Page 115 of Scrum Heat

“You don’t have to say anything now, sweetheart. Your bond is basically shouting it.”

I press a hand to my face and try not to melt into the bench.

Breakfast is chaos. There’s no other word for it—it’s loud, slightly inappropriate, and full of carbs. Plates get passed around. Theo smacks Finn’s hand away from the bacon. Rory silently offers me the butter without looking up, and when our fingers brush, I feel it—that low hum of heat, quiet and unresolved.

Jax, carving in complete peace, finally looks up and says, “So. When do we tell the OSC to fuck off?”

Theo picks up his fork. “After we finish bonding.”

Finn raises a hand, piece of toast still in the other. “I still think we should call it ‘The Frankie Initiative.’”

Rory sighs. “Absolutely not.”

“Why?” Finn asks. “Too catchy?”

“Toochaotic,” Rory mutters.

Theo gestures with his fork. “He’s just mad he didn’t come up with it first.”

I’m about to make a joke, but Theo leans forward, just slightly, and his gaze flicks to mine. There’s no pressure in it—just that same teasing, confident calm he always carries.

“Whenever you’re ready, Frankie. You set the pace.”

Something in me settles at that.

The thing with Theo: he’s not pushy. He’s not possessive. He’s not evenpretendingto compete.

He doesn’t have to. He knows what he brings to the table; and yeah, it’s infuriatingly hot.

Because somehow, it makes me want him even more.

I look around the table and swallow thickly.

They’re already mine, and I’m already theirs. Even the ones I haven’t bonded yet.

But reality has a habit of dropping in like a brick through the window.

“The OSC isn’t going to wait for us to figure it all out,” I say, pushing my plate away and trying not to sound as anxious as I feel. “They want an official pack. Structure. Something they can slap a label on and tick off on a form.”

Jax nods once. “They’ll push alright. Harder every day you stay unbonded.”

“They’ll call it instability,” Rory adds. “Say that you living with us without being properly pack-bonded is unfit to maintain safe omega dynamics, and dangerous for public engagement.”

Theo rolls his eyes. “Because bonding is totally something you should rush just to appease a bunch of miserable bureaucrats who flunked out of Pack Psychology 101.”

“But I’m not waiting,” I say firmly. “Iwantto bond. With both of you.”

Theo’s eyebrows lift slightly, but he recovers fast; his grin twitching at the corner of his mouth.

“Iknowwhat I want,” I continue. “You. Rory. This whole ridiculous, wonderful, completely unmanageable pack. So if bonding sooner helps the OSC back the hell off, thenfine. I’m in.”

There’s a slight pause, then Finn lets out a low whistle. “God, I love it when you go feral about government policy.”

Jax smirks into his eggs. Rory, predictably, says nothing—but I catch the way his fingers tighten slightly around his coffee mug.

Theo, for his part, looksthrilled.

“You know,” he says, leaning forward like we’re conspiring across a poker table. “I was going to suggest you pace yourself. Stretch it out. Build anticipation. Make the bureaucrats squirm.”

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