Not commenting on that for the moment, I focused on holding the line. While Roan clearly exerted his own brand of control, Rhett wasnot.Since they weren’t fighting at the moment, I’d count that as a win.
Her neighborhood was just like I remembered it. Clean. Quiet. One of those HOA places where every lawn was manicured and every porch had some kind of decoration for whatever season it was. Wren’s was the only one without anything. Of course.
Still… I caught myself wondering if sheeverdid it. Goth up the place for Halloween? A single snowflake in the window at Christmas?
Hard to picture.
Even in her office, holiday cheer was strategic—tasteful and minimal. The barest suggestion of celebration. Like everything else with her, it was curated. Intentional.
She showed the world the version of herself she wanted us to see. No more, no less.
Roan pulled into a spot right in front of her unit. Detached garages were tucked around the back, but the front had open street parking. I was already out of the SUV before he came toa full stop. Rhett was half a step behind me, tension thrumming off him in waves.
“She lives here?” Rhett asked, surprise briefly flashing across his face before it vanished under something darker. “How do you know where she lives?”
I didn’t answer. Neither did Roan.
He locked the car and strode up the short path to her front door. The breeze rolled down from the greenbelt, cool and earthy. Pine. Damp leaves. A little woodsmoke from someone’s chimney nearby.
Roan raised a hand to knock.
Then the wind died.
And Roan went still.
So did I.
Two steps away—and Ifeltit more than Ismelledit at first. A shimmer of tension down my spine. Heat behind my teeth. Then the scent hit fully, and it was like the bottom dropped out of the world.
It was her.
But notjusther.
It was Wren’s scent, stripped down to somethingferal. Softer in places, sharper in others. Complex and layered and…undeniablyomega.
My breath caught.
Rhett stopped beside me with a sound between a grunt and a growl. His nostrils flared, eyes going sharp.
“Holyfuck,” he breathed.
Roan didn’t say a word.
He stood like a statue in front of the door, hand still raised, but he didn’t knock. Didn’t move.
Because what the hell were we supposed to do now?
None of us spoke it, but the truth crashed over us like a thunderclap.
She was in heat.
She had been hiding it.
And she was close.
The scent marker on the door was faint, but it wasfresh. A warning to stay back. A primal signal that shouldn’t have belonged toher, yet it did.
I swallowed hard. My brain went static.
