Chapter 810 I miss us, Voren. I really do

Quinn was momentarily lost for words, but the truth was that she didn’t have Alpha Ravyn’s phone number, and there was no point pretending otherwise when Mary was expecting her to provide it.

“I’ll have to talk to Damon first. I’ll call you back.”

After Quinn ended the call, Damon turned toward her, his brow furrowing as he studied her expression. He had heard enough of the conversation to realize that something unusual was going on, and his curiosity was already getting the better of him.

“What’s going on?”

Quinn shrugged, looking thoughtful as she considered how best to explain the situation.

“Mary is asking for Alpha Ravyn’s number. She said they talked for a while at our wedding and he gave her his card, but she seems to have misplaced it.”

Damon frowned, his suspicions immediately rising. He knew Ravyn well enough to understand that the man rarely did anything without a reason, and considering his reputation and everything that had happened in his personal life, Damon couldn’t help wondering why he would exchange contact information with a human woman he had only just met.

“You know what? I’ll let Voren handle this.”

He looked at Quinn again, his expression growing more serious as another question occurred to him.

“Did she mention whether Ravyn took her number?”

Quinn hadn’t thought much about that detail during the call, but Damon’s question made her realize that it was worth checking. She picked up her phone and called Mary again, asking whether Ravyn had taken her contact information as well.

When Mary confirmed that he had, Damon’s suspicion grew stronger. There was clearly more to their meeting than Mary had initially explained, and rather than make assumptions, Damon decided to bring Voren into the matter.

She reached out to him through their mind link, explaining the situation as clearly as she could.

’Quinn’s best friend, Mary, said she met Ravyn at our wedding and they exchanged contact information, but she misplaced the card he gave her. She wants Quinn to give her his number, but something about the whole thing seems suspicious.’

Voren was equally curious when he received the message, and his mind immediately began working through the possibilities. He knew Ravyn, and if the Alpha had gone out of his way to exchange contacts with Mary, there was probably a reason behind it.

’You did the right thing by reaching out to me first. I should have a chat with Ravyn.’

Once he ended the mind link, Voren reached for his phone and called Ravyn. It took several rings before the call was answered, and when Ravyn finally picked up, the sound of his heavy breathing made it obvious that he was training again.

“Voren,” Ravyn greeted, his voice slightly strained. “I haven’t been able to reach Battal yet.”

Voren barely reacted to the information, since Battal wasn’t the reason he had called in the first place.

“Well, keep trying, but he isn’t the reason I called.”

“Oh? Then what do I owe this call?” Ravyn asked, stopping in the middle of his training as curiosity crept into his voice.

Voren didn’t bother with unnecessary introductions. “It’s about Mary.”

The moment Ravyn heard the name, his entire body went rigid. The tension that had been running through his muscles from training suddenly seemed insignificant compared to the uneasiness that settled over him. His blood ran cold, and for a moment, he couldn’t bring himself to respond.

Voren had clearly noticed something, and he wasn’t about to pretend otherwise.

“You gave her your card and then stole it back. Why?”

Ravyn wasn’t particularly surprised that Voren had figured it out. They had been friends for more than two decades, had fought side by side through battles that could have ended either of their lives, and had shared secrets that would have destroyed the trust between lesser men.

There were very few things Ravyn could hide from him, especially when Voren already had reason to suspect something.

“It’s complicated, Voren,” Ravyn admitted, his voice carrying a weariness that he couldn’t quite conceal.

Voren wasn’t prepared to accept that as an explanation, though, especially when the matter involved someone connected to his family.

“I have time, and this concerns me because her best friend is Damon’s mate. If you don’t tell me the truth, I’ll give her your number myself.”

Ravyn exhaled, realizing that there was little point trying to avoid the conversation any longer. “She’s my mate.”

The words came out before he could reconsider them, revealing the truth he had been trying to keep to himself.

A satisfied smile appeared on Voren’s face. “I knew it.”

“It’s complicated, Voren,” Ravyn repeated, his frustration becoming more apparent now that the secret was out.

Voren, on the other hand, seemed rather amused by his friend’s predicament.

“I don’t see the complication here.”

“Daisy has my pups, and yeah, she’ll get banished, but our world isn’t exactly the kind of place for humans.”

Ravyn’s concern wasn’t entirely unreasonable. He was an Alpha, and the responsibilities that came with his position were far greater than simply finding a woman he could call his mate.

He needed someone who could understand the demands of pack life, handle the responsibilities that came with being Luna, and stand beside him when difficult decisions had to be made.

Having spent years with Seraphine, a Luna who could manage the pack even in his absence, Ravyn understood just how much his position required from a woman.

Mary was human, and he couldn’t see how she would fit into that world, especially with Daisy carrying his pups and the complications surrounding their relationship.

Voren understood where Ravyn was coming from, but after everything that had happened at Grimroot Pack, he was no longer inclined to dismiss possibilities simply because they seemed unlikely.

He had witnessed too many extraordinary revelations to assume that being human automatically made Mary unsuitable for a life among werewolves.

“As an Alpha King, I’ve seen a lot of things, and as an Alpha, I’ve seen worse,” Voren replied, his voice steady with the confidence of someone who had faced more unusual situations than he could count. “As your best friend, you know the answer to that. Nobody thought Quinn was one of us until we brought her to the pack.”

Ravyn went quiet for a moment, trying to understand what Voren was suggesting.

“Wait, isn’t Quinn human?”

Voren almost laughed at the question, although he understood why Ravyn was confused.

“She’s a lab-made hybrid from the Lycans’ lab. She possesses both a wolf and a Lycan beast, and she also has powerful abilities that allow her to suppress the powers of other supernatural creatures.”

“You’re joking, right?”

Ravyn was genuinely stunned. He had heard about unusual experiments and supernatural abilities before, but the idea that someone could possess both a wolf and a Lycan beast was beyond anything he had expected. He was beginning to wonder just how much had happened while he was out of contact with Voren.

Voren, however, wasn’t particularly surprised by his reaction.

“Actually, I was disappointed at first because Sera needed a human and a werewolf for an experiment. We have one, though, but she wanted a human carrying the seed of a werewolf to balance it.”

Ravyn let out a breath, caught somewhere between amusement and sadness. It was difficult to believe that Voren had so much happening in his life and that he was only hearing about it now, especially when they had once been close enough to share almost everything.

“You have so much going on, and I’m always the last person to hear about it.”

The bitterness in his voice was unmistakable, and although he tried to keep his emotions under control, they became harder to conceal as he continued.

“I miss us, Voren. I really do.”

Voren’s expression softened as he listened. He understood the loneliness behind Ravyn’s words and sympathized with him, especially knowing how much their friendship had once meant to both of them. Still, he couldn’t honestly claim that he felt the same longing or that he would willingly return to the way things had been.

Even if nothing had happened to create distance between them, Voren knew that most of his time would still belong to Seraphine, his wife, their pups, and the family he had worked so hard to build. His priorities had changed, and he had no intention of pretending otherwise.

“Trust me, Ravyn, you wouldn’t be talking like this if you had your mate by your side.”

He allowed the words to settle before returning to the matter that had prompted the call in the first place. “So tell me, are you going to call her?”