44%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ath\u2026 The pain in Orion\u2019s voice hit me like a physical blow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I could see my words were hurting him, but I couldn\u2019t take them back. They were rue, even if they stung. I couldn\u2019t face those sweet, innocent children\u00a0<\/p>\n
while I was barely holding myself together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t be the aunt they looked up to when I was still jumping at shadows and trembling from memories that felt too fresh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWait, just let me explain how I feel, please,\u201d I said quickly, catching sight of Tristan settling onto his motorcycle. He wasn\u2019t leaving, just giving us space to\u00a0<\/p>\n
talk while making it clear he planned to be part of whatever came next.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My voice cracked as I spoke, but I pushed through anyway. \u201cI want your kids to see me the way I see you\u2013strong, brave, someone they can always count on. I know it might sound impossible right now, but I have to try. I want them to look up to me as their protector, not as someone who constantly needs protecting. I want to be the kind of aunt who believes in herself, who can stay in their lives forever without bringing darkness with her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the time I finished talking, tears were streaming down my face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion stepped forward immediately and brushed them away with those gentle fingers I remembered from childhood, the same ones that used to wipe away\u00a0<\/p>\n
tears when I scraped my knees or had bad dreams.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hate being this weak, I hate it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hated that I kept going back and forth like this. Hated that every time I tried to move forward, something always pulled me back to the beginning. Most of all, I hated that I\u2019d ever called someone as manipulative and cruel as Daxon my mate. The shame of it burned in my chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t stop you if that\u2019s what you really want, Orion said softly, his voice full of understanding. \u201cBut I need you to know something first. My kids already\u00a0<\/p>\n
see you as their protector.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They see you for exactly who you are\u2013for your strength, for your bravery, for the way you love them completely. They don\u2019t see weakness when they look at you, Athena. They see their amazing aunt who\u2019s been through terrible things but ame out stronger on the other side.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His words made me cry harder, but these tears felt different somehow. Like something poisonous was finally being washed out of my system after years of\u00a0<\/p>\n
festering in the dark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Whenever you\u2019re ready, we\u2019ll be waiting,\u2018 he continued, his voice steady and sure. \u201cYou know my home is your home, right? It always has been, and it always\u00a0<\/p>\n
will be.\u2018\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded through my tears, trying to pull myself together enough to speak. \u201cThank you. That means everything to me. More than you know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I threw my arms around him and hugged him as tightly as I could. When I finally pulled back, I stood on my tiptoes and gave him soft pecks on both cheeks, something I\u2019d done since I was little that never failed to make him blush like a tenager.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sure enough, even in the dim moonlight, I could see his cheeks turn pink. \u201cYou\u2019re never too old for that,\u201d he said with a smile that reminded me so much of our father it made my heart ache in a good way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGive Sarah and the kids my love,\u201d I said, wiping my nose on my sleeve like the ceful lady I definitely wasn\u2019t. Tell them Aunt Athena will see them really\u00a0<\/p>\n
soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He nodded, then turned to look at Tristan. The glance that passed between them as loaded with years of friendship and shared responsibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
*Take care of her, man,\u201d Orion said, and it sounded less like a casual request and more like a sacred vow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
19:36 Tue, Jan 6 T\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 79\u00a0<\/p>\n
KICA\u00a0<\/p>\n
44%\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know I\u2019ll protect her with my life,\u201d Tristan responded without missing a bent his voice carrying the kind of absolute conviction that made something warm and complicated move in my chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite everything that had happened tonight the fight, the harsh words, the hit feelings that were probably still simmering under the surface \u2013 he was still here. Still ready to put himself between me and anything that might cause harm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGood, Orion said with obvious satisfaction. Then I\u2019ll take this worthless excuse of an alpha where he belongs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t ask what they planned to do with Daxon. Part of me didn\u2019t want to know he details, and part of me trusted them completely to handle it however\u00a0<\/p>\n
they saw fit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 79 44%\u00a0 Ath\u2026 The pain in Orion\u2019s voice hit me like a […]<\/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-26236","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\/26236","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=26236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}