My woll, Claire, was completely silent. Still locked away in whatever dark corner of my mind she\u2019d retreated to, still refusing to help me\u00a0<\/p>\n
even when I might need her most. I was on my own, just like I\u2019d been during those final terrible months with Daxon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But if I couldn\u2019t run, then I could fight. The thought came to me with surprising clarity through the fog of panic. I might be trapped, but I\u00a0<\/p>\n
wasn\u2019t the same helpless girl who\u2019d cowered in corners while her mate destroyed her piece by piece. I\u2019d learned things. I had fists now,\u00a0<\/p>\n
and a little knowledge of how to use them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I planted my feet and waited as the figure turned slowly, preparing myself for the confrontation I\u2019d been dreading for weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he finally faced me completely, I felt the air rush out of my lungs in a mixture of relief and embarrassment so intense it made me\u00a0<\/p>\n
dizzy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t Daxon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The stranger looking at me with obvious confusion was maybe the same height and build, with similar dark hair, but his face was\u00a0<\/p>\n
completely wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His eyes were brown instead of Daxon\u2019s cold gray, his jaw was softer, and there was a kindness in his expression that Daxon had never\u00a0<\/p>\n
possessed even at his most charming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cExcuse me, miss?\u201d he said, his voice carrying a slight accent I couldn\u2019t place. \u201cDo I know you? You look like you\u2019ve seen a ghost.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I probably looked exactly like that. My face was probably white as paper, my hands still shaking, my breathing still too fast and shallow. I\u00a0<\/p>\n
tried to pull myself together, tried to remember how to act like a normal person instead of a traumatized mess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u2026 no, sorry,\u201d I managed, my voice coming out rougher than I intended. \u201cI thought\u2026 you look like someone I used to know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His expression softened with understanding, and he gave me a gentle smile. \u201cAh, I hear that a lot actually. One of those faces, I guess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Happens all the time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really sorry,\u201d I said again, backing away slowly. The relief was making me feel weak and shaky, like my legs might give out at any\u00a0<\/p>\n
moment. \u201cI didn\u2019t mean to follow you or anything weird like that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo harm done,\u201d he said, still smiling. \u201cHope you find whoever you\u2019re looking for.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
If only he knew that the last thing I wanted was to find the person I\u2019d mistaken him for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned and walked back toward the main street as quickly as my unsteady legs would carry me, my heart still racing but for different\u00a0<\/p>\n
reasons now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The embarrassment was almost as bad as the terror had been. What if he thought I was some kind of stalker? What if he called the police\u00a0<\/p>\n
about the crazy woman who\u2019d followed him into an alley?\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
18:37 Fri, Jan 2 d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 43\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment I emerged from the alley, I un Lesh frantically kolking domed the market area, her phone stasied to her ear When Bu\u00a0<\/p>\n
spotted me, the let out a visible sigh of relied and tothed over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There you are! Where did you go? You scared me half to death the was practically breathless wird worry, I was about to cat Trol\u00a0<\/p>\n
but I realized I don\u2019t even have his contact information.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I forced what I hoped was a reassuring smile, though it probably looked as shaky as I fat. Tas fine. I bet.. thought I saw yun\u00a0<\/p>\n
She studied my face with the sharp eyes of someone who wasn\u2019t sasily fooled, I could see her taking in my pile completion, my st trembling hands, the way I kept glancing over my shoulder like I expected someone to jump out at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Are you sure you\u2019re okay? You look like you\u2019ve been running\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tm good,\u201d I lied. \u201cLet\u2019s just go home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 43 My woll, Claire, was completely silent. Still locked away in whatever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}