登入Mate.The word rolls through me, low and possessive, but tonight it doesn’t feel overwhelming. It feels certain. Poppy swallows hard.“You calm it too,” she whispers suddenly.I frown slightly. “Calm what?”“That feeling.” Her eyes lift back to mine. “The pressure. The noise in my head. It gets quie
** Jake’s POV **The second Leo leaves the cabin feels wrong.It’s quieter and colder, even though the fire still crackles softly in the corner. Rain still taps steadily against the roof, and Poppy is still standing only a few feet away from me.But something shifted when he left. I felt it immediat
“I’ll be okay,” she whispers.I wish I believed that.Instead of answering, I lean forward until our foreheads touch, and for a second, everything else fades away. It’s just her breathing against me and the warmth of her hands on my face.“What if this thing isn’t new?” she asks quietly. “What if it
** Leo’s POV **“It’s not staying silent anymore.”The words have been stuck in my head for the last two fucking hours since Jake explained what happened at the clinic.I tighten my grip on the strap of the knife sheath sitting across my chest harder than necessary, checking it for the third time si
Of course, the voice remains completely silent. Coward.“So what am I?” I ask.No one answers quickly enough. Jake steps closer, crouching in front of me so I have to look at him and not the horror show printed on the paper in my hands.“We don’t know yet,” he says. “But we will.”I want to believe
** Poppy’s POV **The room feels too small and too hot.I swallow. “Not the same how?”Jake exhales slowly, reaching for another sheet. “Paige’s blood showed abnormal energy markers, mostly consistent with what Ronnie later connected to Dawn energy, cleansing, regenerative and life-based.”“Sounds l
** Ronnie’s POV **Jake’s lab smells clean, like antiseptic, now mixed with the fresh coffee I’ve just brewed. Machines hum softly in the background, lights flicker across monitors, and I can hear the faint rush of water running through the filtration tanks that line the far wall. He’s somewhere beh
** Ryder’s POV **I’m worried.No matter how many times she says she’s fine, that she’s got it under control, all I can see is power that shouldn’t exist running wild beneath her skin. Power that could burn her from the inside out if we don’t understand it soon.She’s standing at the stove now, Park
I stagger forward; the breath leaving my lungs in short, gasping bursts. “No,” I whisper again. “No, please…”A sound rises in my ears, faint at first, then growing, a voice that’s not my own or my mate’s, inside my head. “It’s time.”I blink, confusion cutting through the grief. “What…”“You know w
** Paige’s POV **For a while, neither of us moves. The air between us feels heavy with the ghosts of Mum’s laughter, Dad’s quiet warmth, all the pieces of a life that suddenly don’t fit the same way anymore. But underneath it all, there’s comfort too. Poppy’s hand in mine. The quiet promise that we







