Page 180 of Scrum Heat

“I’ve been thinking,” Finn says between bites, “about traveling. After the season ends. Just a few weeks. Europe maybe. Or Australia.”

Frankie perks up. “Can I come?”

“You’re literally the whole reason,” he says, grinning. “I want to show you the world. Or at least, like, half of it before I get sunburned.”

“I’m in,” I nod. “Let’s take the chaos global.”

“We should do a pack retreat,” Jax adds, leaning back on his elbows. “Somewhere with no cell service. And trees. Big ones.”

Rory raises an eyebrow. “We live near a forest.”

“Yeah, but he means anintentional forest,” I cut in. “Think: paid-for solitude. With hot tubs and spiritual awakening.”

“More knives,” Jax adds.

“You don’t need more knives,” Frankie says without looking up.

“I need to expand my collection.”

“You bought one last week and named it.”

Jax shrugs. “It spoke to me.”

Frankie giggles, resting her head against Rory’s knee. “You’re going to get us banned from several countries.”

“Worth it,” I say. “We’ll film it. Post it as a series.”

Finn nods. “Pack Gone Feral.We’ll get matching merch.”

Frankie leans back and stretches, eyes drifting around the room, soft and bright and entirely ours.

“You guys are ridiculous,” she says.

“And you love it,” I shoot back.

She meets my gaze, and her smile—slow, sleepy, sincere—makes my heart skip.

“I really, really do.”

Rory, who’s been unusually quiet, clears his throat.

We all look at him, and he doesn’t say anything, but he nudges his phone toward me.

There’s an email open on his phone, and I blink down at it. It’s from a scout. Aregionalscout.

Frankie reads over my shoulder and gasps. “You emailed them back?”

“They saw the final,” he nods. “And… they’re definitely interested.”

“You’re kidding,” I say.

“Nope.”

Finn immediately starts cheering, and Jax smiles, quiet and proud. I grin and slap Rory on the back as Frankie’s eyes go wide.

“Wait. Does this mean—?”

“It means,” Rory says, “that we should probably train a little harder.”

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