The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 272

Book 2~ Chapter 37

** Poppy’s POV **

+25 Points

“What voice?” Jake asks carefully.

I close my eyes, giving myself a moment before pushing my shoulders back and lifting my chin, the way my mum taught me when I had to face something uncomfortable.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “It’s just there. In my head. At first, I thought it was nothing. Stress, maybe. Or just my imagination. But then it didn’t stop.”

“What does it say?” Leo pushes gently.

“Things,” I say weakly.

“Poppy.” There’s a warning in his tone now. Not anger exactly, but close.

I blow out a breath. “It talks as if it knows what I’m doing. What I’m thinking. Like it’s watching me.”

Jake’s posture shifts, more alert now.

“Has it told you to do anything?”

“No,” I say quickly. “No, it’s not like that. It’s just… there. Commenting. Knowing things it shouldn’t.”

“Like what?” Jake presses.

I shake my head, weight pressing against my ribs.

“It knew I touched the babies,” I say quietly. “It said it like it were there with me.”

“And before?” Leo asks.

I close my eyes briefly.

“It’s said things about… memories. Things I don’t remember properly. Like it’s trying to drag them

up.”

Jake and Leo exchange a look. I don’t like it.

“How long has this been happening?” Jake asks.

I hesitate.

“Months,” I admit. “It started that day we were going to complete the mating.”

Leo lowers his head, pinching the bridge of his nose before speaking in a breathy tone.

“And you didn’t tell anyone?”

“I didn’t know what it was,” I snap, defensive again. What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey, I’ve got a

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< Book 2 – Chapter 37

voice in my head, no big deal’?”

“You were supposed to tell us,” he says.

The words are quiet, but they hit harder than if he’d shouted. I look away.

“It’s the reason I left,” I admit.

Jake’s eyes widen slightly. Leo goes completely still

“You left because of this?” Jake asks.

I nod. “I thought… I thought if I got some distance, it might stop. Or at least quiet down.”

“Did it?” Leo asks.

There’s something in his voice now. Tension… Hope… Dread.

+25 Points

“No,” I shake my head. “It got worse. It was louder. More constant. I couldn’t get a break from it.”

Jake runs a hand over his jaw.

“And now?” he asks.

I hesitate again.

“It’s… different,” I admit. “Still there. But not as chaotic. It’s quieter, but clearer. Like it’s settling.”

“Since you came back?” Leo asks.

“Yeah,” I nod.

Silence stretches between us for a moment. Then Leo steps closer.

“Eight months,” he says, his voice tight. “Eight months you were dealing with this on your own.”

I flinch slightly.

“That whole time,” he continues, “you could have told us. We could have helped you figure it out.”

“I didn’t want to drag you into it,” I say quickly. “I didn’t even know what it was. What if it were something bad? Something dangerous? Or if I’m actually insane? I wasn’t risking tying you both to me when I had no idea how bad it was going to be

“We would deal with it,” he says immediately. “Whatever it was, or is.”

I shake my head. “You don’t know that…”

“Yes, I do.” His voice cuts through mine, firm and certain. “We deal with it together. That’s how this

works.”

My chest tightens.

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< Book 2 – Chapter 37

“I didn’t want to be a problem.”

+25 Points

The words come out before I can stop them, making me sound weaker than I wanted to admit. There’s a beat of silence. A beat too long, long enough for the panic to start rising in my chest,

threatening to close my airways.

Leo’s expression changes instantly. The anger doesn’t disappear, but it shifts, something else breaking through it.

“You are not a problem,” he says, each word slow and clear.

I look away, pushing back the tears trying to fill my eyes.

“You don’t know that,” I manage with the little air I have left.

“I do,” he says, stepping closer again. “And even if you were struggling, that doesn’t make it

something to hide. It means you let us in and let us give you our strength.”

I shake my head, frustration building again. “It’s not that simple.”

“Then explain it to me.”

I hesitate. Because this is the part I’ve never said out loud. The part I’ve buried so deep I almost

convinced myself it wasn’t real. The part that doesn’t fit with who I’ve always been. I’m not the one

who breaks. I’m not the one who spirals or panics or second-guesses every step. I’ve never been

scared like this, not since I lost my parents, and even then, I survived it. I pushed through it. I didn’t

let it change me.

But this? This has. It’s in the way my chest tightens for no reason. The way my thoughts don’t feel like my own anymore. The way I can’t trust my own head, can’t trust what’s real and what isn’t. It’s in every sleepless night, every moment I’ve had to pretend I’m still in control when I know I’m not. Hiding behind “I’m fine” was easier than admitting was falling apart.

“I didn’t tell you because I was scared,” I admit quietly.

Neither of them speaks.

“Not of the voice,” I add. “Of what it might mean.”

My arms come up to wrap around myself. I’ve never felt so exposed before.

“What if it meant there was something wrong with me?” I say. “What if it meant I wasn’t… right? I

didn’t want you looking at me differently.”

Leo’s expression softens, just slightly. “That wouldn’t happen.”

“You don’t know that.”

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