Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 301 - She’s worth it

The line wasn’t dead. Voren could still hear his father breathing on the other end, but the silence after those words felt heavy, like it pressed down on the whole room and changed the whole mood in it.

Voren’s expression didn’t fall apart. It just went very, very still.

His eyes moved over to Seraphine, who was watching him through the pain now, reading his face even though she could only hear one side of the conversation. It was enough for her to know something big had just changed.

Voren tightened his grip on the phone and stepped away from Seraphine a bit, though he stayed facing her. His voice stayed low but firm.

"Dad." Voren’s back teeth clenched together so hard it actually hurt. "I asked you for the antidote. Not a lecture."

Vladimir Ashkael was the kind of man who didn’t change his mind easily once he’d made it up. Voren knew that better than anyone he’d spent his whole life running into that solid wall. And right now, his father had dug his heels in on the wrong side of this conversation and didn’t look like he was planning to budge anytime soon.

"If it’s for her," Vladimir said, his voice carrying that final tone old Alphas get when they’ve already decided the talk is over, "then I’m not giving it to you."

Voren turned away so Seraphine wouldn’t catch his expression. He pressed his free hand flat against the wall and tried to breathe through the frustration building up inside him.

He had seen his father helpless back when they thought they were going to lose him. Voren had changed so much after the heartbreak, refusing to eat and drinking alcohol like it was water.

He knew his father was only afraid to see him go through that dark state again, and he respected him in that deep, complicated way sons respect fathers who are both their biggest teacher and their toughest obstacle. But right now, that respect was wearing pretty thin.

exactly did you think I was calling about?" He kept his voice even and

voice came back, a little less sure

"Jasmine is a lone wolf, Dad. She never belonged to a pack, so she didn’t cut ties with one. The curse doesn’t hit

that. If this was about Jasmine, would I have waited this long to call

was starting to get uncomfortable as his father thought it over. Voren

wasn’t in the room anymore, but he could see her through the

really needed to get

right now. While we’re standing here going back and forth about it. So I’m gonna ask you one

came back wasn’t

colder. "Voren. What is going on with you? I didn’t

quiet but heavy, like something that had

loud, the kind of calm that meant he had nothing left

"Voren—"

been trash, and if I hear those words come out of your mouth again, I

The line went silent.

eyes for just a second, and when he opened them, his voice had settled back into something closer to steady. "I’ve loved Sera since we were kids. I never stopped. Not even once. Not through any of it. If you

at the end, just

was

son, and