Chapter 272\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two other women split up. One went to help Sarah, who looked relieved to have backup. Together they took on the two men she\u2019d been fighting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The other woman, with short dark hair, appeared at my side. \u201cYou okay?\u201d she asked, taking in my disheveled appearance and the way I was\u00a0<\/p>\n
still shaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been better,\u201d I managed to say.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you still fight?\u201d she asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded, though I wasn\u2019t sure if it was true, my body felt like it had been put through a grinder. The partial shift had taken a toll, and I\u00a0<\/p>\n
was exhausted,\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I picked up my knife from where I\u2019d dropped it and stood beside her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Together we engaged the man who\u2019d been punching my ribs. With two of us, the fight was more manageable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I could see Sarah across the room, back on her feet and fighting with renewed energy now that she had help.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She and the blonde woman fighting beside her were driving one of the men back toward the kitchen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you come from?\u201d I managed to ask between strikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTristan called Leah who then called us,\u201d the dark\u2013haired woman said, blocking a punch and countering with one of her own. \u201cSaid you might need help. And he couldn\u2019t be here, that we should keep guys safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I felt a surge of love and gratitude so strong it almost brought tears to my eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew it was him, knew it had to be him. I also knew Orion was involved too, I must have been a collective decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The fight continued and slowly, gradually, we started winning. With the extra numbers on our side, the tide had turned decisively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kiara had the first man on the ground now, her knee on his back as she twisted his arm at a painful angle that made him scream.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStay down,\u201d she growled, \u201cor I break it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He stayed down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leah and her opponent were still fighting, but he was clearly losing. The bullet wound in his leg and Leah\u2019s relentless attacks had worn him down. Within another minute, she had him on the ground too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
12:36 Mon, Jan 19 M\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 272\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah and the blonde woman had subdued their opponent, and the dark\u2013haired woman and I finally got the upper hand on ours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u5340\u00a0<\/p>\n
I slashed at his legs, making him stumble, and she used that opportunity to land a devastating punch to his jaw that knocked him out\u00a0<\/p>\n
cold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He dropped like a stone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Within minutes, all four intruders were on the ground, beaten and restrained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stood there panting, my whole body shaking with adrenaline and exhaustion and the aftermath of that almost\u2013shift.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hand went to my stomach instinctively, checking, making sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The baby was okay. We were okay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy, Aunt Athena?\u201d A small voice came from the hallway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart stopped and I immediately dropped my hand from my stomach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lily stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes, Liam behind her looking confused and scared.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, sweetie,\u201d Sarah said immediately, her voice gentle despite the blood on her arm and face. \u201cIt\u2019s okay. Everything\u2019s okay.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She moved toward her children, her maternal instincts overriding everything else. I saw her wince as she walked and knew she was more\u00a0<\/p>\n
hurt than she was letting on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But she put on a brave face for the kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d Lily asked, her eyes taking in the scene. The overturned furniture, the men on the ground, all of us standing there breathing hard and bleeding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust some bad people trying to cause trouble,\u201d I said, going over to them. My throat was killing me and I knew my voice sounded rough. \u201cBut they\u2019re not going to hurt anyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I picked up Liam, carefully keeping my movements controlled so no one would notice how protective I was of my stomach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He wrapped his little arms around my neck and I held him close, breathing in his innocence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you okay, Aunt Athena?\u201d Lily asked, her voice small. \u201cYou have a red mark on your neck.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I touched my throat where the man had choked me. It was probably already bruising badly. \u201cI\u2019m fine, baby. I promise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
12:36 Mon, Jan 19 M\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate\u00a0<\/p>\n
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 272 Chapter 272\u00a0 The two other women split up. One went to […]<\/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-26429","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\/26429","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=26429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}