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
“Whoa, easy tiger,” Poppy laughs.“I’m not a tiger! I’m a…”“Hungry little soldier,” Ryder quickly cuts him off. “Meat feast is fine, thank you, Poppy.”She smiles, dropping into the chair next to Jax.Remy slides plates across the table, his movements careful and controlled. I know him well enough
Before I can ask what that means, Parker appears at my side, his hand warm on the small of my back. The contact is barely there, but it sends a ripple of heat down my spine.“Let them have their fun,” Parker says smoothly. “I’ll make sure you’re not lonely.”The way he says it makes my breath catch.
My heart swells so full it aches. “You did this… for me?”“For all of us,” Callen corrects gently, pressing a kiss to the side of my head.I let them guide me into the bed, the mattress sinking beneath our combined weight as, one by one, they wrap around me. Ryder and Callen sandwich me between them
Remy grumbles something I don’t catch, but I laugh anyway, though it comes out more like a sob.“Sorry,” I say again, embarrassed at how much of a mess I feel.“Stop apologising. You have nothing to be sorry for. You’re going to be up and down for a while, and that’s okay,” Ryder lifts my gaze up to







