My pulse spikes at his words. Severing. The word echoes in my skull like a curse.
Poppy returns, pressing a damp cloth to my hand, and I gasp at the sudden chill. Her hands are shaking.
“Rye, you have to stay awake,” she says softly, her voice trembling. “Please. Just keep breathing.”
“I’m…” I start, but the word dies on my tongue as pain sears up my spine. My back arches involuntarily, every nerve screaming, my heart slamming against my ribs. The room twists, and for one brief second, I see his eyes, my wolf’s eyes, deep inside my mind. Golden, wild and terrified. Then they vanish.
“His pulse is dropping,” Jake says sharply. “Parker, hold him steady.”
Parker grips my shoulders, muttering curses under his breath. I can feel the tremor in his hands as if it’s mine.
“You have to fight it, Ryder,” he says, voice low, urgent. “You hear me? Paige is coming. She’s coming.”
Her name breaks through the fog like a lifeline. I can almost smell her, the soft warmth of her skin, the sweet trace of whatever lotion she uses after her showers, the quiet hum of her laughter. I cling to it, focusing on that memory, forcing myself to breathe through the fire in my veins.
My wolf should be there. He should be helping me heal, burning the poison out, forcing my body to shift. But there’s only the sound of my own heartbeat and the faint, ragged breaths of those trying to save me.
I can’t lose him, and I can’t die. Paige and Jaxon need me. I promised I’d never leave them, not again.
“I’m sorry,” Jake mutters somewhere above me. “This isn’t working. His system isn’t responding to any healing energy.”
“Get Callen here now,” Poppy says, her voice full of determination.
“He’s already on his way.”
The rest of their words fade as another wave of heat crashes through me, dragging me under. My body jerks twice, then goes still. My vision tunnels, dark at the edges, the world narrowing to the sound of distant footsteps pounding outside.
A door slams, voices shout, and then I catch her scent.
Paige.
It cuts through everything, the pain, the poison, the dark. It wraps around me like a tether, pulling me back. I try to lift my head, but I can’t. My body doesn’t respond.
“Ryder!” Her voice cracks through the room, strong and bright like lightning.
Then everything goes black.
** Paige’s POV **
The cabin is quiet except for the soft hum of my laptop. I’ve been staring at the same line of text for at least five minutes, pretending to work while my mind keeps wandering to the patrol. Ryder and Parker are out with the new enforcers, and I have an uneasy feeling about it.
I glance toward the window, where the trees sway gently in the moonlight. Everything looks calm and still.
Then it hits me. It’s subtle at first, like someone brushing a cold fingertip along the back of my neck. The tiny hairs on my arms stand up. My heart stutters. The bond that usually thrums steadily in my chest flickers, and then goes silent.
“Ryder?” I whisper, even though I know he can’t hear me out loud. I reach for him through the bond, the way I always do when he’s not near me, but this time, there’s no warmth, no pulse of his presence pushing back. Just emptiness. The air leaves my lungs all at once.
No.
I try again, harder this time, trying with everything I have to open the mind-link. “Ryder, answer me.” Nothing. The more I push, the colder it gets. Panic crawls up my spine.
Something’s very wrong.
I shove back from the desk, nearly sending the chair flying. The laptop clatters to the floor as I grab for the nearest hoodie. My hands are shaking so badly I can barely get it over my head.
The front door bursts open just as I hit the stairs.
“Paige!” Callen’s voice thunders through the hall, raw with fear.
“I can’t feel him,” I gasp before he even reaches me.
“I know,” he says, catching my shoulders. His eyes are wild, glowing faintly gold. “Parker just linked with me, Ryder collapsed. He’s taking him to the healer now.”
The words barely register before I’m already moving.
“Go,” Remy says from the doorway where he’d been on the porch with Cal. “I’ll stay with Jax.”
I don’t even stop to thank him, and Callen curses under his breath and follows, shouting orders for Remy to assign someone to take the lead on patrol.
The night air is cold against my face as I sprint out the door, my bare feet pounding against the dirt path.
Branches whip against my arms as I run, the path to the healer’s cabin a blur, I don’t remember crossing half the distance, just the pounding of my pulse and the hollow ache in my chest where Ryder should be.
Callen barely keeps pace beside me, his wolf close to breaking free. “He’ll be fine,” he growls, maybe to reassure me, maybe himself. “He has to be fine.”
The faint scent of antiseptic hits my nose before I even see the cabin. Then I hear voices… Poppy shouting, Parker swearing, Jake’s low urgent tone, and underneath it all, Ryder. His pained groans.
“Ryder!” I scream as I throw the door open.
The scene inside hits me like a blow. Ryder sprawled on the narrow bed, half-covered with a sheet, his skin pale and clammy. His eyes are closed, and his chest is heaving unevenly. Jake’s hands glow faintly as he presses them to Ryder’s arm, and Parker is gripping Ryder’s shoulders, trying to hold him still as his body jerks.
“What’s wrong with him?” I ask, my voice shaking as I stumble toward the bed. I press a hand to Ryder’s chest, desperate to feel warmth, a heartbeat, something.
Jake looks up, his face grim. “Poison. But not one I’ve seen before.”
“Hunters?” Callen asks from behind me.
“Maybe,” Poppy mutters. She’s already pulling more supplies from her kit, setting up a drip. ” It’s not wolfsbane, it’s something else, and it’s attacking his system fast.”
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