All Chapters of The Alpha's Greatest Regret: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

ALICE'S POVHis arms held on a beat too long before he let go."Take care of yourself," John said."You too. Go eat your mother's tomatoes."That pulled a real laugh out of him. "I'll send you pictures.""You'd better."He didn't get in the car. He stood there with the door open, one hand on the frame. "Alice.""What?""I meant what I said. Take care of yourself." His voice dropped. "You forget to, when nobody's watching.""I'll be fine.""Will you?"The question landed harder than the cold did. I looked at the car. "You're going to miss your flight.""Probably." He didn't move. "Promise me something.""What?""When it gets hard — don't pretend it isn't. Call someone. Call me.""You'll be three states away eating tomatoes.""Call me anyway." He set his hands on my shoulders, light and firm at once. "Promise."A cold gust cut through between us. "Fine," I said. "I promise."He searched my face, nodded once, and got in. I watched the car until it disappeared around the bend. Then I turn

ALICE’S POVThe supply depot sat at the edge of neutral territory — a warehouse big enough to hold medical equipment for half a dozen packs at once. Benjamin pulled into the loading bay and cut the engine."We're here," he said."I noticed."Inside, it was fluorescent-bright and smelled of sterile packaging and old dust. The store assistant met us at the front desk — young, clipboard, a smile that faltered the moment she placed his face."Alpha Kane. Dr. Watson. Your order's ready for inspection.""Show us."She led us through the aisles. Benjamin walked a few steps behind, quiet, letting me set the pace. I worked down the list — portable incubator, pediatric ventilator, isolation chamber seals. Everything accounted for.The last item was a specialized monitor on a high shelf. The assistant reached for it. Her hand slipped.The box came down fast — heavy, straight at me — and I didn't have time to step clear.Two hands closed around my arms and pulled me back.The box hit the concrete

ALICE'S POVLily was standing at the entrance to the pediatric wing when I looked up from Caleb's charts. A piece of paper, held in both hands. Alone.She was always alone when she came to find me. Nine years old, standing in the doorway like she was waiting for permission to exist in the room."Lily." I set the chart down and crossed to her. "Does your mother know you're here?"She didn't look guilty. She looked certain. "No. She's been on the phone all morning. She's angry about something. She keeps saying your name. And Dr. Marlow's name. And Shadow Moon.""What is she saying?""She closes the door when she talks." She looked down at the paper for a moment. "But I heard your name. And when she talks about you it's different. Not angry. Something else."I watched her choose something else instead of a smaller, safer one. She'd been listening at a closed door long enough to hear the difference between her mother's kinds of anger, and to know which one was worse. No nine-year-old shoul

ALICE’S POVCaleb walked out of the clinic on his own two feet.His color had come back. His markers had dropped in the night. Mara was crying — not the desperate kind from a week ago, but quiet now, relieved, a mother who'd been given back her son. She took both my hands in hers."Thank you. Thank you for saving my boy.""Keep him on the follow-up plan," I said. "Regular checkups for the next six months. If anything changes — anything — you bring him back immediately.""I will. I promise."I watched them go toward the doors. Caleb had his mother's hand in one of his and Lily's wolf drawing in the other — the blue paper folded once. At the exit he stopped and turned back, his face small and serious."Dr. Watson? Can I keep the wolf?""Yes," I said. "The wolf is yours."He smiled. Then the doors closed and he was gone.Caleb was going home."We saved him."I turned. Benjamin stood at the end of the corridor with his hands in his pockets."You saved him," he said. "I just signed paperwo

BENJAMIN'S POVI left Alice's quarters and just kept walking. Past the clinic. Past the training yard, past the pack house, until the buildings were all behind me and the ground tipped down toward the river. The water was grey, the surface broken and ruffled.The sound of it just kept going, steady. I stood with my hands shoved in my jacket pockets and let the cold work in through the fabric. I'd held her hand while she slept and taken her shoes off her feet and sat in that chair until dawn, and none of it was the thing I'd done two days ago in Lisa's kitchen, and both of them were mine. There was nowhere to put that down. So I turned and walked back.Callum was in my office.He was sitting in the chair across from my desk, a file folder in his lap. He looked up when I came in, took a moment to study my face, and set the folder down without saying anything."Lisa," he said. Not a question."Lisa." I sat down. "What do you have?""She's been quiet since your visit. No calls to the elder