Chapter 5
Ellie
Wyatt doesn’t raise his voice when he reads the text, but everything in the room shifts like he did.
Saxon is behind his desk, calm and granite-hard, Levi and Sadie hovering in the doorway like they were born for chaos, and I’m standing there with my phone in my hand and Graham’s message glowing like a brand on the screen.
I know where you’re hiding.
Wyatt takes the phone from me without asking.
It’s not rude. It’s automatic. Like breathing. Like he’s already decided my fear is his problem.
His eyes flick across the message once, and then he looks at Saxon.
“He’s escalating,” Saxon says, like it’s a weather report.
Wyatt’s jaw flexes. “He’s testing.”
Sadie’s gaze pins me. “Who is he?”
I open my mouth and nothing comes out clean. The truth is thick. Embarrassing. Dangerous.
Levi makes a low sound. “Oh, it’s the ex. It’s always the ex.”
Sadie elbows him hard enough he shuts up.
Saxon steeples his fingers, eyes on Wyatt. “We can run it through the sheriff.”
Wyatt’s expression doesn’t change. “He’s a banker.”
That lands like a slap. Because it’s true. Graham doesn’t need to break into cabins when he can break you with paperwork and polite smiles. He does it in daylight, wearing a tie, calling it “procedure.”
Saxon studies Wyatt. “What do you want to do?”
Wyatt’s gaze cuts to me. It holds. Dark, steady, too intense for an office with witnesses.
“I want her shielded,” he says.
My throat tightens. “I’m right here.”
“I know,” he says without looking away. “That’s the point.”
Saxon’s voice goes cool. “Cooper.”
Wyatt finally blinks. “The only thing he respects is ownership.”
My stomach flips.
Saxon’s brow lifts. “You’re going to say that again, slower.”
Wyatt’s mouth doesn’t soften. “A ring. A name. A claim he can’t challenge without looking like he’s threatening another man’s wife.”
Heat crawls up my neck even as fear presses on my ribs. “Excuse me?”
Wyatt turns his body toward me fully, like the rest of the room doesn’t exist. “You want him to stop?”
I swallow. “I want him to go away.”
“He won’t,” Wyatt says. “Not without consequences. Not without a line he can’t cross.”
Sadie steps forward, voice sharp. “Ellie, this isn’t about pride.”
My laugh comes out thin. “Everything is about pride in this town.”
Levi whistles. “She’s got you there.”
Sadie shoots him a look that could kill.
Wyatt’s gaze stays on mine. “This isn’t a real marriage. It’s strategic.”
My pulse spikes at the word marriage.
“Strategic,” I repeat, like saying it makes it less insane. “So you’re telling me the solution to my psycho ex is… you.”
Wyatt’s mouth tilts, almost a smirk. “I’m a pretty good solution.”
I stare at him. “You’re also Wade’s best friend.”
His eyes go darker. “And you’re still standing here.”
Saxon clears his throat, a warning sound. “Cooper. You’re crossing into personal.”
Wyatt doesn’t look away from me. “It’s always been personal.”
The air goes tight.
I feel everyone in the room stop breathing. Even Levi.
Saxon’s expression stays controlled, but his eyes sharpen. “That’s my point.”
Wyatt’s gaze finally flicks to Saxon. “You want him to keep circling her? Or you want him to see a ring and back off?”
Saxon holds Wyatt’s stare. “And you?”
Wyatt’s voice goes low. “I want him afraid to breathe near her.”
My stomach drops straight into heat.
That’s the problem with Wyatt. Even when he’s being terrifying, it’s… it’s doing things to me.
I force my voice steady. “You’re acting like he’s going to show up with a knife.”
Sadie’s face tightens. “They don’t start with knives.”
I hate that she’s right.
Wyatt steps closer, and it’s subtle, but I feel it like gravity. “Tell me you don’t want a shield.”
I lift my chin. “I don’t want to need one.”
Wyatt’s gaze flicks to my mouth. “That’s not what I asked.”
I swallow hard. My pride wants to spit in his face. My fear wants to crawl under his skin and live there.
“I want him to stop,” I say finally.
Wyatt nods once, like that’s the only answer he needed.
Saxon’s voice cuts in. “Temporary means temporary. You don’t make my station your soap opera.”
Wyatt doesn’t blink. “Not a soap opera.”
Saxon’s eyes narrow. “Then what is it?”
Wyatt’s voice stays calm. “A courthouse signature.”
Levi makes a choking noise. “Oh my God. We’re doing it. We’re doing a wedding.”
Sadie grabs Levi’s sleeve and yanks him back. “Go be useful.”
Levi holds up his hands, grinning. “I am useful. I’m morale.”
Saxon’s gaze stays on Wyatt. “You mix duty with obsession and you get people hurt.”
Wyatt’s jaw tightens. “I’m not mixing anything.”
Saxon’s eyes cut to me. “Ellie. You understand what you’re agreeing to?”
I open my mouth, then close it again, because if I say it out loud, it becomes real.
Wyatt steps closer again, voice dropping so only I can hear it. “You’re shaking.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
I hate him for noticing. I hate myself for wanting his attention anyway.
I lift my gaze. “You’re enjoying being right.”
His mouth twitches. “I’m enjoying you in my space.”
My breath catches.
Saxon’s chair scrapes against the floor. “Enough. Cooper—if you’re doing this, you do it clean. No games.”
Wyatt’s eyes flick to Saxon. “No games.”
Saxon points a finger. “And if this goes sideways, you call me. You don’t play lone wolf.”
Wyatt’s jaw flexes like he doesn’t like being told what to do. Then he nods once. “Understood.”
Saxon’s gaze shifts to me again. “You want Sadie to go with you?”
I shake my head quickly. “No. I—”
Wyatt cuts in. “She’s coming with me.”
Sadie lifts a brow. “Excuse you?”
Wyatt doesn’t even look at her. “Stay close enough to see who’s watching. Then go home.”
Levi grins. “He’s bossy.”
Sadie’s mouth tilts like she finds it annoying and hot, which… same.
I exhale, trying to wrangle my thoughts into something coherent. “This is crazy.”
Wyatt’s gaze pins me. “You want another option?”
I clench my jaw. “I want my shop back.”
Wyatt’s voice goes quiet. “We’ll get it.”
The certainty hits me like a hand on my throat. I can’t tell if it’s comforting or dangerous.
Probably both.
A soft knock taps at Saxon’s office door.
Maddie appears in the doorway with Ethan behind her, both of them dressed like they stepped out of the woods—ranger gear, calm eyes, that steady way of moving like they’re always tracking something.
Maddie takes one look at my face, then the tension in the room, then Wyatt’s posture, and she whistles low.
“Well,” she says, strolling in like she owns the place. “This feels fun.”
Ethan’s gaze flicks over Wyatt, then me. “Everything okay?”
“Define okay,” I mutter, because apparently that’s my brand now.
Maddie’s eyes land on the phone in Wyatt’s hand. “Threat text?”
Wyatt nods once.
Maddie’s gaze shifts to me. “Who is he?”
I press my lips together.
Maddie’s expression doesn’t change. She just steps closer, lowers her voice. “You don’t have to say his name if it feels like giving him power.”
My throat tightens. “It’s my ex.”
Maddie’s eyes sharpen. “Mm.”
Ethan’s jaw tightens too. “And he found you.”
I lift a shoulder like I’m not crumbling. “He thinks he did.”
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.”
Heat flashes in my cheeks. “Excuse me?”
He steps close enough that I have to tilt my head back. His voice drops, low and unapologetic. “You came to my cabin off a bride ad. You’re wearing my shirt. You’ve been arguing with me since you walked in, and your pulse jumps every time I get close.”
My breath catches. “You don’t know what my pulse does.”
Wyatt’s gaze flicks to my throat. “I do.”
I hate him. I hate that he’s right. I hate that I want to bite him just to see if he flinches.
I force my voice steady. “We’re doing this for protection.”
Wyatt’s eyes hold mine, dark and unfiltered. “We’re doing this because I said you’re not going to be touched.”
My stomach flips again.
Saxon clears his throat. “Cooper. Tone.”
Wyatt doesn’t look away from me. “I’m controlled.”
Saxon’s eyes narrow like he’s not buying it. “Don’t make me regret letting you walk out of here.”
Wyatt finally turns his head slightly. “You won’t.”
Maddie steps closer to me, lowering her voice again. “You sure?”
I swallow. “No.”
Maddie nods like that’s the honest answer. “Good. Do it anyway.”
That’s the thing about Maddie—she doesn’t coddle. She just plants steel in your spine and expects you to stand.
Wyatt’s hand closes around my wrist. Not tight. Firm. Possessive in a way that makes my skin heat.
“You’re coming,” he says.
I glare at him. “I have legs.”
“I know,” he murmurs. “I’ve noticed.”
My breath stutters.
I yank my wrist free just to prove I can, then walk toward the bay doors with my head up, like I’m not about to marry my brother’s best friend in a courthouse because my ex won’t let me breathe.
Wyatt falls into step beside me like he owns the sidewalk.
We opens the passenger door of his truck and waits, watching me like he’s daring me to argue.
I climb in anyway, flannel riding up my thighs, and I refuse to think about the fact that I have nothing under it but underwear because my clothes are locked inside my shop.
Wyatt’s gaze flicks down once when I swing my legs in.
His jaw tightens.
He says nothing.
Which is worse.
The courthouse is small-town bland—linoleum floors, beige walls, a bored clerk behind thick glass. The kind of place where lives get changed between lunch breaks.
Wyatt walks in like he belongs everywhere.
I walk in like I’m pretending my heart isn’t trying to kick through my ribs.
We reach the counter.
The clerk looks up, eyes flicking from Wyatt to me, then to the flannel like she’s deciding if she should ask questions.
Wyatt slides his ID across the counter.
The clerk taps at her keyboard, then looks at me. “Name?”
I give it, voice steady enough.
She prints forms, pushes them toward us. “This is a legal marriage. Not a symbolic one.”
“I know,” I say, mouth dry.
Wyatt’s hand lands on my lower back, light but commanding. “She knows.”
The clerk’s eyes narrow slightly, like she’s seen a thousand impulsive couples and can smell panic.
She looks at me again, softer now. “Ma’am… are you sure?”
My throat tightens.
I open my mouth.
Wyatt answers before I can.
“Yes,” he says, calm as a vow. “She’s sure.”
Fifteen minutes later, I’ve signed my life away to Wyatt Cooper.
Or saved it.
Only time will tell.
We walk out of the courthouse shoulder to shoulder, my stomach twisting in knots with each step.
Yesterday my future was bright, filled with hope, but my ex stole all of that, and now today, I am his. Wyatt Cooper’s wife. God help us all.