Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 262 – Use me

"Seraphine."

Ravyn’s voice came from the top of the stairs. He was leaning against the banister, unhurried, like he’d been standing there long enough to have heard most of it. "I hope you’ll make it to the moon festival. Next full moon. We’re hosting it here."

Seraphine looked up at him. Her expression didn’t change. "Good luck with that."

Ravyn tilted his head. "You say that like you’re not coming."

"You’re smarter than I give you credit for."

Something flashed in Ravyn’s eyes, quick, hot, and his jaw went tight. He swallowed it down. Voren was three feet away and standing very still, which tended to have that effect on conversations.

"The bond restoration ritual requires input from every werewolf," Ravyn said, his voice measured now. "Packs across the whole world are being contacted. We need everyone."

"I heard you," Seraphine responded without looking up, still unfazed.

"You could find your fated mate there, you know." He came down two steps, and there was something intentional in his tone now, something that was aimed somewhere specific. "He might not be an Alpha, probably—"

"Enough!" Voren’s voice dropped into the room like something heavy hitting a floor.

went still on the

festival talk. Sera — hug. Come

dropped by several degrees the moment Seraphine opened her arms

Damon slowly, dark and absolute, the kind of look that didn’t need volume behind it to carry exactly the right amount of warning, and it stayed there, steady and unblinking, and every single person in that room understood exactly

Nobody saw him move.

was standing five feet behind Seraphine, and the next he was simply beside her, around her, his arm hooking under hers from behind and lifting her

breath and the next and Damon stood there blinking, genuinely trying to work

not entirely as a joke,

her bag bumping against her hip

tucked under one arm like a rolled up carpet, and with his other hand he looked back over his shoulder at Damon and raised

The middle one.

lips

haven’t said goodbye yet!" Seraphine’s voice echoed through the entrance hall as the front door swung open around them. Her legs were still

door without breaking stride, the cool night air hitting them both. His voice dropped just slightly, something low and even

Seraphine stopped wiggling.

bit of movement in

sound for a full three seconds was the soft crunch of gravel under Voren’s boots as he carried her the remaining distance to the car and set her down in the passenger seat with the kind of gentleness

nothing had happened and walked around to the driver’s side as he checked where the dent had been before.

until they disappeared around the tree line. The smile on his face was the complicated kind — not quite happy, not quite sad, sitting

him, Ravyn

to a collective crawl the moment Voren carried Seraphine through the front door. Now