The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 2

** Leo’s POV **

For a moment, I can’t move. Not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t trust myself to.

The bond settles slowly, like something ancient weaving itself into place, threading through my chest, my lungs, my bones. It’s steady, deep, and unshakable.

Her… She’s there. Not just beside me or in front of me anymore. She’s inside me, in the bond. Alive, strong, mine.

My breath leaves me in a slow, unsteady exhale as I rest my forehead against hers, my eyes closing as I let myself feel it fully, feel her.

Relief hits first. Sharp and heavy, almost enough to bring me to my knees. Followed quickly by something deeper. Something instinctive. Something my wolf has been clawing toward since the moment she walked back into our lives.

Protect. Claim. Keep.

My hand tightens slightly where it rests against her, like I need to anchor myself to something real while everything inside me shifts.

“Mine,” my wolf murmurs, quieter now, fully settled for the first time in months.

“I know,” I breathe.

Because I can feel it, the difference. The absence of that constant tension that’s been sitting under my skin since she left. That lingering fear that she might slip through our fingers again if we didn’t hold on tight enough.

It’s gone, not completely, but enough. Enough that I can breathe.

I hesitate for half a second, then I reach for him.

“Jake.”

The link snaps into place instantly.

“Leo?” His voice comes back immediately, tense, alert. “What’s wrong? Is she okay?”

Something in my chest tightens at that. He was already bracing himself. Already expecting the worst.

I glance down at Poppy, at the way she’s settled against me, steady and real and here.

“She’s fine. It’s done.”

Then there’s silence, not disconnected, just still. Like everything on his end has stopped.

“You’re sure?” he asks, quieter now.

“Yes.”

Another pause. Then relief. It hits through the bond so hard it almost knocks the breath out of me. It’s warm, heavy, and unfiltered. Jake and I have this connection that shouldn’t be possible. It started while she was gone, stronger, deeper than a normal link. Like we could feel each other, not just hear. It’s similar to the connection that twins share, but we are not even related, Jake double-checked.

“She wanted it?” he asks.

There’s something fragile in that question. Something he doesn’t want to hope too hard for. He needs confirmation that this wasn’t a loss of control during sex. That she chose this and won’t regret it. I look down at her again, brushing my thumb

lightly across her shoulder.

“She asked for it,” I confirm.

The breath he lets out echoes through the link.

“Okay,” he murmurs, and just that one word carries everything.

Relief… gratitude… hope.

“She’s staying,” I add quietly.

“Are you okay?” Jake asks.

I glance down at her again.

“Yeah,” I say. “Better than I have been in months.”

Jake goes still again.

“I’m going to be here a while. Tell her I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“I will.”

The connection fades, and I finally let my eyes close, not to sleep, but just to feel every moment of this.

Poppy shifts slightly in my arms, and my eyes open instantly. Her head rests against my chest now, her breathing soft and even, like she’s already drifting somewhere quieter, safer.

My hand moves without thought, brushing gently over her hair, smoothing it back from her face as I look down at her. She looks different. Not physically, but there’s something about the way she settles against me now. Like the distance that was always there before has finally disappeared. Like she’s not half here anymore because she’s chosen to stay.

My chest tightens at the thought.

“You okay?” I ask quietly, not even sure if she’s awake enough to answer.

My jaw tightens slightly. Three days. That’s all we have before the meeting. Three days before I have to leave her. The thought sits wrong in my chest. Even with the bond, even knowing she’s here. It still doesn’t feel right.

“She won’t be alone,” I remind myself.

The bond will help her; it will strengthen her. But it doesn’t make her untouchable. Jake will be with her, and her sister, the most powerful being I’ve ever encountered, who I have no doubt would protect her with her life. Not to mention Parker and Remy, the Twiceborn and the rest of the pack. She’s never been safer, but that doesn’t stop me feeling like she’ll be vulnerable here without me. Or maybe I’ll be the vulnerable one, because my heart and soul will stay here, always with her.

Poppy moves again, her fingers tightening slightly against my chest, as if she’s holding onto something in her sleep, or trying to. My attention snaps back to her instantly as a trickle of confusion filters through the bond.

“Poppy?” I murmur.

She doesn’t answer, but her breathing changes. Uneven and tense now. A faint crease forms between her brows, and a quiet sound slips past her lips, too soft to be a word, but too sharp to be nothing. Her fear spikes, making my heart skip a beat.

“Hey,” I say more firmly this time, my hand moving to cup her cheek gently. “Wake up.”

Her head turns slightly against my touch. Her lips part, but no sound comes out.

My wolf surges forward, alert and ready.

“Something’s wrong,” I tell him.

I can feel it now, not just the shift in her breathing or the tension in her body. It’s something deeper, something pulling. “Poppy.” I say her name again, more urgent this time.

Her eyes snap open, and for a split second, they’re not right. They’re too dark, too aware, like she’s seeing something that isn’t here. My grip tightens slightly on her without thinking.

“Hey,” I say quickly, softer now. “You’re okay. You’re here.”

Her gaze flickers, confusion breaking through whatever had just held her. Then she blinks, and just like that, it’s gone. Her breathing is still uneven, her hand still gripping me tightly as she looks up at me.

“I…”

she starts, her voice rough. “I think I…”

She trails off, shaking her head slightly.

I don’t push, not yet. Instead, I brush my thumb lightly across her cheek, grounding her the same way she grounded me minutes ago.

“It’s okay,” I say quietly.

Even though I’m not entirely sure it is, because whatever just happened… I’m almost certain it wasn’t just a dream, and deep down, beneath the calm of the bond, beneath the steady rhythm of her heartbeat against mine… I can feel it. Something is coming, and I’m not sure that the bond alone is going to be enough to protect her.