** 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 glance toward the window, where the trees sway gently in the moonlight. Everything looks calm and still.
Then it hits me. It’s subtle at first, like someone brushing a cold fingertip along the back of my neck. The tiny hairs on my arms stand up. My heart stutters. The bond that usually thrums steadily in my chest flickers, and then goes silent.
“Ryder?” I whisper, even though I know he can’t hear me out loud. I reach for him through the bond, the way I always do when he’s not near me, but this time, there’s no warmth, no pulse of his presence pushing back. Just emptiness. The air leaves my lungs all at once.
No.
I try again, harder this time, trying with everything I have to open the mind–link. “Ryder, answer me.” Nothing. The more I push, the colder it gets. Panic crawls up my spine.
Something’s very wrong.
I shove back from the desk, nearly sending the chair flying. The laptop clatters to the floor as I grab for the nearest hoodie. My hands are shaking so badly I can barely get it over my head.
The front door bursts open just as I hit the stairs.
“Paige!” Callen’s voice thunders through the hall, raw with fear.
“I can’t feel him,” I gasp before he even reaches me.
“I know,” he says, catching my shoulders. His eyes are wild, glowing faintly gold. “Parker just linked with me, Ryder collapsed. He’s taking him to the healer now.”
The words barely register before I’m already moving.
“Go,” Remy says from the doorway where he’d been on the porch with Cal. “I’ll stay with Jax.”
I don’t even stop to thank him, and Callen curses under his breath and follows, shouting orders for Remy to assign someone to take the lead on patrol.
The night air is cold against my face as I sprint out the door, my bare feet pounding against the dirt path.
Branches whip against my arms as I run, the path to the healer’s cabin a blur, I don’t
remember crossing half the distance, just the pounding of my pulse and the hollow ache in my chest where Ryder should be.
Callen barely keeps pace beside me, his wolf close to breaking free. “He’ll be fine,” he growls, maybe to reassure me, maybe himself. “He has to be fine.”
The faint scent of antiseptic hits my nose before I even see the cabin. Then I hear voices… Poppy shouting, Parker swearing, Jake’s low urgent tone, and underneath it all, Ryder. His pained groans.
“Ryder!” I scream as I throw the door open.
The scene inside hits me like a blow. Ryder sprawled on the narrow bed, half–covered with a sheet, his skin pale and clammy. His eyes are closed, and his chest is heaving unevenly. Jake’s hands glow faintly as he presses them to Ryder’s arm, and Parker is gripping Ryder’s shoulders, trying to hold him still as his body jerks.
“What’s wrong with him?” I ask, my voice shaking as I stumble toward the bed. I press a hand to Ryder’s chest, desperate to feel warmth, a heartbeat, something.
Jake looks up, his face grim. “Poison. But not one I’ve seen before.”
“Hunters?” Callen asks from behind me.
“Maybe,” Poppy mutters. She’s already pulling more supplies from her kit, setting up a drip. “ It’s not wolfsbane, it’s something else, and it’s attacking his system fast.”
My head spins. “But he’s healing, right? He’s a shifter, so he should…”
“He’s not healing.” Jake cuts me off, his voice tight. “He’s completely cut off from his wolf, and without it he can’t heal, he’s practically human right now.”
The world slows as I look at him and try to comprehend what they’re saying… human, can’t heal, poison. Dark marks spread along his neck and chest and down one arm. My throat burns.
“Do something,” I whisper. “Please.”
Poppy moves closer, sliding a hand under his wrist to check the pulse again.
“We are, Paige. But whatever’s in his system is spreading fast.” She glances toward Leo, who I hadn’t noticed was here until now. “We haven’t had time to test if it’s the same stuff that Leo was shot with, but that bullet had a similar effect. It stopped him healing and shifting.”
Verify captcha to read the content
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Lost Pack (Paige)