Page 106 of Scrum Heat

“I’m not—” I start.

He raises an eyebrow.

“So what if I am? That doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about the rest of it.” I grit my teeth. “I just feel like I should be more focused on the game.”

“You ever think… maybe it’s not one or the other?”

“What?”

“Maybe we don’t have to choose between the pack and the club. Between the win and the bond. Maybe we get both.”

“Since when are you the optimist?”

“I’m not,” he says. “I’m the reckless flirt with a superiority complex and a disturbing attachment to his omega’s socks.”

That actually makes me huff a laugh.

“But you said it yourself,” Theo continues, voice a little softer. “We’re top of the league. We’re good. We’re better than we’ve ever been. And you know why?”

I glance at him.

“Because of her,” he says simply. “Because we finally stopped pretending we weren’t missing something. She filled in the cracks.”

I don’t say anything for a long moment, processing his words.

He’s right. And I hate how much I needed someone else to say it out loud.

“She’s good for you,” Theo says, quieter now. “You don’t have to say it. I’ve seen it.”

“I don’t know how to give her what she needs,” I admit, the words dragging out of me like they weigh something. “I’m used to holding everything together. Planning. Fixing. I’ve been the one people look to since I was ten years old. I don’t lead with instinct—I lead because someone has to.”

“You don’t have tobeinstinct,” Theo says. “You just have to bethere. She doesn’t need fireworks. She needs someone who shows up. And Rory?”

He nudges my arm.

“You’ve been showing up since day one.”

I look out at the garden again. The moon’s rising, casting silver light across the grass. The air smells like freshly cut clover and something faint—lavender, maybe. Probably one of Finn’s experimental wax melts.

“I just don’t want to mess it up,” I murmur.

“You won’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No,” Theo agrees. “But I do know that if you overthink this to death and try to logic your way out of happiness, I’m going to throw your planner in the lake.”

I side-eye him. “You wouldn’t dare.”

He grins. “Don’t test me. You know I don’t fear authority.”

“Your dad practically writes policy, Theo.”

“And I’ve disappointed him for ten straight years. I’m very consistent.”

I shake my head, smiling despite myself.

There’s a long pause, and then Theo says, quieter, “She’s ours, Rory. She chose us. All that’s left is for us to show her she was right.”

---