Too Late To Regret, My Alphas

Chapter 41: Trapped (I)

Rosalie:

The question hit me harder than I wanted to admit.

For a brief, humiliating moment, I couldn’t even find the words to answer him. Because beneath the anger, beneath the betrayal, beneath everything else, there was a truth I hated acknowledging. If Zaiden hadn’t accepted me into his pack, then Alastor was right. I had nowhere else to go. No family waiting for me. No home to return to. No place in this world that truly belonged to me.

The realization stung. Far more than it should have. Because I had spent years convincing myself that I didn’t need anyone other than these three men.

Yet hearing those words spoken out loud made me realize just how alone I truly was.

Something must have shown on my face. Maybe a crack or a moment of hurt, because Alastor’s expression immediately shifted. The anger remained, but hesitation slipped into it. Regret flashed across his features so quickly that I almost missed it. Almost. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

But I refused to let myself dwell on it.

I straightened my shoulders and looked directly into his eyes. "You don’t need to worry about where I’ll live." My voice came out colder than I expected. "You don’t need to worry about how I’ll survive. Nor you need to worry about what happens to me after I leave."

The hesitation disappeared from his face and got replaced by frustration.

"Rosalie-"

"No." I cut him off immediately. "The only thing you need to know is that I’m done."

The room fell silent again.

I took a slow breath before adding, "I’m not staying here another second longer than necessary."

The words seemed to pour fuel directly onto his anger. His jaw tightened and the green in his eyes darkened further. And when he spoke again, his voice was sharp enough to cut.

"Why are you reacting like this?"

I stared at him.

Reacting like what? Like my entire life hadn’t just fallen apart? Like the people I loved hadn’t chosen someone else? Like years of devotion hadn’t been discarded the moment their fated mate appeared?

But before I could say any of that, he continued.

"Nothing has changed."

The words actually made me laugh. A short, disbelieving sound. I wondered if he even heard himself clearly. Because what he meant by saying nothing had changed?

Alastor stepped closer. "You are acting like everything is different now." His eyes searched mine. "But nothing has changed between us. And never will."

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Then he asked the question. The question that shattered whatever fragile restraint I still possessed.

"Or does the identity of Luna matter more to you than we do?"

I froze.

For a moment, I genuinely thought I had misunderstood him.

Then he kept talking.

"Is that what this is about?"

The accusation was already there, clear as day. And his every word cut like the sharpest blade.

"You kept saying that what mattered was us." His voice grew harsher. "But now I’m wondering if what you really wanted all along was the title, the position, the status that came with being Luna. And maybe all this-"

He never got to finish. Because before I even realized what I was doing, my hand was already moving.

The slap echoed through the room - loud, sharp, and violent - snapping Alastor’s head to the side.

What followed was dead silence. Even the storm outside seemed quieter.

I stared at my trembling hand. Then at Alastor. Then at Darien and Kaiser. And the expressions of pure shock on their faces almost made me laugh. None of them looked capable of processing what had just happened.

Honestly, under normal circumstances, I probably would have been terrified too. This was Alastor, after all. The Alpha of Crescent Wolf Pack. The man whose presence alone could make entire rooms fall silent. And I had just slapped him across the face.

But somehow, I couldn’t find an ounce of fear inside myself. There was only anger, hurt, and disappointment left there. Because after everything - after years of loving them, after every sacrifice and compromise, and every moment I put them before myself - he had reduced it all to ambition. To greed. And to some pathetic desire for a title.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to remind him of every time I waited for them. Every time I supported them. Every time I loved them when they gave me nothing in return.

I wanted to ask who had really been acting all these years and who had really been deceiving whom.

But when I finally opened my mouth, none of those words came out. Instead, my voice dropped into a whisper... soft, broken, and infinitely more honest.

"I’m disappointed in you."

Alastor slowly turned his head back toward me.

A red mark was already appearing across his cheek. And for once, he genuinely looked affected by my words. He didn’t seem angry or frustrated like he had been most part of this conversation. But affected.

I held his gaze.

"You know what hurts the most?" My voice shook slightly. "Not that you chose her. Not that you stopped loving me. And not even that you refuse to believe me."

I swallowed before forcing myself to continue.

"What hurts the most is realizing that after everything we have been through..." My chest tightened. "...you think so little of me."

The words seemed to strike him harder than the slap.

"You think I would spend years loving you for a title." I laughed bitterly. "You think my love was fake."

His expression shifted just slightly, a crack appearing in the certainty.

"You think my feelings were an act." The hurt in my voice couldn’t be hidden anymore. "And somehow that disappoints me more than anything else."

For a second, something flickered in his eyes. Panic. Maybe either worry or regret. But it was gone almost immediately.

Yet I saw it.

A wall slammed down behind his gaze - cold, controlled, and resolved. The change was so sudden that even I felt uneasy.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one because Darien straightened while Kaiser frowned. Both of them looked slightly alarmed.

Alastor’s face became unreadable. And when he finally spoke, his voice carried an authority that made the room feel smaller.

"We still need to talk."

I immediately shook my head. "No."

"You haven’t told us where you have been these past two weeks."

I chuckled, but the sound held no humor. "And I don’t intend to."

His eyes narrowed. "Rosalie-"

"I’m leaving." The words came out firm and certain. "I told you there is nothing else to discuss."

I turned toward the door. Determined to leave, to put this entire conversation behind me, and to never look back. But I barely managed two steps.

Then everything happened at once.

A hand wrapped around my wrist. And before I could react, I was pulled backward.