Page 124 of Run Wild Omega

“That was a man named Rourke. He’s been calling the main lodge line all morning. I’ve blocked his number.”

My stomach drops. “He found the number?”

“Honey, that man could find the number for God’s waiting room.” She crosses her arms. “You don’t worry about him. He goes through you, he goes through me first. And I’ve got a fireplace poker with his name on it.”

Mara reaches across the cutting table and squeezes my hand. Her face is pale, her jaw tight, and I know she’s thinking about Jonathan, about the pack she escaped, about the web of control that keeps reaching for the people she loves.

I squeeze back.

We keep working.

That evening, after Mrs. Lacey feeds us a pot roast that does, in fact, have the power to resurrect the dead, Mara and I sit by the fire in the common room. The cushions are stripped, the curtains are measured, and the mantelpiece quote is finished. Our work is done.

The fire crackles. Mara has a mug of cider cradled in her hands. I’m curled into the corner of the sofa, my cast propped on an ottoman, a blanket over my lap.

“Mara, can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“If I pursue this, if I actually go through with it on Saturday and tell them I want all three of them, what happens to Leo? What happens to the company?”

She frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, the lawsuit is still hanging over Sweet Creek Adventures. Miller is using my accident to go after Leo for gross negligence. If I’m tangled up with three men, if the media catches wind of a pack dynamic before the registration is filed, Rourke will use it. He’ll say I’m being passed around, that the pack is illegitimate, that Leo enabled an irresponsible Omega. The PR fallout could tank the case before Daniel even gets to court. Do you think I should at least talk to the Ashford Pack and see if there’s a way they can help with this case? I’m sure they’ll be understanding as to why I can’t be theirs, right?”

I sound naïve, even to my own ears.

Mara sets her mug down and turns to face me fully. Her eyes are serious.

“Tess, listen to me. Leo doesn’t see you as an employee. He never has. You’re family. Gray and Daniel have been working around the clock on the legal defense, and Daniel told me yesterday that the negligence claim doesn’t hold water. Miller’s case is built on media pressure, not evidence. The certifications are clean. The weather reports are documented. The accident was a solo hike on your own time, not a guided expedition.”

“But the headlines…”

“The headlines are noise. Daniel has handled worse.” She reaches over and takes both my hands. “Leo would rather lose the company than see you shrink yourself to protect it. I know that because he told me, word for word, when I asked him the same thing.”

“You asked him?”

“Last night. I called him in Denver.” She squeezes my hands. “He said, and I quote, ‘Tell that girl to stop carrying my problems on her back. She’s carried enough.’”

My eyes burn. I blink hard, but a tear escapes anyway.

“All they want is for you to be happy,” Mara whispers. “Leo. Gray. Daniel. Me. All of us. We just want you to be happy, Tess.”

She pulls me into a hug. Her arms wrap around me, and she holds on tight, and something inside me loosens. Not all the way. Not enough to erase the fear. But enough to let me breathe.

“I’m scared,” I admit against her shoulder.

“I know.”

“What if I mess it up? What if I hurt them?”

“What if you don’t? What if this is the thing that actually works?”

I pull back and look at her. Her eyes are bright, certain, anchored in a love that has survived its own wreckage.

“You deserve this,” she says. “You deserve to be loved the way you want to be loved. Don’t let anyone tell you that wanting more makes you less.”

I wipe my eyes and nod. She hands me my cider, and we sit by the fire until the embers die down and the lodge goes quiet around us.