“Didn’t think you’d get here so fast,” he spat.

  “Didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to come near what’s mine,” I said, stepping closer, cracking the ice off my gloves one finger at a time. “Guess we both underestimated something.”

  Rhett laughed, low, dark, dangerous.

  For a heartbeat, the forest went still. Just the wind whispering through the pines. In the distance, I could imagine the cabin door closing behind Jay and Wren. We weren’t that far if one took a direct route. Still, I trusted our beta with her. He would never let anything happen to her.

  Standing there with my promise to her sitting heavy in my gut, I eyed Rylan. “Sheriff coming?” The question was for Rhett and surprise flickered over Rylan’s face. He spat out blood.

  “Sheriff? You’re so⁠—”

  I didn’t let him finish the comment, I just slammed my fist into his face with every ounce of my strength behind it. The feeling of bone crashing into bone vibrated up my arm. I probably broke a knuckle or three. But I absolutely broke Rylan’s jaw. He dropped like a sack of rocks, crumpling into a bloody, silent pile.

  That was better.

  Promising to not kill him didn’t mean I needed to listen to his bullshit.

  “You’re sure we can’t kill him?” Rhett believed me, but his grumble almost made me laugh. I got it. I really did.

  “If he ever touches her again,” I said, swearing it in blood. After we bonded her, after she wore our scent? “I’ll gut him without hesitation and we’ll be within our rights.”

  Laws were strange things. Unbonded omegas had fewer protections than the bonded. As archaic as that was, I also understood that played a huge role in Wren’s choices. She wanted to live her life on her terms and not be dictated to by assholes like Rylan. That she chose to let us bond her? Invited us to?

  That was a gift I would treasure for the rest of my life.

  “Good.” Rhett nodded. “The sheriff is on his way. Soon as we scent him…”

  Agreed. Once the sheriff was here, Rylan was his problem. As Wren’s soon to be bonded alphas, we could press charges against Rylan easily enough. This wasn’t team rivalry or league politics, it was just blood and consequences.

  She was ours.

  Always.

  Rhett

  The sheriff looked like every small-town cliché ever written — big hat, thicker mustache, and that drawl that could stretch a syllable into a sermon. I used to roll my eyes at men like him. Still kind of did, honestly. But right then? I could’ve kissed him.

  Not for his charm. For the simple fact that he was not Rylan.

  He nodded like he’d seen this kind of thing before, alphas who went too far, omegas who got caught in the mess, and the rest of us trying not to tear the world apart in response.

  “Press all the charges you want,” he said, his voice like gravel and tobacco. “Boy’s lucky you didn’t kill him outright.”

  I almost laughed. Lucky didn’t even begin to cover it. If Roan hadn’t been the one holding the line, Rylan would’ve been fertilizer under the pines by now.

  Then came the part that made me grind my teeth.

  The sheriff tipped his hat toward the cabin in that lazy way of his and said, “If she’s yours, best finish bonding her right quick. Make it official. Save everyone the headache later.”

  Alphas will be alphas, that was the subtext. Boys will be boys. A little omega panic, a little violence, nothing the world hadn’t seen before.

  It should’ve pissed me off more than it did. Maybe it did. Right now it was a low, simmering thing in my gut that wanted to argue with the whole damned structure of how we’d built. But Roan’s hand brushed my shoulder, a subtle touch, and the fire cooled just enough.

  “Let it go,” he murmured under his breath, eyes forward.

  He was right. Wren was what mattered. Everything else could burn.

  By the time the sheriff and the ranger climbed back into their truck, my head was already somewhere else. Or more accurately on someone else.

  Wren.

  The thought of her hit me all at once, low and deep and visceral. She was alive. Safe. Waiting.

  For us.

  We didn’t talk on the way back to the cabin. Didn’t need to. The air between Roan and me was charged, humming with the same single thought: claim her.

  Snow crunched under our boots, wet clothes sticking to our skin. The moment we stepped inside, heat from the cabin’s fireplace hit us, all rich and smoky and thick with the scent of her. Her heat had deepened, lush and heady, curling through the air like a drug.

  Then I heard it.

  Her cry.

  A sound that made my heart slam against my ribs and my cock go hard in the same instant.

  It wasn’t a cry of pain. Oh, no. It was that soft, broken sound omegas make when they’re coming undone.

  Jay was with her. Good. Smart man. He’d done what we’d asked, warmed her up, eased her through the beginning of it.

  Still, the possessive part of me, the alpha in me, snapped awake like a wolf hearing the dinner bell.

  “Rhett,” Roan warned, voice low, steady. Always steady.

  I shot him a grin. “Not doing anything stupid. Just… fast.”

  He smirked, but I saw the same hunger flicker behind his eyes. Then he went around, checking every lock, every window. That was our Roan, methodical, protective, the kind of man who made sure the world stays outside before letting his heart loose. I wasn’t built that way. My pulse was already racing ahead of me, already in that bathroom, with her.

  Steam poured from under the cracked door. The scent of Wren, sweet and slick and wild, filled every inch of the cabin. When we pushed the door open, it was like stepping into a storm.

  She was there, braced against the tile, hands on the wall, water pouring over her back. Her hair clung to her skin, her body trembling in that way that wasn’t about cold anymore. Jay was behind her, mouth at her neck, one hand gripping her hip.

  Her head turned, just slightly, and our eyes met.

  Bam.

  There it was.

  That spark. That recognition.

  The walls she’d built since the first day we met, the cautious smiles, the guarded scent, the way she’d pull back every time one of us got too close, was gone. Melted away under heat and want and the absolute trust of knowing she was ours.

  She beamed. Not shy, not hesitant. Radiant. Like she’d been waiting for us to get here.

  Holy shit, the pulse of her scent hit me square in the chest. Mine. Ours. I stepped forward, peeling off the last of my soaked shirt, boots thudding on the floor. Roan was right behind me, his gaze dark and focused, every line of him set with intention.

  Wren moaned, low, throaty, and something primal in me answered.

  Yeah, the sheriff had said finish bonding her right quick.

  For once, I wasn’t about to argue with authority.

  Because right then, standing in that haze of heat and steam and her, I knew exactly what came next, every instinct in me roaring to life.

  She was our home and we were done waiting.

  Wren

  The last heat had driven me close to madness, my body out of control, and my mind eroding under the weight of biological demand. This time? It was just as damn intense. Jay’s touch helped to quiet some of the wildness as he stroked my skin while he stripped me. Once under the shower, he’d used his fingers to massage an orgasm out of my quivering body before he thrust into me.

  The near punishing force of his strokes as he moved within me had robbed me of breath. No, there was no knot, or even the anticipation of one. But it was Jay and he was mine, and my body seemed to understand what my soul needed. No sooner had he filled me once, than he thickened again. His harsh breaths against my throat were music. He cupped and massaged my breasts, until I began to clench around him again and then he let out a pleased little hum and began to move again.

  There was no relenting from his possession. Just on the cusp of another orgasm, I opened my eyes to find Rhett and Roan there. A purr vibrated deep within, a sultry release of sound that echoed mine.

  And they were mine. All three of them. They’d come for me and we were here. All of us. Jay bit me as he came this time and I flipped over the edge with him. The hot jet of his release pulsed inside of me and warmed me. His scent would be there, mingling with ours even as he marked my throat.

  I would wear their marks, their scent, and I would be claimed in every way. Still trembling, I wasn’t quite ready for Jay to let me go, but Roan and Rhett were right there, steadying me. The scent of them filled the steamy air and a wave of want crashed through me.

  Even as Roan tilted my head back to take possession of my lips in a kiss that branded my soul, Rhett’s hands were everywhere else, teasing, stroking, and making me alternate between shivering and moaning. My slick and Jay’s release slid down my thighs, but Rhett caught both on his fingers and pressed them back inside of me even as he began to massage my clit.

  They moved me and maneuvered me, Roan sliding in behind me even as Rhett lifted me. There was no patience in them and even less in me. I dug my nails into Rhett’s shoulders as he pushed into me without any warning or preparation. He fucked me right through the wet of Jay’s cum. Roan was pushing into my ass, all slicked up. The pressure was unbearable and perfect. Where I might have expected pain before, my body seemed to understand exactly what we needed even as they filled me with such demand that I tried to start moving.

  A slap against my thigh, the sting rocketing through me.

  “Patience.” Roan’s order snapped through me, the command made me whimper but Rhett kissed me and robbed me of the sound.

  “Shh,” Jay said, soothing as he massaged me. His calming touches were full of so much care, easing that ever tightening coil within me. His encouragement what I needed. I wanted so much. Needed so much and for all their patience, I wanted them to just move and take me now. Claim me.

  “We have you,” Roan said, his voice low, rough and vibrating. My heartbeat was a wild drum inside of me. “You’re ours.”

  That declaration was enough to almost make me come right then and there. Rhett nipped my lower lip, once, twice, and then kissed me again on the third. He was almost brutally soft, nipping and licking alternately as he and Roan stroked me everywhere. I forgot whose hands were where as their cocks filled me.

  “Always making it a challenge,” Rhett moaned into the kiss, his smirk audible.

  “We wouldn’t have you any other way,” Roan added, the absolute devotion stealing my breath and then there were no more words. They were thrusting, alternating in a push pull that stretched me in the most carnal ways and they took turns kissing me, even Jay slipping in there as he teasing my clit and pinched a nipple in between deep tongue tangling kisses.

  I arched into them, the hot pulse of their need mingling with mine. My chest pressed to Rhett’s, my back against Roan’s, Jay’s hands easing me into a rhythm I couldn’t find alone. I was theirs. Every tremble, every gasp, every slick whimper spilling from me belonged to them.

  Roan leaned in closer, his teeth a promise against my throat. “This… this is what you want, right? Say it, Wren.”

  “I do,” I breathed, voice trembling, voice strong. “I want this. I want… all of you.”

  Rhett chuckled low in my ear, his growl a hot promise. “That’s my girl. Mine. Ours.”

  The reverent motions turned punishingly primitive. Their hard thrusts staking a claim as they stabbed into me deeper and deeper. They were etching themselves into my soul, moulding my body to theirs and stretching—oh fuck. So much stretching. They were huge, too much, so much and the cries began to escape me on every push and pull.

  Every wall I had built, every hesitation, every ounce of doubt — gone. I was theirs, and the clarity of it made me dizzy with relief and desire.

  Roan bit down hard, his teeth breaking skin right over the spot Jay had bit me and then Rhett bit me on my other shoulder, an echo of how they’d bitten me before.

  The pain of pierced flesh, blood, cum, slick…and I vanished into a conflagration, going up in flames as they kept me rocking between them. Sobs of pure pleasure escaped me as something deep inside snapped into being, a feeling that had always been there. Half-formed, maybe, but present. Now it sealed to titanium. Their scents embedded into mine.

  The room became a storm of heat, wet skin, whispered devotion, teasing laughter, and moans that echoed off the tile. Each press, each thrust, each claim was love and need and possession all at once. Jay’s hands guided, massaged, eased me into the rhythm, letting me ride the waves instead of falling into them blindly.

  When their knots ballooned, I shattered, and the world blacked out entirely. It took time for me to surface. Some part of me aware that they were still inside of me, still stretching me to breaking, their knots so full that I would never not feel them with every breath again.

  “Maybe should have thought about this before,” Roan said on a husky chuckle.

  “Fuck it,” Rhett said, a naked kind of joy in his voice. “We can stand here forever. She feels so fucking good.”

  “She does,” Roan agreed, but it was Jay’s soft amusement that prodded me into opening my eyes. His smile was right there and I realized what the issue was.

  We were still in the shower, naked, standing and they cradled me between them, Roan and Rhett had me impaled on their huge knots and something like delight just unfurled within me. There was an inescapable peace in my pleasure, in their pleasure and even as I found myself still wanting them, it was a kind of raw sensuality that carried so much emotion, I wanted to cry.

  “Always have to challenge us,” Jay said, an echo of Rhett’s earlier words and I almost giggled.

  Me. Giggling.

  Who would have thought?

  “You like that, don’t you?” I whispered back, voice shaking, my pulse thundering like it could break ribs.

  “More than anything,” he breathed before nuzzling a kiss. “How are you doing?”

  Every nerve, every cell, every beat of my heart was fused to theirs and Jay was in there too… I could feel him, feel his love and the intensity of it had a tear sliding down my cheek.

  “Delirious,” I murmured. “Will it be like this each time?”

  “No idea,” Roan admitted, but there was so much depth in his voice, I could hear his delight at the idea of discovering it with us.

  “Can’t wait,” Rhett agreed, dipping down to steal a kiss of his own.

  I was theirs and the rightness in that claim settled inside of me. Completely, irrevocably theirs.

  “Jay?”

  “I’m here,” he promised.

  But I just grinned, delighted. “When these brutes release me, I want you again—only I want to ride you this time and look down at you as you come.”

  “Anything you want,” he said.

  “Anything?” It was as much a confirmation as a dare to all three of them

  “Oh yeah,” Rhett said, his grin a wicked thing. “I have a lot of ways I want to fuck you too, Wren.”

  “And we want you like this,” Roan said against my throat. “Every day for the rest of our lives—as long as you’re up for it.”

  A real laugh escaped me this time, and it came out so full and throaty, the guys all stilled as they studied me.

  “What?” Jay finally asked and I couldn’t help it, I grinned so hard, it hurt.

  “I think I just won my Apex Trophy.”

  Their groans were punctuated by laughter.

  “Nope,” Rhett said without missing a beat. “That takes the best of seven and this was just one.”

  Oh. A real shiver went through me. “Bring it on,” I said. “I can take you.”

  “Yes,” Roan said in a low growl. “You can.”

  Chapter

  Forty-Two

  JAY

  Three days later, the world still felt like it was tilted on some sort of sweet, drunken axis. Not from booze — though yeah, maybe a little — but from everything else. From the cabin, from heat and wet skin and whispered promises that echoed in our bones. From Wren.

  She was ours.

  After we’d dropped her car off at her place, we were sitting in the back seat of Roan’s SUV with her hand curled over mine. We had a lot of details to work out for later, but we’d get there. I could feel the pulse of her, the scent of her bonded to ours, and every damn nerve in me buzzed like I’d had a hundred cups of coffee and a thousand heartbeats at once. She kept stealing glances at me, a little grin curling the corner of her lips, and I swear she could make my chest ache with nothing more than a look.

  “I want to stop,” she said, voice determined, fierce. Eyes bright. “Get my arms tattooed. I want your marks. I want everyone to know I’m yours.”

  I couldn’t help but grin. Hell yes. That was my girl, unashamed, untamed, and utterly committed.

  Roan’s laugh rumbled from the driver’s seat, deep and amused. “Good. Let them look. You’re ours. Everyone should know.”

  Rhett leaned back from the front passenger seat, smirking, fingers brushing her arm. “And I’ll be damned if I’m letting you wear ours and not me.”

  I chuckled, shaking my head. “Guess that settles it, then.”

  She crossed her arms, glaring playfully at us, and added, “I’m also not quitting my job. I’ll fight anyone who tries to make me.”

  The grins on Roan and Rhett’s faces were instant, mirrored by me. My shoulders relaxed. “Damn right you will,” I said. “We’ve got your back. All of us. Every step.”

  Her fingers found mine again, squeezing, and I could feel it, her trust, her strength, her stubborn streak that had been hers long before any of us arrived in her life. She wasn’t a trophy. She wasn’t a prize. She was Wren. And the Howlers? They needed her. We needed her.

  When we arrived at the tattoo studio, she didn’t hesitate. Walked in like she owned the place. Like she owned herself. Roan and Rhett flanked me and her, all of us grinning like idiots under the bright fluorescent lights, every one of us buzzing with that same high — the cabin, the claiming, the proof of our bond that we were about to make permanent.