The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate Chapter 116

Tristan's POV

I was dreaming about the cave. About Athena's silver eyes looking at me like I was nothing.

About the way my life force had been pulled from my body like water going down a drain.

But then something soft brushed against my cheek and the dream started to fade.

Something was touching my face. Light fingers moving across my skin in a way that felt familiar and warm. My body was still exhausted from what had happened.

Every muscle ached and my bones felt hollow, like they were still trying to rebuild themselves from the inside out.

But the thought of Athena made my eyes snap open.

What I saw made my heart stop.

Athena was looking down at me with a smile. She was human again, not the wolf form I'd left her in. Her dark hair fell around her shoulders and her brown eyes were clear and focused. She was real and awake and here.

My arms were wrapped around her waist. When had she woken up? How had she gotten here without me knowing?

I sat up so fast it made my head spin. I stared at her in complete shock while she smiled back at me. Her smile was bright and beautiful, but I could see something else underneath it. Pain. Fear. Hurt that went deeper than anything physical.

I could feel it through our bond. The way she was trying to hold herself together when everything inside her was breaking apart.

"When... when did you wake up?" I stammered. "What time is it? How long did I sleep? I'm sorry that I wasn't there when you..."

I didn't know what I was trying to say. My thoughts were all jumbled up and my words came out wrong.

She pressed her finger against my lips to quiet me. That's when I noticed she was wearing black leather gloves that went up to her wrists.

I raised my eyebrows and looked at her hands.

"Sarah said it would protect anyone from me," she said quietly. "In case it started again and I was holding you or anyone else. So I wouldn't..." Her voice trailed off and she looked down at her covered hands.

I couldn't stand the way she was talking about herself like she was dangerous. Like she was something to be afraid of. I pulled her into a hug and held her tight against my chest.

"I missed you, Ath," I whispered into her hair. "I missed you so much."

I felt her body shake against mine as she tried to hold back her sobs. "I missed you too, T. You were on my mind the whole time."

She pulled away from the hug after a moment and looked at me like she wanted to say something. I could see the words building up behind her eyes. Words about what had happened in the cave. About what she had done to Daxon and Seraphine. About what she had almost done to me.

But I didn't want to hear those words. Not yet. I couldn't watch her break apart in front of me when I still felt so helpless to put her back together.

"Have you eaten?" I asked quickly. "When did you wake up? Why didn't you wake me up immediately?"

She looked at me like she knew exactly what I was doing, but she still smiled and answered my questions.

"You looked so tired when I came in here," she said. There was a lump in her throat that she had to clear before she could keep talking. "I didn't want to disturb you. Besides, I loved watching you sleep."

We both laughed at that, but it sounded forced and hollow in the quiet room.

I moved closer to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders in another hug. She felt smaller than she used to. Thinner. Like some part of her had been carved away and hadn't grown back yet.

She pulled away after about a minute. I could tell she was doing it on purpose. She was scared of being too close to me for too long, scared of what might happen if that thing inside her decided to wake up.

"Go freshen up so we can eat," she said with a fake smile. "You stink."

"But you've loved this stinking body for years," I shot back.

She laughed and reached out to hit my arm like she always did when I said something stupid. But her hand stopped in midair. She held it there for a second, frozen, before she slowly brought it back down to her side.

That small moment broke something inside me. She was awake and sitting right next to me, but it felt like she wasn't really here. I missed her so much even though I could see her face and hear her voice.

It hurt that I couldn't touch her the way I wanted to. Couldn't kiss her or hold her without those damn gloves between us. I felt miserable and I knew she felt the same way.

I could see it in her eyes, the way she was trying so hard to pretend everything was normal when nothing would ever be normal again.

And it broke my heart that there was nothing I could do to fix it.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," I said as I got up from the bed. "Wait for me, okay?"

She nodded and I made a silent prayer that when I came back, I would still find my Athena sitting there. Not some hollow version of her. Not that thing with the silver eyes.

In the bathroom, I took the fastest shower of my life. I was sure I didn't spend more than a minute under the water. I was too scared of wasting time, too afraid of what I might find when I came back out.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, my feet stopped moving.

Athena was still sitting on the bed, but her head was bent down like she wasn't the one controlling her own body anymore.

"Ath," I called out.

She didn't answer.

"Ath," I tried again, louder this time.

Still nothing. That pit feeling started growing in my stomach. The feeling that the universe was playing some cruel joke on me. Why did it have to be Athena? Why did she have to go through something like this?

"Baby," I called, putting more volume behind my voice.

She lifted her head and looked at me. For just a second, I saw it. That gold light flickering in her eyes like a candle flame. It was there and then it was gone, but I had seen it.

My breath caught in my throat.

"Yes, I'm sorry," she said, blinking. Her eyes were back to their normal brown color. "I dozed off for a second."

I let out the breath I'd been holding. "There's no need to be sorry. You can lie down if you want. I'll call you when I'm ready."

She hesitated and my heart cracked a little more. She was scared of falling asleep. Scared that when she woke up, she wouldn't be herself anymore. And I was scared of the same thing.

I smiled at her and tried to look encouraging. "It's okay. Get some rest."

She gave me a nervous smile back before she lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.

I got dressed in the clothes Sarah had brought for me the night before. My hands were shaking as I pulled on my shirt and jeans.

Every few seconds I looked over at Athena to make sure she was still breathing, still looking like herself.

When I was finished getting dressed, I walked over to where she was lying and knelt down beside the bed. I reached out to brush a strand of hair away from her face.

The moment my skin touched hers, it felt like I'd grabbed a live wire. Electric shock shot up my arm and I jerked my hand back.

What was happening? Why had touching her felt like that?

Athena's eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly. "Did I hurt you?" she asked, looking at my hand.

"No," I lied. "I'm fine."

But I wasn't fine. None of this was fine. Have we lost her? Could she ever get back to being the Athena we all knew and loved?

She stared at my hand like she could see something I couldn't. "I felt it too," she whispered. "When you touched me. It was like... like static electricity, but worse."

I wanted to reach out and comfort her, but I was afraid to touch her again. "Maybe it's just because you're still recovering."

"Or maybe it's getting worse," she said quietly.

We sat there in silence for a moment. I could hear voices coming from somewhere else in the house. Orion and Sarah were probably in the kitchen making breakfast, trying to pretend like everything was normal.

"We should go eat," I said finally.

Athena nodded, but she didn't move from the bed. "Tristan?"

"Yeah?"

"What if I can't control it? What if next time I hurt someone who doesn't deserve it?"

The question hung in the air between us like a dark cloud. I wanted to tell her that wouldn't happen. I wanted to promise her that we would find a way to fix this and everything would go back to the way it was before.

But I could I make a promise I wasn't sure I could keep.