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0088: Memorial Tree
publish date:
2026-07-06 00:09:02
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The Alpha's Greatest Regret 0088: Memorial Tree
ALICE'S POVThe tree was younger than I'd expected. An oak, slim but sturdy, planted on a ridge that caught the wind from every direction.Small wooden wolves hung from the lower branches on bits of twine — a dozen of them, maybe more, each one carved rough, each one different."I make a new one every year," Benjamin said. "On the day.""You carve them yourself.""Badly." He touched one, and the twine swayed. "I still sit here when it rains. I don't know why. I just don't want him to be alone in it."I looked at the wolves turning on their twine and didn't say anything for a while.Then I told him the truth instead."I wasn't at the funeral," I said.Benjamin went still."I was too broken to be there. I let Drake and Damian and David handle everything — the arrangements, the service, all of it. I couldn't make myself go."My voice came out steadier than I'd expected, for what it was carrying."I kept thinking, if I didn't see him like that — still, not moving — then some part of me co
The Alpha's Greatest Regret 0087:The Son I Failed
BENJAMIN'S POVAldric was three minutes into a toast about boundary cooperation, and I was using every word of it as cover for not thinking about the hand on my arm."You're tense," Lisa said quietly, leaning in."along been a long day, Lisa""I noticed." Her thumb traced once over my sleeve. "Lily's been asking about the supply route again. The one near the eastern outposts. She wants to walk it with her class next month and I told her I'd ask you directly instead of going through the council.""I'll look into it.""Thank you." She didn't move her hand. Pulling away over a conversation about a school trip would've looked stranger than leaving it there, so I let it stay and called that the reason.Across the hall Alice sat with John, a glass of wine in front of her she hadn't touched once. I noticed the wine before I noticed anything else. Her face didn't change. Then her shoulders dropped half an inch — small, deliberate, gone before John would've caught it.She leaned toward him and
The Alpha's Greatest Regret 0086: Planting Seeds In The Dark
Lisa's POVJohn was alone in the supply room off the clinic — which was the only reason I came at all. He was restocking gauze, working it onto the shelf harder than the shelf had done anything to deserve."Pushing harder isn't going to turn her around," I said.He didn't look up. "If you are here to give unsolicited advice again then please don't.""You don't have to take it. I only watch." I leaned into the doorframe, easy, like I had all afternoon to give him. "You fought for her in front of everyone. Threw a punch, even. And she still tracks him across a courtyard like he's worth keeping an eye on."He set the gauze down — harder than it needed setting — and turned to face me. "That's not your business.""It's the whole pack's business by now. They all watched you hit your rival at the festival." I tilted my head, gentle as anything. "I'd have thought that settled something. It didn't, though. *Did it.*"He didn't answer. He picked up the next roll and went back to stacking, and h
The Alpha's Greatest Regret 0085: Smiled At Him
ALICE'S POVMorwen told me before Benjamin did.She mentioned it the way she mentioned everything—a fact dropped between two others, requisition forms in one hand, the news in the other."The endowment passed council yesterday. Permanent. Irrevocable, even if a future council wanted to undo it." She set the forms on my desk. "He drafted it himself. Wanted it tied to the program, not to anything personal."Not a gift, then.I took the forms and didn't say so. It would outlast the thirty days, whatever I decided—even him, if it came to that, the work going on no matter what I did with the rest of my life. That sat somewhere flowers wouldn't have reached.I nodded and went back to the chart in front of me. My hands weren't quite steady doing it. I didn't look at them long enough to be sure why.I moved through the rest of the day differently. Nothing I could have named, if anyone had asked.I lingered a beat too long in the clinic corridor when I caught sight of Benjamin at the far end, d
The Alpha's Greatest Regret 0084: Even If She Leaves
BENJAMIN'S POVAldric had the morning's papers squared in front of him before I'd even cleared the doorway, and he didn't look up — not until I'd dropped into the seat across from him."This isn't on the agenda," he said."It is now." I sat without looking at him. "I want a permanent endowment for the pediatric screening program. Structured so no future council can touch it. Not this one. Not the next ten."Aldric set the pen down, slow. "In Dr. Watson's name and not yours or the pack?.""In the program's name." I held his eyes. "Her work — whatever happens between her and me doesn't get a vote in it. I don't want this tied to my title, my marriage, or what kind of mood I'm in on a given day. I want it tied to the children it's already saved."He looked at me a long moment — the look he got when he was deciding whether to push or let a thing stand."This is unusual," he said. "Permanent endowments outlast Alphas. Outlast councils. You're aware of what you're asking — this can't be und
The Alpha's Greatest Regret 0083: Something Shifted When He Left
ALICE'S POVNine days left.I'd started counting before I got out of bed — the number just sitting there before coffee, before I'd even brushed my teeth. Nine days until the council's window closed, and I still didn't know what I'd put in the box marked answer.John's kiss sat between us, neither of us naming it since the morning after. He and Benjamin hadn't said a word to each other since the festival — a cold, careful orbit, both of them circling me instead of each other. I was tired of being something two grown men took turns being careful around.The clinic was busy enough that I didn't have much room to think about any of it. I was grateful for that.Lily showed up just after the lunch rush, slipping in through the side door the way she usually did, a folded piece of paper held against her chest like something precious."I made you something," she said, holding it out before I'd even fully turned around.A blue wolf, drawn in careful, uneven crayon, standing beside a smaller fig
The Alpha's Greatest Regret 0023: Not My Concern
ALICE'S POVIt was cold enough that I'd pulled my collar up before I made it through the guest quarters door.I had my first patient in my head — eight years old, family history of autoimmune markers, mother already anxious before I'd said a word. I was heading over to the clinic when I saw Lisa st
The Alpha's Greatest Regret 0022. He Bleeds For Attention
ALICE'S POVI made it to my quarters before my legs gave out.The door clicked shut behind me. The lock turned. My bag slid off my shoulder and hit the floor. I sat on the edge of the bed and pressed my hands flat against my knees and tried to breathe.He’d hurt himself to see me. He’d cut his own
The Alpha's Greatest Regret 0020. She Won't Forgive You
BENJAMINE'S POVThe files on my desk had an order. Four years of running this pack and I could put my hand on anything in the dark. That morning I spent twenty minutes looking for a report I had filed myself, and found it under my left hand the moment Lisa walked in without knocking.She hadn't kno
The Alpha's Greatest Regret 0019:Her Life Without Me
Benjamin POVI started finding reasons to visit the clinic.The first time, it was a legitimate consultation — a pediatric case with symptoms that overlapped with the Velmir’s screening protocols. I reviewed the chart with Morwen, asked the necessary questions, and left. The second time was a suppl
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