Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 12 – The Weight of Truth

The room was thick with quiet tension, punctuated only by the soft clatter of chess pieces on the board.

Seraphine and Kylie sat across from each other, the faint sunlight catching the edges of the carved pawns, knights, and rooks, casting long shadows across the polished wood.

To any casual observer, it was just a game. But Corvine and Humphrey knew better. They were watching two minds dance with precision, a silent duel of strategy and willpower.

Earlier, Kylie had dominated the board, her confidence sharp, her movements precise, like a seasoned hunter circling her prey.

Seraphine, however, was closing the gap with a subtle intensity that made each piece she moved feel inevitable, as though the game were bending to her will.

It was no longer about winning. It was about proving something deeper, something unspoken. The air hummed with anticipation, and even Corvine found herself leaning forward, heart hammering, unable to predict the outcome.

And then came the footsteps. Slow, measured, heavy with authority. They all looked up, and it wasn’t just Ravyn.

Alpha Voren appeared beside him. Instantly, the atmosphere tensed up. Where Ravyn exuded casual arrogance, Voren radiated cold command.

His presence was magnetic, demanding respect without a word. The air seemed to tighten around him, pressing in, and even the sunlight felt subdued in his presence.

Corvine instinctively bowed slightly. Kylie’s hand froze mid-motion, Humphrey’s shoulders stiffened.

Seraphine, however, remained standing. Her posture was unwavering, her spine straight, every inch of her presence radiating resistance. Her eyes met Voren’s with unflinching focus.

"Alpha Voren," she said clearly, her voice calm but sharp enough to cut through the tension, "are you also here to convince me to give my blood to Daisy?"

The room tilted, and the temperature dropped. Humphrey’s grip on the edge of the table tightened. Kylie straightened, every muscle alert.

hesitant compromise, but Seraphine’s audacity, her

detachment, faltered. A

he said, voice low and precise,

head slightly, casual, almost bored. "And I would call you a fool if you admitted you came here because

the magnitude

a momentary heat, the kind that only

his own hands as though holding onto himself

the presence of a predator. "You were there,"

each word heated in its coldness, each syllable heavy with

the walls themselves were listening. To be questioned, interrogated even, by someone so young, so

for the words to describe her audacity,

her once," he said, voice low, dangerous. "We rushed

frozen fire. Pain had carved her from the inside, leaving a hollow strength, a

taught her ruthlessness, and now it

you I never stabbed her the first time?" Her

Voren’s jaw tightened. He didn’t know

business favors in exchange for his influence in the matter. Voren had only accepted to come because there

and demanding truth. "Would you believe me?" she asked, voice steady but piercing, echoing off the walls like a

"Do you have

pressed together. The Centenary Pack House had no cameras, no evidence. Nothing

mind running through impossible

will have

She straightened, rolling her neck once as though

Voren," she said slowly, her eyes hard with scorn, "I take back my respect. You are just as foolish

into an uneasy

ice. Ravyn’s hands trembled, tightly balled into fists. Humphrey’s pulse thudded painfully in