Chapter 178\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStop, I choked out between sobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pressed my hands over my ears but the chains made it impossible to block out his voice completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And in the end, she just\u2026 stopped breathing. It took almost two hours. Two long hours of suffering and she never stopped hoping someone would come for\u00a0<\/p>\n
her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I dropped forward as much as the chains would allow, sobbing so hard my chest felt like it would cave in. I could see it all now, Jess dying because of me. Because I existed. Because I\u2019d loved Tristan and somehow that made her expendable. Because I\u2019d loved Daxon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was all my fault. Every single thing was my fault.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I slammed my fists into the concrete floor, ignoring the pain that shot up my arms. I screamed and cried and screamed again until my throat was raw and I\u00a0<\/p>\n
couldn\u2019t breathe properly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The grief was overwhelming, crushing. But underneath it, something else was building. Something hot and violent and hungry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then I felt it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something in me cracked open \u2013 pain, rage, grief all mixing into something else entirely. Something that burned through my veins like liquid fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I lifted my head, my vision had changed. Everything looked different, sharper somehow. The dim basement was brighter, colors more vivid. I could see dust motes floating in the air, could hear Daxon\u2019s heartbeat, steady and calm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My vision was glowing. Literally glowing. I saw the gold light reflected faintly in the chain at my wrist, in the concrete walls around me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daxon tilted his head, watching me with what looked like genuine curiosity rather than fear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Well, well, he murmured. \u201cMaybe there\u2019s still a little wolf in you after all.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was about crossing the line I promised my parents I wouldn\u2019t ever cross.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know what I\u2019d become but I didn\u2019t care anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I glared at him through my glowing eyes and for the first time since he\u2019d chained me down here, I saw something other than cruel satisfaction on his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He looked almost\u2026 pleased.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like this was what he\u2019d been waiting for all along.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wanted this, I realized, my voice coming out different than before. Rougher. \u201cYou wanted me to break.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Breaking was just the first step,\u2018 he said, standing slowly. \u201cWhat comes after is much more interesting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The glow in my vision pulsed, responding to my anger. I could feel power thrumming under my skin, power I hadn\u2019t felt ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It should have been comforting but instead it terrified me. Because I didn\u2019t what I was capable of when the wolf took over. I didn\u2019t know how much damage\u00a0<\/p>\n
would be done.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 178\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I haven\u2019t even told you the worst part yet,\u201d he said lightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The words hit me like ice water. Worse than this? Worse than learning that an innocent woman had died because of me? That she\u2019d suffered for hours?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I froze, breath catching in my throat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something else,\u201d he said, walking toward the stairs with deliberate slowness. His shadow stretched across me, long and dark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething that will shatter you more than this ever could. Something I\u2019ve been saving for just the right moment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think anything would break me more than this.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Someone had lost her life because my psychopath of a mate felt threatened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But somewhere under the grief, under the pain and horror and guilt, something new was burning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something that wanted blood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seraphine had betrayed Jess. Had murdered her as surely as if she\u2019d used a knife instead of whatever poison she\u2019d slipped into that tea. Had smiled while\u00a0<\/p>\n
doing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And Daxon had watched. Had let it happen. Had told a dying woman it was my fault.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The glow in my eyes pulsed brighter and I felt my fingernails elongating into claws. The wolf was waking up fully now, stirring after years of forced sleep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was going to kill her. I was going to kill Seraphine for what she\u2019d done to Jess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then I was going to kill Daxon too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 178 Chapter 178\u00a0 \u201cStop, I choked out between sobs.\u00a0 I pressed my […]<\/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-26335","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\/26335","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=26335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}