Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 595: Chapter 595 - Voren destroyed my face

By the time Coco stumbled into her room, the searing agony from the burns had dulled to a persistent, throbbing ache but the second her reflection caught the light, her heart dropped into her stomach.

Tears welled before she could stop them, hot and stinging, and they cascaded over her ravaged cheeks, setting the raw flesh ablaze all over again. She bit down on a cry, her hands flying to the vanity to steady herself.

The face staring back wasn’t hers anymore. The top layer of skin had sloughed away in patches, leaving behind something mottled, weeping, and utterly alien. She traced the edge of what used to be her jawline with a trembling finger, and the touch sent lightning bolts of pain shooting through her nerves.

She fumbled for her phone, fingers slick with tears and the viscous ooze from her wounds. The screen blurred beneath her gaze as she punched in her mother’s number, each ring an eternity.

Amelia picked up on the third ring, her voice low and clipped. ”Coco, it better be urgent.”

”Mom, Voren destroyed my face.” The words tumbled out in a choked sob, cracking at the edges.

There was a beat of silence on the other end, followed by her mother’s sharp, disbelieving laugh. ”What kind of joke is that?”

”Mom, he poured something on my face.” Coco pressed the phone tighter to her ear, her other hand gripping the edge of the sink until her knuckles went white. ”I can barely recognize myself. My skin is burning—it’s peeling, Mom.”

”Tell me what happened.” Steel had crept into Amelia’s tone now, the maternal warmth draining away to something colder and more calculating.

Coco spilled everything, the confrontation, the vial, the searing liquid, Voren’s cold eyes as he watched her fall. She left nothing out, including her exchanges with Seraphine. When she finished, the line went quiet for a long, terrible moment.

Then Amelia spoke again, her voice eerily calm, the kind of calm that preceded a hurricane.

”There’s going to be a blood moon festival. I’ve already received requests to swap mate bonds and I’m preparing portions for it. Bear the pain a while longer. I’ll come up with something.”

Coco shook her head violently, fresh tears spilling over. ”You don’t understand how bad it is.” She snapped a selfie, quick, brutal, and sent it through. The image stared back at her for a moment before vanishing into the ether. ”I’m sending you proof.”

The response took its time arriving. When it finally came, Amelia’s composure shattered like glass dropped on marble.

”That bitch Sera has escaped again.” The words hissed through the speaker, venom-laced and barely contained. ”The spell for swapping your souls won’t work anymore. But how did she even know?”

Coco’s stomach twisted. ”I tried doing the soul swap. She caught me, saw right through it. I only managed to capture her mind for a few seconds before she called for Voren, and it was like they were both waiting for me.”

Amelia’s breathing came faster on the other end, ragged and furious. Spells didn’t come together overnight. This one had taken years of meticulous preparation, of blood and sacrifice and sleepless nights. And now it was ash. ”That’s why I wanted her blood for the Lycans. But they insisted on the little girl instead, because she carries Ravyn’s blood.”

She didn’t elaborate on the details, and Coco knew better than to ask. But something snagged in her mind, a thread she couldn’t ignore. ”You mean Voren’s best friend is Marigold’s biological father?”

”Yes.” Amelia’s voice had grown distant, distracted. ”He’s Seraphine’s ex-husband. He has power he doesn’t even know about, because of the woman he chose. Though I hear they’re not together anymore. Never mind that. You wouldn’t understand pack matters.”

Coco didn’t give a damn about pack matters. She only needed one thing. ”Mom, can you send me his number?” She watched her own ruined reflection as she spoke, and a cold smile crept across what remained of her lips. ”I think I can make Voren pay for what he did to me.”

The number appeared in her messages a moment later. She was about to lower the phone when another notification caught her eye, one she’d missed in her panic. Her thumb scrolled up, and her breath caught in her throat.

”Mom.” Her voice came out thin, reedy. ”All the money I got from Seraphine is gone. Every single cent. How did she do it? I moved it into the safe account like you thought me, and I didn’t authorize any transfer. ”

The loss of twenty million hit harder than the acid ever could. Her mother didn’t answer the question directly.

”She went too far this time. But I’ll deal with her later. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again. For now, use the same incantation as before. Stare at your real image while you sleep, the one from before all this. You’ll wake up restored to your former glory.”

Coco wanted to take comfort in that, but the fear gnawed at her insides. ”Mom, this is going to destroy my career. I used Seraphine’s image for years, that’s what landed me every single contract. I can’t just—”

”Don’t worry about the money.” Amelia cut her off, a strange note of reassurance bleeding through the fury. ”The Lycans pay better, and they rule the mafia. We won’t need to scrape for scraps anymore.”

She paused briefly, her voice softer. ”Aren’t you happy you’ll be able to go see your father again?”

The question landed like a punch to the ribs. Coco had been avoiding her father ever since she’d stolen Seraphine’s face, but now, with her own features returning, ”maybe...”

”Go spend some time with him,” Amelia continued, her tone taking a serious edge. ”Let me handle the rest. I’m not working autonomously with the Lycans. There are wizards out there more powerful than me, and I can’t afford to slip. I’ll transfer money to your account.”

The line went dead before Coco could say another word.

She stood there, phone clutched in her hand, staring at the ruined landscape of her own face. The tears had stopped. In their place, something darker had begun to take root, a slow, cold fury that spread through her chest like frost on glass.

Her career, her face, her twenty million. Seraphine had taken everything, piece by piece, and Voren had helped her.

But Coco had Ravyn’s number now. And she knew exactly how to use it.

An evil smile stretched her ruined lips, splitting the tender flesh and sending a fresh trickle of blood down her chin. She didn’t even flinch.

Her thumb found Ravyn’s contact. She pressed dial.