LOGIN“If he's going, I'm staying here.”Callen clutches his chest. “Pops.”“Don't Pops me.”“It’s my house! And I was going to barbecue.”She hesitates.Callen sees it. “So that's a yes.”“I hate you.”“No, you don't.”Poppy sighs and reaches for her shoes. For a few seconds, the cabin almost feels norma
** Leo’s POV **The cabin is silent, as if time itself has stopped whilst we all process what Poppy has said.If she’s right, if they’d been watching her, following her, then I’ve failed. I’d let my mate leave; I’d given her the freedom to make her own choices, and that had left her vulnerable. I sh
I stare at her. Something shifts. A sound, but not from the room, from memory. My mother’s voice. I stagger back. Paige catches my arms. “What?”I shake my head. “Wait.”Rain pounds against metal. Fire crackles nearby, but my whole body is freezing. Mum’s hand is against my cheek. My eyes flutter o
** Poppy’s POV **Paige stares at me like I’ve just told her I think the Pope’s an alien. For a second, she doesn’t move. I’m not even sure she’s breathing. Then she blinks slowly before shaking her head. “No, you didn’t,” she says firmly.“I did, Paige. I wouldn’t make something like this up.”“N
“I haven’t felt it here.”Bastian’s head tilts.“Not once?”I search backward through the weeks. Even when everything inside me felt wrong, even when the voice was louder, even when I thought the shadows were moving, there was nothing like that.“No.”Alaric folds his arms.“That matters.”I look at
** Poppy’s POV **Bastian stares at his brother for a moment.“What?” He asks when Alaric doesn’t say anything.“Could you maybe not announce things like that while she’s half-naked?”Bastian looks down at me.“Sorry.”I don’t even care about my state of undress anymore, because my brain is still st
Parker joins us on the porch for a while, handing me a cup of steaming tea I don’t remember asking for. I hold it; using it to warm my hands, but I don’t sip it. It feels wrong to be standing here sipping tea whilst the enemy is literally on our doorstep, waiting to attack at any moment. He doesn’t
“Someone the pack already trusts,” Parker adds.Paige looks between us, thoughtful. “You’re talking about giving up your positions?”I don’t miss the way her shoulders tense just slightly.“No, just bringing in a third in command to keep things running and keep the pack directed whilst we focus on o
** Ryder’s POV **I feel it before I understand it.It’s not a surge or the blow I was expecting. Not the sharp crack of power I’ve learned to brace for whenever Paige’s gifts shift. It’s a settling. It’s like the final jigsaw piece fitting in to complete the picture.I stop mid-step in the hallway
** Paige’s POV **The moment my feet land on the gravel at the edge of the forest, I exhale for what feels like the first time in hours. The familiar scent of pine and smoke drifts through the air. This is home, my safe place. A place Greg never touched.Callen is at my side first, his eyes scanning







