Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
WREN
The clear-headedness was like a thread in water—visible for a second, then gone.
But I grasped it with both hands.
Rhett’s teasing helped. His playful charm cut through the suffocating swirl of need that had pinned me to the walls of my own body. Jay’s concern anchored me, practical and quiet, never crowding, never asking for more than I could give. And Roan…
Roan was bedrock.
I watched them now from where I sat, still trembling, still aching, but not drowning.
Not yet.
They stood in a loose triangle a few feet away from me, angled slightly toward one another, not speaking. But something passed between them. A look. A shift of breath. A weight of silence that said more than words ever could.
And I realized, all at once, that I’d never really seen them before.
Not like this.
Not like someone who wanted them.
Roan stood the tallest, broad and cut from glacier stone, pale blonde hair immaculately short, steel-gray eyes as sharp as ever—but softer, too.
There was something in his stillness, in the calm he wrapped himself in, that felt like a shield thrown over all of us.
That calm had always impressed me professionally.
Now, it burned.
The control he wielded over himself… the discipline of a man who had locked away his instincts for years. I could feel it, pulsing under his skin like heat beneath ice. And still, he didn’t move toward me. Didn’t even shift his weight. His restraint wasn’t rejection—it was reverence.
And maybe that was the worst part.
Because I could feel how badly he wanted to move.
My eyes dragged to Rhett, standing just slightly off to Roan’s left, coiled and twitchy.
All fire and honey-brown skin, his dark curls a little unruly from the hat he’d worn, brown eyes still sharp despite the aching edge of desperation beneath his usual swagger.
He was beautiful in a way that always made people turn around twice—and when he smiled, it was lethal.
Right now, he wasn’t smiling.
But the wildness in him wasn’t hostile. It was devoted. He vibrated with the need to protect, to touch, to give. His lips were parted like he was holding back words—or something more primal—and his hands were fists at his sides.
He'd go feral if I asked him to.
God help me, that idea made me shudder.
Then there was Jay.
Dark where the others were light, sharp where they were broad.
His black hair fell in a slant across his brow like it had been styled that way by intention, not wind.
His lean frame moved with quiet grace as he adjusted something on the counter—some clutter I hadn’t realized I’d left.
His hands were elegant, long fingers deft as he cleaned without fanfare.
He didn’t look at me. Not yet.
But he was listening.
Jay always listened.
The beta.
Or… maybe not.
Because when my scent rose again—slight, unwilling, but undeniably mine—I saw the shift in his spine. The way his head tilted, slow and deliberate, like a predator catching the edge of something they weren’t supposed to crave.
He didn’t show hunger.
He showed awareness.
Of me.
Of us.
And still, none of them moved.
Not toward me. Not toward each other. Just three distinct storms caught in the same current. All of them watching. Waiting.
For me.
I exhaled slowly. My body was still burning, still on fire in places I could barely stand to notice. But the pulse of it had slowed, just enough for thought.
Just enough for desire to settle into fascination.
My gaze moved from Jay to Rhett, then to Roan—and back again.
This was the situation I’d been hiding to avoid. Not just the heat. Not just the loss of control.
It was them.
And what I might mean to them.
And yet…
They came.
They found me.
For a long moment, none of us moved.
Not even to breathe.
But I had asked them to stay.
And they had.
No hesitation.
Just quiet, restrained chaos pressed into male bodies, all three of them wrestling with their own urges and instincts and not touching me—because I hadn’t said they could.
And because Roan wouldn’t let them.
That authority didn’t come with loud declarations. He hadn’t had to growl or posture or throw his weight around. It radiated from him like gravity—quiet, dense, unshakable.
It steadied them.
It steadied me.
Enough to breathe through the worst of the heat flare. Enough to let my body settle into a strange place—still needy, still aching, but no longer frenzied.
Still mine.
Which was maybe the most important part.
My breath came easier now, even if my body still trembled.
I took another sip of water, knees drawn up toward my chest on the edge of the sofa.
They’d all given me space without needing to be asked.
Even Rhett, who looked like someone had tied him to the floorboards and whispered don’t move straight into his bloodstream.
I glanced up at them.
Three men. Three monsters.
My monsters.
Don’t think like that.
“Okay,” I said slowly, voice hoarse but clearer than it had been. “If I remember correctly… we were placing bets on the weather.”
Rhett lit up like I’d handed him a loaded squirt gun and pointed at a room full of suits. “Hell yes, we were. And I stand by my guess, blizzard. The kind where you can’t see the road signs, and someone loses a boot trying to check the mail.”
Jay rolled his eyes and leaned a hip against the counter. “It’s not even snowing that hard right now. My guess is light snow overnight, clear by morning.”
Roan’s gaze slid from one to the other, then to me.
“Four more inches by midnight. Wind advisory. Ice warnings on secondary roads. Your basic shut-it-down storm.”
I blinked at him.
“Are you… quoting the forecast or making your bet?”
His mouth twitched. “Just a guess.”
Of course it was. He probably was the forecast.
I blinked again, brain catching up. “Wait… does anyone have a phone?”
“Just you,” Jay said, his voice mild as he straightened. He reached into his hoodie pocket and handed it over. “It started pinging again about twenty minutes ago. I silenced it.”
I stared at him. “How did you…?”
“You left it in the kitchen.” A pause. “Under a towel. Not exactly state-of-the-art hiding.”
I took the phone from him carefully, our fingers not touching.
The heat in me pulsed, deep and slow and unrelenting.
But it didn’t spike.
Okay. Okay…
I unlocked the screen with a shaky thumb, ignoring the dozens of notifications lining my feed. Sports updates, PR pings, news alerts, and—
Yep. There it was. Weather app already open in a background window, probably from earlier in the week.
I refreshed it.
Then looked up.
“Well?” Rhett asked, leaning forward like a very excited golden retriever trying to solve a murder mystery.
I raised a brow. “Anyone want to change their bet?”
Roan just gave me that patient, unreadable look.
Jay tilted his head.
Rhett made an exaggerated “nope” gesture with both hands.
“Alright then,” I murmured.
I read the screen out loud.
“Current temperature, twelve degrees. Wind chill bringing it down to two. Snowfall expected to continue through the evening. Accumulation: four to five inches. Icy road warnings in effect through tomorrow morning…”
I looked up at Roan.
“You win.”
His smile—small, faint, just the barest uptick of his lips—still somehow hit me low and hard.
“Of course he does,” Jay muttered, pushing off the counter. “He’s probably telepathically linked to the fucking Doppler radar.”
“Don’t be jealous,” Rhett said, but he was already grinning. “We’ll just beat him in the next round.”
Roan looked at me then, and even from across the room, I felt the quiet weight of his attention. “So, Wren. We placed our bets.”
My pulse tripped.
“Time to collect,” Rhett added, a little too bright, a little too sharp.
And I realized—
This was what it felt like to be wanted by all three of them.
No pressure.
No demands.
Just open hands and simmering patience and want so deep I could feel it anchoring me to the earth.
And the only one who got to decide what happened next… was me.
I could still feel the heat curling inside me, but something about Roan’s steady presence gave me a buffer, made it if not easier, then possible to breathe.
His quiet confidence and his patience acted like an anchor.
It was so easy to sink into that, to let him take control in the way he knew best. How he always knew best.
Of course, Roan had won. It was so him—never take a bet he wasn’t sure about. Never do anything half-assed. It didn’t matter if it was on the ice or in a game of odds about weather. Roan knew.
Yet, even now, as I tried to hold onto a fragile clarity, I was still left strung tight.
His quiet dominance was soothing in one moment, but in the next, it felt like too much.
The weight of everything pressed down on me again, like it always did when I allowed myself to truly feel the space I was in with them.
The presence of their bodies. The scent of them—fresh, masculine, burning-hot, and unyielding.
“Are you going to help me sleep?” I asked before I could stop myself, and even as the words left my mouth, I was surprised by the vulnerability that bled into my voice.
Roan’s eyes softened, but his jaw remained taut. “That was the bet,” he answered, his voice just as even, just as controlled as ever. But then he added, “Do you want to take a bath first? Eat something?” He raised a brow, clearly offering the decision to me.
I blinked, caught off-guard. He’s giving me control.
No one had ever done that before—not like this. Not with so much care woven into the offer. I could see the surprise flicker in both Jay and Rhett’s eyes. Neither of them had expected this from Roan—Roan Whittaker, the man who always had a plan, who was always the rock.
But he was handing it over to me. All of it. I could feel the weight of it. What does that mean?
Part of me wanted to give in. Wanted to let him take care of everything, to fall into the quiet, open strength he was offering me. But I didn’t—couldn’t—give in that easily. My thoughts were a tangled mess.
“Maybe… sleep first?” I said slowly, testing the waters. “I don’t know that I can really eat, and I’ve showered so much already… maybe a bath later?”
Roan’s face softened further, the sharp lines of control in his expression melting away. He nodded, just once, as if it was already decided.
“Sleep it is,” he said, his voice gentle but firm. “Let’s get you into bed.”
As he moved toward me with that purposeful grace that always had a way of putting everyone else on pause, I felt myself pull back. Not in fear, but in uncertainty. The flood of everything swirling inside me made it hard to know what was right anymore.
Rising, I forced deeper breaths. My legs felt weak, and for the first time, I didn’t want to be alone. Not with the heat still coursing through my veins, not when the temptation to give in to everything was this strong.
I paused in the doorway that separated the main room from the bedroom.
I wasn’t sure what to say—what I should say—but in the end, the question slipped out of me, unexpected, almost reckless. “Will you stay?” My voice was soft, fragile in the air between us, but I didn’t care anymore.
I knew the consequences of what I was asking. The consequences of needing them so badly. Of wanting them too much.
But I still asked. “I know if you stay… it might mean you’re trapped here with me.”
Roan’s gaze never wavered. His hand settled on my back, the blanket and the tank top I wore, keeping his skin from touching mine.
Everything about him remained steady and calm, but his eyes?
They were sharp, full of something that made me feel seen, understood.
His voice rumbled low in the room. “I’m staying. ”
Then Jay spoke up, his voice carrying a seriousness that cut through the earlier tension. “We all are.”
Rhett, too, didn’t hesitate. “Yeah. I’m not leaving.”
They didn’t even flinch at the thought of being stuck here with me. It was something—something that shouldn’t have been this simple, yet was.
I didn’t have to make the decision for them. They had already made it for me. For a fleeting moment, that sensation of relief flooded me all over again.
They were staying. They were here. For me.
I couldn’t explain why that felt so monumental, but I didn’t need to. All I knew was that for the first time in… forever, I wasn’t alone.
Maybe, just maybe, I could stop pretending I could do it all myself.
Roan’s hand slid to my shoulder as he gently coaxed me into the room, his presence grounding me. Rhett and Jay remained in place, just outside the door, but I could feel them. Even without looking, I knew they were there.
It was a strange sort of peace, surrounded by all of them—my strength, my security, my monsters.
I stepped into the room, feeling the weight of everything shift again, but this time… in a way I couldn’t explain. Or maybe I didn’t have to.
I wasn’t sure of the future. But I was sure of this moment.
I wasn’t alone.
Not anymore.