The way she said it made my wolf jerk in alert. There was something possessive and resentful in her tone that I didn\u2019t like at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t the time to talk about this, Seraphine. You need to rest, and we can discuss whatever\u2019s bothering you later when you\u2019re feeling better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I started backing toward the door, suddenly desperate to get out of this room and Athena\u2019s arm, where I belong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018You should get some sleep. I need to head home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t leave,\u2018 she said, and something in her voice made me stop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned back slowly, dreading what she might say next.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t sleep alone. Can you stay with me just a little longer?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course that wasn\u2019t possible, I needed to be with Athena. Even though Athena wasn\u2019t waiting, knew staying here would only encourage whatever misguided feelings Seraphine seemed to be developing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll call Max to stay with you,\u201d I said firmly. \u201cAthena is waiting for me at home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I walked away without looking back, though I could feel her stare boring into me as I left.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It shouldn\u2019t have surprised me that she still had feelings for me. She\u2019d had a crush on me back in high school, constantly sending flowers and gifts and little\u00a0<\/p>\n
notes that I\u2019d tried to ignore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d thought when she became friends with Jess that she\u2019d finally gotten over her childish infatuation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Apparently, I\u2019d been wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I found Max in the hospital corridor and pulled him aside. \u201cI need you to stay with Seraphine tonight. She doesn\u2019t want to be alone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Max\u2019s face lit up in a way that would have been amusing under different circumstances. He\u2019d been in love with Seraphine for years, though she\u2019d never\u00a0<\/p>\n
seemed to notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even when she\u2019d gotten involved with that worthless mate of hers, Max had waited patiently in the background, hoping she\u2019d eventually see what was right\u00a0<\/p>\n
in front of her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018You\u2019re leaving already?\u201d Max asked, trying to hide his eagerness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I gave him a look that made him straighten up immediately. \u201cLook after her,\u201d I said simply, then walked away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ride back to Athena\u2019s apartment seemed to take forever. All I wanted was to get home to her, to hold her and forget about hospitals and suicide attempts and complicated pack dynamics. She was my peace, my center, the one thing in my life that made sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I reached her building, I climbed the stairs, already reaching for my keys. Athena had given me a spare weeks ago, and I used it now to let myself in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But when I tried to turn the key, the door wasn\u2019t locked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A weird feeling shot through my veins. Athena always locked her door. Always. It was one of the habits she\u2019d developed, and she\u2019d never broken it even after\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:21 Sat, Jan 10\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 155\u00a0<\/p>\n
moving out on her own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pushed the door open slowly, my heart hammering in my chest. \u201cAthena?\u2018 I called out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The living room was empty, with no signs of struggle but also no signs that Athena had been there recently.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I moved quickly to her bedroom, but it was empty too. The bed was made, her clothes were put away, everything looked normal except for the most important thing \u2013 she wasn\u2019t there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAth?\u201d I called louder, my voice echoing loudly through the apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Panic was starting to rise in my throat. Where could she be? She was supposed to be here, waiting for me. And she never went anywhere at night alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pulled out my phone and called her number, praying she\u2019d answer and tell me she\u2019d just run to the store or gone to visit Sarah even though it was already\u00a0<\/p>\n
late.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the sound that greeted me made my blood turn to ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her phone was ringing somewhere inside the apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I followed the sound, my hands shaking as I traced the familiar ringtone. I didn\u2019t always react this\u00a0<\/p>\n
terrifying.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t smell her close, or hear heartbeat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
way, but the thought running through my mind was\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was coming from the kitchen, and when I found it, my worst fears were confirmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her phone was lying on the floor next to the kitchen table, the screen cracked like it had been dropped or thrown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew immediately that my Ath has been taken.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 155 The way she said it made my wolf jerk in alert. […]<\/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-26312","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\/26312","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=26312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}