Page 124 of Scrum Heat

My bond to her is thrumming in my chest like a second heartbeat, and I lift my head just enough to look down at her. She’s blinking slowly, lips parted, lashes fluttering against her cheeks. She looks completely undone.

“Hey,” I say, voice hoarse. “You alright?”

She smiles. It’s lazy and content and a little dazed. “Pretty sure I just blacked out.”

“Same,” Theo snorts, already lying beside us with one arm draped over his forehead. “I’m gonna start charging you for the performance fee next time.”

“Shut up,” I mutter, but there’s no heat behind it.

Frankie giggles—giggles, which should be illegal considering I’m still buried inside her—and reaches for Theo’s hand without lifting her face from the pillow.

“Still alive?” she asks.

“Barely,” Theo says. “You drained me. Emotionally. Physically. Sexually. I should be in a museum. Displayed next to a caution sign.”

I groan, pressing my lips to the back of Frankie’s shoulder. “You’re ridiculous.”

“I’mperfect, and I just got edged for twenty minutes watching your emotionally repressed ass discover the meaning of life in her vagina.”

Frankie bursts into laughter. It shakes her whole body beneath mine, and I swear I feel it down to where we’re still joined.

“I hate that I’m not even mad at that sentence,” she says, voice muffled.

“You loved it,” Theo says smugly, scooting closer. “I give it thirty seconds before you start purring again.”

“She doesn’tpurr,” I argue, indignant on her behalf.

Frankie snorts. “I one hundred percent do.”

“Thank you.” Theo pats her hip. “See? Honesty. That’s how healthy packs work.”

We go quiet for a few long, soft moments.

The room is warm, sticky with sweat and slick and scent. My body’s still knotted tight inside her, and yet the silence isn't awkward, it'ssettled. Theo’s hand traces lazy, spiralling shapes across Frankie’s thigh while my nose stays buried in the crook of her shoulder, breathing her in.

There’s a throb in my chest. It’s not pain, not pressure: just something too big to fit. My hand slides over her ribs and comes to rest just below her breast. Her skin is damp, and warm—

And mine.

That’sthe part I still can’t wrap my head around.

This… wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to me. I’ve spent most of my life doing what was expected: being Captain of the rugby team, looking out for my younger siblings, keeping thingstogether.

There’s no doubt about it: my dad’s a traditional alpha. The thought of a bonded pack is something he’d scoff at without hesitation.

“It’s chaos.Diluted. No alpha worth his salt chooses a life of halves.”

For a good while, I’d believed him. Enough that I never questioned why I always felt like something was missing, why every girl I touched felt like a box being ticked, why I could play protector, play provider, but never reallybewith someone.

Until Frankie.

She’s chaos, sure—but she’s notdiluted.

She’s sharp edges and soft skin. She makesyouwant to be hers; and not because youhaveto, but because she sees you.

Because she makes you want to show up, even when you don’t know how.

I didn’t think I had room for this kind of bond. I didn’t think I deserved to want it. But then she smiled at me like I’d already said yes, and now—

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