LOGIN** Alaric's POV ** Poppy’s smile fades as her gaze suddenly loses focus. For a heartbeat, she doesn’t seem to be looking at either of us at all. “Are you okay?” I ask. She blinks and rubs lightly at her temple. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that.” “The mind-link?” I ask. She nods
** Alaric’s POV ** Poppy’s head snaps towards me, and I freeze. Her eyes narrow. “Did you just sniff me?” “No.” Bastian’s gaze lifts from his mug, and he smirks. Traitorous bastard. Poppy stares at me. “You did.” “I was breathing.” “Towards me.” “I have very little control over the direction
“Because you’d rather they didn’t?”“No,” I look her dead in the eye. “Because they got there first.”Poppy wraps her arms around herself, and Bastian goes very still beside the coffee machine.I should stop here. It’s the intelligent choice. Unfortunately, intelligence has never been a strong trait
** Alaric’s POV **The second Jake disappears through the door, the entire house changes. It doesn’t make sense. Nothing has physically shifted, but the moment he leaves, taking his anxious healer scent and barely contained panic with him, the clock ticks louder and the fridge hums more insistently.
“I still think peanut butter and ham should be illegal.”“It builds character,” Leo replies. “It builds stomach ulcers,” Ronnie mutters.Alaric and Bastian come closer, leaning in to take a sandwich, but they don’t take Leo or Ronnie’s seats. “Shit,” Leo curses. Every head in the room turns to hi
** Jake’s POV **Every muscle in my body tightens as Poppy steps out of the woods. I grip the chair to stop myself from running to her. “She’s coming back,” Callen says into the phone.“Good,” Paige lets out a breath. “Remember, she needs a little normalcy. Don’t crowd her and don’t question her. M
**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
** Callen’s POV **We all feel the shift in Paige, the way she’s checking out now that she has rested, and the adrenaline has worn off. Her power pushes at her, threatening to consume her. I can see it in the way her eyes are glazed and how she seems to look through things rather than at them. They’
“Then how?” I ask.Ronnie exhales. “Through people.”“Hunters?” Remy growls.Ronnie shakes his head. “Hunters are tools. Loud ones. Disposable ones. Whatever is funding them thinks long-term. It influences and corrupts. It offers safety, power, certainty.”“But if it’s so powerful, why not come afte







