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 pancakes Ravyn had made with careful,

since Seraphine had given the condition that entrusted Bryan to him, everything had changed. The responsibility wasn’t optional or shared, but entirely

Ravyn, who had never imagined himself standing in a kitchen flipping pancakes, had found himself reading cookbooks, trying to figure out something as simple as how to cook

even like the food. That much was obvious,

his father made it, and that small, quiet loyalty, warmed a part of Ravyn he didn’t even realize had been cold for so

his attention back to Damon, his expression hardening again as reality

"How many casualties?"

responding to treatment, and that’s because he was farther

they didn’t even see it coming. No one knows where it

frustration threading through the gesture as his thoughts raced, trying to find something, anything they might have

he

upset about being restricted from using any electrical

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

murmured,

he reached

There’s been a chemical explosion.

nothing.

through, softer than he expected,

the right state to work. I

she was choosing her words

up in a way that felt sharper than the situation

that hadn’t quite faded from his mind. He had not even told her that someone by

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

they lingered there, harsher than necessary, but he didn’t take them

in, sharp and unexpected. For a second, it felt like something inside her cracked, like the space between

a child now?’ she asked

there was no answer. The connection snapped shut before she

withdrew from the link, his expression hardening again as if shutting down that entire exchange had been the simplest

relying on her," he said flatly, almost dismissively. "I’ll call

flickering across his face.