Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

The question hit harder than Ravyn expected, his body going still as the doubt crept in, unwelcome but impossible to ignore.

"I’ve never heard you mention a single patient she successfully treated," Voren continued, his tone quieter but far more pointed now, "and now she can’t even treat her own son, so what exactly does that say about her as a doctor?"

The question didn’t just linger, it settled deep, heavy enough that Ravyn couldn’t brush it off no matter how much he wanted to.

Even as he kept his eyes on the road, his grip tightening slightly on the steering wheel, his thoughts kept circling back, replaying moments, conversations, decisions, all of it tangled up in a growing sense of doubt he wasn’t ready to face.

"So you’re saying Daisy’s been lying to me this whole time?" he asked, his voice lower now, less certain than before.

Voren didn’t answer immediately. He wasn’t the kind of person who threw around accusations without something solid to back them up, and he wasn’t about to put himself in the middle of something that could easily spiral without proof.

"No," he said finally, his tone measured, careful. "I’m not saying that. I’m just telling you to pay attention, to actually look at what’s happening instead of taking everything at face value."

There was a brief pause before he added, his voice carrying a hint of something more personal. "If nothing else, you should’ve learned that much from what I went through."

That landed. Ravyn exhaled quietly, the tension still there but changing slightly as he nodded to himself. "You’re right," he admitted, even if the words didn’t come easily. "I’ll look into it."

But that wasn’t what mattered most right now. His focus snapped back to the immediate problem.

"Right now, I need Seraphine’s help," he continued, his tone firm again. "Can you talk to her for me? You’re invested in her business, she won’t turn you down, right?"

Voren leaned back slightly where he stood, considering that for a moment before shaking his head, even though Ravyn couldn’t see it.

"Ravyn," he said, his voice steady but carrying a clear boundary, "don’t forget who you’re talking about. Seraphine can cut me off just as easily if I push her the wrong way."

He didn’t stop there. "With people like Don Russo trying to get into her circle, you should already understand the level she’s operating on now."

That caught Ravyn’s attention immediately.

"Don Russo?" he repeated, his brows pulling together as his focus sharpened despite the road ahead. "That man is trouble. She shouldn’t be anywhere near him."

"She isn’t exactly eager about it," Voren replied, his tone thoughtful, "but that’s not the point. I’m trying to get you to understand how fast she’s rising." There was something almost impressed in his voice now. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"She has a way of pulling people in, making them believe in whatever she’s building to the point where they’re willing to throw away whatever their building to join her dream," he continued. "The deal she offered me alone is bigger than any investment I’ve ever stepped into, and I’m not about to ruin that by provoking her."

That stung more than Ravyn expected. A quiet heaviness settled in his chest, because everything Voren was saying only made it clearer how much he had lost, how far Seraphine had moved beyond him, and how different things could have been if he had treated her better when he had the chance.

Voren had warned them back then. At the Bohemian Groove, he had made it clear what kind of person Seraphine was, what she was capable of becoming, and Ravyn had ignored it, choosing pride and anger instead.

Now he was paying for it. "So that’s it?" Ravyn said after a moment, his voice tightening slightly as he leaned into the one angle he knew might work. "You’re just going to let me deal with this alone?"

Voren sighed quietly on the other end, already recognizing what Ravyn was doing.

"I don’t know why you keep coming to me when you already know who you should be going to," he replied. "Your former beta is her right hand man now."

Ravyn’s jaw tightened. "He hates me too."

"This isn’t about you," Voren said immediately, cutting through that excuse without hesitation. "It’s about Bryan." That stopped Ravyn from responding right away.

"Go to them," Voren continued, his tone firm but not unkind. "Be honest for once. Admit where you went wrong, say you’re sorry, and be ready to deal with whatever comes after that."

He let that settle before adding, more quietly now, "Seraphine might hate you, but she’s not the kind of person who would let a child suffer because of what his parents did."

Ravyn swallowed hard, something tight forming in his throat. "There’s more," he admitted, his voice dropping slightly, guilt threading through it now. "Bryan... he wasn’t always kind to her. I let Daisy fill his head with things, I let him grow up resenting Sera because of how I felt."

Voren exhaled slowly, the weight of that confession not lost on him.

"That doesn’t change the fact that he’s still a kid," he said, his voice steady. "And if you know your ex-wife at all, then you already know what she’ll choose when it comes down to that."

There wasn’t much more to say after that. "I have to go," Voren added after a moment, his tone drifting back to the present. "We’ll talk later." The call ended.

For a brief second, Voren was left alone with his thoughts, about to return to the side of his client when his phone rang again.

The sound cut through the quiet sharply, pulling his attention back as he glanced at the screen.

The moment he saw the caller ID, something in him tightened. Seraphine was not his friend or someone who would call randomly to check on him.

"Sera..." he muttered under his breath, a flicker of unease running through him. "Why is she calling me?"