Wyatt’s gaze cuts to me, and something hot flashes in it. “He didn’t.”
Maddie’s mouth twitches. “Okay, alpha.”
Wyatt doesn’t react.
Maddie looks at Saxon. “What’s the plan?”
Saxon’s voice is flat. “Cooper thinks a ring is the solution.”
Maddie’s brows lift. She turns to Wyatt. “A ring.”
Wyatt’s tone doesn’t soften. “Temporary.”
Maddie glances at me. “And you?”
I swallow hard. “I think it’s insane.”
Maddie nods like that tracks. Then she says, quiet, to me, “Rangers aren’t the only men who track.”
My skin prickles.
I look at her. “What does that mean?”
Maddie’s gaze flicks to Wyatt, then back to me, like she’s weighing her words. “It means whoever is circling you doesn’t need a badge to be good at it. It means you stop underestimating how far some men go when they think you belong to them.”
My stomach turns.
Wyatt’s hand lowers slightly, phone still in his grip, but his body shifts closer to mine like he’s aligning himself between me and the world.
Ethan’s voice goes calm and firm. “If you’re going to do this, do it fast. Threats don’t wait for paperwork.”
Saxon nods once. “Agreed.”
Levi pops his head in the doorway again like a golden retriever who heard the word “walk.” “Is there cake?”
Sadie grabs him by the collar and yanks him away. “Shut up.”
Wyatt looks at me. “We go now.”
I stare back, throat tight. “Wyatt?—”
“Ellie.”
My name in his voice is a command.
I hate that my body likes it.
I lift my chin. “If we do this, it’s a deal. Temporary. Strategic. No feelings.”
Wyatt’s eyes drag down the flannel I’m wearing—his flannel—then back up. “No feelings,” he repeats, like he’s humoring me.
I narrow my eyes. “Don’t say it like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you don’t believe me.”
Wyatt’s mouth tilts. “I don’t believe you.”
