Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 172 - A red wine girl

Voren froze for a moment, her words sinking into him far deeper than he wanted them to. Had it truly become that obvious? Had the weight he had been carrying finally started showing on his face for everyone around him to see?

Whenever things became too much for him, Ravyn had always been the person he turned to. Ravyn understood him in ways most people never could, and there had been countless times when Voren walked into a conversation with him feeling like the entire world was crashing down on his shoulders, only to walk away feeling lighter, calmer, and more capable of handling whatever came next.

But things were different now.

Ravyn was already carrying more than enough burdens of his own, and with Voren secretly helping Seraphine, there was simply too much room for something to go wrong.

One wrong word, one careless expression, one moment of lowered guard, and everything could fall apart before he even had the chance to stop it.

For now, staying away from Ravyn felt like the safest option.

At the same time, the thought of opening up to Seraphine felt almost impossible.

Voren had never been the kind of man who sat down and poured his thoughts out to women, and he definitely was not about to start with Ravyn’s ex-wife. No matter how much time they had spent around each other lately, he knew it was better to keep things between them strictly professional.

The less complicated things became between them, the safer it would be for both of them.

"It’s nothing I can’t handle," he said calmly, giving her absolutely nothing beyond that. "Just make sure you find the time and place to practice with Corvine."

Seraphine looked at him for a moment, and even though she tried to hide it, disappointment flashed briefly across her face before she tucked it away.

Still, she had no right to feel disappointed. What exactly had she been expecting from him?

They were not friends.

kept reminding herself every single time she found herself paying more attention to him than

next few

possible. The day after that conversation, she sent the serum to

called her again. Seraphine stared at his name lighting up her phone screen

too pleased with himself. "Do you

all. Most of the time, she

she answered

Santiago gave a soft laugh. "I knew you were

sharp enough to make her grip the phone tighter, but

"Is there anything else?"

on for a second. I’m making arrangements for tomorrow,

rolled her eyes so hard it almost hurt. Then Santiago spoke again. "What’s

him wrong because there was no way he

embarrassed. "You strike me as the traditional type anyway, so maybe

slightly, carrying that same infuriating flirtation that made Seraphine want to scream. "Maybe the

tightly her

wanted nothing more than to reach through the phone and rip his throat out

he had not just crossed every possible line. "What kind of

not into cars," she said flatly. "I prefer

was a pause before Santiago laughed softly. "I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone

smile he could

then," Santiago

night would bring all of this to an