The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 217

** Paige’s POV **

“What the hell was that sound?” Poppy repeats, skidding to a stop beside the edge of the field, her eyes scanning the trees like she expects something to step out and wave.

Around us, the pack murmurs in confusion. Enforcers shift uneasily. A few of the Twiceborn bare their teeth, low growls rolling through their chests, but there’s no direction to it. No target.

“It was like a screechy whistle, like a bird was being killed, a really big bird, or a..” she trails off, scanning the sky, and I know exactly what she’s looking for, and it’s certainly not a bird.

Ryder turns slowly in a circle, searching for something. ” didn’t hear anything.”

“Neither did I,” Parker says, brow furrowed. “No sound. No pressure shift. Just… whatever that was with Paige.”

Remy’s jaw tightens. “I felt something recoil. Like something snapped back. But the sound?” He shakes his head.

“Nothing.”

All eyes swing to Callen. He listens hard, then lets out a sharp breath. “Yeah, no. If there were a screechy murder-whistle in the woods, I’d have noticed.”

Silence stretches.Poppy looks between them, then back at me. Slowly, something changes in her expression.

“I heard it,” Lsay.

Every head snaps toward me.

“You did?” Ryder asks.

I nod once. “Clear as day. Like nails dragged across a blackboard. It made my teeth hurt.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I heard,” Poppy says animatedly, pointing at me. “How did none of you hear it? I thought you were all supposed to have some super hearing?”

Ronnie’s head lifts; and he looks between me and Pops.” Only the two of you?”

“Yes,” Poppy says.

Ronnie doesn’t hesitate. He turns away from us and digs into his satchel, papers already spilling out as he flips through them with frantic precision. Old notes.

Translations.

“Day and Night,” he mutters under his breath. “Of course.”

Poppy stiffens slightly at that, her eyes narrowing. “Care to share with the class?”

Ronnie glances up at her, something like awe flickering across his face before he schools it away. “Later,” he says gently. “I need to look into something first.”Callen lets out a low whistle. “Sounds ominous… again.”

Parker snorts, but there’s no humour in it. “Ronnie?” Ronnie finally looks back at me. Really looks. His gaze flicks to my hands, to my stomach, to the trees.

“That sound,” he says slowly, “it wasn’t an attack. It was a . reaction.”

“To what?” Ryder demands.

“To you,” Ronnie answers. “Or more accurately… to what you represent.”

My skin prickles.

“That thing you felt, Paige,” he continues, “it’s not you it’s afraid of.”

Poppy’s voice is very quiet when she says, “Then what is …” She trails off when Ronnie’s eyes land on her. “Oh, well, right back at you, creepy murder crow thingy.”

A cold thread winds down my spine.

“I think it heard you, Paige,” he goes on. “It heard the Dawn recognising it. Naming it as wrong.”

Poppy swallows. “So why did it run?”

Ronnie’s eyes flick between me and Poppy, then back to his notes.

“Because if I’m right,” he says, “it realised what Paigeawakening means.”

“Okay, cool, but can you at least tell us what it is?” She asks, sounding frustrated. “And just to warn you, if you dare say dragon… I’m leaving, right now.”

Everyone’s eyes shift up to the sky like that actually might be a possibility, and at this point in my life, I wouldn’t be surprised.

“Calm down, there’s no such thing as dragons,” Ronnie laughs, and my shoulders drop. “They went extinct with the dinosaurs.”

“Of course they did, silly me,” Poppy snorts.

Remy drags a hand over his face. “So what now?”

“Now,” Ronnie says, tapping a page with shaking fingers,” I think it’s time we acknowledge that whatever has been funding the hunters may not be human. There are references here, old ones, to beings that use influence rather than force.”

“Puppet masters,” Callen mutters.

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