Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 266 - Better safe than sorry

The water was cold and dark, but Voren didn’t hesitate. The moment he caught their scent cutting through the night air, sharp and wrong, he moved. Not up. Not toward the surface where they’d be waiting.

He pushed deeper, cutting through the current with long strokes, letting the water swallow him whole. He knew these waterways better than most people knew their own backyards.

Every tunnel. Every hidden outlet carved into the rock walls below. He came up on the far side, fingers gripping wet stone as he hauled himself through a narrow passage and climbed until his feet hit solid ground again.

He was a good stretch away from where he’d gone in.

What he didn’t count on was the sound of footsteps right beside him.

Not Seraphine’s.

He pressed flat against the rock face and held his breath, scanning the darkness. That’s when he caught movement in the distance, a cluster of figures tightening around Seraphine like a noose.

His jaw locked. He didn’t think twice. The shift came fast and hard, bones rearranging themselves as Bloodfang took shape, and Voren launched himself into the trees.

The assassins never saw it coming.

They went down one after another, each one hitting the ground with a finality that left no room for argument. When the last one stopped moving, Bloodfang’s paws pressed into the earth and his chest rumbled low.

He was already turning toward Seraphine when something made him stop dead.

Her wolf.

every muscle locked, eyes fixed on the creature standing in the clearing

The thought moved through him like a current. I knew there was something different about

on. Are you absolutely sure?

at her. Wild. Unafraid. She loves this the same way I do.

left of the fight with something that went beyond training or instinct. There was joy in it. The

and then slowly, it did. Piece by piece, it all clicked into place. Seraphine’s instincts. The way she read situations before

fought like she’d been doing it

had been giving her

or speed alone but as knowing. Deep, bone-level knowledge.

had

to look. If he had, really looked, he would have known. He would have moved

he’d thrown her away without a second glance, which meant

Entirely

through Bloodfang’s focus like a blade. She can’t kill that one. Not yet. We need him talking first. Someone sent these

thought finished, crossing

breathing, kneeling in the dirt in front of Marsha, head bowed and shoulders caved in. Her wolf was standing over him, and Voren knew

had maybe three seconds

It’s us.

came out rough and low, just loud enough. Marsha’s wolf snapped her head around, body already coiling to strike, and for one breath-stealing second it could have

at the same time, the shift reversing, and two humans stood in their