The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 161

Chapter 161

The alarm rings through the air, sharp and piercing, cutting through the peace like a blade. Every muscle in my body locks.

Hunters.

I’m already moving before Ryder gives the order, instincts taking over, adrenaline flooding my veins. Chairs scrape, boots hit tile, and in seconds the kitchen that had been filled with quiet conversation erupts into

chaos.

Paige and Poppy run in through the door, their faces pale and eyes wide. Leo and Jake pull Poppy between them, trying to shield her from a threat that’s not here yet, but it’s close.

Parker makes a grab for Paige, pulling her against his chest, while Callen is already sprinting up the stairs for Jaxon, giving Rye time to listen to the information coming in through the pack link and directing enforcers to where they are needed. I move to Paige, ready to defend her from anything that tries to take her from me.

Callen jogs back down the stairs with a startled-looking Jax in his arms. Ryder meets him at the bottom, kissing his son’s head and crouching a little to get at his eye level. “Remember what we talked about if we hear the alarm?”

Jaxon’s bottom lip trembles, but he nods. “Stay with Uncle Cal and help keep Mummy safe.”

“Good boy, I love you, Jax,” he says, his voice breaking. “I’ll see you very soon.”

Ryder turns away, with a mixed look of anger and heartbreak on his face.

“I love you too, Daddy,” Jaxon’s small voice calls as Cal carries him to us, letting Paige take him.

Ryder’s voice booms over the noise. “Callen, Parker, you know what to do. Remy, with me!”

Paige flinches at the sound, and for a split second, I see it… the life we’ve all built here balanced on a

knife’s edge.

“We need to move,” Ronnie says, already pulling his shirt over his head. “Perimeter sensors lit up across

the northern line, three separate breaches, and one on the West. I’ll get out there and update you as soon

as I get eyes on the situation.”

Four. That’s not a scouting party. That’s a hit team.

Ryder turns to me, eyes sharp and glowing faintly. “We go out with the enforcers. Contain it before they get

close.”

nod, but my gut twists. My gaze flicks to Paige, her arms are wrapped around Jaxon, but her eyes are on me and Ryder.

She looks so small at that moment. Small and impossibly brave. Every instinct I have is screaming to stay. To keep her safe. To keep them safe.

Ryder catches my hesitation. “Rem…”

“I can’t just leave them,” I snap before I can stop myself. The sound of my voice surprises even me. “Not with hunters this close.”

His gaze softens, but only for a heartbeat. “You think I want to? But they’re not safe if we don’t hold the

line. You know that.”

He’s right, and I hate that he’s right. The protective pull in my chest is tearing me in two. Half of me wants to plant myself between Paige and whatever’s coming; the other half wants to rip through the forest and tear every hunter apart before they can cross the border.

Ryder exhales, voice dropping low. “You remember the contingency?”

I nod. Of course I remember. We created it together years ago. The Alpha-Beta Designated Survivor protocol.

If an attack ever reached this level, one Alpha and one Beta were to stay off the front lines, no exceptions. If the worst happened… if the pack fell, there would still be leadership left to rebuild. As twins, Ryder and

Callen, me and Parker, each share half of the same dominant trait. One the fighter, one the strategist. It’s instinct, nature balancing strength with reason. If Ryder fell, Callen’s alpha instincts would take over. If I

did, Parker would inherit mine. It’s the only way packs like ours survive.

Ryder’s jaw tightens. “Callen and Parker will go with Paige, Poppy, Jake, and Jax to the clinic. They’ll lock it

down and wait for our call and prepare for casualties. We stick to the plan.”

I hate it. Every cell in my body rebels against it. But I know the logic. The system works because it has to.

“Callen,” Ryder says, turning toward his brother. “Get to the clinic. No stops.”

Callen nods once. “Got it.”

Ryder hesitates, glancing back at Paige and Jaxon before he turns and looks at Leo. “Go with them.”

A look of relief washes over Leo’s face; he’d clearly been uncomfortable leaving Poppy.

Parker gently takes Jaxon from Paige. “Come on. We move now.”

I take one last look at Paige. She’s clinging to Callen now, trying to keep her expression calm, but I can see

it, the worry, the fear, the weight she carries even now.

I step closer. “Paige…”

She shakes her head, forcing a small smile. “Just be careful.”

Her voice wavers, and it nearly breaks me. I nod once, letting the bond flare open between us. “Stay safe,” I

say to her through the mind-link.

Her reply comes back out loud, soft but steady. “You too.”

Ryder’s already at the door. “Remy, let’s move.”

I follow him out into the night, the cold air hitting like a slap. The scent of smoke and metal burns my throat. The forest ahead glows faintly red where the perimeter sensors have flared to life. The hunters are

close. Too close.

Ronnie’s voice comes through the mind link. “They’ve got snipers in the tree line, thermal scope signatures confirmed. One of ours down already.”

Ryder swears under his breath. “Pull the teams back. We need to regroup.”

We sprint through the trees, joining the enforcers crouched behind the fallen logs that mark the inner perimeter. The air hums with tension. The scent of blood, wolf and the acrid poison is heavy in the air.

“Positions!” Ryder orders. “Cover the west and south flanks. No one gets through!”

“Watch for stray bullets; even standing on one could trigger a reaction,” I push out through the mind-link.

Shapes shift between the trees, the faint gleam of metal catching the moonlight. Masks, rifles, body armour. The bastards have come prepared.

“Visual?” Ryder growls beside me.

“Six confirmed,” I answer, eyes narrowing. “Maybe more behind them. They’re spreading out.”

Ronnie crouches next to us, nostrils flaring as he catches the same scent. “They’re organised. Moving in a semicircle. Classic containment pattern.”

“Or a lure,” I mutter.

He shoots me a sharp look. “Meaning?”

“Meaning they want us to move in… get close enough for the real ambush.”

The words have barely left my mouth when a single shot cracks through the night. It echoes through the forest like thunder, and one of our enforcers drops with a strangled cry.

“Sniper!” someone yells.

Then all hell breaks loose.

More gunfire follows, the forest exploding with sound and motion. Wolves scatter into the trees, but the hunters are ready, firing rounds laced with wolfsbane and the new toxin. The air burns with it.

I grab Ryder by the shoulder, dragging him behind the thick base of a fallen oak as bark splinters above us. He bares his teeth, fury flashing in his eyes, but he doesn’t shift yet, not while the snipers still have the advantage.

“Seven down!” Ronnie shouts, voice hoarse over the chaos.

“Fall back!” Ryder roars through the pack link, his Alpha command reverberating through my bones.

Second line! Move!

I lunge for a fallen enforcer, catching him by the arm and hauling him upright. He’s bleeding from a shoulder wound, but he’s breathing. “Go!” I snarl, shoving him toward the others. “Run!”

+25 Points

The scent of blood fills the air, thick and choking. It mingles with the bitter stench of wolfsbane, and the

forest hums with panic.

“Ryder,” Ronnie calls out, keeping pace beside us, “They’ve breached the outer perimeter! They’re cutting off the west side!”

“Then we go to Plan B,” Ryder growls, his voice sharp through the link. “We can’t hold this position. Get

back to the centre, we evacuate everyone to Midnight Pack!”

The words hit hard. Evacuate.

They’re not here to hunt strays. They’re here to wipe us out.

I glance back once. Wolves dart between shadows, some limping, some dragging others to safety. The low, keening howl of the wounded cuts through the air, slicing straight through my chest.

I think of Paige, her eyes, her voice, the warmth of her in that kitchen, and I run harder.

I

Branches whip against my arms as I leap over a fallen log, landing in a crouch before breaking into a

sprint. The forest feels alive with danger, the thrum of distant gunfire, the crack of branches under heavy boots, the lights of the red dot sights sweeping for movement.

When the cabins finally come into view, I feel the first flicker of hope. It’s faint, but there. The lights glow

weakly through the mist, like beacons.

Ryder slows, eyes flashing gold as he opens the link wide to the whole pack. “Everyone move now!

Evacuate to the Midnight Pack, they’re on their way to meet us with reinforcements.”

I open a smaller mind-link. “Callen, Parker, Leo, get them out now. Grab whatever medical supplies you can and run. We have wounded, but we will have to treat them on the go. We will hold them off.”

I glance toward the healer’s cabin and see her. Paige. Standing at the window, Jax in her arms, with the moonlight washing over her. Her eyes find mine, wide and fearful, and something inside me steadies.

She’s the reason I fight. Why I bleed. Why I’d die before letting this pack fall.

Ryder growls low, eyes fixed on the forest behind us. “They’ll be on us any minute, we need to buy the pack

more time.”

I nod, muscles already tensing, the wolf in me rising to the surface. The shift hits like lightning, bones snapping, skin tearing, power flooding through me until the world sharpens into colour and scent and

sound.

Ryder shifts beside me, a blur of fur, massive and furious, and together, we launch towards them, the sound of our paws hitting earth drowned out by the howl that rips from our throats.

The Alpha and Beta of the Phoenix Pack are going to war, because no matter what happens tonight, I’ll make damn sure they survive it. Even if it kills me.