Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever-Chapter 99 – Sera, stay awake, will you?

Voren experienced a quiet sense of relief when he realized that Ravyn had managed to walk away from the earlier confrontation with Seraphine without losing another massive fortune, although that relief did not lead him back to Ravyn’s side or tempt him to resume their earlier conversation.

The tension surrounding that entire situation had already drained enough of his patience for one evening and he preferred to keep his distance while the atmosphere inside the club remained thick with ambition and rivalry.

Instead of returning to Ravyn’s table, Voren spent the next stretch of time circulating through the private investors’ lounge, exchanging polite greetings and measured conversation with several powerful men whose influence stretched across multiple industries.

His attention never truly settled on any of the discussions because his instincts remained alert in the way they always did whenever Alpha Gray occupied the same room as him.

Gray possessed a reputation that had been built on manipulation, cruelty, and the kind of political maneuvering that allowed him to smile in public while quietly dismantling his enemies behind closed doors, which meant Voren trusted nothing about the man’s presence at a gathering like this.

That instinct proved correct the moment Voren overheard a low voice behind him.

"Make sure she drinks it in front of you."

The words were spoken quietly, almost casually, although the cold intention behind them caused every instinct in Voren’s body to tighten at once.

He recognized the voice immediately.

Alpha Gray.

Voren did not turn immediately, because reacting too quickly would only alert the speaker that someone had overheard him, although he slowly angled his body just enough to observe the reflection from the polished surface of a nearby glass cabinet.

In that reflection, he caught sight of a waiter moving away with a tray containing a single glass of dark liquor, while Gray remained standing beside Riven with a thin smile stretched across his face.

Gray leaned slightly toward Riven as though sharing an inside joke. "We’ll teach her that this isn’t her place."

The meaning of those words settled heavily inside Voren’s chest.

For a moment, anger surged through him so strongly that confronting Gray right there in the middle of the room almost felt unavoidable, although his instincts forced him to think one step further before acting, because the far more urgent question was not whether Gray deserved confrontation but who exactly the intended victim might be.

Voren’s gaze followed the waiter.

The man moved smoothly through the room, navigating past groups of investors and wealthy guests with professional ease while holding the tray steady in his hand.

When the waiter finally reached his destination and lowered the glass toward the woman seated nearby, Voren felt his stomach tighten.

The drink was being offered to Seraphine.

She sat across from Mark at one of the lounge tables, her posture relaxed and her smile warm enough to convince anyone watching that she felt completely comfortable inside this room filled with men who had spent most of the evening trying to undermine her.

However, Voren knew better than anyone that the softness on her face rarely revealed what she truly felt, because Seraphine possessed a remarkable ability to slip into that composed business persona whenever negotiations required patience, charm, or deception.

From a distance, the scene looked perfectly harmless. Seraphine lifted the glass politely, and the waiter stepped back.

Mark continued speaking casually and there was no sign of anything unusual happening.

But Voren began walking toward them immediately, his pace quickening with every second because the unease inside his chest had grown into a sharp, urgent warning that refused to quiet down.

Unfortunately, he arrived a moment too late. Seraphine had already taken a sip.

The instant the waiter noticed Voren approaching with obvious urgency, the man’s expression tightened with a flicker of panic before he swiftly reached forward, collected the glass from Seraphine’s hand despite the fact that she had not finished the drink, and disappeared through a side exit that most guests rarely noticed.

Seraphine blinked in confusion as she watched the waiter vanish.

"I didn’t even finish it," she murmured softly, clearly puzzled by the sudden removal of her drink.

The liquor had tasted strange when it touched her tongue, although she dismissed that thought almost immediately because she had never enjoyed expensive alcohol in the first place and most of the luxury brands served in elite gatherings like this carried flavors she personally found unpleasant.

For a brief moment, she assumed nothing more of it. Then the first wave of pain arrived.

The reaction inside her body happened quickly and violently enough that she understood the problem almost instantly.

Wolfsbane.

Her stomach tightened painfully as the realization formed.

The burning sensation spread through her bloodstream with alarming speed, turning every breath into a struggle while a crushing headache exploded behind her eyes.

Across the table, Mark had been speaking enthusiastically about the timeline for her company’s launch, although his voice faltered when he noticed the sudden tension creeping into her expression.

"So you are certain the company will officially launch in—"

His sentence stopped halfway through when he saw the color draining from her face.

"Miss... are you alright?"

Concern replaced his professional composure as he leaned forward.

Seraphine tried to respond. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.

Her thoughts became heavy and slow as the poison continued spreading through her body, clouding her mind while her skin gradually took on a faint bluish tint that grew darker with every passing second.

She knew enough about science to understand that ordinary medical treatment would not solve this problem.

Wolfsbane affected werewolves differently in the pack than in the city filled with humans.

However, one question forced its way through the growing haze in her mind.

Who would dare use wolfbane inside the city, and at a gathering like this?

Before she could focus on that thought any further, her vision began to blur badly enough that the room around her dissolved into streaks of color and movement.

At that same moment, a strong arm wrapped around her waist.

The sudden contact came just in time, because her legs had already lost all strength beneath her.

Her body felt strangely weightless as she was lifted from her chair with surprising ease.

For a moment, her foggy thoughts tried to identify the scent surrounding her.

Leon?

The scent did not match.

The person holding her carried a different presence, one she recognized faintly although her mind refused to organize the memory before darkness began closing in around her consciousness.

Just before everything disappeared, she heard a familiar voice near her ear.

"Sera, stay awake, will you?"