All three of us Orion, Athena, and i took that advice to heart. We didn’t rush into anything, didn’t let the pack’s whispers and
expectations pressure us into making hasty decisions.
Orion was the first to actually let himself feel a real mate bond when he met Sarah, but even that took time.
When that piece of shit started stalking Athena, showing up at her school, following her around town and telling everyone the was
his intended mate, she came to me in tears.
“Tris,” she’d sobbed, using that special name she only called me when she was really scared. “He won’t leave me alone. He says the Moon Goddess told him I’m his mate, but I don’t feel anything for him. I don’t want him. Please help me.”
I’d seen red. Orion and I both did. We found that bastard at his favorite bar, surrounded by his buddies, bragging about how he was going to “claim‘ Athena whether she wanted it or not.
The beating we gave him put him in the hospital for three weeks. After that, whenever he so much as caught a glimpse of Athena across town, he’d run in the opposite direction.
She was like a little sister to me, or at least that’s what I kept telling myself. That’s what I was supposed to feel. Seven years older, practically raised together after our parents became inseparable.
I was supposed to be her protector, her big brother figure. No one had the right to treat her like property, like something to be
claimed and owned.
But feeling her here now, so close I could reach out and touch her, it’s clear this isn’t the same Athena who left five years ago. This isn’t the girl who used to laugh until she cried, who used to steal cookies from the kitchen when she thought no one was looking, who used to fall asleep on the couch between Orion and me during movie nights.
This isn’t the girl who looked at me with such trust and love on the night of our parents‘ funeral, when grief and loneliness and too much whiskey made us both forget who we were supposed to be to each other.
The memory hits me like a physical blow. Her soft hands on my face, wiping away tears I didn’t even know I was crying. The way she whispered my name like it was her best album. How right it felt to hold her, to kiss her, to pretend for just that moment that she wasn’t
off–limits.
And then we came, and reality crashed down on both of us. The guilt, the confusion, the knowledge that I’d crossed a line I could
never uncross.
So I did what I do best. I ram. I told her it was a mistake, that I could only see her as a little sister, that what happened between us
could never happen again.
ati don’t know if that’s why she left. Was it because of what I said, or because losing our parents was too much to hear? The not
been eating me alive for five years.
1/3
18:26 Fri, Jan 2 d
Chapter 15
Is this broken version of her because of our parents‘ death? Is that why she’s like this? Or is there something else, something that happened during those five years she was gone, something that has nothing to do with me and everything to do with whoever put that
haunted look in her eyes?
45
The questions burn in my throat, but I swallow them down. She’s not ready for questions. Hell, I’m not ready for the answers.
When we get home, I walk behind her, watching the careful way she moves. Like she’s afraid the ground might give way beneath her feet at any moment. Like she’s expecting something terrible to happen with every step she takes.
It’s painful to watch, this shell of the person who used to bound up her parents stairs three at a time, always in a hurry to get somewhere, to do something, to live.
I want to ask her what happened. I want to demand answers, to find whoever did this to her and make them pay. But I know that’s not what she needs right now. She needs time. She needs to learn to trust me again, and when she’s ready, she’ll open up. At least, I hope
she will.
The next day, when she asks to come with me to the repair store, not sure I can call it that anymore, since Orion and I had made it huge…… every instinct I have screams at me to say no.
She looks exhausted, like she hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in months. The dark circles under her eyes tell a story I’m not sure I want to hear. She needs rest, needs to feel safe enough to let her guard down.
But then I look into those empty eyes and realize that rest isn’t what she needs. Not really. She’s been away for five years, five years too long. She needs to be surrounded by love again. She needs to know that her family still wants her, that Orion and I still care about her like we always have.
So I nod and tell her she could come along, ignoring the way my wolf whimpers with worry.
The ride to town is tense. She sits behind me on the bike, her hands gripping my jacket like a lifeline, but I can feel how rigid she is, how her whole body seems braced for impact.
Every time I lean into a turn, her grip tightens, and I can practically feel her fear radiating through her touch.
At the company, I try to keep things normal, casual. I took her to the office we’d kept for her since we built this place.
We always hoped she’d find her way back to us. And we’re glad she decided to come back.
The next few days goes like a blur, Ath was going back to the woman she was before five years ago.
18:26 Fri, Jan 2 d
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate
Chapter 16
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’s breathtaking cold.
