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
** Ryder’s POV ** I still feel like this is all some crazy dream. Maybe I hit my head, and I’m in a coma, and any minute now I’m going to wake up. It doesn’t feel real, sitting on my couch, Xbox controller in hand, my son beside me. My son. A living, breathing little person who looks like me and s
“Sh*t,” I hear Callen breathe as I storm off towards my house. When I get home, I slam the door closed and lock it behind me. With my back pressed to the door, I slide to the floor, finally allowing myself to break. Fat tears roll down my face as the last bits of hope for Ryder leave my body.
We don’t get to talk for long before I hear a commotion in the woods at the back of the house. It’s hard to hold a conversation with her while trying to figure out what is going on with Callen and Remy. I’m torn between checking in on them or staying present with Paige and leaving them two to fight,
Jaxon goes quiet as he focuses on his race. The sheer determination on his face and the way he sticks out the tip of his tongue when he’s concentrating are adorable. I may be biased, but Paige and I have created a good-looking kid. I hear Paige and Parker talking outside, and I tune in just enou







