The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 177

** Ryder’s POV **

The sight inside the small house takes my breath away.

Paige is sitting on the sofa, sunlight lighting up her face, with Jaxon on her lap and Parker slumped behind her like he’s barely awake. Leo is standing behind Parker, with a hand on his shoulder and a relieved look on his face.

But it’s her face that steals the air from my lungs. Her eyes are too bright, and her skin has that faint shimmer again, like moonlight dust brushed across her cheeks. She Looks exhausted and wired at the same time, like she’s been running a marathon in her mind for hours. And when she lifts her gaze to mine, something inside me fractures.

I don’t move at first. I don’t breathe. I just take her in, every detail, every tremble, every breath. She shouldn’t look like this. She shouldn’t be carrying this much.

Callen bumps into my back before stepping around me, and Remy lets out a breath as he stops at the threshold.

But none of us speaks.

Paige’s voice comes out sounding fragile in a way that guts me. “You’re home.”

I swallow. “Yeah, angel. We’re home.”

Her relief hits the bond like a tidal wave, and underneath it, hidden but impossible to miss, is fear. Not of us. Never of us. It’s fear for us.Remy moves first, because he always does when emotions threaten to drown him. He nudges the door shüt behind him. Callen moves around the room, quietly checking the windows to make sure no one is hanging around outside.

But I make myself walk straight to her.

Parker lifts his head a fraction when I approach. “We’re fine,” he mumbles. “Before you freak out.”

Leo snorts. “You’re not fine.”

Parker glares at him weakly. “Ryder doesn’t need help to freak out; he does it perfectly well on his own.”

He’s trying to ease the tension, but the attempt only makes it worse.

Paige shifts like she wants to sit up straighter, wants to look stronger than she feels. That instinct to take care of everyone else even when she’s falling apart inside… it hits me right between the ribs.

“Don’t,” I tell her gently. “You don’t have to pretend with me.”

Her eyes glisten. She shakes her head once. “I wasn’t pretending.”

I kneel in front of her before she can argue again. I slide a hand under her chin, guiding her eyes up to mine.

The bond crackles between us. She’s so warm. Maybe too warm.”You scared the shit out of us,” I say quietly.

She winces, “I scared myself.”

That honesty breaks me a little.

“What happened?” I ask, unable to keep the strain out of my voice.

“I don’t know, it was… something inside me. It responded

– to your fear. It was telling me to protect you, which didn’t seem like a bad thing until I found out I was somehow draining Parker in the process,” her breath hitches as she glances at Parker and then lowers her gaze to her feet. “I could have killed him.”

“No,” Remy cuts in. “You wouldn’t. You were protecting your mates. Parker is one of those mates. Besides, I don’t think your gifts are destructive. From everything we’ve seen so far, I think harm is never the intent.”

I think about it for a moment and nod. I think he might be right. Even when she sent out the shockwave of light to save me and Remy, her gift only knocked the hunters back. Her gifts heal, they purify… they don’t take. Not from us. Not from.him.

I lift her hand gently, running my thumb over her small knuckles.

“Tink,” I whisper, squeezing her fingers just enough to steady her. “You didn’t hurt Parker. You just scared him, and us. But you didn’t cross a line, you didn’t takeanything he wasn’t willing to give.”

“I still drained him.” Her voice cracks. “If Leo hadn’t stepped in…”

“You would have stopped, but if not, I’d have stepped in,” | say firmly. “Remy, Callen, Ronnie. Any of us. You’re not alone with this. You never will be.”

Her jaw trembles. Damn it. My chest squeezes painfully at the sight.

Callen finally finishes checking the windows. “The surroundings are clear,” he announces, though his tone says he doesn’t entirely believe it. “But I don’t like how quiet it is.”

“No one does,” Remy mutters, pacing once before leaning against the door. He keeps his eyes on Paige, as if guarding her with every breath.

I straighten slowly, shifting onto the sofa beside her but still close enough that our knees brush. She leans into that contact like she didn’t realise she needed it until it was there. I cup her cheek and press a kiss to her forehead. She sighs, a tiny exhale that sounds like both surrender and relief.

“Listen,” I say softly, trying to keep my voice calm even though everything in me feels on edge. “We’re taking the pack home.”

“Do you really think it’s safe?” She asks, her voice tooquiet.

“For now.” I nod. “I know how that sounds, but listen to me.”

She swallows hard.

“It’s what is right for the pack,” I reassure. “It’s what keeps our people ours.”

“But the hunters…”

“Are gone,” Remy finishes quietly. “For now, anyway.”

Callen nods, but he’s frowning. “They’ll be back, but running forever isn’t surviving. It’s bleeding out slowly.

The pack needs to go home before the fear consumes them.”

“We don’t let them push us out,” I say, meeting her eyes fully. “Not again, not this easily. If we leave for too long, the pack will be too scared to return. Fear spreads fast, and once it sets in? It rots everything… trust, unity, the instinct to fight back.”

Her lips part as if she wants to protest, but she doesn’t interrupt. She’s listening. Really listening.

I take a breath.

“We can’t teach the pack courage by hiding in another territory, and we sure as hell can’t teach them to stand strong if their Alpha is the one running first.”Paige’s gaze softens, and she nods slowly. “You’re not running. You’re protecting them.”

“Same thing,” I say, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. “But protection doesn’t always look like retreat.

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