I didn\u2019t move back. I just stood there and watched her approach, even though every instinct I had was screaming at me to run.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s me Hun. It\u2019s me. I promise to help you. It\u2019s me T,\u2018 I said, and I saw her pause when I used the nickname she had given me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, she was recognizing me. I could see it in the way her eyes flickered, like she was fighting with whatever had consumed her from the inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes kept shifting between that terrifying silver glow and something that looked more like the woman I loved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had never witnessed anything as dangerous as this in my entire life, but I wouldn\u2019t leave or run. Not when my Athena was still in there somewhere, trapped inside this creature of power and death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A place my wolf or Alpha can\u2019t reach. This was bigger and more powerful than anything I\u2019ve ever came across.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew she was still fighting because of how she had reacted to my name. There was still hope. There had to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But then her eyes changed again, becoming permanently that cold silver, and this time the danger radiating from her was even stronger than before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She continued walking toward me with purpose now, like she had made a decision about what she was going to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGet away from her,\u201d I heard Orion shout from somewhere behind me as she got close enough that I could feel the heat coming off her skin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I didn\u2019t move. I didn\u2019t care what happened to me. I wouldn\u2019t ever leave her again, not after failing her so completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t ever stay away from you Ath,\u201d I said as her hands came up toward my face, stopping just inches away from touching me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I could feel the power in her, could sense how easily she could do to me what she had done to Seraphine and Daxon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One touch and she could drain every bit of life from my body, leave me as nothing more than a dried husk on the cave floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I didn\u2019t move. I looked into those silver eyes that used to be hazel and tried to find any trace of the woman who had changed everything about my\u00a0<\/p>\n
world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I know you\u2019re in there,\u201d I whispered, and my voice was shaking with emotion I couldn\u2019t control. \u201cI know you can hear me, Athena. I know you\u2019re fighting\u00a0<\/p>\n
this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her hands trembled slightly and for just a second I thought I saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m sorry,\u201d I continued, and the words poured out of me like blood from a wound. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry I let this happen to you. I\u2019m sorry I wasn\u2019t strong enough to protect you. I\u2019m sorry I failed you just like I failed everyone else I\u2019ve ever loyed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tears I had been holding back since the moment I realized she was gone finally started to fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had spent so many years being the Alpha, being strong for everyone else, never letting them see me break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But here in this cave, facing the woman I loved who no longer recognized me, I couldn\u2019t hold it together anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Please don\u2019t leave me,\u201d I begged, and I didn\u2019t care how desperate I sounded. *Please fight this thing. I need you to come back to me. I can\u2019t lose you too. I can\u2019t survive losing you the way I lost Jess.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:26 Sat, Jan 10 G MA\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 187\u00a0<\/p>\n
X370\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something in her expression shifted and the silver in her eyes flickered again. I held my breath, afraid that any movement or sound might break\u00a0<\/p>\n
whatever fragile connection we had found.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTristan?\u201d she said, and her voice was different now. Still not entirely her own, but closer to the woman I knew.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Yes, I said immediately. \u201cYes, it\u2019s me. I\u2019m here. I came for you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 187 I didn\u2019t move back. I just stood there and watched her […]<\/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-26344","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\/26344","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=26344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}