The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 184

** Callen’s POV **

The first thing feel is the bond.

It’s not the usual background hum, or the distracting warmth Paige always radiates when she’s close. This is something else… something sharp, bright, electrifying, Like she’s a live wire pressed directly against the inside of my ribs.

And then all nine resurrected wolves drop to their knees in front of her and say, “Goddess.”

Yeah. So that just happened… Goddess. No biggie. Just a bunch of zombie wolves declaring my mate as their goddess. It’s fine, completely normal to have your own undead army.

My brain flat-out refuses to process the scene in front of me. I mean, sure, I’ve seen weird things lately… Paige glowing, Paige pulsing magic through our bond, Paige marking Parker without a bite like some kind of celestial tattoo ărtist… but this?

Nine grown-ass wolves who died violently, resurrected, and apparently now swearing fealty?

I feel faint, actually faint, but I don’t faint. I doubt my mate will let me even if I wanted to.

Parker is frozen beside me, his hand automaticallygripping Paige’s waist like he can ground her, or maybe he’s grounding himself. I honestly can’t tell.

Jake and Poppy look like someone just slapped them with a prophecy.

But Paige… Paige doesn’t look scared. She looks like she’s remembering something.

The flame inside her, because flame is the only word for it, flares so brightly through the bond that it steals my breath. My whole chest tightens with the force of it.

“Paige,” I whisper, stepping closer without even realising

I’m moving. “Freckles… what’s happening?”

She doesn’t answer at first.

Her eyes are locked on our once-fallen pack members, hers wide, shining, a little wary but mostly… connected.

Like an invisible thread ties her to every one of them.

The wolves bow deeper.

“Goddess,” they murmur again, voices low and gravelly, like it hurts them to speak, but they’re doing it anyway.

My heart slams so hard it rattles my ribs.

“Nope,” I mutter. “Absolutely not. We’re not doing this today.”

Parker shoots me a look. “Callen…””No,” I say louder. “You hear that, right? You all hear that?

We didn’t all just collectively hallucinate nine wolves calling my mate a goddess?”

Nobody answers, because they don’t need to.

The air in the room shifts, thickening until it’s like walking through smoke. Paige’s power hums so loudly in my head I swear it’s vibrating behind my teeth.

She takes a shaky breath, and it echoes through every one of us.

“Callen…” Paige whispers without looking at me. “I don’t know what…”

“You’re glowing again,” I say, because stating the obvious is all l’ve got left.

It’s not subtle this time; not the usual faint shimmer I was getting used to. This is full-blown moonlit-sunrise glow pouring off her skin like she swallowed a star.

Parker’s hand tightens around her hips. “Paige, breathe.”

She does, but the glow doesn’t dim. It expands, curling around her like warm light, brushing against my skin, my lungs, my bones.

I bite down on a groan. Her power is everywhere… inside, me, around me. It feels like it’s holding me, and it feels good. Too good, dangerously good.

One of the kneeling enforcers, Hayden, lifts his headslightly, like he’s trying to see her through the glow.

“Luna,” he rasps.

Another beside him murmurs, “Lunarae.” Jake makes a choking sound. “What? How…”

Poppy grabs his sleeve. “Jake… they’re naming her.”

“Yeah,” I snap. “And I vote we don’t add ‘Goddess’ to her official title. She’s already impossible to win an argument with.”

Paige turns her head, eyes glowing even brighter now, and whispers, “Not helping.”

“Never claimed to help,” I say automatically, trying to keep my voice steady. “My job is to provide emotional support through sarcasm.”

Parker shoots me a look that says, ‘shut up, but to be fair, his voice is a little shaky too when he speaks. “Paige… what do you feel?”

She closes her eyes, and everything inside me freezes.

“I feel… them,” she says softly. “All of them. Their wolves, their hearts, their fear… and the part of them that isn’t here. The part that didn’t come back.”

My skin crawls. “What do you mean, didn’t come back?”

She opens her eyes, and the glow intensifies, a wave oflight brushing across the room like a soft breeze.

“They’re stuck,” she whispers. “Half-alive, half-something else, and they’re hurting.”

The group bows lower, as if answering her, and I swear the temperature drops a degree.

“Paige,” Jake says carefully, “I need you to tetl us exactly what you’re sensing.”

“This isn’t sensing,” she shakes her head. “This is… instinct.

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