The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 167

Chapter 167

For a heartbeat, no one speaks.

Then I look up at Callen. “Say that again.”

He meets my eyes, jaw tight. “I think I just worked out who our traitor is.”

The words hang there like a live wire.

Jake straightens from where he’s been crouched beside Paige, his expression flickering between confusion and disbelief.

“You can’t mean…” Jake starts, but trails off as he pieces it all together.

“Nina,” Callen nods. “She’s the only pack member unaccounted for that wasn’t on the front line, and if I’m right, she’s the one who’s been feeding the hunter’s information.”

A low, dangerous growl builds in my chest before I can stop it. “You’re sure?”

Callen nods. “I mean, I have no physical proof, but everything makes sense. We already had her on our list of possible suspects; this just solidifies it for me.”

Jake swears under his breath. “She’s not been turning up at the clinic recently and is ignoring me through the mind-link. I thought she was just embarrassed and hurt after she made a pass at me.”

“Embarrassed, my ass,” Callen mutters. “She was annoyed that her plans to infiltrate the leadership were blocked in every direction. Think about it, she went for me and Ryder, then Remy and Parker. When Paige ruined all hope for her with us, she turned to our head healer. I thought she was just a rank chaser, annoying but harmless. Now I feel stupid for not seeing it sooner.”

The anger that had been simmering inside me since the fight snaps into focus. I open the mind-link to Brandon. “Have you managed to access the trail cams yet?” I ask, skipping any greeting.

“Working on it,” he responds immediately. “I had them set on a secure server, so I’m having to hack through our own defences. I’m almost in.”

“Let me know as soon as you’re in. I need to know what’s happening.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“Callen, Remy, Leo,” I say through the mind-link. “As soon as Brandon gives us the all clear, get back to the border. If Nina’s alive, she’ll be running, probably trying to cross into human territory. Take two enforcers and track her scent. Bring her in if you can. Alive if possible.”

Remy’s answer comes instantly. “Got it. We’ll split and cover both routes west. If she’s still breathing, we’ll

find her.”

I cut the link and turn to the others. “No one outside this room hears her name until we know for sure. We

can’t risk anyone warning her.”

Poppy’s face hardens. “You think she’s working with them willingly?”

“She had access to every medical record we’ve kept since we built the clinic,” Jake says grimly. “If she gave them even half of what’s in those files, blood samples, lineage notes, DNA logs…”

My gaze flicks to Paige again. “Then the hunters know what she is.”

A heavy silence settles.

Jake rubs a hand over his face. “I should’ve seen it. She’d been spending more time outside the clinic the last few months, even before Paige arrived, said she was sourcing new herbs. I didn’t question it. If she took the files this morning, she will have Paige and Poppy’s results, but they’re labelled under a code. They might know what we have, but not who.”

“This isn’t on you,” I tell him. “She fooled all of us.”

“Still.” He exhales hard. “If she’s been giving them data, she’ll know how to hide her tracks.”

“She won’t get far,” Callen says. “She’s good, but she’s not a runner. She’s not built for the human world. We

will find her.”

I nod, but I don’t feel any better. Because the truth is, this betrayal cuts deeper than logistics. Nina wasn’t just a pack healer. She was family. She delivered pups, treated wounds, sat with grieving families. She was supposed to be one of the safe ones, the kind you’d trust with your life, and she sold us out.

I force my breathing to steady, focusing on the now. Paige first. Everything else later.

Jake finishes setting up a saline line to keep her hydrated. Her pulse remains steady, slow but strong.

“She’s stabilising,” he says again, softer now. “Her energy output’s dropping. Whatever she unleashed, it’s

finally settling.”

I crouch beside her, brushing a lock of hair from her face. “You did good, Tink,” I whisper. “You did so damn

good.”

For a moment, I let myself just look at her. The faint golden shimmer under her skin is fading now, but I

can still see it if I look close enough, the reminder of what she’s capable of, of what she became out there,

and what she is still yet to become.

When she wakes, she’s going to blame herself for all of this. I know her too well. She’ll think it’s her fault

we had to run, her fault the hunters came back. But this… this is on Nina.

The door opens a few minutes later, letting in a rush of cold air and four familiar scents… Remy, Parker,

Leo, and Ronnie.

Remy, Parker and Ronnie are all wearing clothes that smell wrong. Leo’s still in wolf form, his fur damp and matted, eyes glowing faintly gold as he scans the shadows outside before shifting back, pulling on the sweats Remy tosses him from the pile he’s carrying.

Parker’s eyes land on Paige immediately. He freezes mid-step, the tension in his body easing only a fraction when he sees the faint rise and fall of her chest. “She’s still out?”

925 Points

Jake nods from where he kneels beside her. “Her vitals are strong. Whatever she did burned through her reserves. Her body’s catching up. I don’t think it will be long before she wakes. She’ll still need to rest

though.”

Remy grunts and tosses two more bundles from the pile. One at Callen, one at me. “You might want to cover up now that the crisis is over,” he says dryly, jerking his chin toward Poppy. “We’ve got company, and not the kind that shifts.”

I glance down, suddenly aware that both of us are still naked and streaked with mud and blood. The adrenaline that had kept me from noticing now burns into something closer to embarrassment. “Right,” I

mutter, pulling the sweatpants on.

Callen smirks as he does the same. “Never thought I’d see the day you’d get shy about being naked,

brother.”

Before I can respond, Poppy laughs from her spot by the fire. “Trust me, boys,” she says, grinning as she

gestures toward the medic bag by her feet. “Working in a shifter clinic, you stop being precious about p*****s flopping around all over the place very quickly.”

A few of the guys choke on quiet laughter. Even I can’t stop the corner of my mouth from twitching into an

almost smile.

Poppy winks at me. “Relax, Alpha. It’s not anything I haven’t seen before… though I’ll give you this, you’re

definitely top-tier entertainment material. My sister’s a lucky woman.”

Leo lets out a low growl, Jake looks suddenly flustered, Callen barks out a laugh and Remy shakes his

head, muttering something that sounds like “unbelievable.” Parker and Ronnie, the sensible ones, don’t

even acknowledge the conversation. I’m just glad Jax is asleep.

The tension that had been wound so tight around the room finally breaks. For the first time since the

alarms sounded, there’s a flicker of normality, a reminder that we’re still us, still a pack, still breathing.

Ronnie drops onto one of the chairs with a tired grunt. “Anyone else feeling extremely uncomfortable

here? Midnight’s pretending they’re not watching us, but I can feel it, I can feel their eyes, their suspicion.”

“They’ll keep their distance,” I mutter, though I’m not sure that I believe it. “Josh is a man of his word. He’ll keep his pack in check.”

“Maybe,” Callen says. “But honour disappears real quick when they smell a secret.”

He’s right. Midnight Pack is smart and cautious. The energy Paige unleashed is still clinging to us, silver and gold traces that won’t just wash off. The air hums with it. They can sense something unnatural here,

even if they don’t understand what.

I glance around at my pack, tired faces, bloodstained skin, exhaustion etched into every line. They’re all waiting for me to tell them what to do next, to steady them like I always do. But tonight, the weight of

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