Too Late To Regret, My Alphas Chapter 10: He Found Her

Rosalie:

Darkness wrapped around again. But this ti, it wasn’t peaceful. It was heavy and suffocating. The kind of darkness that pressed against your chest until breathing itself beca difficult.

Sowhere far away, I heard a bird chirping softly for a while. Then ca silence, and suddenly... my eyes snapped open.

For a few disoriented seconds, I simply stared upward, breathing slowly as my vision adjusted to the dim room around . The soft golden lighting from the bedside lamp cast faint shadows across the unfamiliar walls, and it took a mont to rember where I was.

Eiden Thorn ’s house.

The realization settled through slowly, along with the lingering exhaustion weighing down my body.

I must have fallen asleep after he left.

The room was quiet except for the beeping sound of the monitor. But then, a faint shuffling sound broke through the silence and my heart skipped slightly as I realized soone was in the room.

I turned my head carefully toward the sound, ignoring the faint ache that still pulsed through my body. At first, all I saw was darkness near the far side of the room where the shadows gathered thickest near the windows.

But then I noticed him - a figure standing there silently with his back facing . He was tall, with broad shoulders. And sothing about his silhouette instantly made my breath catch.

"Eiden...?" My voice ca out soft and rough from sleep.

The figure stilled. Then slowly turned to face , and the mont he stepped into the light, the air left my lungs. Because it wasn’t Eiden... but Alastor.

My heartbeat stopped so violently it physically hurt. For one impossible second, I could only stare at him, at his dark hair and deep blue eyes. He looked tall, cold, and handso in the sa devastating way he had always been.

He looked exactly the sa. Exactly like the man I had spent years loving. And suddenly nothing else mattered - not the betrayal, not the pain, not Charlotte. All I knew was that he was here.

He ca for .

I rose from the bed so quickly that sharp pain instantly tore through my ribs, but I barely felt it. Sohow, impossibly, I was already moving. I stumbled out of the bed and toward him before my mind could catch up with my body.

"Alastor..."

His na broke from my lips like sothing fragile. I stopped directly in front of him, breathing unevenly as tears suddenly overwheld my eyes. There was so much I wanted to say, to ask.

Why?

How could you?

Did you really want dead?

Did you ever love at all?

But none of the words ca out. My throat felt too tight, too broken. So all I could do was stare at him through blurred vision while tears rolled silently down my cheeks.

He was really here.

He found .

Instinctively, my gaze flickered past him toward the doorway and around the room, searching for Darien and Kaiser, but they weren’t here. It was only Alastor. Only he ca.

The realization twisted painfully inside my chest.

Why? Why him? And why did so horrible weak part of still feel relieved seeing him?

I hated him.

Didn’t I?

After what he did... after the way he looked at that night... after the way they all abandoned - I should hate him. A part of did. But another part - a crueler, weaker, pathetic part - still held on to the feelings I had for them for so long.

It still rembered every gentle touch, every quiet mont, every ti they looked at like I mattered. And that was the worst pain of all. Because even now... standing in front of the man who shattered , my heart still reached for him.

The realization made sothing snap violently inside . And before I could think, my hand rose and slapped him. Hard. The sound cracked through the silence of the room sharply enough to sting my own palm.

Alastor’s face turned slightly from the force, but he didn’t react otherwise. He didn’t get angry, didn’t even move.

Tears blurred my vision harder. "You-" My voice broke apart completely. "You-" The pain inside beca unbearable. It wasn’t enough - the slap - it’s not enough.

So I raised my hand again, but this ti, before my palm could reach him, his hand shot up and caught my wrist firmly. Then suddenly, he pulled into him.

My breath caught violently as strong arms wrapped around instantly, securing against his chest with terrifying familiarity. The warmth of his body surrounded , and the scent I knew so well filled my senses completely.

Alastor.

The embrace I had been starving for since that night. Since before that night. And just like that, I broke.

A sob tore from my throat as my body trembled violently against him. Tears spilled endlessly down my cheeks while I clutched helplessly at his shirt like soone drowning.

Why? Why did this still feel like ho? Why did he still feel like ho?

His hand moved gently through my hair, patting my head softly the sa way he used to whenever I cried or beca overwheld. The familiarity shattered further.

"Rose," he murmured quietly above . The nickna hurt more than anything else. "I expected you to understand."

I froze.

His hand still moved gently against my hair and his arms still held securely, but the words... the words felt wrong.

My sobs weakened as confusion slowly crept through the pain. "What...?" I whispered shakily.

Alastor sighed softly above as he added, "Just like you always have."

Sothing cold slid slowly down my spine. I pulled back enough to look up at him, and forgot how to breathe. His face remained handso and perfect, but his eyes... they were wrong - cold and empty. There was no warmth in them anymore, no softness, no love, nothing familiar at all.

I stared at him in horror.

"I wanted things to continue peacefully," he continued calmly, almost disappointed. "The way they always were. But that’s no longer possible now."

I shook my head weakly, unable to process what I was hearing. "Alastor..."

The door suddenly opened behind him and I flinched instinctively. Then froze as I watched Darien walking inside first with Kaiser beside him. And right after them... Charlotte.

She looked beautiful, elegant, perfect.

The mont she entered the room, everything changed. Alastor stepped away from imdiately, like touching had suddenly beco a mistake, like I disgusted him.

I watched silently as he crossed the room toward Charlotte without hesitation, and then, he smiled at her warmly and his eyes gentled in a way I knew too well. It was the exact sa way they once used to soften for .

Or maybe...

Maybe they never truly had. Maybe I imagined it all. Maybe I had spent years desperately grasping at scraps of affection and convincing myself they were love.

The thought hollowed out completely.

The four of them stood together now, like a perfect picture. And I stood alone.

Charlotte’s gaze settled on calmly before she spoke in that sa sweet, graceful voice everyone adored. "You needed to disappear," she said softly. "So we could finally be happy."

The words echoed endlessly inside my head. And then suddenly, everything changed again. The room vanished and cold wind slamd violently into while rain poured from the sky.

I was back in the forest...running. My lungs burned. Branches tore against my skin. Voices shouted behind . And right ahead... was the cliff.

No.

Panic surged violently through as I stumbled backward toward the edge.

Not again-

The n surrounded as the storm roared. And then, Alastor stepped forward.

My breath shook violently.

He looked at with the sa cold eyes from monts ago. There was no hesitation, no emotion, nothing at all.

"Please..." I whispered brokenly. I didn’t even know what I was begging for anymore. rcy? Love? An explanation?

But Alastor only reached for calmly... and pushed.

My body fell backward instantly. The cliff vanished beneath my feet and cold terror swallowed whole as the river rushed closer before freezing water slamd into my body.

And I woke up gasping!!