FAZER LOGIN** Jake’s POV **The results don't make a damn lick of sense. I look at them for the third time, as though the numbers might rearrange themselves if I stare at them hard enough. They don't. They’re normal. Every single one.I turn toward the bed. Leo is lying on his back with one arm behind his head
Neither argues, and I appreciate that more than if they'd immediately told me it wasn't true.“Jake has the clinic. Ronnie. His patients. Leo is Gamma. He has a job here. People depend on them. Everything they’ve ever known is here,” my throat tightens. “And I'm asking them to walk away from all of
** Poppy’s POV **Alaric’s hands cup my face, and then his mouth is on mine. I freeze for half a second. He’s not just kissing me, he’s touching me. Skin on skin, his thumbs against my cheeks, his warm lips against mine. I wait for the pull, for that horrible, instinctive hunger to reach for his li
I ignore it all. Because all I can see is Leo falling again. I look down at my trembling hands; the feeling of his life rushing through them still there. I take another step backward, away from everyone.“Poppy,” Alaric says softly.I stop. “I’m fine.” “I didn’t ask.” I look up. He and Bastian ar
** Poppy’s POV **It takes Ryder and Jake to get Leo up off the ground. Despite having the life of at least six ancient trees running through him, apparently he’s still weak. I’m not even going to try to make sense of that.I stand uselessly to the side as Jake slips an arm beneath his shoulders and
Paige inhales sharply. “That doesn't mean…”“I know,” I move toward her. “I’m your sister.”Tears spill down her cheeks. I reach for her hand, then stop myself.“I know this is my family, and that Phoenix will always be home.”My own tears fall again.“But maybe it isn't the only one.”Paige looks a
“I couldn’t sleep,” I admit. “My wolf needed to let off some steam, it should have been safe.”She studies me, her eyes searching mine, and I know she can see the truth. She knows I wasn’t trying to be a hero. It was a pleasure run, but I’d barely made it back to her. That’s the worst part of it. I
** Parker’s POV **The rain has passed by the time afternoon rolls around. The air smells of wet pine and smoke from the cabins’ chimneys. There’s a strange calmness to the pack. It’s the kind of stillness that always makes my skin crawl. It’s what comes right before something breaks.I push open th
** Paige’s POV **The cabin is quiet except for the soft hum of my laptop. I’ve been staring at the same line of text for at least five minutes, pretending to work while my mind keeps wandering to the patrol. Ryder and Parker are out with the new enforcers, and I have an uneasy feeling about it.I g
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







