relief all at once. The jolt of she’s here cut through the rest of the noise in my head. The cabin sat tucked beneath the pines, just like before, weathered wood gleaming faintly with the last streaks of sunlight. The same porch. The same damned stillness. But this time, every nerve in my body felt tuned to her.

  She was close. I could feel it.

  We climbed out, the three of us quiet for once. Rhett’s grin was gone, replaced by that sharp-edged focus he only wore in a game or in a fight. Jay rolled his shoulder, wincing, still sore, but he wasn’t complaining. The silence wasn’t awkward. It was electric. We all knew what this was.

  The door creaked open under my hand. The cabin smelled like dust, wood, and Wren.

  Christ, her scent was everywhere. Thick and warm, sliding through the air like silk. My control went tight, a muscle pulled too far. It wasn’t just heat. Not this time. No, it was her. Every ounce of focus and defiance and quiet fire that made her who she was. I wanted to roll in it, breathe it, live in it.

  Jay swore softly. “She was here. Recently.”

  “Yeah.” Rhett’s tongue clicked against his teeth. “And she was planning something. You feel that?”

  I did. The faint hum of her challenge, like static on the air. Wren hadn’t run. No, she’d taken us into account when she crafted this chase. She was so incredibly ours. It was just a matter of time.

  I dropped my gear bag and pulled on the mask, the world narrowing, scent sharpening, every inhale a map of her. She’d been near the back door. She’d stepped on the porch. She’d⁠—

  The next scent hit me like a blade.

  Rylan.

  I froze. The name tasted bitter in my mouth. His scent wasn’t old, less than a few hours. Not mixed with hers, but close enough to twist something deep in my gut.

  “Son of a bitch,” I muttered, voice low, raw.

  Rhett’s head snapped up. “What?”

  “Rylan.” I turned toward the porch, eyes narrowing on the faint scuff marks near the railing. “He’s been here.”

  Jay’s tone dropped, deadly calm. “There’s no car.”

  “I know.” My pulse pounded, heat crawling under my skin. “But he’s here. Or was. Maybe on foot.”

  Rhett’s mask came down slow, his shoulders rolling, that predator energy rippling through him. The humor was completely gone. What was left was something feral.

  “Motherfucker followed her,” he growled. “He followed our omega.”

  The word hit like a match to gasoline. Ours. He didn’t mean it lightly, and neither did I. The air seemed to shift, thick and humming. Jay’s usually easy calm hardened, his jaw tight. I could feel the edge of his anger, cool but lethal.

  “This isn’t a game anymore,” he said.

  “No,” I agreed. My voice came out rough, the alpha in me surfacing, sharp and unrelenting. “It’s not.”

  For a second, no one spoke. The storm rolled closer, thunder low and distant. My instincts screamed. Hunt. Protect. Claim.

  I turned toward them, mask settling into place, vision tunneling to purpose. “Find her,” I ordered. My tone left no room for doubt or hesitation.

  Rhett released a snarl, far more animal than man. Jay’s eyes, barely visible beneath the mask, were cold steel.

  “No mercy for him,” I added. I didn’t have to say it twice.

  “Didn’t plan on any.” Rhett’s grin was in his voice, a razor now. Jay just nodded, a dark promise flickering behind his eyes.

  The storm broke as we stepped off the porch, icy rain starting to hit the earth. It wouldn’t be long before it turned into sheets. Lightning split the sky, and I scowled. The rain would muddy her scent, distort his.

  “We’re connected,” I reminded them. “The bond is there, we just have to seal it. Use it.” Before my restraint snapped, I needed them to remember because somewhere out there, in that endless stretch of wilderness, Wren was waiting for us.

  And Rylan was hunting her. That combination was all I needed to let the alpha take over. We were done waiting. We were going after her.

  Now.

  Chapter

  Forty

  WREN

  At first, it was freedom.

  The kind that tasted like cold air and pine sap, like rain-soaked earth and adrenaline. My boots splashed through puddles, mud streaking my calves, my breath coming out in laughter I didn’t mean to release. My heart was pounding, not from fear, but from want.

  For once, I didn’t fight it. The heat was coming for me — slow, sure, inevitable — and I let it.

  The cabin was behind me, a quiet little ghost, and I’d left my blockers sitting uselessly on the counter. The choice hadn’t felt monumental when I made it, but now it echoed through my body like a drumbeat. I hadn’t gone back on the suppressors. I hadn’t smothered the thing I’d spent months trying to control.

  No. I wanted them.

  Roan. Rhett. Jay.

  The thought of them out there somewhere — strong, relentless, mine — made every nerve light up. The night air was damp and heavy with ozone, the scent of the storm building on the horizon. My skin prickled, temperature spiking from the inside out. The heat pulsed through me, low and deep and wild.

  For the first time, I wasn’t ashamed of it.

  I was savoring it.

  I’d spent so long pretending that this part of me was an inconvenience — a hazard, a liability, something that needed masking. But right now, out here in the trees, under the weight of the storm, it felt like power. Every exhale left a trail of my scent — sweet, ripe, undeniable — and I didn’t bother to hide it.

  Let them find me.

  Let them chase.

  Let them claim what was already theirs.

  The first drops of rain hit my skin, sharp and icy, shocking against the fever simmering under the surface. The storm rolled closer, thunder crawling over the mountains like a living thing. I tilted my head back, laughed softly at the sky. I wanted to feel everything. The chill. The burn. The hunger.

  But then⁠—

  Something shifted.

  A new scent rode the wind.

  Alpha.

  For a second, my body reacted instinctively — a rush of heat, of anticipation, a surge of recognition that came before thought. They’re here.

  Except… no.

  It wasn’t Roan.

  It wasn’t Rhett.

  It wasn’t Jay.

  This scent was sharper. Colder. Wrong.

  Beckett Rylan.

  The realization sliced through me like a blade. My stomach dropped even as my pulse spiked. The rain came harder, cold needles against my skin, washing over me as if the storm itself wanted to strip away the heat that had just begun to bloom.

  He was close. Too close.

  The sound of him — the way he moved — I remembered it from the ice. Controlled chaos. A predator that liked to play before the kill.

  Fear threaded through the heat, twisting it, warping it until it became something jagged and confusing. My body still wanted — that primal, aching need for an Alpha to find me, to fill me — but my mind rebelled. Every instinct screamed not him.

  Not Rylan.

  Not the one who had haunted the edges of my safety since the trade.

  I stumbled backward, breath shaking, the wind catching my scent and flinging it into the storm. A curse broke from my lips. I should’ve kept the blockers. Should’ve waited for them before I⁠—

  Branches cracked somewhere behind me.

  That smooth, mocking voice cut through the rain. “You really shouldn’t run alone, Wren.”

  My heart lurched.

  He was here.

  And my body — traitorous, burning — didn’t care that my brain was screaming run. It responded to the Alpha in him, to the biological gravity that made every Omega weak in the knees when cornered.

  I forced my feet to move, mud slipping beneath my boots, pulse roaring in my ears. “Not you,” I whispered, half to the storm, half to myself. “Not you.”

  Because yes, I had invited the chase.

  But not from the monster who thought he could claim me out of spite.

  The fear built fast — sharp, dizzying — but under it was still that molten, desperate ache for the right Alphas. The ones who had earned me. The ones I’d chosen.

  So I did the only thing I could.

  I ran faster.

  And I prayed that Roan, Rhett, and Jay were already on my trail — because if Rylan reached me first, my heat wouldn’t save me.