登入** Bastian's POV **Poppy's lips part. Behind her, Alaric turns his head away, but not quickly enough to hide his smile. I ignore him.“What did you remember?”The change in Poppy is immediate. Her fingers tighten around mine.“The accident.”I have no idea what accident she is referring to, so I wa
** Bastian’s POV **She throws herself at me before I can think. One second she’s staring at me with tears swimming in her eyes, the next she’s there, hands gripping my shirt, her face buried against my chest as though I’m the only thing keeping her upright.My body locks. Every instinct screams at
“Stop! Don’t do this!” They can’t hear me, can’t feel my desperate attempts to stop this. I’m trapped inside the worst moment of my life with no way to change it. The world fractures around me, and for the briefest second, my mother’s fingertips brush mine. “Live, Poppy.” Then darkness explodes
** Poppy’s POV ** I blink against the darkness surrounding me. The cabin is gone. The smell of dinner. The warmth of the fire. The laughter in the kitchen. All of it has vanished. Instead, cold asphalt presses against my bare feet. I know this place. Not because I’ve seen it before, but because I’
“It seems our timing,” Leo says, looking between us, “is perfect.”“No, it’s terrible,” Alaric corrects flatly.“That depends on who you ask,” Jake shrugs.Alaric ignores him, turning back to the stove to flip the chicken with far too much focus.“So, what were you saying about defence lessons?” Leo
** Poppy’s POV **I thought Alaric would have been pissed at learning his brother had my number all along and had been messaging me, but he’s amused, and maybe even a little proud. He shakes his head again and laughs; it’s so contagious that I can’t even be mad.“Come on,” he says, standing from the
** Paige’s POV **The house falls quiet again.Parker is still upstairs with Jax, and Ryder is brooding silently at the kitchen island.“What happened out there?” I ask, sitting next to him.Ryder doesn’t answer right away. He lifts his gaze to meet mine, and then his eyes drift to my neck. I don’t
“Then when I’m ready, I’ll let you know.” I smile.“I’ll be ready,” he whispers, pressing a kiss to my temple. “No pressure, but just so we are clear, I am not even going to try to pretend I'm not insanely jealous that Remy mated with you."I know now that this is no longer a matter of ‘if’; it’s a
“Don’t worry. We’ll be back before you know it.”I watch him walk away. Feeling a pit of dread open in my stomach. Ryder is hurt, and I don’t know if he will be the only one injured. Why can’t the hunters just leave them alone? Why can’t they take a moment to understand that the people they hunt are
The bond settles like a second heartbeat, and I know, with brutal certainty, that I’ll kill anything that tries to take her from me.I pull back, running my lips along her jaw. Not a kiss, but close. Then I open the mind-link with her, praying this works.“Paige, listen to me. If you can hear me, ju







