Chapter 798 – The strange woman

Chapter 798: Chapter 798 – The strange woman

Ravyn couldn’t have been happier knowing that Esperanza finally looked at him with warmth and affection instead of fear, and the change in her attitude meant more to him than he could ever put into words.

Every time he looked into her innocent eyes and saw the trust she was beginning to place in him, he was reminded of how much he had once stood to lose because of his own foolishness.

There had been a time when he had wanted his own daughter dead, and even now, remembering the terrible things he had done filled him with a kind of regret that no amount of suffering could ever erase.

He had made choices he could never take back, and although he had spent countless days wishing he could return to the past and undo them, he knew that some mistakes would always remain a part of his story.

Thankfully, those painful memories no longer defined his feelings for Esperanza because the hatred and cruelty he had once harbored had been replaced by love, protectiveness, and a fierce devotion that he knew would remain with him for the rest of his life.

If only he hadn’t done what he did, his daughter would have been in his arms all those years instead of growing up under Voren’s care, and he wouldn’t have had to watch another man occupy the place in her life that should have belonged to him.

Esperanza might not fully understand the depth of his feelings or the guilt that still weighed on his heart, but Ravyn understood them all too well, and he was grateful every single day that fate had given him another opportunity to make things right with her.

He couldn’t change the past, but he could spend the rest of his life proving that the man he had once been was no longer the man he wanted to be.

"Uncle Ravyn," Esperanza greeted him warmly, her blue eyes sparkling so brightly that he found himself momentarily lost in them.

The sight brought Seraphine to his mind almost immediately because his daughter had inherited those same beautiful blue eyes from her mother, and Ravyn suddenly remembered how he had once taken such an extraordinary feature for granted.

Seraphine had always possessed a beauty that could easily capture anyone’s attention, but there had been a time when he was too blinded by his own lustful desires to appreciate even the smallest things about her, including the eyes that were now looking at him through their daughter’s face.

Tears gathered in his eyes before he could stop them, and this time, he made no effort to hide his emotions or pretend that he was unaffected by the little girl’s affection. He had spent far too many years carrying the weight of his past mistakes, and hearing Esperanza address him so lovingly, without even the slightest trace of resentment in her voice, touched a part of his heart that he had once believed would remain broken forever.

"Espe, how are you?" he asked gently, a tender smile spreading across his face as he took in her cheerful expression.

"I’m fine, Uncle Ravyn. Do you want to see Daddy? I miss him too much."

Her answer made him chuckle because, although she was clearly trying to give him an opportunity to spend some time with Voren, she had absolutely no intention of letting her father go just yet. The way her little arms remained wrapped securely around Voren’s neck made that perfectly obvious, and Ravyn couldn’t help finding her behavior amusing, especially because she seemed completely unaware that she was making her intentions so clear.

He understood her feelings without needing her to explain them, and instead of teasing her about how tightly she was clinging to her father, he reached out and gently touched her little hand.

"I promise I won’t take up too much of his time. Give me about ten minutes, and then you can have him all to yourself."

Esperanza glanced at Ravyn before turning her attention to Voren, apparently weighing the offer as though she were being asked to make an important decision. After considering it for a moment, she leaned forward and planted a sweet kiss on her father’s cheek, making it clear that she was willing to let him go for a little while, provided he remembered that she expected him back soon.

"Daddy, I’ll go check on Mommy. Don’t stay out too long. You need to shower and eat."

The affectionate concern in her voice was almost comical, considering how young she was, because she sounded more like a worried mother reminding her child to take care of himself than a little girl speaking to her father.

However, Voren had grown accustomed to Esperanza’s habit of worrying about him, and rather than finding it strange, he had come to treasure the way she always seemed determined to look after him despite her tender age.

Before he reunited with Seraphine, Esperanza had often questioned him like an adult whenever he stayed away longer than she expected, demanding to know where he had gone and why he hadn’t returned sooner.

Yet, no matter how many questions she asked, she would happily accept whatever explanation he offered, and the moment he gave her an answer, her worries would disappear as though she had never been upset in the first place.

"Okay, sweetheart. I’ll be there soon," Voren promised, his expression softening as he carefully lowered both children to the ground.

The moment their feet touched the ground, Esperanza and Bryan took off toward the packhouse, their cheerful laughter carrying across the grounds as they raced inside together. Voren watched them go, and the warmth in his eyes remained until their little figures disappeared through the entrance, leaving him alone with Ravyn.

For those few seconds, he looked like nothing more than a father who was happy to see his children safe and content, but as soon as they were out of sight, the tenderness faded from his expression.

The familiar coldness returned to his features, and his gaze sharpened with the calculating intensity of the Alpha King who had spent years protecting his people from anyone foolish enough to threaten their safety.

Turning toward Ravyn, Voren’s jaw tightened as his thoughts returned to the matter that had been troubling him ever since Battal disappeared after their brutal confrontation.

"I wasn’t able to kill Battal, so I need you to keep tabs on him for me."

Ravyn’s smile gradually disappeared as the seriousness of Voren’s request settled over him, reminding him that their conversation was about to take a far more troubling turn.

He had watched the video of the fight, and even after seeing the extent of Battal’s injuries with his own eyes, he was still struggling to believe that anyone could survive such a vicious encounter without suffering consequences that would follow them for the rest of their lives.

Whatever remained of the man’s pride would surely have to take a back seat while he focused on recovering from his injuries, and Ravyn couldn’t see why Voren was so concerned about someone who had already been brought to the brink of defeat.

"After those injuries, he won’t be stupid enough to come out of hiding," he replied confidently, convinced that the beating Battal had received would be enough to keep him away from trouble for a considerable amount of time.

Voren, however, wasn’t nearly as convinced as his companion seemed to be.

Battal was a proud man who had spent decades ruling through fear and intimidation, and Voren knew better than to assume that such a person would quietly accept the loss of his authority simply because he had suffered a humiliating defeat.

Pride had a way of making even the most powerful rulers behave irrationally when their position was threatened, and Battal was precisely the kind of man who might risk everything to reclaim what he believed belonged to him.

Although Oriana had blocked his access to black magic across the pack lands, that didn’t mean he had suddenly become harmless, nor did it guarantee that he had abandoned every scheme he had once intended to carry out.

Voren needed to know where Battal was hiding, who was helping him recover from his injuries, and whether he had already begun making plans to retaliate against those responsible for his downfall.

He had worked too hard to protect his family and secure the safety of his people to allow an old enemy to destroy everything simply because he had underestimated the threat. If Battal was still alive, Voren wanted to know exactly what he was doing, and he wasn’t going to make the mistake of assuming that his enemy had finally learned his lesson.

"Call him."

Ravyn frowned slightly at the unexpected instruction, but he didn’t argue with Voren or waste time asking questions he knew the Alpha King wouldn’t bother answering until he had a reason to do so.

He pulled out his phone, searched for Battal’s number, and once he found it, he tapped the call button and raised the phone to his ear, waiting for the other party to answer.

For several seconds, the only sound was the steady ringing coming from the phone, and Ravyn expected Battal himself to pick up eventually, perhaps ready with a string of threats, insults, or one of those arrogant declarations that had always accompanied his name.

Instead, the call connected, and the voice that came through the speaker belonged to a woman.

She was crying.

Not the kind of quiet crying someone might struggle to conceal during a difficult conversation, but the kind of uncontrollable sobbing that made it difficult to understand anything she was trying to say.

The sound was so raw and broken that Ravyn instinctively straightened, his earlier confidence giving way to confusion as he exchanged a startled glance with Voren.

For a moment, neither man spoke as they listened to the woman struggling to compose herself on the other end of the call. Then, through her tears, she finally managed to speak.

"Battal isn’t well. He can’t speak to you."

Ravyn’s expression changed immediately, and he lowered his phone slightly before bringing it back to his ear, as though he needed to make certain he had heard her correctly.

Beside him, Voren stepped closer, his eyes narrowing as he focused on the woman’s distressed voice, an uneasy feeling settling in his chest as he tried to make sense of her words.

Battal had survived their battle, but judging by the woman’s reaction, something was terribly wrong.