46. Todd
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 definitely not going to be any checking into a heat clinic with us around.
West swallows, his fingers curling into fists at his sides like he’s trying to keep himself from reaching for her. “Ash…”
Her eyes flick to him, then to me, then to the others. “What?” she challenges, arching a brow. “You’re going to sit there and pretend like none of you want this too? Like you don’t already feel my heat coming and it isn’t making you crazy?”
I exhale slowly, gripping the armrest of the chair just to keep myself from crossing the space between us. My blood is hot, my skin buzzing, and all of it has to do with her words. They echo in my head. I want this. More than I’ve ever wanted anything.
Xayden moves first. He unfolds from the couch and crosses the room to her. “We’ve been going crazy long before you were going into heat, sweetheart.”
“Yeah?” she breathes, looking up at him from beneath her lashes.
“Yeah,” he confirms. He traces his thumb over her jawline and tilts her head up even further before he kisses her.
The action has the rest of us reacting—moving.
I’m on my feet before I even realize it, the pulse in my veins thrumming like a damn bass line.
Xayden’s mouth moves against hers, slow and deliberate, like he’s savoring the taste of her, and Ashlyn melts into him, her hands curling into his shirt. Her scent spikes—sweet, intoxicating, wrapping around all of us like a tether we’re powerless to fight.
Jake exhales, rubbing the back of his neck like he’s trying to be the rational one, but even he’s watching too intently, his breathing uneven.
West is rigid, his jaw clenched, hands flexing at his sides. But his eyes are locked on Ash like he’s memorizing every second.
I take a step closer, drawn in by the pure need radiating off her, off all of us. The waiting, the restraint—it’s unraveling, thread by thread.
Xayden pulls back first, his thumb tracing her lower lip, his voice rough. “Still think we’re waiting?”
Ash sways slightly, her breath shaky, pupils blown wide. She turns her head just enough to catch my gaze, and fuck—I can’t hold back.
In two strides, I’m there, fingers brushing her cheek before I tilt her face up to mine. Her lips are still parted, still soft from Xayden’s kiss, and when I close the distance, she meets me halfway.
It’s different. I kiss her slower, deeper, letting her feel every damn thing I haven’t said out loud. Her fingers skim up my chest, clutching the fabric of my shirt, and the quiet sound she makes in the back of her throat sends a shiver down my spine.
The air shifts again, electric.
Jake moves in next, standing at her back, his body close but not touching—waiting for her to turn to him.
And she does.
She leans into him, her head tilting as his hands find her hips, his chest pressing warm and solid against her back.
West is the last one standing still, but not for long.
Ashlyn glances at him, her lips swollen, her breathing uneven, and something in him snaps.
West kisses her like he’s reclaiming something lost—something stolen by time, by mistakes, by all the years they spent apart. His hands frame her face, strong but reverent, as if he’s trying to tell her everything he never said before. And she melts into it, her body surrendering, her hands sliding up his chest like she’s been waiting just as long.
Xayden’s still close, his breath warm against her neck, watching with something smug and satisfied. “Took you long enough,” he murmurs.
Jake chuckles low, his hands firm on her waist. “He always did overthink things.”
Ash pulls back from West first, her breath uneven, eyes shining. She looks at each of us, taking us in, and there’s no doubt in my mind—she wants this as much as we do.
“This is how it’s supposed to be,” I murmur, my voice rough with emotion.
Her lips part, something unspoken lingering in her gaze.
“All of us,” West adds, his thumb still tracing slow circles against her skin.
Together.