Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 316: Can you describe this woman?

The more Voren thought about it, the less sense the whole situation made. He stayed right there beside Marigold’s bed, watching his little girl as a million thoughts swirled through his head.

It was weird enough that Seraphine had suggested changing Marigold’s name, but finding out that Marigold herself wanted to go by Esperanza was on another level.

The coincidence felt off, like there were too many puzzle pieces that just wouldn’t line up no matter how he tried to force them.

Seraphine and Marigold hadn’t exactly spent a ton of quality time together. Sure, they’d met and talked a bit, but those moments had been short and surface-level, nowhere near enough for Seraphine to plant some wild new identity idea in a five-year-old’s head.

And the timeline made even less sense. Marigold had been scribbling the name Esperanza in her drawings way before Seraphine’s divorce, long before the woman had even stepped into their lives. There was no way she could’ve influenced something like that.

The deeper he sat with it, the more uneasy he felt. It wasn’t exactly fear, but more like staring at a half-finished puzzle where the missing pieces should make the picture impossible, yet the image was still starting to take shape anyway. The problem was, he had no clue what that picture was supposed to show.

"Daddy," Marigold said softly, pulling him out of his thoughts.

Voren looked down at her. Those big, observant eyes of hers were fixed on him again, the kind that always made him forget she was only five years old.

"I told you about the woman who shows up in my dreams," she continued.

He let out a sigh before he could catch it. Not this again. Those dreams had come up plenty of times over the years, and while some of the details she described had turned out to be eerily accurate, Voren still had a hard time wrapping his head around them.

logical explanation, but another part knew

through his hair and

the gentle skepticism in his voice. If anything, she

the pack, we should visit the shaman," he suggested. That felt like the safest bet—the middle aged woman had seen enough

away.

Voren frowned. "Stay where?"

the pack." She answered so fast it was clear she’d been thinking

as he got why she was drawn to pack

came out heavier with emotion than he’d meant them to. Being away from her sucked every single time. Every business trip, every long meeting, every obligation that pulled him away felt like someone

made her seem way older than she was. "Then call me Pera." She started counting on her fingers. "Or Espy. Or Anza. They’re all

her for a few seconds

only five. The way she talked, the way she reasoned through things,

cartoons, but Marigold was over here debating identity, destiny, prophetic

was already flashing this triumphant little smile. "But I think we should handle the legal stuff first. Your birth certificate still

took some of the wind out of her sails, though she nodded like she understood. For once, she didn’t push back,

marry Mommy," she said, sounding so serious it almost made him laugh. Almost.

hit him like a truck. "Mari!" His voice came

feeling like he was having some kind of parental meltdown. "Goddess above," he muttered, covering his face with his hand. "You’re way too young

looked confused about why he was freaking out. The crazy part was, her words had struck closer to home than