“Stay down,” Roan said, voice low and dangerous. The kind of voice that promised consequences if he didn’t.
For once, Rylan listened.
Jay’s hand tightened around mine. “It’s done,” he said, his voice barely above the rain as we hurried toward them. “It’s over, Wren.”
But my pulse didn’t slow. My body shook—heat, cold, adrenaline, and the overwhelming weight of what had just happened.
Rhett looked toward us, tracking our movements as we got closer. His dimples ghosted faintly on his face, despite his exhaustion. I could hear him clearly even if he didn’t say a word. Told you I had you.
Then Roan turned, the storm of his eyes matching the rage of nature around us, but he found my gaze as we closed in. He was steady, fierce, and so damnalive.He was promise in human form. I said come and claim me.
They were here.
They were claiming me.
I nodded once, chest tight, heart hammering.
Because I believed them. The threat of Rylan was over, but nothing between Jay, Roan, Rhett, and me ever would be.
Inside, my soul exulted.
Chapter
Forty-One
ROAN
The bastard was after her.
That’s the first thing I saw when we burst through the trees— Beckett Rylan, former Howler and eternal thorn in my damn side, in the water with Wren, trying to catch her like she was a prize he’d won instead of a woman he was about to break.
My pulse went feral.
Rhett got to her first, and getting her out of the water before he went after Rylan once more. He slammed his shoulder into Rylan’s chest, all muscle and rage. I barely remembered the sound — a crack, a grunt — before they slammed into the rocks. I followed after them. Jay already had Wren. She was safe, he would protect her. Right now, all I wanted was to savage the son of a bitch who hurt her. Who’dhuntedher andwantedto hurt her.
The fight didn’t last long. Beckett Rylan was great at bullying those weaker than him, but not us. He didn’t have the strength or the dominance to take on one of us, much less both. We dragged him up onto the shore, all of us soaking wet and him unconscious. The temptation to just leave him there to freeze to death was real.
Finishing him off was also an option visible in Rhett’s feral eyes. I shook my head once and Rhett grimaced. “I know,” I told him on a growl. “Call the sheriff’s office. Report him for assault.”
“Fuck, that’s going to be paperwork.”
I could hardly blame Rhett for the snarl. Not when I felt it too.
“Tell them our omega is in heat, and we’re bonding. He’s their problem, not ours.” Identifying Wren as our omega in paperwork could cause some problems, but I didn’t plan on us being here for them to take her name. “If necessary, we’ll stop by in a few days once we’re free. They can handle him until then.” If that meant he sat in their jail cell, well, how sad for him.
Leaving Rhett for a moment, I stalked back to where Jay held Wren. Knowing Jay had her was one thing, yet a very primitive part of meneededto see her, touch her, to assure myself she was safe. She was ours—mine, dammit and I needed to assure myself she was fine.
She was shaking, soaked through, her hair plastered to her face like riverweed. Christ, she’d gone into the water. Her lips were pale, her skin clammy. I could smell the cold on her — that sharp, metallic edge — but underneath it, the unmistakable sweetness of her heat. Faint, but rising. Damn it all.
“Jay, get her to the cabin,” I ordered, my voice coming out rougher than I meant. “Now. Get her warm. We’ll take care of this.”
He hesitated for half a second, his beta instincts all tangled up with protectiveness. Biological status aside, Jay adored her every bit as much as we did. But one look at me and he nodded. Wren swayed, and I caught her just long enough to steady her.
“Roan…” she chattered, voice trembling like broken glass. “What do you mean by… take care of?”
I cupped her chin, cold skin beneath colder fingers, and tilted her face up until her eyes met mine. Gods, those eyes. Copper infused whiskey like thawing ice.
“Trust me,” I said.
