Tristan\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
70\u00a0<\/p>\n
The drive to Orion\u2019s house felt like it took forever. I kept my fingers pressed against Athena\u2019s neck, checking her pulse every few minutes,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her heartbeat was weak but steady. Her breathing was shallow but consistent. She wasn\u2019t getting worse, but she wasn\u2019t getting better either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I tried not to think about what would happen if she never woke up. Or worse, what would happen if she woke up and that thing was still inside her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The car pulled into Orion\u2019s driveway and I saw Sarah on the front porch. She\u2019d been pacing, I could tell from the way she immediately stopped moving\u00a0<\/p>\n
when she spotted us. Her face was pale and her hands were shaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment Orion stepped out of the car, she ran to him. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t hear what she was whispering to him, but I saw his whole body shake. He held her tight and closed his eyes like he was trying to absorb some\u00a0<\/p>\n
of her strength.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After a minute, she pulled back and walked over to my side of the car. She looked down at Athena\u2019s wolf form in my arms and her eyes filled with tears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Is she going to be okay?\u201d Sarah asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t know, I said. It was the truth and Sarah deserved that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She reached out and touched my shoulder. \u201cI\u2019m sorry. For all of this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded but I couldn\u2019t speak. My throat felt too tight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah stepped back so I could carry Athena into the house. My legs were still weak from whatever Athena had drained from me earlier, but I managed to make it up the front steps without stumbling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inside, Sarah led us down the hallway to a guest bedroom. She\u2019d already prepared everything. There were thick curtains blocking out all the light.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bed had been stripped down to just a mattress with a single sheet. On the nightstand was a syringe filled with something clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The sedative,\u201d Sarah explained when she saw me looking at it. \u201cDr. Graze dropped it off an hour ago. He said it should keep her under for at least eight\u00a0<\/p>\n
hours.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I laid Athena down on the bed as gently as I could. Her wolf form looked so small on the mattress. Her fur was still dull and lifeless. Her ribs were showing through her coat in a way that made my chest ache,\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShould I give her the injection now?\u201d Sarah asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Yes, Orion said from behind us. \u201cWe can\u2019t risk her waking up before we know more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah picked up the syringe and found a spot on Athena\u2019s hind leg where the fur was thin. She pushed the needle in and slowly pressed the plunger. Athena didn\u2019t even twitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat should hold her, Sarah said. She capped the empty syringe and set it aside. \u201cDr. Graze will be here in a few hours to check on her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:27 Sat, Jan 10\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 194\u00a0<\/p>\n
out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion walked over to the window and pulled the curtains closed even tighter. \u2018We need to lock the door too,\u2018 he said without turning around,\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew he was right, but the thought of locking Athena in a room made me feel sick. Still, I watched as he turned the deadbolt and pocketed the key.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Where are Lily and Liam?\u201d I asked Sarah as we left the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At my friend\u2019s house,\u201d she said. \u2018I didn\u2019t want them here for this. If something goes wrong\u2026\u201d I wanted to warn her of friends but something else came\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d I said. \u201cAthena would never forgive herself if they saw her like this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
We walked to the living room and I collapsed into one of the armchairs. My whole body felt heavy and empty at the same time. Orion sat on the couch\u00a0<\/p>\n
and put his head in his hands. Sarah sat next to him and rubbed his back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The silence stretched on for several minutes. I could hear a clock ticking somewhere and the sound of cars driving past outside. Normal sounds from a\u00a0<\/p>\n
normal world that felt completely foreign to me now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to know everything,\u201d I finally said. \u201cAbout what happened back there. About what\u2019s inside Athena. All of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion lifted his head and looked at me. His eyes were bloodshot and there were new lines around them that hadn\u2019t been a while ago. More were adding\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know where to start,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStart with your family,\u201d I said. \u201cStart with why this is happening to her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 194 Tristan\u2019s POV\u00a0 70\u00a0 The drive to Orion\u2019s house felt like it […]<\/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-26351","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\/26351","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=26351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}