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
About halfway down the southern line, Leo connects his mind to mine again. “Check this out.”I move toward him. At first, I don’t see it, then the metallic glint catches my eye. Lodged in the mud near the base of a tree is a small, flattened bullet, the edges scorched black.“Looks the same as the o
** Remy’s POV **I don’t remember falling asleep on the couch, but when I wake, sunlight is filtering through the window. For a second, it feels like any other day. Then the memories hit. The flash of light. The laughter echoing through the woods. The stench of poison in the creek, and Paige’s arms
** Ryder’s POV **Dinner feels almost normal. The sound of laughter, the warmth of the kitchen, the way Paige’s smile makes everything else bearable. For a while, we pretend everything’s fine, but even as I laugh at Jaxon’s terrible joke, a part of me stays on alert. The scent of worry clings to Rem
“Leo didn’t react this badly though, his biggest issue was the wound itself.” Callen shakes his head.“I think that’s the key.” Poppy’s eyes flick between the two men. “Leo was actively bleeding, which means most of the toxin would’ve drained out with the blood. Ryder has no open wounds, it’s trappi







