Novel & Cerita The Beta’s Regret

“You take one step toward him and this stops being a meeting, it becomes a massacre because I know Kael.” The man smiled wider. “You won’t attack us neither will Kael.” “Try me,” I said quietly. A murmur rippled through the hall with fear. The woman’s voice cut through it. “This right predates your packs, Beta.” That word again “Beta” not a rank, but a reminder, limitation. I felt it then. The weight, the age of what they were invoking, something older than alphas, older than loyalty. “We will return,” the man said. “With witnesses.”

Ink ran down my palm. The anchor moved on to the weather. I turned the television off and sat in the dark, with ink on my hand and jealousy in my throat. I had no right to it. I felt it anyway. A knock came at the door. Rowan did not wait for an answer. He never did. He had been my Beta for six years and my friend for longer. He was broad and quiet, with tired eyes, and he carried a thick folder under his arm. He looked at the broken pen, then at my hand, then at the dark screen.

Even though we have been the Luna Queen and the Alpha King for years, we still talked like this. We never contacted each other more than necessary. We only reached out to each other when we needed something. Our joint account has always been managed by Alex. I had no idea how much money we had, but whenever I asked, he would transfer the money to me without any hesitation. Except this time. He looked at me in a cold way and said, “I can agree to all your requests, but… Kate, You need to apologize to Victoria first.” In that moment, I knew Alex was trying to get even for Victoria.

My eyes burned, but I refused to let the tears fall. "You knew." Caden finally looked at me. And in that moment, I saw something I had never seen before. Regret. Not the regret of someone caught. The regret of someone who had carried the burden too long. But I wasn't ready to forgive him. Not yet. "Tell me the truth," I demanded. The silence stretched. Then Caden slowly opened his mouth. But before he could speak, the entire room seemed to change. A strange pressure filled the air. Valthera immediately looked toward the ancient scroll on the desk.

"So, you regret those 'workout sessions' with the man standing beside you?" "I..." he stared at his Beta who simply looked at the floor, feeling mortified. Who wouldn't be after being shown scenes of what they hadn't done in the past covertly? The Alpha felt his throat begin to constrict. As though some invisible hands were squeezing life out of him. His hands went up to his own throat in a desperate attempt to stop what he wasn't seeing. "What are you doing to him?" anxiety was evident in the Beta's voice. Gone was the feeling of shame, now he only felt dread.

That the month had been exactly what she said it was—her due, thirty days, nothing more—and that if I said stay, she would look at me with those composed eyes and explain, with the same patient clarity she brought to everything, that she had always known what this was. I had been afraid of what it would mean if she said no. So I had said nothing, and she had said goodbye, and now I was standing in an empty hall holding a silver ribbon and ordering my Beta to search unmaintained border roads, and the fear of her saying no seemed, in retrospect, like a very small thing to have weighted so heavily. I opened my hand and looked at the ribbon again. "Alpha." Raines, at the door. "The trackers are

“ I thought that I would let you be and keep to myself, but I realize now that it was a mistake. I should have confronted you about the welcome party you threw for her when you said you were going to attend a gala. I was an idiot for believing whatever you say. In a sense, this is my fault. I didn't even mention that I wasn't feeling well and I missed my parents. In case you forgot, my parents died. They have been gone for a long time and this is where they are buried. That is why I came here to visit them. I'm not some crazy stalker like you think, but yeah, you can think whatever. I don't care anymore. You can continue taking care of Anna. She matters more to you than I do.” I lost my comp

The realization tasted like poison. Minutes seemed to pass. Neither of us moved. Then finally the Beta nodded. Once. Slowly. "I thought so." Humiliation burned through me. Not because he'd won. Because he'd known he would. He glanced toward Ronan. Then back at me. "Take care of him." My claws flexed. The Beta moved toward the door. Stopping beside it. "I'll see you at home." His hand settled on the handle. Then he looked over his shoulder. One final time. "Take care of the man you love and go back to the man you claim to love." The door opened. Closed. And he was gone.

Safe. "Sure," I said. "Why not?" We moved to the bar, and Jace ordered us both glasses of wine. He kept up a steady stream of conversation—asking about my art, my time in Seattle, what brought me back to Ironvale. I kept my answers vague, dancing around the truth, but he didn't push. "So what's it like being a Beta?" I asked, deflecting attention from myself. "Exhausting," he said with a laugh. "I'm basically a glorified mediator. Alphas make the big decisions, but I'm the one who has to convince everyone they're good ideas. It's a lot of ego management."

Somehow that was worse. I lay awake until dawn, touching my lips and hating myself so much I could barely breathe. He had a Luna. He had a ceremony in a month. And two years ago, he stood on that balcony and told his sister and his Beta that I was something to use and throw away. Nothing had changed. Nothing. 'He cried,' Nyx whispered. 'Drunk men cry.' 'He said he did it on purpose. He said he wanted us gone. Why would he want us gone if...'