**Paige’s POV **
It’s not real. It can’t be real.
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I stand there frozen, one hand pressed to my chest like it might stop my heart from breaking out of my ribs. Remy is on his knees looking broken, his voice raw.
“She’s mine.”
The words echo in my head, and all I can do is stare at him. This furious, beautiful man who stormed in here like a hurricane and now looks like he’s being torn apart from the inside.
“No,” I whisper before I can stop myself. “That’s not… this isn’t happening.”
Because it can’t be. Not again.
One mate was enough. More than enough. Ryder blew my life apart and remade it with a single kiss, and Callen… Callen came in like fire, demanding space in my heart that wasn’t supposed to exist.
I’m barely keeping it together with them. Still adapting to this whole crazy situation. I can’t handle him too.
“Paige,” Parker says gently, stepping between us. “It’s okay. Just breathe. You’re safe.”
Remy doesn’t move. He doesn’t blink. He looks at me like his whole world just tuned upside down… I know
that feeling.
“I didn’t mean to <i>feel </i>it,” he grits out between clenched teeth. “I didn’t want it. I came here to…” He trails off, dragging a <i>hand </i>through his hair like he wants to tear it out. “Callen almost died today. This is thest thing I need right <i>now</i><i>.</i><i>” </i>
His wordsnd like a punch <i>to </i>the gut. The rejection stings, but hadn’t I just been having the same
thoughts?
I should speak. Say something. Anything. But Parker steps in before I can.
“She’s overwhelmed, Rem,” he says calmly. “This is a lot. Maybe we all need to take a breath.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Remy snaps, but there’s no actual anger behind it. He sounds like a man on the edge.
Parker doesn’t flinch. “I’m not telling you to calm down. I’m telling you she’s allowed to be shocked. This changes everything for her, too.”
He turns to me then, and something shifts in his eyes. He’s no longer just the calm, quiet presence that makes me feel safe, but someone who’s been carrying something heavy for too long.
“I didn’t say anything before,” Parker begins, “because I didn’t want to overwhelm you. I figured Ryder and Callen were already enough to deal with, and I didn’t want toplicate things even more.”
< Chapter 37
My breath catches as my brain catches up… Twins share a mate.
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His gaze locks with mine. “But I’ve known, Paige. Since I saw you in the woods. You looked at me, and I felt it. The pull of the mate bond. It almost knocked me t. I didn’t tell anyone because I wanted to give you more time to adapt to this new life.”
The floor feels like it shifts beneath me, and I press my fingers to my temples. “Stop. Please… just for a
second. I need to think.”
“I know,” Parker says softly. “I’m sorry.”
I look at them both. Remy’s still on his knees, trembling with emotion, and Parker is standing between us,
ready to catch me if I fall.
Two more mates. Two more connections I didn’t ask for and don’t know how to fit in.
“I can’t do this,” I breathe. “I can’t be this person you all think I am. I didn’te here for this. I came to protect my son. To get away. Not to fall into some freaky supernatural gang bang that keeps pulling me deeper, no matter how hard I try to crawl out.”
Remy stands slowly. “I didn’t ask for this either,” he says quietly. “But it’s real, and you feel it. I know you do.
His voice cracks at the end, and I hate him a little for being right. Because I do feel it. That maic pull. That burn under my skin. I’ve been feeling it all day. But this isn’t right. This isn’t how rtionships work, not in my world. I shouldn’t feel like my heart is being pulled in four different directions.
“I don’t have room for this right now,” I whisper.
“You don’t have to decide anything,” Parker says, gently guiding Remy back with one hand. “Not today. Not tonight. Let’s just… sit <i>and </i>breathe. Let’s be human for a moment.”
Remy doesn’t respond. His hands clench at his sides and his jaw tightens like it’s been wired shut. But he
nods.
I drop into the nearest chair. My limbs feel <i>too </i>heavy, my chest too full. Parker sits across from me, still watching me like I might run, and Remy paces behind him like a caged wolf.
I press my palms into my eyes and force the tears back down. I don’t know how to navigate this. I don’t
even know what this is.
Parker reaches a hand over the ind as if to cover mine, and I flinch back. Not because I don’t want him to touch me, but because of how much I want it. How much I want him to take my hands in his and show me how good things could be if I just gave in.
None of us say another word.
Remy paces the kitchen like he might copse if he doesn’t keep moving. Parker watches him, arms folded tight across his chest and his jaw locked. Every so often, one of them will shoot a look at the other, or gesture with their hands, which makes it obvious they are using their wolfy magic tomunicate. I
< Chapter 37
can only guess what they’re talking about.
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I sit there, staring at the pattern on the marbled tabletop like it might tell me what the hell I’m supposed to
do next.
Then the door opens. Ryder steps inside, and everything else fades.
He looks like he’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. His eyes <i>lock </i><i>on </i>mine and soften, just a little. Exhaustion radiates from him, but there’s relief there, too.
“He’s stable,” Ryder says. “Still weak, but the antidote’s holding. He’s breathing easier. He’s healing.”
A sob rises in my throat, but I swallow it before it can escape. I cross the room and wrap my arms around
his waist. He’s warm, solid, and mine. I bury my face against his chest as he exhales and <i>holds </i>me.
“I was so worried,” I whisper.
“I know,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Me too.”
Behind us, I sense both Parker and Remy move subtly, pulling back, giving us space, and I’m grateful. I don’t have room for anything else right now, just Ryder. Just the man who’s almost bled himself dry for his
brother and still came home to hold me like this.
Ryder pulls back to look at me, brushing hair from my face with the gentlest touch.
“Is Jaxon asleep?” he asks.
I nod. “He’s out cold.”
“You okay?”
No. Not even close, but I nod again. “Yeah.”
He doesn’t push. Just touches his forehead to mine with a sigh. “I need about a year of sleep.”
“Let’s go to bed,” I say. “You don’t need to do anything else tonight. Just… let me take care of you now.”
He swallows hard as he nods, and I lead him down the hall, not looking back. I don’t tell him about the
mate bond that feels like it’s ripping my chest apart. I don’t tell him about Parker’s confession or Remy’s
revtion.
I don’t tell him because I can’t. Not tonight. Not after what he’s been through today.
I crawl into bed beside him and his arms wrap around me like I’m the only safe thing left in his world. His breathing evens out fast, his exhaustion dragging him under the second his head hits the pillow. I lie there beside him in the dark, one hand resting against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.
I should sleep, but all I can think about is Callen, alone and in pain. Remy and Parker, confused and probably hurt at my reaction.
I close my eyes and pray for silence. For my thoughts to give me a damn break. But the pull towards the three men that are not here hums, loud and insistent, and I know this is just the beginning.
< Chapter 37
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I wake up before the sun. The world outside is quiet, suspended in that strange stillness that only happens just before dawn. Ryder is curled around me, one arm draped over my waist, his legs tangled in mine. It should feel perfect, and in some ways, it does, but my chest is tight with things I haven’t said.
I
His warmth is a familiar kind of safety I never thought I’d have again, but even with his body pressed against mine, I feel split. Torn between the man lying next to me, his injured brother, <i>and </i>the two others still asleep down the hall, one of whom dropped to his kneesst night just <i>from </i>feeling the bond for the
first time.
I haven’t stopped thinking about it… About them. About what it means. Remy’s <i>voice </i>reys in my mind. ‘
She’s mine.’
Then there’s Parker… sweet, steady Parker… looking at me like he’s been waiting a lifetime just to tell me the truth. That he felt the bond the second he saw me in the woods and kept it to himself so I wouldn’t
feel cornered.
I didn’t ask for any of this, but that doesn’t stop it from being real.
Ryder shifts behind me, fingers twitching at my hip like he’s reaching for me in his dreams. I turn slowly to face him, brushing his hair back from his forehead. He’s still out cold, breathing slow and deep, the worry lines on his face softened in sleep.
He looks younger like this. Lighter. Like the weight of the world isn’t crushing him for once, and then the guilt hits hard.
He gave blood to his brother until he nearly copsed. Came home with nothing left and still held me like I was everything he needed, and I couldn’t even tell him the truth… I’m fated to two more of his pack.
I close my eyes.
Not yet. I’ll tell him. I will. But not yet. Not until I’vee to terms with it myself and we have Callen
home.
I slide carefully out of bed, doing my best not to wake him. He stirs a little, mumbling something under his breath, but he doesn’t move. I press a kiss to his temple and tuck the nket back around him before slipping into one of his T–shirts and padding barefoot into the kitchen.