Chapter 81\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u0f25 . 44%\u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n
I could feel Athena\u2019s eyes on me while I ate, studying me like she was trying to save some complicated puzzle. It made me shift uncomfortably in my chair because I had a pretty good idea what was going through her mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was probably thinking about how to fix me. How to make the pain go away and help me heal\u2018 from losing Jess and our unborn child.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But what she didn\u2019t understand\u2013what nobody seemed to understand\u2013was that this kind of pain doesn\u2019t just disappear. It doesn\u2019t fade with time or get\u00a0<\/p>\n
better with therapy or magically vanish because people care about you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It stays with you forever. It becomes part of who you are, woven into your bones and your blood until you can\u2019t tell where the grief ends and you begin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There will never be a day when I don\u2019t think about them, never a moment when their absence doesn\u2019t echo through every decision I make.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d already accepted that reality months ago. Some wounds don\u2019t heal\u2013they just each you how to live with the ache.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I didn\u2019t like seeing Athena worry about me. Hell, I was more worried about her after what happened tonight. The way she\u2019d frozen when she saw Daxon,\u00a0<\/p>\n
how her whole body had gone rigid with fear, that image was burned into my brain like a brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I should have seen this coming. Should have recognized the signs earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was the one who\u2019d informed Orion about Daxon\u2019s presence, but the bastard hadn\u2019t just arrived in town. He\u2019d been lurking around for God knows how long, and I\u2019d been too distracted to notice. Too caught up in my own problems to keep proper watch over the one person I\u2019d sworn to protect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d even helped him weeks ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The realization made my jaw clench so hard I thought my teeth might crack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That evening, when I\u2019d walked into Seraphine\u2019s hospital room \u2013 instead of going after Athena \u2013 going over the medications that would help her injuries heal\u00a0<\/p>\n
properly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d been explaining the dosage instructions when my phone ringed. Max, my beta calling with what he described as \u201ctwo pieces of bad news.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGive me the less important one first,\u201d I\u2019d told him, stepping away from Seraphines bed so she wouldn\u2019t overhear anything that might upset her further.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Seraphine\u2019s mate was found dead,\u201d Max had said immediately. \u201cPulled him out of the river about two hours ago. Cops are calling it suspicious circumstances, looks like somebody worked him over pretty good before dumping the body.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My eyebrow had raised slightly at that news, though I kept my expression neutral so Seraphine wouldn\u2019t notice anything was wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a twisted way, the bastard\u2019s death was probably a relief\u2013one less monster in the world\u2013but I knew it would still devastate her when she found out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll figure out how to tell her later, I\u2019d said quietly, walking toward the hallwa \u201cWhat\u2019s the second thing?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Daxon\u2019s in town. Was spotted around the industrial district few minutes ago.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The words hit me like ice water in my veins. \u2018Why the hell didn\u2019t you lead with it? I\u2019d growled, my voice dropping to the dangerous tone that made most wolves take a step back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you wanted the less important news first,\u2018 Max had replied, and I could practically hear him shrugging through the phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
|||\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
19:36 Tue, Jan 6 T\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 81\u00a0<\/p>\n
[ 44%\u00a0<\/p>\n
If he\u2019d been standing in front of me right then, I would have rearranged his face Beta or not, best friend since childhood or not, some mistakes were\u00a0<\/p>\n
unforgivable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018How long has he been here?\u2018 I\u2019d demanded, already moving toward the hospital xit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUnknown. Could be days, could be weeks but it\u2019s been a while. You want me to..\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d hung up on him and immediately reached out through the mind link I shared with Orion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was something our fathers had taught us when we were kids, a way to communicate across pack boundaries that most people thought was impossible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most people were idiots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion, I\u2019d projected, pushing urgency through the connection. Daxon\u2019s in town. Alena\u2019s alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The response had been immediate and furious. Where the fuck are you?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hospital. On my way to find her now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll meet you there. And Tristan? His mental voice had carried the kind of cold rage that made me glad we were on the same side. If anything happens to her\u00a0<\/p>\n
because you let her out of your sight\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
He hadn\u2019t finished the threat, but he didn\u2019t need to. I felt the same way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d found them at the beach, Orion had said we should check there out first, was ure Athena would be there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sight of Daxon standing behind Athena like some kind of predator had nearly driven me over the edge. She\u2019d gone completely still, her shoulders rigid with terror, and every protective instinct I possessed had roared to life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My first impulse had been to tear his throat out right there, consequences be damned. But I\u2019d forced myself to hold back because I knew Orion needed this. Needed to be the one to handle the bastard who\u2019d hurt his sister.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So instead, I\u2019d gone straight to Athena, positioning myself between her and danger like I should have been doing all along.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, sitting across from her at this dinner table, I could still see the fear in her eyes when she thought I wasn\u2019t looking. Still see the way her hands trembled slightly when she reached for her water glass.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was trying so hard to be strong, to convince everyone, including herself, that she was okay. But I\u2019d been around long enough to recognize the signs of someone barely holding it together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018You\u2019re staring,\u2018 she said suddenly, looking up from her plate with a small smile hat didn\u2019t quite reach her eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just making sure you\u2019re really okay,\u201d I admitted, setting down my fork. \u201cTonight Has\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTerrifying,\u201d she finished when I trailed off. \u201cBut it\u2019s over now. He\u2019s gone, and he never coming back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The certainty in her voice made me want to really end Daxon, but I knew he did deserve such an easy death. He deserves whatever I and Orion serves him\u00a0<\/p>\n
this next coming days. Some people didn\u2019t deserve second chances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I should have been there sooner,\u201d I said, the guilt eating at me like acid. \u201cShould have known he was in town before tonight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Tristan. Her voice was gentle but firm. \u201cThis isn\u2019t your fault. You can\u2019t watch my every second of every day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
19:36 Tue, Jan 6 T\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 81\u00a0<\/p>\n
44%2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to keep you safe, away from anything that I hurt you.\u201d I say, staring at her eyes. I\u2019ve always loved staring at her eyes, they make me feel like the world was so hard after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She laughed, but it was a sad sound. That\u2019s not living, that\u2019s just existing. And I\u2019m tired of just existing. I want to live. I want to love My heart constricted with the thought of her loving someone again that isn\u2019t me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 81 Chapter 81\u00a0 Tristan\u2019s POV\u00a0 \u0f25 . 44%\u2013\u00a0 I could feel Athena\u2019s […]<\/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-26238","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\/26238","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=26238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}