Page 20 of Scrum Heat

“Only before dates,” she smirks. “Good luck! I’m rooting for you. And please, try not to faint again—it’ll make editing continuity a nightmare.”

“Thanks?”

“Anytime.”

She hangs up like a true professional escape artist, leaving me blinking into the digital void with only one clear takeaway:

I’m apparently responsible for filming pack thirst content—and thighs are now a content pillar.

I slowly turn to find four alphas staring at me from various corners of the kitchen like a hot, protein-fuelled boyband.

“What?” Theo says, toast halfway to his mouth.

“You,” I point straight at him. “Put a shirt on. We’re filming.”

Finn’s bright eyes light up. “We’re doing content?! Ilovecontent!” he beams. “Do you want a TikTok trend? A reel? We could do one of those slo-mo water splash things!”

“I’m not spritzing anyone,” Rory growls. “And if any of you fuckers post me without approval again, I’ll use your ring light as a tackling dummy.”

“Hey!” Finn gasps. “That ring light is my emotional support circle!”

“Relax, Cap,” Theo grins. “You lookedgreat. Almost as good as you do on the portrait. We didn’t even have a social media manager to promote it and the internet still loved it.”

Rory’s jaw ticks. “I don’t care if the internet wants an entire calendar shoot—I am not here to thirst trap for engagement metrics.”

I stare directly at him.

“…Unless Evie says it’s in the sponsor brief.”

Theo barks out a long, loud laugh as Finn leans in close, stage-whispering down my ear.

“He pretends he hates it, but I’d bet that he’s already got a folder called ‘Lighting: Abs.’”

Jax picks up a resistance band and mutters, “if anyone gets glitter on the pitch again, I’m out.”

“I’m not even sure how glitter got there last time!” Theo protests. “I was shirtless, not bedazzled.”

“I swear to god—”

“Look,” I cut in as I pinch the bridge of my nose. “The sooner we leave and get this finished, the sooner it’ll be over with, and we can forget it ever happened. Evie wants a ‘sponsor-safe thirst trap,’ and I don’t know what that means either, but I’m guessing it involves you four doing drills while looking sweaty and intimidating butnotactively on the brink of a scent-triggered orgy.”

Rory crosses his arms over his frustratingly broad chest. “That sounds like a trap.”

“You sure?” Theo raises a brow. “Because we’ve definitely done worse at training.”

“Remember the time we did scrimmages shirtless and the high school had to reschedule their track session to avoid ‘emotional distress’?” Finn laughs.

Rory sighs and looks right at me.

“You need me to do anything in particular?”

“I don’t know,” I shrug. “Look broody and alpha, I guess.”

“Easy. That’s his resting face,” Theo smirks.

Rory mutters something about early retirement as I move to stand.

“Alright, come on,” I snap. “Training shirts and some shorts that show off your thighs—Evie’s orders.”

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