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
I’m about to ask what’s wrong, but all words and reasonable thoughts leave me as Callen starts to move with a punishing rhythm. His hands pin mine to the mattress, fingers laced with mine like he needs the contact just as much as the friction. “You feel f*cking perfect,” he grits out. “You were
I swallow hard, throat tight. I’ve been so busy trying to protect myself that I didn’t stop to consider that maybe he’s been doing the same thing. That maybe we’re not that different after all. Now I don’t know if he’ll ever trust me again, but I have to try. I glance at the door once mo
A door slams upstairs, and I flinch. I hope he didn’t wake Jaxon. “Sorry, he doesn’t like changes much,” Parker says. “I’ll talk to him.” “It’s fine,” I lie. “I’m going to crash soon, anyway. If you need anything, you know where to find us.” Parker smiles and I nod. “Good night, Parker.”
** Parker’s POV ** I follow Remy through the back door and into the morning chill. The sun is over the treetops, casting shadows across the grass, but the warmth hasn’t reached us yet. Remy’s pacing along the tree line, his jaw tight, hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie like he’s tr







