Page 114 of Run Wild Omega
It doesn’t work. My chest is heaving. My hands are shaking. And my cock is still hard, straining against my jeans like it doesn’t give a damn that I’m furious. Because all my body knows is that Tess was naked in that bed. That she was flushed and bitten and satisfied. That the room reeked of her pleasure, and some feral, territorial part of my biology wants to march back in there and replace Miles’s scent with mine.
I press the heel of my hand against my erection and curse under my breath.
Footsteps in the hallway. Lighter ones, uneven, the cadence of someone on crutches.
“Don’t you dare make me run after you in a cast,” Tess says behind me.
I swallow. My jaw is clenched so tight my molars ache. I turn.
She’s standing at the end of the hallway, propped on her crutches, wearing Miles’s white T-shirt. It hangs to mid-thigh on her, swallowing her frame. Her hair is a disaster. Her eyes are puffy from sleep. There’s a bite mark on her neck that I can see from ten feet away.
She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
“I’m sorry,” Miles says, appearing behind her. He’s pulled on his sweatpants, his chest still bare, and his expression is a wreck of guilt and defiance. “Wyatt, I can explain. We were drinking, and I brought her here because she didn’t want to go home, and one thing led to… I should have—”
“Can Wyatt and I please have a moment?” Tess says, cutting him off without looking at him. Her eyes are locked on mine.
Miles hesitates. I can see the war on his face. Every instinct in him is telling him not to leave her alone with me while I’m like this. But Tess reaches back without looking and finds his hand. She squeezes once.
He nods. He leans down, presses a kiss to her forehead, and walks past me toward the front door. He grabs his coat and keys on the way out. The door clicks shut behind him.
The silence that follows is suffocating.
Tess stands in the hallway, her knuckles white on the crutch grips. I stand by the sofa, my arms crossed over my chest, my entire body rigid. The T-shirt she’s wearing has his scent baked into the fabric. It’s everywhere on her.
“You slept with him,” I say.
“I did.”
I nod, staring at a point on the wall above her head. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on? Because I thought we were filing registration documents this morning to keep the fake relationship going and keep you safe. I didn’t realize the schedule included… this.”
“Wyatt…”
“I mean, I get it. He’s smart. He’s safe. He’s never made you cry. I’m just your ex.”
“That’s not fair.”
“None of this is fair, Tess!”
The words rip out of me louder than I intended. She flinches. I close my eyes, dragging a hand down my face.
“I know I don’t have the right to tell you who to date,” I say, forcing the words through a tightened throat. “I know that. You’re not mine. You were never mine. I made sure of that when I walked away from you ten years ago. So if you want Miles, if you want to pursue something with him, that’s your choice. I’ll deal with it.”
“Have you considered,” she says, her voice cracking, “that I don’t just want Miles?”
I open my eyes. She has tears tracking down her cheeks, her chin trembling as she holds my gaze.
“I’m falling for all three of you,” she whispers. “I didn’t plan this. I didn’t wake up one morning and decide I wanted a pack. I didn’t even know how much I wanted you, any of you, until you offered yourselves up. Every single one of you has shown me something I didn’t know I was starving for. Miles makes me feel seen. Dylan makes me feel brave. And you…”
She stops. Swallows.
“You make me feel like I’m home.”
The words hit me like a round to the chest. My throat closes. My eyes burn.
“Tess…”
“I know you pushed me away. I know you had your reasons. But I need you to hear me say this. I’m not choosing. I’m not picking one of you over the others. If that means I’m greedy, or selfish, or broken, then fine. But I’m done pretending that what I feel for you isn’t real just because it scares me.”
