The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 243

Book 2 – Chapter 8

Book 2~ Chapter 8

**Leo’s POV **

The first time I feel her again, I almost miss it. It isnt loud, or a flare of power, or a rush of bond-magic snapping back into place. It’s a shift. A subtle tightening low in my chest, like something that has been pulled tight for months, has suddenly loosened.

+25 Points

She’s crossed the boundary into pack territory. I don’t move from my task; I can’t. I lift the axe in my hand and then bring it down against the log beneath it. The sound cracks through the evening air. We have enough firewood; I know that, but this is something I can do, something that keeps me semi-focussed and drowns out my wolf’s restlessness.

Jake pauses in the doorway of the cabin. I don’t have to look at him to know he felt it too.

“She’s here,” he says quietly; it’s not a question.

I drive the axe down again.

“I know.”

The bond hums differently now. No longer searching or aching, it’s just… aware. Like it’s turned its face toward the pack lands and found what it has been waiting for.

She’s home. The thought settles somewhere deep and dangerous inside me, so I bury it beneath the next swing.

Jake steps fully onto the porch, his hands braced on the railing. His shoulders are tight, and his breathing is slightly uneven. He doesn’t hide what he feels; he never has.

“Do you think she’ll come straight here?” he asks.

No.

“She’ll go to Paige first,” I say.

Jake nods slowly. Of course she will. Paige is her anchor, and Jaxon is her safety. The new baby is warmth and softness and a distraction from the two wolves waiting in a cabin that used to be something else before she left.

We had moved into the cabin beside the clinic less than a month after she had left. It’s close enough to Jake’s work, in the heart of the pack, but far enough that it felt like something new, something chosen just for her.

Fate had made its decision; Jake and I were meant to form a bond group. We might not have grown up expecting it because we weren’t twins, or even brothers by blood, so we hadn’t been raised to share everything. We hadn’t been shaped for this, and we hadn’t even liked the idea at first, but destiny doesn’t care about any of that. It doesn’t care about comfort, so we chose to build

111

Book 2 – Chapter 8

it instead.

+25 Points

It gave us something to focus on. Something to fix, and something to strengthen us. Because if we weren’t working toward becoming better together, we would have been tempted to go after her, to drag her back before she was ready. Building this bond between us was the only way we stayed sane. The only way we convinced ourselves we were doing something that might, one day, bring

her home willingly.

We had decided that if she ever came back, she wouldn’t be returning to uncertainty or rivalry. She would be returning to two men who had put in the work, who had learned each other’s rhythm, who had fought through ego and pride, and we came out as something solid. We hadn’t been born ready to share, but we had worked damn hard to become a unit worthy of a mate like her.

Jake disappears back inside without another word. I hear him shifting things around the cabin…

again.

There is nothing left to rearrange. The beds are made, and the cupboards are stocked. Her favourite tea is in the second drawer from the left. I know because I watched Jake put it there this morning and then move it to the shelf and then back again. He wants it perfect for her. He wants

her to feel chosen.

I split another log.

“She’s at the main house,” Jake calls from inside.

I close my eyes briefly. The bond stretches thinner, not distance exactly, just… diverted. I can feel the warmth of her presence, and I get the sense that she’s laughing.

Jake steps out again. His eyes are bright. “I feel her. Leo, she’s… happy.”

“Good,” I say, but it comes out more like a grunt.

He studies me for a long moment. “You don’t have to pretend you’re fine.”

“I’m not pretending.”

I’m just not spiraling on the porch like a teenager waiting for a date that might not show.

Jake exhales slowly and leans back against the railing. The sun is dipping low now, casting the clearing in soft gold and shadow. The cabin behind us looks different in this light. It looks less temporary somehow.

“She’s been gone over eight months,” Jake says quietly.

I nod once.

Eight months of training harder, of learning each other’s quirks and preferences, and boundaries. Eight months of praying, not to the Moon Goddess, or to fate, but to her stubborn heart.

III

Book 2 – Chapter 8

We didn’t chase her and demand answers; we let her leave, because that’s her choice to make. If

she runs again, I won’t go after her. That thought sith heavily in my chest.

Jake rubs a hand over his face. “What if she doesn’t come tonight?”

“Then she doesn’t come.”

“What if she stays at Paige’s?”

“Then we wait.”

His jaw tightens. “And if she decides she made a mistake coming back at all?”

I finally look at him.

“Then we let her go.”

The words feel like a punch to the chest as I force them out.

Jake swallows hard. He nods because he knows that’s the truth. We can’t build a life on force, but

the bond pulses, warm and insistent, as if it disagrees.

Another shift runs through it, sharper this time. She’s moved.

Jake’s head snaps up. “I think she’s outside.”

His eyes go distant, and I know he’s mind-linking with one of the guys, probably Callen, or Parker, or

both. I still don’t move.

“She’s just walking,” he sighs a second later. “With Jaxon, they’re checking the frogs.”

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. She’s somewhere between the main house and the

training field. Close enough that the air feels different. Close enough that if I focus, I can almost

scent her across our territory.

Jake takes a step off the porch instinctively.

“Don’t,” I say.

He freezes.

“She hasn’t come to us.”

His shoulders slump slightly. “I know.”

“Remember, we don’t chase, we don’t corner her, we don’t make this harder than it already is. She

needs to walk this distance herself.”

Jake nods and sits on the porch step. I move to sit beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder and

giving it a squeeze.

The evening deepens. The sky turns dark, and the pack grows quieter. Lights flicker on in the

Book 2 – Chapter 8

distance. She’s still at the main house. Still close, but still not here.

+25 Points

Jake is still on the porch steps, his elbows on his knees, staring at the path that leads through the trees. “I thought I’d feel angry,” he admits. “But I don’t. I just…”

“Missed her,” I finish for him.

He nods.

The bond tightens again, sudden and sharp enough that my spine straightens. Jake gasps softly.

“She’s…”

I feel it too. She’s moving in our direction. Jake is on his feet before he realises he’s moved.

“She’s coming,” he breathes.

The bond flickers, and I can almost feel her hesitation. Jake looks at me, hope flaring so brightly it

almost hurts to witness.

Then the mind-link snaps open in my mind. Callen’s voice is steady and unmistakable.

“Leo, Jake.”

I brace for bad news.

“She’s heading your way. Stay where you are; I’m bringing her to you.”

Jake stiffens beside me; he hears it too.

“Willingly?” I ask, because that’s important.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify