Chapter 222
Tristan
The first thing I felt was Athena’s bands on my chest, warm and steady and alive,
The second thing was air filling my lungs without that horrible rattling sound that had been there before. I could breathe, really breathe.
I opened my eyes and everything was blurry at first, just shapes and colors that didn’t make sense.
Then my vision cleared and I saw Athena’s face above me, tears streaming down her cheeks, and her eyes were glowing with this soft light that should
have been scary but wasn’t.
Was I dead or alive?
“Did it work?” I asked, and my voice came out weak but getting stronger with each word.
She laughed and cried at the same time, and the sound was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.
“Yeah, she whispered, and then she was kissing my forehead. “It worked.”
I tried to sit up but my body felt heavy, like I’d been asleep for days instead of minutes. Athena helped me, her hands supporting my back as I pushed
myself upright on the mattress.
That’s when it really hit me. I’d been dying, actually dying. I’d felt my heart slowing down, felt the cold creeping through my body, felt everything starting to shut down. And now I was sitting up and breathing and alive.
But something felt different. I pressed my hand to my chest where the wound had been, expecting to feel torn flesh and broken ribs that my alpha healing would need hours to repair. Instead, there was nothing. Not healing, not scarred, just smooth skin like I’d never been injured at all.
“Wait, I said, looking down at my blood–stained shirt in confusion. I pulled it up and stared at my chest. “How is this possible?”
*She healed you,” Athena said, and her voice was full of wonder. “The power, she’s not what I’d thought. She’s exactly as you said she is. She’s not trying to hurt anyone, she just needed someone to understand her.”
I kept staring at my chest, at the place where there should have been a gaping wound..
My alpha healing was strong, one of the strongest in our pack, but it wasn’t this strong. Even with my abilities, that kind of injury would have taken hours to close, days to fully heal. But there was nothing there, like it had never happened.
‘She healed me completely,” I said, the realization washing over me. “I didn’t even have to heal myself.”
I looked at Orion standing by the wall, his eyes red like he’d been crying. Sarah was next to him with her hand over her mouth. Derek was staring at me
like I was some kind of miracle, and maybe I was.
“You’re really okay?” Orion asked, his voice rough.
I’m better than okay,” I said, and it was true. I felt good, better than I had in days, maybe better than I had in my whole life. “I thought she’d just bring me back and then I’d have to heal myself the rest of the way, but she did everything. She actually healed me.”
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Chapter 222
The plan had been simple in my head. Let Athena drain me to the point where she’d be forced to go inside herself and confront whatever was causing
this power.
I knew my alpha healing would kick in once she figured out how to stop taking, knew I’d survive long enough for my body to repair itself. It was a calculated risk, one I was willing to take.
But this, what she’d actually done, this was so much more than I’d hoped for.
“Do you know what this means?” I said, looking at Athena with pride swelling in my chest. “You didn’t just stop taking, you learned how to give. You
learned how to heal.”
Athena made a sound that was half laugh, half sob, and then she threw her arms around me. She hugged me so tight I could barely breathe, but I didn’t care. I hugged her back just as hard, burying my face in her hair.
“I thought I lost you,” she said against my shoulder, her whole body shaking. “I thought you were gone and it was my fault.”
“I’m here,” I told her, running my hand through her hair. “I’m right here, and look what you did. Look what you’re capable of.”
She pulled back just enough to look at my face, tears still streaming down her cheeks. “You planned this. You
knew
you
were going to die.”
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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.
