At first, it was easy to explain away. She probably got buried under post-game press, coordinating with Marchand or handling the interviews. She always worked harder than any ofus, and she’d been running on fumes for weeks. But then the night stretched on. The crowd thinned. The trophy made its way around the room twice. And still, no Wren.
By the time the bar lights came up, Roan was frowning into his glass like it had personally offended him. Rhett, who’d spent most of the evening alternating between jokes and borderline-decent karaoke, finally slumped into a chair and muttered, “You think she ditched us?”
“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 heknewshe 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 fromWren.
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. Justthinkingabout 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 haveneversent that open invitation. Framed as a challenge with her impossible mix of control and chaos, she dared us to come after her onherterms.
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 abouther. It hadalwaysbeen 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 didwedo?
We packed up our gear, loaded into Roan’s SUV, and decided to chase our omega into the goddamn wilderness.
