The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 186

** Ryder’s POV **

The moment it hits me, I almost drop to my knees. It’s not a pulse or a flare. Not the usual warm tug of the bond when Paige is overwhelmed or scared. This… this is a detonation.

A tidal wave of heat slams into my chest so violently my vision goes white. For a breathless second I can’t see, can’t move, can’t think. I can only feel her. I feel her power bursting open, her heart racing, something rising inside her.

“Ryder?” Leo’s voice snaps through the mind-link. “What’s going on?”

The next second, Jaxon screams.

“Daddy!” He grabs my shirt, his little hands shaking.” What’s wrong with Mummy? Why’s she shouting in my head?”

Fuck.

I snatch him into my arms before he can fall, his whole body trembling.

“It’s okay,” I lie through clenched teeth. “You’re okay.”

I look wildly around the garden where we had been playing. Remy stands half-shifted already, eyes glowing, hackles raised, sensing the same storm I do.”What the hell was that?” he snarls.

I don’t answer. I can’t. My lungs feel crushed.

Paige… she’s terrified, but calm. Overwhelmed, but controlled. In pain, but not hurting.

Her power is everywhere at once, burning and purifying.

Ronnie jogs around the side of the house; his eyes wild and his arms full of the food he’s just collected.

I swing Jaxon toward him. “Take him inside. Don’t let him out of your sight. Lock the doors.”

Jaxon’s fingers clutch tighter around my shirt. “Daddy, no

My heart cracks. “Baby, I have to go to Mummy. I have to.”

His lower lip trembles, but he nods bravely, his eyes huge and shining.

Ronnie drops the food and steps forward, hands out. “I’ve got him.”

I lean down and kiss Jaxon’s forehead. “I’ll be back in a minute, okay?”

“You promise?” he whispers.

“I swear it.”

I hand him over, and it feels like ripping off a limb. Before Ronnie even turns away, my wolf lunges forward andtakes control. I shift mid-run. My bones crack, fur bursts free, and the world sharpens into perfect clarity.

Remy shifts beside me with a snarl, and the two of us tear into the forest. The power thrumming through the bond keeps hitting, wave after wave, and it’s getting stronger, too strong.

“Callen, Parker!” I scream at them in the mind-link.

Nothing.

“Callen, Parker, answer me, damn it!”

There’s only static and the faint echo of their shock, their fear, their disbelief.

Remy barrels into my shoulder, breathing harshly as he mind-links. “I can feel them. Something’s happening, something big. Ryder, slow down! We need a plan before we go barreling in there.”

“I can’t.”

Paige’s presence is like a beacon in the dark, pulling me like a magnet. With every step I take, her power flares again, wild, radiant and overwhelming.

“Callen! Parker!”

Still nothing.

My wolf roars, surging ahead harder, faster.Behind us, the pack stirs, wolves exploding out of cabins and tree lines, responding to the call. Dozens of paws pound the forest floor, their fear mixing with awe. They feel her too, every single one of them.

I break through the last line of trees and skid across the ground outside the clinic.

The clinic lights flicker wildly, erratic flashes that streak across the windows like lightning. The walls tremble with the echo of a howl I’ve never heard before.

It’s the sound of wolves, but different somehow. Like they’re more than just pack members, they’re something else entirely.

Remy’s wolf growls behind me. What is she doing?

I don’t answer. I shift back and rip the door open with my human hands. It slams against the wall, and I storm inside.

The moment I cross the threshold, I freeze.

Everything in me stops. The rage and fear dissolve into nothing. All of it just drops out of existence like l’ve stepped into a dream I don’t recognise.

Paige stands in the centre of the cramped room, glowing.

A soft gold-silver aura wraps around her like a second skin. Her hair floats as if she’s underwater. Her eyes…

Goddess, her eyes aren’t her usual colour anymore. They burn bright gold, like a wolf.

And that’s not all. Nine wolves stand in a circle aroundher. They’re nothing like the dazed wolves that we were told about. They’re alert, like they’ve been awakened.

Their fur glows with the same shimmer I felt in the bond moments ago, silver-gold threads, their chests move in perfect unison with hers.

“She calls them the Twiceborn,” Callen whispers.

My heart lurches violently.

Parker is beside her, holding her hand like he’s trying not to shake. Callen stands behind her like a shield. Jake and Poppy are plastered to the wall, eyes wide with terror and ave.

Paige turns toward me, and the world narrows to her.

“Ryder,” she breathes, her glow softening.

Hearing her voice speak my name breaks something inside me. I rush to her, practically falling at her feet, hands grabbing her shoulders, her waist, her face, checking, touching, needing to feel that she’s real and breathing and here.

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