Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 102 – I want her to suffer

Voren found Ravyn almost immediately after leaving Leon, because even inside a crowded hall filled with investors, servers, and curious onlookers, it had never taken him very long to locate the man he had trusted more deeply than anyone else in his life.

Ravyn had always been the closest thing Voren had to a brother, someone who had stood beside him through countless victories and setbacks, someone who understood the complicated pieces of Voren’s life in ways that most people never could.

Voren valued that understanding more than anything, because Ravyn possessed a rare ability that very few people in their world had ever managed to offer him.

Ravyn knew how to handle Voren’s problems without exposing them, without forcing him to revisit wounds he preferred to keep buried.

Whenever trouble surfaced in Voren’s life, Ravyn would deal with it quietly and efficiently, and afterward he would act as though the problem had never existed at all. That silent loyalty created a space where Voren could breathe without constantly feeling the weight of his past pressing against him.

The last thing Voren ever wanted was someone repeatedly pointing at the broken pieces of his life as if those scars defined him, and Ravyn had always respected that boundary without needing it explained.

For years that had been enough to cement their friendship.

Yet the men Ravyn surrounded himself with had never earned the same trust from Voren, because most of Ravyn’s Alpha companions carried reputations that made Voren uneasy.

That uneasy feeling had grown heavier in his chest ever since he overheard that conversation earlier, and the image of Seraphine collapsing after being poisoned with wolfbane still lingered in his mind like a shadow that refused to fade.

As Voren walked through the room, weaving between tables and clusters of wealthy guests, a cold resolve formed inside him with increasing clarity.

Ravyn might have been his closest friend for years, but Voren had already made a quiet promise to himself that if Ravyn had played even the smallest role in what happened to Seraphine tonight, then their friendship would not survive the truth.

No matter how long their bond had lasted or how many memories tied them together, there were certain lines that could never be crossed without consequences.

"Ravyn!" Voren called out the moment he spotted him across the room.

the tall tables, laughing in the relaxed way he often did during business

the room sharply enough that Ravyn’s laughter stopped instantly, his body stiffening before he

face as he excused himself

he reached him, his

distance, lowering his voice slightly so the human guests standing nearby would not overhear the conversation that was about

Sera?" Voren asked, his voice rough with

than the words alone suggested, because Voren had never

because of his hatred for Seraphine, then Voren had no illusions about the darker possibilities of Ravyn’s

was not about

knowing exactly what his best friend was capable of when pride

obvious confusion. "Excuse

spoke under his breath. "Someone drugged her with wolfbane tonight, and I seriously hope you don’t

speaking, Voren kept his eyes fixed on Ravyn’s face with unwavering focus, carefully observing every

looked genuinely startled by the accusation, but Voren had spent too many years in the

together as concern appeared in

but I don’t want her dead. I

if the antidote was not administered in time, the poison would gradually

that Seraphine had been given that substance tonight meant that someone had intended serious

did this, Ravyn," Voren said firmly, unable to

him as if something about Voren’s reaction seemed unusual, because the intensity in Voren’s tone

something that wiped his earlier suspicion. "You know everyone here

slightly. "My friends?" Ravyn repeated.

"Gray and Riven," he said bluntly. "I heard

shock as the

earlier to invest in Seraphine’s company on my behalf, because you know I can’t approach her directly after everything that happened, and after how she blocked your server, I thought there was still a