LOGIN** Poppy’s POV **Ronnie doesn’t waste time after that. Blood samples are taken quickly from us all. Jake handles most of it with steady hands and a focused expression, as if he’s clinging to something he understands. Something that makes sense to him… science. I can barely feel the needle. Or mayb
** Poppy’s POV **I mull over Ronnie’s words. Even though I’d already started piecing it together, hearing the words spoken aloud lands hard.Collides… like we’re something dangerous and unstable. As if we’re the problem.My stomach twists. “So what? We just… stay away from each other?”Ronnie’s gaz
** Poppy’s POV **The silence doesn’t last. Footsteps hit the hallway, fast and heavy, then the door swings open hard enough to rattle the frame. Callen steps in first, eyes scanning the room in a sweep before locking onto Paige.“What the hell is going on?” he demands, already moving toward her. “I
** Poppy’s POV **The cracked glass shouldn’t still be holding, but it is.I stare at it, my breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my throat as another thin fracture splinters outward, branching like it’s alive. The water inside trembles, rippling faintly.Leo’s arm is still locked around my
“What?” Leo asks, softer.I hesitate. Because I don’t know how to explain it without sounding insane.“It’s like…” I swallow. “Like everything is louder when I stop fighting it.”“There it is,” the voice murmurs.My eyes fly open.“Stop,” I whisper.Jake’s expression sharpens. “What happened?”“It s
** Poppy’s POV **The room feels too heavy after my outburst. Like my mates and even the walls themselves are waiting to see what I’ll do next. My stomach is still in knots, heat and shame twisting together so tightly I can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. Jake is staring at me like he’s
The words hit me like cold water.“Poppy,” I breathe, not pleading, but careful. “You don’t have to run.”“I’m not running. Running would mean I’m afraid.”“And you’re not?”For the first time, something flickers across her face, an emotion she can’t quite hide.“I’m terrified,” she admits, and her
** Paige’s POV **The forest doesn’t explode into chaos. That’s the strangest part. The wind doesn’t rise. The hunters don’t burst through the trees, and the shots don’t come, but they will. It’s just a matter of time.Everything is silent, too silent as we wait for something, anything to happen.I
**Ryder’s POV **Preparation for what’s coming doesn’t feel dramatic, not anymore. Now it’s a quiet acceptance.I call the pack into the clearing just after first light. Not because we need the daylight, but because I want them to see my face. I want them to see certainty, not panic, not doubt, not
** Paige’s POV **I can barely breathe with how intense the desire is that’s coursing through my body. I’m so stunned by it that I can’t move. I can’t do anything but watch, transfixed by them.My mates are hot, unbelievably so, and I love them touching me, but watching them touch each other is on a







