Page 10 of Charged By the Razorbacks

“I’m injured,” she said, like that explained everything. “I should get a pass.”

Aleksy stared at her. Processing her reaction, rewinding the conversation and reassessing everything.

Then—her eyes shifted. Just slightly before that edge came back. Her expression turned cunning.

Not gone at all.

His breath left him in a sharp exhale that almost turned into a laugh. “You’re playing me.”

Her lips curved. “Maybe. Just a little.”

Aleksy huffed a breath, shaking his head once as something in his chest eased—not completely, not fully, but enough. “Unbelievable.”

His hand came up again, cupping her face this time, thumb brushing lightly along her cheek where the tears hadn’t actually fallen.

His gaze locked on hers.

“We won’t allow you to be hurt,” he said quietly.

Not a promise. A fact.

Her expression shifted again.

Not soft. Not yielding. Never that. But—aware. Before she could respond—Jarek stepped in, reached toward her, hands settling at her hips, and with a controlled, deliberate movement, turned her so that her back pressed into Aleksy’s chest, her body caught between them.

Aleksy stilled.

Not pulling away. Not loosening his hold. Because she fit perfectly between them, and that was exactly where she belonged.

Jarek stood in front of her now, close enough that there wasn’t space between them, his gaze dropping briefly—not subtle.

Her curves pressed into both of them, the contact immediate, unavoidable, heat building fast in the space between three bodies that suddenly felt too confined.

Aleksy’s breath shifted.

Lower.

Jarek exhaled slowly. “Jesus.”

A beat. Then he dragged his focus back up to her face. Before it went somewhere else entirely.

“Before I get distracted,” Jarek said, voice rougher now, controlled only just, “you’re going to explain something to me.”

Tamsin’s head tilted slightly, not intimidated, not backing down despite where she stood. “Am I?”

Jarek’s gaze sharpened. “Yes.”

A pause.

Then—

“How the hell did you shut the connection off?” he asked. “And how have you been doing it this whole time?”

The question hung there.

And for the first time since they’d found her—they weren’t just reacting. They were starting to understand what she was capable of.

She didn’t move out of them.