70\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long to get there?\u201d I asked Derek.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo hours in the air, maybe less if we push it,\u201d Derek replied. That was too much. \u201cBut Tristan, you need to prepare yourself for what we might find when we get there.\u201d He said making me turn to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek\u2019s expression was grim as he gestured toward his men. \u201cI\u2019ve been tracking Daxon for months now, ever since he first showed up on our radar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I had no idea he was related to you. He\u2019s not just some Alpha wolf looking for revenge. He\u2019s organized, he\u2019s funded, and he\u2019s got resources that suggest\u00a0<\/p>\n
he\u2019s working with someone bigger than himself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My blood chilled. \u201cWhat kind of resources?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kind that let him set up operations in international waters, Derek said. \u201cThe kind that let him disappear for months at a time and then resurface with\u00a0<\/p>\n
new technology, new weapons, new allies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jackson stepped forward again. \u201cAlpha, we\u2019ve identified at least three vessels in the area where your mate\u2019s signal is strongest. One appears to be a modified\u00a0<\/p>\n
cargo ship, heavily armed. The other two look like escort boats.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow heavily armed?\u201d Orion asked, and I could hear the deadly calm in his voice that meant he was already planning how to kill everyone involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHeavy enough that a frontal assault would be suicide,\u201d Jackson answered honestly. \u201cBut we\u2019ve got a plan that should get us on board without triggering\u00a0<\/p>\n
their defenses.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek nodded toward the jet. \u201cWe\u2019ll brief you fully once we\u2019re in the air, but right now we need to move. Every minute we delay is another minute Athena is\u00a0<\/p>\n
in their hands.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked at the jet, then at the armed men, then at Orion and my commander.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The smart play was to take Derek\u2019s help, use his resources, and approach this like the military operation it had become.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But every instinct I had was screaming at me to shift into my wolf form and run straight toward wherever Athena was being held, consequences be damned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTristan, Orion said quietly, and his hand landed on my shoulder. \u201cWe do this right, or we don\u2019t do it at all. She needs us alive and functional, not dead and\u00a0<\/p>\n
useless.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was right, just like Derek had been right, but it went against every fiber of my being to slow down and plan when my mate was suffering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFine,\u201d I said through gritted teeth. \u201cBut if this goes wrong, if his plan gets her killed.\/\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt won\u2019t,\u201d Derek said with absolute certainty. \u201cBecause failure isn\u2019t an option. Not for any of us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jackson gestured toward the jet. \u201cAlpha, we\u2019re ready to board when you are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took one last look around the airstrip, at the assembled men who were about to risk their lives for my mate, at Derek who had dropped everything to help\u00a0<\/p>\n
me, at Orion whose rage was still burning hot enough to make the air shimmer around him,\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2)\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:26 Sat, Jan 10 G MR\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 183\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Let\u2019s go bring her home,\u2018 I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We moved toward the jet as a unit and I could feel the tension in every man present.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t just a rescue mission anymore, it was war, and we all knew that some of us might not be coming back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But as we boarded Derek\u2019s jet and the engines roared to life, only one thing mattered to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Athena was out there, she was in danger, and nothing in heaven or hell was going to stop me from getting to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The jet lifted off into the night sky and through the small window, I watched the lights of the city disappear below us. Somewhere ahead of us, across miles\u00a0<\/p>\n
of dark ocean, my mate was waiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was coming for her, and God help anyone who tried to stop me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 183 70\u00a0 \u201cHow long to get there?\u201d I asked Derek.\u00a0 \u201cTwo hours […]<\/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-26340","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\/26340","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=26340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}