I clear my throat, trying not to grin too widely. “I might be open to it…” I tease.
Three low growls answer me—Xayden, West, and Todd all reacting at once in a way that sends warmth streaking up my spine.
Jake clears his throat pointedly, a hint of a smile on his lips. “We heading back or…?”
“Yeah,” Todd says, exchanging a meaningful look with West and Xayden. “We’ve drawn enough attention already.”
West’s hold on me lingers for a beat longer before he gently lets go, his expression solidifying into something resolute. “Back to the hotel, then.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Xayden agrees, casting me a look—half teasing, half smoldering. “Wouldn’t want to give the stage crew more of a show than they’re paid for.”
I laugh, swallowing back the thrill that courses through my veins. Between the playful teasing and the lingering tension, I’m more than ready to slip away from prying eyes and enjoy a little privacy with them.
CHAPTER 46
Todd
She’s close.It hums in my blood, an instinctual awareness that Ashlyn’s heat is coming. Her scent is richer, sweeter, curling around me like a slow, intoxicating fog. I don’t have to see her to know—every cell in my body is attuned to her now.
We’re really going to set the media on fire when we cancel the next couple of shows.
Xayden and West are already restless, their energy wired too tight. Even Jake has been more protective, his eyes always flicking toward Ash when she’s around like he’s making sure she’s still in her right mind. We all feel it.
And I know she does too.
She steps out of her bedroom, her hair damp from a shower, her matching pajama set hugging the curves of her hips. The scent of her shampoo—something light and floral—mixes with the shift in her pheromones, and every one of us notices.
She pauses by the floor-to-ceiling window, arms folding loosely as she stares out at the desert landscape. The dry mountain in the distance is bathed in soft moonlight, casting long, stretching shadows across the sand.
“It’s really pretty,” she says, breaking the silence. “The show has never brought me to Arizona.”
“The heat really kicks in during the summer,” Xayden replies, his voice casual, though his gaze hasn’t left her. “It’s so dry it feels like one breath will ignite your lungs.”
I lean back in the armchair, watching her. “The canyon is beautiful. I’m surprised you never came out here on your own.”
She shrugs, shifting slightly. “Honestly, I threw myself into my job. That was my life. Filming, finding candidates, working?—”
The way she trails off makes something tighten in my chest. The silence that follows is heavy, full of things we all wish had gone differently.
She sucks in a breath, shaking it off. “But that was my choice. Right?”
“Ash,” I say, my voice steady, because I need her to hear this. “I know we’ve talked about what we did… but I have to say it again. We never should have made you choose.” I pause, feeling the weight of my words settle between us. “And we will never make you choose again. From here on out, all of us will prove that.”
She waves my words away like they don’t matter, her gaze flicking back to the glass. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not,” West says, his voice quiet but firm. “Before you go into a full-blown heat and none of us can think straight, you need to know you can trust us.”
She smiles, glancing back at West. “I do. Do you really think I would be here, right this second, if I didn’t have full trust in each of you? I’d be shooting myself up with a heat blocker or checking into a clinic. Instead, I’m here, so hyper aware of each of you I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin. Like I’m just waiting for the excuse of my heat to let you get closer. Why wait?”
Silence crashes over the room like a tidal wave.
West stares at her, his usual calm cracking just slightly at the edges. Xayden’s lips part, his usual cocky grin nowhere to be found. Jake shifts in his seat, exhaling deeply through his nose like he’s trying to ground himself.
And I’m barely keeping my shit together.
Because her words? They slam into me like a wrecking ball. No hesitation. No second-guessing. Just pure, unfiltered honesty that knocks the air right out of my lungs.
She trusts us. Completely. And she’s done waiting. And there is definitelynotgoing to be any checking into a heat clinic with us around.
