The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate Chapter 111

Tristan

Athena was in the center of the chamber, but she looked nothing like my mate.

Her hair had changed from the dark brown I loved to run my fingers through to a brilliant gold that seemed to glow with its own light.

Her eyes were no longer the warm hazel that used to look at me with love and trust. Instead, they burned with a cold silver fire that made my chest tighten with fear.

Massive chains lay melted on the stone floor around her, the metal twisted and warped like it had been exposed to impossible heat.

Whatever had been holding her here was gone now, destroyed by the power that radiated from her in waves I could feel against my skin.

This wasn't just what Orion had warned me about. This was worse, so much worse than anything he had described.

She looked like a god, but not the kind that blessed or protected. She looked like the kind that brought death and destruction to everything they touched.

A body lay crumpled near her feet, so drained and withered that I almost didn't recognize what was left of it.

But the scent told me everything I needed to know. Seraphine. She had killed Seraphine with whatever power now consumed her.

She had done it. She had used her abilities to take a life, just like Orion had feared would happen.

I was too late. Just like nine months ago when I couldn't save Jess, I had failed to protect the person I loved most.

I had lost someone again because I wasn't fast enough, wasn't strong enough, wasn't good enough.

The guilt hit me so hard that I had to fight to stay standing.

This was my fault. If I had been more careful, if I had protected her better, if I had never let Daxon get close to her in the first place, none of this would have happened.

If I hadn't pushed her away five years ago.

This was all my fault. All of it.

I tried to take a step closer but she raised her head and looked directly at me. The expression on her face made my blood freeze in my veins.

She was looking at me like I was next, like I was just another target for whatever deadly force had taken control of her.

She was crouched over another body and I realized with horror that it was Daxon.

Her hands were pressed against both sides of his head, and I could see the life being drawn out of him in real time.

His face was aging, his skin wrinkling and turning gray as whatever made him alive flowed into her.

"Athena," I said, and my voice came out broken and desperate.

She didn't even act like she heard me. Her attention remained fixed on Daxon as she continued to drain every drop of life from his body.

"Please babe. Please come back," I said, and I took another careful step toward her.

She dropped Daxon's body and it hit the stone floor with a sound that would haunt my dreams.

For a moment I thought I had gotten through to her, that my voice had reached whatever part of her was still fighting against this thing that had consumed her.

But when she looked up at me again, my breath caught in my throat.

She looked like she wanted to murder me for interrupting her.

The rage in those silver eyes was so intense I could feel it pressing against me like a hot seal.

But I wasn't scared, not of her. I could never be scared of Athena, no matter what she had become.

She stood up slowly and walked toward me with movements that were too graceful, too fluid to be entirely human.

I didn't move back. I just stood there and watched her approach, even though every instinct I had was screaming at me to run.

"It's me Hun. It's me. I promise to help you. It's me T," I said, and I saw her pause when I used the nickname she had given me.

Yes, she was recognizing me. I could see it in the way her eyes flickered, like she was fighting with whatever had consumed her from the inside.

Her eyes kept shifting between that terrifying silver glow and something that looked more like the woman I loved.

I had never witnessed anything as dangerous as this in my entire life, but I wouldn't leave or run. Not when my Athena was still in there somewhere, trapped inside this creature of power and death.

A place my wolf or Alpha can't reach. This was bigger and more powerful than anything I've ever came across.

I knew she was still fighting because of how she had reacted to my name. There was still hope. There had to be.

But then her eyes changed again, becoming permanently that cold silver, and this time the danger radiating from her was even stronger than before.

She continued walking toward me with purpose now, like she had made a decision about what she was going to do.

"Get away from her," I heard Orion shout from somewhere behind me as she got close enough that I could feel the heat coming off her skin.

But I didn't move. I didn't care what happened to me. I wouldn't ever leave her again, not after failing her so completely.

"I won't ever stay away from you Ath," I said as her hands came up toward my face, stopping just inches away from touching me.

I could feel the power in her, could sense how easily she could do to me what she had done to Seraphine and Daxon.

One touch and she could drain every bit of life from my body, leave me as nothing more than a dried husk on the cave floor.

But I didn't move. I looked into those silver eyes that used to be hazel and tried to find any trace of the woman who had changed everything about my world.

"I know you're in there," I whispered, and my voice was shaking with emotion I couldn't control. "I know you can hear me, Athena. I know you're fighting this."

Her hands trembled slightly and for just a second I thought I saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," I continued, and the words poured out of me like blood from a wound. "I'm so sorry I let this happen to you. I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to protect you. I'm sorry I failed you just like I failed everyone else I've ever loved."

The tears I had been holding back since the moment I realized she was gone finally started to fall.

I had spent so many years being the Alpha, being strong for everyone else, never letting them see me break.

But here in this cave, facing the woman I loved who no longer recognized me, I couldn't hold it together anymore.

"Please don't leave me," I begged, and I didn't care how desperate I sounded. "Please fight this thing. I need you to come back to me. I can't lose you too. I can't survive losing you the way I lost Jess."

Something in her expression shifted and the silver in her eyes flickered again. I held my breath, afraid that any movement or sound might break whatever fragile connection we had found.

"Tristan?" she said, and her voice was different now. Still not entirely her own, but closer to the woman I knew.

"Yes," I said immediately. "Yes, it's me. I'm here. I came for you."

But even as I spoke, I could see the silver beginning to creep back into her eyes. Whatever she was fighting was strong, stronger than both of us, and it wasn't going to let her go easily.

"I can't control it," she whispered, and there was so much pain in her voice that it felt like someone was tearing my heart out of my chest. "Tristan, I can't make it stop."

"You can," I said firmly. "You're the strongest person I know. You can beat this."

She shook her head and I could see tears starting to form in those silver eyes. "I killed them. I killed them both and I couldn't stop myself. The power, it just took over and I couldn't..."

"That wasn't you," I interrupted. "That wasn't my Athena. That was this thing they did to you, this curse or whatever it is. But you're still in there, still fighting it."

"What if I hurt you?" she asked, and her hands were still hovering inches from my face. "What if I can't control it and I hurt you too?"

"Then that's a risk I'm willing to take," I said without hesitation. "Because I'm not leaving you. I'm never leaving you again."

I could hear Orion moving closer behind me, could smell his fear and concern, but I kept my focus on Athena. This moment felt fragile, like the wrong word or movement could shatter whatever progress we had made.

"I love you," I said, and I put every ounce of truth I had into those three words. "No matter what happens, no matter what you've done or what you become, I love you. That will never change."

The silver in her eyes flickered again and for a brief moment I saw her, really saw her, looking back at me with the love and trust I remembered.

But then it was gone, swallowed up by that terrible silver glow, and when she spoke again her voice carried a power that made the stone walls of the cave tremble.

"Run," she said, and it was both a warning and a command. "Run before I kill you too."

I shook my head. "No."

"Tristan get away from her, that's not Athena we both know. That's not my sister." I heard Orion say but I did like I didn't hear him. My eyes remained locked on who mattered.

My Athena.

"Tristan, please," she begged, and I could hear both versions of her in that plea. The woman I loved and the creature she was becoming. "Please don't make me hurt you."

"You won't hurt me," I said with absolute certainty. "Because no matter what that thing inside you wants, you're stronger than it is. You're stronger than anything."

She was crying now, tears streaming down her face as she fought a war inside herself that I couldn't help her win.

All I could do was stand there and show her that I wasn't afraid, that I trusted her completely even when she didn't trust herself.

"I don't know how much longer I can fight it," she whispered.

"Then don't fight it alone," I said. "Let me help you. Let me in."

I reached up slowly and covered her hands with mine where they still hovered near my face. The moment our skin touched, I felt the full force of what she was dealing with.

Power crashed through me like a tidal wave, raw and uncontrolled and absolutely terrifying in its intensity.

But then she said something that made my blood freeze.

"I'm not your Ath, I'm not love. I'm war, I'm fire." Then I felt life draining out of me.