Tristan\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you were unconscious,\u201d Athena said, her voice rising to match mine and I could hear the desperation threading through every word. \u201cYou were hurt and bleeding and the doctors didn\u2019t know if you were going to wake up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched Orion from the corner of my eye and saw his jaw clenching, saw the way his hands had curled into fists at his sides, saw him working hard to keep his own anger contained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I didn\u2019t understand why they were all acting like I was the one overreacting, like I was being unreasonable when all I\u2019d done was point out the obvious danger she\u2019d put herself in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you decided to play god,\u201d I said, and the words came out sharp and cutting. \u201cYou decided to use powers we don\u2019t understand, powers we have no ide how they work or what they cost, you decided to channel magic or whatever the hell it is through your pregnant body without thinking about what it might do to you or to our babies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The statement hung in the air between us and I watched her face change, watched understanding dawn in her eyes as her hand pressed harder against\u00a0<\/p>\n
her stomach like she was trying to shield them from my words.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d she asked, her voice dropping to barely more than a whisper.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart was hammering against my ribs and I could feel sweat beading on my forehead despite the cool air in the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou used your healing ability while carrying them,\u201d I said, forcing myself to speak more calmly even though everything inside me was screaming. You channeled power through your body, through the same body that\u2019s growing our children.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took a breath and made myself continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if that affected them? What if they absorbed some of that power? What if they\u2019re born with abilities because of what you did, abilities we don\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
understand?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
S\u00a0<\/p>\n
The color drained from her face so fast I thought she might faint and I had to fight the urge to reach for her, to steady her, to take back every word I\u2019d\u00a0<\/p>\n
just said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I couldn\u2019t take them back because they were true and someone needed to say them out loud, needed to make her understand the magnitude of what\u00a0<\/p>\n
she\u2019d done.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think,\u201d she whispered, and I could see her mind working through the implications. \u2018I didn\u2019t consider that possibility. I just\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018No,\u2018 I cut her off, and my voice broke on the word. \u201cYou didn\u2019t think, you just acted, you just decided that saving me was worth any risk and now we have no idea what the consequences might be, for you or for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had to turn away then because I couldn\u2019t look at her face anymore, couldn\u2019t see the guilt and fear and regret painting her features without wanting to take back everything I\u2019d said, without wanting to pull her close and tell her it would all be okay even though I had no idea if that was true.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My eyes found the wall across the room and I stared at it, seeing nothing, trying to get my breathing under control.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All of it was true and someone needed to say it, needed to voice the fears that were eating me alive from the inside out,\u00a0<\/p>\n
*Tristan, you\u2019re being too hard on her, Orion said, stepping forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 342\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something snapped inside me and I rounded on him, feeling all that anger I\u2019d been trying to control come flooding back in a wave that threatened to drown me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d asked if he\u2019d do that if reverse was the case and he didn\u2019t answer, everyone in this room already knows what his silence meant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He wouldn\u2019t have wanted it. He\u2019d react the same way if he was in my shoe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAm I?\u201d I demanded, and I could hear my voice getting louder but I couldn\u2019t stop it. \u201cBecause from where I\u2019m standing I\u2019m the only one who seems to understand how serious this is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I moved closer to him and saw him tense, saw him hold his fist from connecting to my jaw but I didn\u2019t care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe could have died Orion, the babies could have been hurt, and instead of protecting her you let her walk into danger, you let her use powers we kno\u00a0<\/p>\n
nothing about while she\u2019s carrying my children.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to protect her,\u201d Orion said, I could see his own anger starting to surface, could see it in the way his shoulders squared and his eyes hardened. \u201cI\u00a0<\/p>\n
tried to tell her no, I argued with her for an hour at the hospital, I told her all the reasons it was a bad idea but she wouldn\u2019t listen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His voice was rising too now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was I supposed to do? Physically restrain her? Lock her in a room?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBe her brother,\u201d I said, throwing the words at him like weapons. \u201cBe the one person who could talk sense into her, be the voice of reason when she was\u00a0<\/p>\n
being reckless.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn\u2019t being reckless, Orion shot back, his voice getting louder with each word. \u201cShe was trying to save someone she loves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBy risking everything,\u201d I countered, my hands clenching and unclenching at my sides. \u201cBy putting herself and our children in danger, how is that not reckless? How is that not the absolute definition of reckless?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause love makes us do things that don\u2019t make sense,\u201d Derek said quietly from his spot on the loveseat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned to look at him and saw understanding in his eyes, saw something that might have been sympathy or pity and I wasn\u2019t sure which one made me\u00a0<\/p>\n
angrier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes us take risks we shouldn\u2019t take,\u201d Derek continued, his voice steady and calm in contrast to mine and Orion\u2019s raised voices. \u201cMakes us make choices that might not be logical, makes us throw caution away when someone we care about is in danger.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He leaned forward slightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what love does, it makes us reckless in ways we never thought possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I would rather die than have her risk herself for me,\u201d I said, looking at each of them in turn and letting them see the truth of it in my eyes. I would rather be dead and buried than have her put herself in danger to save me, that\u2019s how much I love her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 342 Tristan\u00a0 \u201cBut you were unconscious,\u201d Athena said, her voice rising 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-26499","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\/26499","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=26499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}