Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 196 – Don’t you think there’s a reason I’ve been ignoring your calls?

The Centenary Pack. One hour earlier.

"Alpha, their condition is getting worse."

Damon’s voice carried urgency, but Ravyn barely reacted, his expression tightening just a little as he shot him a look that carried more irritation than anger.

"I told you already," he said, his tone low but firm, "just call me by my first name."

There was no real bite in it, but the distance between had been closed up the moment Damon invested more in his company. Right now, The Walkers Global Enterprise was what it was because of Damon.

Ravyn’s focus pivoted almost immediately, his mind snapping back to the problem pressing down on them from every direction, suffocating and relentless.

He had seen something like this before, and that memory alone made his chest tighten in a way he couldn’t ignore.

"This has happened before," he said slowly, his brows drawing together as he thought it through, piecing together fragments of memory and instinct. "But last time... the effect hit Sera the hardest."

His voice dropped slightly, quieter now, edged with something protective, and unspoken.

"We can’t let that happen again."

His gaze lifted to Damon, sharp and searching. "Have you figured out where it’s coming from?"

Damon shook his head, frustration flickering across his face. "No. It spreads too fast. Anyone who inhales it gets hit almost immediately, and before we can even collect samples..." he exhaled, shaking his head again, "the air just swallows it up. There’s nothing left to analyze."

That wasn’t just bad, it was dangerous, and unpredictable.

Ravyn’s jaw tightened, but instead of responding right away, his attention drifted for a moment.

Bryan.

building around him, quietly eating the

Bryan to him, everything had changed. The responsibility

himself standing in a kitchen flipping pancakes, had found himself reading cookbooks, trying to figure out something as simple as how to cook for his own son’s

even like the food. That much

part of Ravyn he didn’t even realize had been cold for

to Damon, his expression hardening

"How many casualties?"

replied, his tone heavier now. "Only one is responding to treatment, and that’s because he was farther away

before adding, "The rest... they didn’t even see

the gesture as

he

answered. "Still upset about being restricted from using any electrical

something clicking faintly in the back of his mind, his expression changing as he recalled something

has specialized medical training," he murmured, more to himself than to

he reached out through

to the hospital. There’s been a chemical explosion. They

nothing. Just silence

voice came through, softer than he expected,

in the right state to

her words carefully. ’Can you lift the pack arrest... or come

a way that felt sharper than the situation called for, but it was there,

quiet betrayal that hadn’t quite faded from his mind. He had not even told her that someone by the name Zane had called her on the phone because somehow, he hoped for the person to show up as he

’I’m already taking care of Bryan, he shot back. Now you want me to

mindlink left him, they lingered there,

still, her lips pressing together as the sting of his words settled in, sharp and unexpected. For a second, it felt like something inside her cracked, like the space between them, once so easy, was suddenly filled with something

she asked quietly through the mindlink, her

answer. The connection snapped shut before she could even process it, leaving behind

Ravyn’s jaw tightened as he withdrew from the link, his expression hardening again as if shutting down that entire

on her," he said flatly, almost dismissively.

face. "Luna Sera? Are you sure she’d even