The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate Chapter 14

My wolf had never stirred for Dixon, not the way she had for Tristan. But I'd convinced myself that the frantic flutter of my heart around him was enough, that the way he made me feel special and chosen was love. How wrong I'd been.

"And?" Tristan's voice is carefully controlled, but I can hear the underlying tension.

"And he was perfect. He took me to this little Italian restaurant I'd mentioned loving once in passing. He remembered that I preferred red wine over white, that I was lactose intolerant, that I had a weakness for tiramisu even though it would make me sick later. He seemed to hang on every word I said, like I was the most fascinating person he'd ever met."

I'm back there now, in that dimly lit restaurant, feeling special and wanted and chosen. The way Dixon had looked at me across the table, like I was something precious, something worth cherishing.

It had been intoxicating after years of feeling lost and alone.

And the moment our hands touched when he held it on the table, I'd felt the mate bond snapped into place like a lightning bolt through my soul.

"I felt the mate bond hit" I continue, my voice getting smaller. "I felt it the second our skin made contact at that restaurant. He was... he was my mate, Tristan. The one person the Moon Goddess chose for me."

Tristan's face goes carefully blank, but I can see his hands clench into fists where they rest on his knees. He knows what this means, knows how rare and precious the mate bond is supposed to be.

But I also see that look, the look of 'what have we been told all our life's' and he's right. Our mate is not supposed to complete us.

"Find someone who makes you better, not someone who completes you. You should already be complete on your own." Our parents would always say, but I'd done the exact opposite.

Our parents had always believed that the moon goddess gave each man the right to choose. A free will, that if not taken with caution could cost one his entire life.

"He felt it too..... I could see it in his eyes, the way they widened, the way his whole body went still. At that moment, I thought... I thought maybe this was my second chance at happiness. After everything that happened here five years ago, I thought maybe the goddess was giving me the love I'd always wanted." I continued.

A bitter laugh escapes me, and I can taste the self-recrimination in it. How naive I'd been, thinking that having a mate would automatically mean having love. Or would help heal my pains.

"The mate bond made everything feel intense, electric. Every touch was like fire, every kiss like coming home."

I have to stop for a moment, the irony of those words hitting me like a slap. Home, that's what I'd thought I'd found with him. But it had been a prison instead.

"We started dating, and for the first seven months, it was... it was wonderful. The mate bond made everything seem so.... perfect. He was attentive and affectionate. He'd surprise me with weekend trips to the mountains. He made me feel like I was the center of his universe."

My voice starts to shake as I approach the part of the story where everything changed. This is the hardest part, the part I've never told anyone.

"But then things started to shift. Little things at first. He'd make comments about my clothes, suggest that maybe I was trying too hard to get attention from other men. He'd ask why I needed to work so much, why I couldn't spend more time with him instead."

Tristan's jaw tightens, and I can see he's beginning to understand where this is going.

"He started picking fights about my job. He'd say things like, 'Why do you need to work in a place where men can ogle you? Don't I take good enough care of you?' At first, I thought he was just being protective, you know? The mate bond was supposed to make him want to protect me."

I'm crying now, the tears falling silently down my cheeks as I relive the slow, methodical way Dixon dismantled my life.

"He convinced me to quit my job at the company I was working. Said he made enough money to take care of both of us, that his mate shouldn't have to work. He made it sound romantic, like he wanted to be my provider, my protector."

The word 'protector' tastes like acid in my mouth now.

"So I quit. And for a while, things seemed better. He was so happy, so affectionate. He'd tell me how proud he was that I trusted him enough to let him take care of me. But then..." I have to stop, the words getting caught in my throat.

Tristan reaches across the bed and takes my hand in both of his. His touch is warm and steady, anchoring me to the present, to safety.

"Take your time," he says softly. "I'm not going anywhere."

I squeeze his hand gratefully and force myself to continue.

"Then the comments started. Little digs about my appearance, my intelligence, my worth. But then the comments started. He'd say things like, 'You should be grateful the Moon Goddess gave you to someone like me. Most men wouldn't put up with your neediness.' Or 'You're lucky I love you despite your flaws."'

Each remembered insult feels like a fresh wound opening up. The way Dixon had delivered them with such casual cruelty, like he was doing me a favor by pointing out my shortcomings.

"He'd compare me to other women, tell me how much prettier they were, how much more interesting they were. And somehow, he made me believe it was all true. The mate bond was supposed to make him love me unconditionally, but instead it just made him feel like he owned me."

My voice breaks completely, and I'm sobbing now. Tristan immediately moves closer, pulling me into his arms, holding me against his chest as I fall apart.

And there it is again, that dangerous flutter in my chest, the way my wolf perks up at his touch, the way my broken heart still tries to heal itself in his presence.

I hate that I still feel this way about him, hate that five years and another man's cruelty haven't been enough to kill whatever lives inside me that calls to him.

But I force myself to remember his words from that night: "You're just a sister to me, Athena. This was a mistake."

I have to see him as nothing more than Orion's best friend, nothing more than the brother figure he's always been to me.

I can't let myself hope for more, can't let myself want things he'll never be able to give me. I've been hurt enough. My heart has been shattered enough times.

From now on, he's just family. Just the man who's helping me heal, who's offering me the safety of pack bonds and sibling love. That has to be enough, because it's all he has to offer.

"None of that was true," he says fiercely, his voice rough with emotion. "Not a single word of it, Ath. You're beautiful and intelligent and worth so much more than that bastard could ever understand."

But I can barely hear him through the roar of memory and pain. I'm back in that apartment, back in that nightmare relationship where love became a weapon used against me.

"I loved him too much to let go," I whisper against Tristan's chest. "Even when he started getting physical, even when the verbal abuse became constant, I couldn't leave. He'd convinced me that no one else would ever want me, that I was too broken, too difficult to love. And the mate bond made it impossible. Every instinct I had screamed at me to stay, to submit, to try harder to please him."

Tristan's whole body goes rigid against mine, and I can practically feel the rage radiating off him. But he doesn't interrupt, doesn't demand details I'm not ready to give. He just holds me tighter and lets me talk.

"The first time he hit me, he said it was because I was fighting the bond, fighting what the Moon Goddess intended. He said I was being a bad mate, that I needed to learn to submit properly. He made me feel like it was my fault for pushing him too far, for making him lose control."

The words are pouring out of me now, years of suppressed truth spilling over.