212-\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:21 Sat, Jan 10 G MR\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 154\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t want to leave Athena alone, but I needed to be there for Seraphine. She was going through something terrible, and as her Alpha, I had\u00a0<\/p>\n
responsibilities I couldn\u2019t ignore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But if I was being completely honest with myself, there was more to it than just duty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sometimes I used helping Seraphine to ease my conscience about all the times I hadn\u2019t been there for Athena.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All those years when she was suffering with Daxon, when she needed someone to protect her I and Orion weren\u2019t there for her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So whenever Seraphine called, I went. It was my way of making up for past failures, even though I knew it couldn\u2019t really balance the scales.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I also knew that Athena didn\u2019t like Seraphine, and I couldn\u2019t blame her for that. There was something about Seraphine that set people on edge, though I\u2019d\u00a0<\/p>\n
never been able to put my finger on exactly what it was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d been thinking about finding her a new place to live, somewhere far from here where she could get a fresh start.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Somewhere her ex\u2013mate\u2019s memory couldn\u2019t haunt her, even though he was dead now. Maybe then she\u2019d be able to pull herself together the way Athena had, though I doubted she had Athena\u2019s strength.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Very few people did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I arrived at the hospital, I was heading toward the main entrance when I heard Max\u2019s voice in my head through our pack\u2019s mind link. He always used it when he didn\u2019t want anyone overhearing him call me by my title in public.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlpha,\u201d his voice echoed in my thoughts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned to see him walking toward me across the parking lot, his expression grim.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Where is she?\u201d I asked the moment he reached me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor says she\u2019s going to be fine, but only because I found her in time. She took a lot of pills, but they were able to pump her stomach before any permanent damage was done. She needs rest now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Is she still sleeping?\u201d I asked, already starting to move toward the hospital entrance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Max nodded, then caught himself and spoke aloud but only for my ears. \u201cYes, Alpha.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I started walking toward Seraphine\u2019s room, my mind already focused on what I needed to say to her, how I could help her without giving her the wrong impression about our relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, Max said behind me, making me pause.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned back to him, raising an eyebrow. \u201cSorry for what?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His face was etched with guilt, though I couldn\u2019t understand why. \u201cYou trusted me to investigate Seraphine\u2019s mate\u2019s death, but it\u2019s been months now and I still haven\u2019t found any solid leads.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 154\u00a0<\/p>\n
Relief washed through me. For a moment, I\u2019d thought he was about to confess to some serious mistake that would require punishment. The investigation\u00a0<\/p>\n
into how Seraphine\u2019s abusive mate had died was important, but it wasn\u2019t urgent enough to warrant that level of guilt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you\u2019re doing your best,\u201d I said, patting his shoulder. \u201cWe all are. We\u2019ll get to the bottom of it eventually.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Max nodded, but I could see he wasn\u2019t entirely convinced. He took his failures personally, which made him a good beta but also meant he carried\u00a0<\/p>\n
unnecessary guilt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pushed open the door to Seraphine\u2019s room and stepped inside. She was lying in the hospital bed, looking small and fragile against the white sheets, but the\u00a0<\/p>\n
moment I entered, she stirred awake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes widened with surprise, then filled with joy when she saw me. The intensity of her reaction made me uncomfortable but I pushed it down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou came,\u201d she said, trying to sit up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I quickly moved to her side, gently pushing her back down onto the pillows. \u201cYou should rest. The doctor said you need it after what happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her face fell at my words, and I could see tears starting to form in her eyes. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I frowned, wondering why everyone seemed to be apologizing to me tonight when they weren\u2019t the ones who had done anything wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I\u2019m weak and not as strong as Athena,\u201d she continued, and my eyebrows shot up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How did she know about what Athena had been through? I\u2019d never discussed Athena\u2019s past with Seraphine. I\u2019d never discussed Athena with her at all, come\u00a0<\/p>\n
to think of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAthena?\u201d I asked carefully.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seraphine\u2019s eyes widened slightly, like she\u2019d caught herself saying something she shouldn\u2019t have. \u201cWhat I meant was, Athena is your mate and I know you chose her because she\u2019s strong and I\u2019m not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 154 212-\u00a0 2\/2\u00a0 15:21 Sat, Jan 10 G MR\u00a0 The Biker Alpha […]<\/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-26311","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\/26311","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=26311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}