Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 119 – I know what she wants, and I’ll just give it to her

A thin thread of unease slowly tightened inside Voren’s chest as the phone continued ringing in his hand, because a quiet part of his mind had begun questioning whether allowing Seraphine to operate out of his office had been an incredibly bad idea that might eventually circle back and cause problems for him.

Even so, the entire situation existed because he had been the one to invite her here in the first place, and that reality left him with very little room to avoid responsibility, which meant he could not simply ignore the call when Ravyn’s name flashed across the screen.

Voren drew in a slow breath before tapping the answer button and placing the call on speaker so the conversation filled the entire office.

"Ravyn, what’s going on?"

The voice that came through the phone sounded strained and frantic in a way Voren had never heard before, because the composed authority Ravyn normally carried had completely vanished, replaced with a raw panic that trembled through every word.

"Voren, Gray and Riven’s investors are pulling out," Ravyn said rapidly, his voice rising with growing desperation as though he were already watching everything crumble around him. "Please, can you help talk to them or maybe invest something yourself? Please, Voren, for friendship’s sake."

The words hung heavily in the air, especially the last phrase that leaned hard on the history they once shared, but Voren’s attention wandered from the phone for a brief moment when he noticed Seraphine watching him from across the desk.

Her blue eyes looked strikingly bright in the quiet office, yet the cold intensity behind them created a sensation that made his throat tighten as if the temperature around them had suddenly dropped several degrees.

He cleared his throat softly before answering. "Ravyn, I warned you," Voren said in a steady voice that carried none of the sympathy Ravyn had clearly hoped to hear. "And now it’s already too late, because I’m about to call them myself and pull out my own investment as well."

a faint smile that held a mixture of admiration and

at all since leaving the pack, except that time and experience had sharpened her instincts into something

"What?"

voice burst through the speaker, followed immediately by the rough sound of someone struggling

back into his chair while answering with a calmness that almost

tone. "She is intelligent enough to figure things out, and I already warned you what might happen if you kept provoking her. I am not willing to

collapse had already reached a terrifying

this downfall was happening at nearly three times the pace, like watching a towering skyscraper crumble apart before the dust from the first fracture even had

a brief pause to stretch between them before adding another

call Ravyn grabbed

voice. Voren rested his elbow against the arm of the chair

and give them the money

several seconds before Ravyn

to poison her with wolfbane," he said quickly, his voice growing sharp with urgency. "I don’t even want her dead. I just want

his mouth, the atmosphere inside

began to crack in a way that sent a cold

convince him that the conversation had