Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Leon had always been busy, that was just part of who he was, but even with everything on his plate, he never stopped paying attention to what was going on around him, especially when it came to Seraphine.

A man like him didn’t struggle for attention; if anything, women were the ones making the first move, trying to get his interest, trying to lock him down, yet none of that ever mattered to him because the only person he wanted had never once looked at him that way.

He had been patient, telling himself that his looks, his status, and the way he treated her would eventually win her over, that she would be the one to take that step forward when she was ready, but time kept passing and nothing changed, and it started to get under his skin more than he liked to admit.

Then the little things started piling up.

The way men reacted around her, the way their attention snapped to her without effort, the way she seemed to leave an impression everywhere she went. It wasn’t subtle, and Leon noticed every bit of it. What made it worse was Voren.

Corvine had always been close to her, that much Leon could accept without overthinking it, but Voren stepping in so casually, bringing her coffee like he belonged in her space, that didn’t sit right with him at all.

That was when the thought really hit him. He could actually lose her.

And Leon wasn’t the type to sit back and watch something like that happen.

The ring had been sitting with him for a while now, something he had originally planned to use during a proper date, something intimate, something carefully arranged, but standing there, watching everything unfold, he knew he couldn’t wait anymore.

The flowers weren’t even part of the original plan. He had them ordered the moment things calmed down just enough for him to make a move.

Seraphine hadn’t even had the chance to change out of her doctor’s coat, and Leon had already seen what was underneath earlier when she arrived. Even with everything going on, people had noticed her.

Heads turned without hesitation, conversations paused for a second too long, and it wasn’t just the patients or visitors. Doctors, both junior and senior, had been stealing glances, their attention fixed on her in a way that was impossible to miss, including him.

That was exactly why he decided he wasn’t going to wait another second.

"Sera," he called out the moment she clocked out, just as she was about to leave with Corvine after all the emotional exchanges with the rescued victims.

Seraphine turned at the sound of his voice, and the moment her eyes landed on the massive bouquet in his hands, her face lit up with a smile.

She loved flowers, always had, even though there was a time when Santiago had taken it too far and practically filled her entire place with them.

But that smile didn’t last because the next thing Leon did completely threw her off.

He dropped down on one knee.

At first, she thought he was joking, that maybe this was some kind of dramatic gesture that would turn into something else, but then he pulled out a velvet box, opening it just enough for the diamond inside to catch the light.

And everything froze. "Sera," Leon started, his voice steady but carrying an edge of urgency that hadn’t been there before.

"I kept thinking that with my looks and my charm, you’d be the one pushing us to the next level, but right now, I can’t keep holding this back anymore."

Seraphine parted her lips like she was about to say something, but nothing came out.

Her mind was moving too fast, trying to process everything at once, and it didn’t help that people had already started gathering around them.

Phones were raised, Cameras were on, and every second that passed made it worse.

"Honestly, I had something way more romantic planned," Leon continued, a small, almost self-conscious smile pressing against his lips, "but I figured... this moment feels right."

Off to the side, Corvine’s expression had gone completely grim, his eyes locked on Seraphine like she already knew this wasn’t going to end smoothly.

And Seraphine, felt trapped. There was no other way to describe it.

All she could think about was how different things would have been if Leon had done this somewhere private, somewhere quiet where she could actually breathe and respond without a hundred eyes on her, without the weight of expectations pressing down on her from every direction.

Because the truth was, this wasn’t simple.

Leon wasn’t just any man. He was her director, someone people respected, someone people looked up to, and rejecting him right here, in front of everyone, wasn’t just about the two of them. It would leave a mark, create whispers, turn into something bigger than it needed to be.

But even deeper than that, there was something Leon didn’t know.

Something he couldn’t understand.

She wasn’t just a woman living a normal life. She was a she-wolf, part of a world that existed far beyond what he could see, a life filled with things he had never experienced and secrets that couldn’t just be explained away.

On the surface, sure, they could look perfect together, but underneath all of that, there was too much he didn’t know, too much he might never understand.

And then there was Ravyn, her past, her ex-husband. Their missing daughter.

Just thinking about it made her chest tighten, the weight of everything pressing down on her all over again. That part of her life wasn’t something she could just ignore or hide forever, and if Leon ever found out, it would be overwhelming for him in ways she couldn’t even begin to measure.

Most of all, her heart wasn’t ready. It hadn’t healed, not even close.

And yet, standing there, surrounded by people, with cameras capturing every second and Leon waiting for an answer, there was one thing she couldn’t ignore.

She couldn’t reject him here, not like this. So the question kept echoing in her mind, louder with every passing second.

What was she supposed to do?