Chapter 290 Book 2 ~ Chapter 55

Chapter 290 Book 2 ~ Chapter 55
Poppy’s POV

Shiver’s run through me. Starting from my chest and spreading out, but everything else calms. My heart stops pounding, my breaths come easier, and the cold that was creeping in is slowly replaced by a comforting warmth.

It’s them, my mates. They’re anchoring me. Whatever this power is inside me, it responds to them. 

I don’t think I realised how touch-starved I was until I came back. Not just physically. Not just kisses and hands and heated moments that leave my head spinning.

It’s the little things. The way Leo always seems to touch me, like he already knows when my mind is getting too loud. A hand on the small of my back. Fingers brushing my thigh. His thumb moving in slow circles against my skin, as if he’s grounding himself just as much as he’s grounding me. He makes me feel safe in a way I don’t think I’ve ever really felt before.

And Jake… God. Jake touches me as if I’m something precious. Like he’s constantly fighting the urge to handle me too carefully and too desperately at the same time. The feeling of his hand against my face earlier, warm and steady despite everything happening around us. How he held himself back earlier, despite the bond trying to drag him under. He looked at me like I mattered more.

Something twists painfully in my chest at the thought. Because I know what the mate bond is supposed to do. I know it creates attraction and attachment and all those terrifying feelings I’ve spent weeks trying not to drown in. But this?… This feels bigger than instinct.

Leo makes me laugh when my thoughts turn dark. Jake sees through me so easily that it’s honestly unfair. They both look at me like I’m worth the chaos that comes with me, even now. Even after the shattered glass and the flickering lights and whatever the hell is happening inside my head.

And the worst part? I’m starting to think I’d break a little if they stopped. My throat tightens unexpectedly, and my eyes well with emotion.

Is that what love is? Not the dramatic, all-consuming kind from books and movies. Just this quiet ache in my chest when Jake leaves the room. The way my body relaxes the second Leo pulls me close. The terrifying realisation that somewhere along the way, these two men stopped feeling like something chasing me, and started feeling like home.

“Hey,” Jake says softly, brushing a gentle thumb under my eye. “We’ve got you, Poppy. You’re not alone in this.”

Leo doesn’t speak, but he leans in, his warm chest pressing to my back.

“I know,” I nod with a watery smile, but the words crack coming out.

I know Jake dropped everything and ran back the second Leo called. I know Leo stayed calm even while the room around us was falling apart. I know they’re both scared, and somehow they’re still more worried about me than whatever the hell this thing inside me is becoming.

The emotion hits so suddenly it almost hurts. My chest tightens hard enough that I have to suck in a shaky breath as tears burn behind my eyes again.

“Oh no,” Leo breathes.

I let out a broken laugh that sounds embarrassingly close to a sob. “I’m fine.”

“That’s a lie,” Jake says gently, and somehow that’s what breaks me.

Not the shattered glass, the voice in my head, or the fear. It’s them. The way they’re holding me like I’m something worth protecting when I feel the furthest thing from safe.

A tear slips free before I can stop it, then another, and suddenly I’m crying properly, my hands gripping Jake’s shirt as I rest my head against him.

“I don’t know how to stop this happening,” I whisper.

Jake’s hand slides into my hair, cupping the back of my neck.

“You don’t have to figure it out alone.”

Leo’s arms tighten around me from behind, solid, warm, and steady enough to stop me from completely falling apart. 

The powers and the voice are bad enough, but how badly I need them is what scares me the most. Because somewhere between the chaos and fear and fighting myself every step of the way, these two men have become the only place my mind ever truly quiets, and I’m starting to realise I don’t think I could survive losing that.

Jake’s thumb brushes slowly through my hair while Leo wraps himself around me, holding me together piece by piece in our own little bubble.

I fully relax into them, just letting them hold me for a while. Then, before I can let everything go, a strange pressure builds suddenly behind my eyes, sharp enough to make me flinch.

Images flash through my head so fast they barely make sense. Rain… headlights… the violent screech of rubber on tarmac. I gasp.

“No…” I whisper before I even realise I’m speaking.

Jake stiffens instantly. “Poppy?”

Another flash hits me harder this time. A steering wheel… blood… broken glass.

“Control it, Poppy.” The voice isn’t cold this time; it sounds desperate.

My entire body locks, and I blink rapidly, trying to see the cabin that I know is around me. But all I see are the wipers working hard to clear the windscreen.

“I can’t see.” 

“Shit,” Leo curses, and I feel him move behind me. 

“Poppy, open your eyes and look at us,” Jake says, his tone firmer now. 

“I…” My throat tightens. “They are open.”

But I know they’re not. Because what I’m seeing isn’t real. It can’t be. I watch as strong hands grip the wheel. Hands that I know. They’re the same ones that would lift me and spin me around as a child. A soft voice hums along to a song on the radio; my mum, so content and relaxed.

My head turns to the side without permission, looking out of the side window. A flash of something catches my eye, and I lean in closer, trying to get a better look. 

“No,” I whisper again, shaking my head harder this time. “That’s not possible.”

There’s a figure out there, running through the trees, keeping up with the car. 

“What isn’t possible?” Jake asks, closer now.

I can barely get the words out.

“The crash.”

The room goes completely silent, and a cold chill spreads down my spine as another fractured piece of memory pushes forward.

Rain hitting glass, my hands gripping the seat in front of me, fear, and a voice in my ear whispering, “Control it, Poppy.”

“I think…” My voice cracks badly. “I think I was in the crash with my parents.”

The words barely leave me before another memory crashes into me so hard it steals the breath from my lungs.

My mother shouting. My father swearing. Tires screaming against wet roads. But underneath all of it… a calmness washes over me.

That voice in my ear, low and steady despite the panic around me. “You can take control, Poppy.”

It’s not threatening or cruel; it never was. It’s… protective. My entire body goes numb.

“Oh my God… it was there too.”

Jake reaches for me instantly, but I barely feel it. Because suddenly the thing haunting me doesn’t feel new anymore. It feels familiar. Like something that’s been with me my entire life, and that’s so much worse.