Athena\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
The silence that followed was thick. Orion\u2019s fork stopped halfway to his mouth, and Tristan went completely still.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2026.. do you mean?\u2018 Orion asked in a low soft tone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I mean I want to find my own apartment. Be independent. I can\u2019t live with Tristan forever.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can live with me as long as you want, Tristan said quietly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked at him directly then, keeping my voice steady and my smile in place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s very kind of you bro, but I think it\u2019s time I stood on my own two feet. I\u2019ve been dependent on other people for too long.\u201d I could see his jaw tightened but I acted like I notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAthena, you don\u2019t have to do this,\u201d Orion said, concern creeping into his voice. \u201cIf something\u2019s wrong\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing\u2019s wrong. Tristan has been such a supportive elder brother\u2026\u201d The words tasted bitter in my mouth, and I saw Tristan\u2019s eyebrow\u00a0<\/p>\n
raise slightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Calling him that felt like shooting myself in the foot, but that was what he was. \u201cI just think it\u2019s time for me to have my own space. Make my own decisions. Live my own life. Daxon is gone, there\u2019s no need to still act like I need protection.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Under the table, my hands were clasped so tightly my knuckles were white. But my voice never wavered, my smile never faltered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was done being the girl who needed rescuing. It was time to rescue myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I could see Orion was trying to talk me out of it. He looked at Tristan, and I noticed a strange look pass between them. It was brief, but intense, like they were having an entire conversation without words.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It looked like they were communicating through their mind link, but that was impossible. Or maybe not that impossible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though they weren\u2019t from the same pack, there was still a way around it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A way only few men knew, men like my dad and Tristan\u2019s dad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew my dad and Tristan\u2019s dad used to communicate somehow, but I\u2019d never bothered to ask how.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since I\u2019d gotten back, I hadn\u2019t even tried to communicate with Orion through our pack\u2019s mind link. It was like I\u2019d completely forgotten where I came from or what I was capable of.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
8:47 Wed, Jan 7\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 103\u00a0<\/p>\n
The whole concept of mind linking had always made me uncomfortable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
100\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why would I want someone invading my privacy, talking inside my head? But my mom always said it was what made us unique as wolves, so eventually I\u2019d stopped fighting it and started trying to embrace the gifts they\u2019d taught me to accept.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, some of them anyway. I wasn\u2019t allowed to embrace all my abilities since I was little. I didn\u2019t know why, but I\u2019d been taught to always\u00a0<\/p>\n
suppress Claire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She wasn\u2019t allowed to take her full form except during the full moon, which was probably why she wasn\u2019t stable now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sometimes I forgot I was even a werewolf. I acted and felt completely human most of the time. Wasn\u2019t that funny?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Humans would give anything to be like me, but here I was wishing I could be like them. Though I did want Claire back properly, and I also loved being a werewolf when I let myself think about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d Orion asked, bringing me out of my wandering thoughts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I raised a confused eyebrow, not understanding what he meant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen do you plan on finding your own place?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oh right. My apartment. I\u2019d been so lost in my thoughts that I\u2019d forgotten we were still discussing my moving out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow if possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both of them raised their eyebrows, clearly surprised by my timeline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow? Isn\u2019t that a bit too soon?\u201d Tristan said, and from the look on his face, I could tell the words had slipped out before he could\u00a0<\/p>\n
stop them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been back for more than a month now. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s too soon,\u201d I replied with a smile directed at him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you already found a place?\u201d This was Orion, making me turn my attention back to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have some options, but I\u2019ll be checking them out today after work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAth\u2026\u201d I could see the sadness creeping across his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew this was going to hurt him, but it was something I needed to do. That\u2019s why I\u2019d chosen to look at places that weren\u2019t too far from his house. I wanted independence, not isolation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can come with me if you want. Both of you.\u201d I looked between them, seeing hope flicker in their eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew Tristan had hurt me, but this was how I was going to prove myself that I was truly growing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate\u00a0<\/p>\n
C\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 103 Athena\u2019s POV\u00a0 The silence that followed was thick. Orion\u2019s fork stopped […]<\/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-26260","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\/26260","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=26260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}