Athena\u00a0<\/p>\n
< 78%\u00a0<\/p>\n
The healer\u2019s house was tucked away in a quiet part of the pack territory, surrounded by trees\u00a0<\/p>\n
and a garden full of herbs I didn\u2019t recognize.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It looked peaceful and calm, which was the opposite of how I felt inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan parked the car and turned to look at me. \u201cReady?\u201d he asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded even though I wasn\u2019t sure I was. \u201cLet\u2019s just get this over with.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
We walked up to the door together and Tristan knocked. A few moments later, an elderly woman\u00a0<\/p>\n
opened it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had gray hair pulled back in a bun and sharp eyes that seemed to see right through me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTristan,\u201d she said, her voice warm. \u201cIt\u2019s been a while.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHello, Mara,\u201d he said respectfully. \u201cI\u2019m sorry to show up without warning but we need your\u00a0<\/p>\n
help.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes moved to me and I felt like she was reading every thought in my head. \u201cCome in,\u201d she\u00a0<\/p>\n
said, stepping aside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We followed her into a small living room that smelled like dried flowers and something earthy 1\u00a0<\/p>\n
couldn\u2019t identify.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She gestured for us to sit on a worn couch while she took a chair across from us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow,\u201d she said, folding her hands in her lap. \u201cTell me what\u2019s going on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan looked at me and I realized he was waiting for me to speak. I took a breath and tried to\u00a0<\/p>\n
find the right words.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI went into heat,\u201d I said. \u201cAbout seven days ago\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mara\u2019s eyebrows rose slightly. \u201cSeven days?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
|||\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
78%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 253\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d I confirmed. \u201cAnd it hasn\u2019t stopped. It\u2019s supposed to only last a few days, right?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThree to five usually,\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes six in rare cases. But seven is unusual.\u201d She leaned\u00a0<\/p>\n
forward. \u201cTell me what happened before the heat started. Were you stressed? Did anything\u00a0<\/p>\n
significant occur?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I glanced at Tristan and he nodded encouragingly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot happened,\u201d I admitted. \u201cWe had to deal with some people who betrayed us. There was a\u00a0<\/p>\n
fight. I killed two people.\u201d My voice got quieter. \u201cOne of them was my ex mate. And then we burned\u00a0<\/p>\n
their bodies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mara was silent for a moment, studying me. \u201cAnd the heat started after this?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day of the burning,\u201d Tristan said. \u201cShe seemed fine during the ceremony but on the way\u00a0<\/p>\n
home, it hit her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI see,\u201d Mara said slowly. She stood up. \u201cI need to examine you. Come with me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She led me to a small room at the back of the house. It was set up like a doctor\u2019s office with an\u00a0<\/p>\n
examination table and shelves full of jars and bottles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSit,\u201d she instructed, pointing to the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sat down and she came over to me, placing her hands on either side of my face. Her palms were warm and I felt a strange tingling sensation where she touched me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was quiet for a long moment, her eyes closed in concentration. Then she moved her hands down to my shoulders, my arms, finally resting them on my stomach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tingling got stronger there and I felt heat food through me. Not the desperate need I\u2019d been feeling for days but something different, something that felt almost like recognition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
jar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mara\u2019s eyes snapped open and she stepped back a look of surprise on her face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d I asked, suddenly nervous. \u201cWhat is it?\u00a0<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t answer right away. Instead, she went to one of her shelves and pulled down a small\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:04 Fri, Jan 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 253\u00a0<\/p>\n
78%\u00a0<\/p>\n
She opened it and took out what looked like dried leaves, crushing them between her fingers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSmell this,\u201d she said, holding it under my nose.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I inhaled and immediately felt nauseous. The smell was overwhelming and awful and I had to\u00a0<\/p>\n
turn my head away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cInteresting,\u201d she murmured.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting?\u201d I asked, my anxiety growing. \u201cPlease just tell me what\u2019s wrong.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 253 Athena\u00a0 < 78%\u00a0 The healer\u2019s house was tucked away in a […]<\/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-26410","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\/26410","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=26410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}