The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 176

** Paige’s POV **

The world narrows to a single point of pressure in my chest.

I don’t mean in a painful way. It’s more like… a pull A thread tethered to something outside of this room, outside of me. A distant storm I can feel but not see. Every time i try to blink, my eyes don’t want to close all the way.

My vision stays fixed on the invisible horizon beyond the wall.

It’s like my body has decided it knows better than my mind. Like instinct has climbed into the driver’s seat, and I’m just coming along for the ride. ‘Mine. ‘Protect.” Strengthen. “Heal. “Comfort. The words float in my mind, but somehow they don’t feel like my own, not really.

Parker’s warmth is the only thing anchoring me. With the solid weight of his body pressed to my back, his arms around me, Jaxon curled on the other sofa still half-asleep … it’s the only thing keeping me from drifting somewhere too far to come back from.

I feel Parker’s heartbeat. And underneath his pulse… I feel the others.

Ryder. Remy. Callen.

Faint but steady.They’re out there. They’re alive. But they’re not here, and every cell in my body screams that they should be. That we should stay together.

Without meaning to, I tighten my hold on Parker’s arm.

Something inside me reaches… no, pulls, and his breath stutters behind me.

Leo’s voice cuts through the fog. “Paige?”

He’s closer than I realised. Standing a few feet away, hands raised like he’s approaching some wild animal that might bolt or bite. His expression is soft, measured, but his eyes keep flicking to Parker.

“Hey,” Leo says gently. “Can you look at me?”

I try. My head turns a fraction, but my gaze stays glued to the wall, tracking something I swear isn’t there. My voice comes out thin, distant. “They’re not back yet.”

“They’re okay,” Leo says immediately. “I’ve been talking to them.”

“They’re not back,” I repeat, like that’s the only part that matters.

“I know.” He steps closer. “They’re sweeping the cabins.

The perimeter’s locked down. Everyone’s working together.”

Jaxon shifts in his sleep and lets out a small whine. My arm twitches, wanting to reach for him protectively, but he settles before I can force myself to move. Heat rushesbeneath my skin. The hum in my veins climbs higher, brighter, buzzing like a live wire.

Leo takes a slow breath. “Paige… are you doing that on purpose?”

Doing what?

My fingers tremble, and Parker’s breath hitches again. I realise then that he’s leaning more of his weight on the back of the sofa. His shoulders sagging and head dipped.

“Parker?” My voice cracks.

He tries to straighten, tries to lift his head, but it’s stuggish, like it’s too heavy for him, as if someone pulled

• the strength right out of him.

I realise that someone is me.

“I’m fine,” Parker murmurs near my ear, barely audible. It’s a lie so obvious it’s almost laughable.

“No, you’re not,” Leo mutters.

A pulse of power shivers through me, uninvited, uncontained. It rushes outward like a wave and then rebounds, snapping back into Parker. He exhales, his eyes squeezing shut. Guilt slams into me, sharp and nauseating.

“Paige,” Leo says, stepping even closer, his voice still calm but firm. “No one is in danger right now. Ryder, Remy, Callen… they’re safe. I promise you.”I don’t feel safe. None of this feels safe. The silence outside feels too big, too deep, too wrong. The bond inside me is twisted tight, wrapped like barbed wire around my ribs.

“Look at me,” Leo tries again.

“I can’t,”I say, and I mean it.

If I look away from that wall, something terrible will happen. My chest constricts, breath hitching. “They need me.”

“No,” Leo says softly. “They don’t, Luna. They’re handling it.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Oh, I understand plenty,” he mutters, crouching down in front of us, bringing himself eye-level with me.

“Paige,” he says, tone dropping low, serious, but not unkind. “You’re draining Parker.”

My chest jerks as if someone shot me.

Leo gestures to Parker with one hand. “Look at him.”

I look, really look. Parker’s skin is pale. His eyelids are heavy, his breathing shallow. There’s sweat at his hairline, his pupils are too wide, and the arm wrapped around me is trembling with the effort of holding on.

He’s trying to keep me steady, trying to stay awake. Tryingto be strong for me, like he always does, even as I’m slowly draining the strength right out of him.

“Oh my god..” My throat closes. “Parker, why didn’t you say something?”

He opens one eye halfway.

“… didn’t want you… panicking.”

– The guilt is instant. Crushing.

I’m not sure how I do it, because I don’t understand how any of this works, but I pull my power back and slam it inward, almost violently. The moment I do, Parker sways like the sudden absence of pressure nearly knocks him sideways.

Leo grabs his shoulder to steady him. “Easy. Not that fast.”

I’m already crying. Hot, frustrated tears. “I’m hurting him. I didn’t mean… Leo, I didn’t mean to…”

“I know.” He says softly. “It’s instinct. Ronnie warned us.”

I shake my head, trying to breathe through the panic. ” Help me. Please.”

“I’ve got you,” Leo says, and for the first time in what feels like forever, my brain actually hears it.

Leo settles on the floor beside the sofa. He lets out a breath, looking uncomfortable. He’s an enforcer, a warrior.

Not a doctor or therapist, but he tries anyway. He placesone hand lightly over mine, the hand still clamped around Parker’s forearm. His touch is grounding, warm, steady.

“Listen to my voice,” he says.

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