LOGIN“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
** Poppy’s POV **Bastian has been gone too long for a simple perimeter check of the cabin. I don’t know why that bothers me, but it does. I catch myself rubbing my thumb over the rim of my coffee mug again. It’s gone lukewarm, but I haven’t taken a sip in several minutes. Instead, I keep glancing
“I only detected five scents in the pack centre,” Bastian says. “The sixth entered here.”He points to a patch of flattened fern that none of us had even looked at.“They were already travelling together.”“That’s what we thought,” Leo says.Bastian doesn’t answer. He simply keeps moving, following
Finally, I can’t stand the silence anymore. “She’s not just your mate,” I say quietly, breaking the air between them. “She’s my sister, and she’s scared of this new world enough as it is. When she wakes up, she’s going to need both of you to be patient, not territorial.”Jake looks at me, then, real
** Paige’s POV **We go through the details for another half hour. Mr Keating talks about documents, deadlines, and witness lists. I take notes as if I’m back in college. Ryder asks questions I’d never have thought of, and the others keep quiet, although Callen can’t resist the occasional smirk when
She doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t pull away again.By the time the cabin comes into view, my legs ache with exhaustion from everything that’s happened tonight. Warm light spills from the windows, cutting through the dark. It looks like safety, even if I know better than to believe in something tha
I push away from the table and grab my phone. There’s only one way to start getting answers.“Brandon,” I command his attention through the pack link.“Alpha?” Brandon’s voice comes through as fast as ever.To look at him, you’d never guess he was one of us. He’s small for a wolf and lacks the stren







