The Alpha's Regret: Return Of The Betrayed Luna

Chapter 462: Chapter 462 Addison Getting Closer To The Truth

The operation against the locust swarm was scheduled for tomorrow morning. There was no time to waste. Every time the thought crossed her mind, a cold flutter twisted in her stomach, and an unshakable restlessness settled over her chest.

While Addison reorganized her thoughts, trying to piece them together into something coherent so she wouldn’t sound scattered or unsure, Levi had already finished brewing her coffee. He added three cubes of sugar and a splash of milk, stirring it thoroughly before setting the cup in front of her.

”Drink some coffee first,” he said quietly.

Then he turned to Chase. Levi placed another cup on the table, but this time he left the sugar and milk aside. He didn’t know Chase’s preferences, nor did he care to think about them right now. After that, he took a seat opposite Chase, added a single sugar cube to his own cup, stirred it once, and took a slow sip, his gaze never leaving Addison.

Addison took a slow sip of her coffee. The rich aroma washed over her senses, easing her frayed nerves and finally slowing the chaotic rush of her thoughts.

”I had a sudden thought earlier...” she began, her gaze fixed on the surface of the coffee in her cup.

The moment she spoke, both Levi and Chase focused on her, their attention sharpening as they waited for her to continue.

”Earlier, Chase mentioned that something felt wrong about the Locust Swarm. If we consider all the possibilities, there are simply too many to count,” she said quietly. ”But then I realized, I’ve never seen that species of locust recorded in the library before. That makes me think it isn’t native at all. It could be a mutation... or a variant brought in from another continent, one I’m unfamiliar with.”

Her fingers tightened slightly around the cup.

”And if that swarm was deliberately planted in the werewolf territory, which we already know it was,” she continued, ”then this wasn’t something done on a whim. It would’ve taken years of planning, careful preparation, and execution, right under our noses. We never even caught a hint of the storm brewing, even though our race ended up right at its center.”

Addison fell silent, still staring down at her cup, as if she were simply voicing her thoughts aloud rather than seeking an immediate answer.

”But if that were the case,” Addison continued, ”and they only used a different variety, or a mutated form of locusts to trigger this crisis, then it would actually be... anticlimactic. We’d be able to find a way to deal with them sooner or later.”

”And logically, since they spent so much time preparing our downfall, they wouldn’t rely on something that could be easily countered. That can only mean these locusts possess a unique property, something that sets them apart from the rest, and it’s precisely that property that made our enemy choose them as their weapon against us...”

She paused, her brows knitting together.

”So the real problem is knowing what kind of Locust Swarm we are truly dealing with. And more importantly...” Her voice slowed. ”The timing. The fact that we learned about the biochemical agent, and that it conveniently ended up in the Tigren Clan’s hands, feels far too deliberate.”

Her words trailed off.

Addison fell silent as Leon’s image surfaced in her mind, the Tigren chieftain she had been forcefully bound to. She still couldn’t tell whether he was an enemy or merely a troublesome variable. Leon was a scoundrel, cunning and sharp, where most Tigrens were straightforward, but even so...

He was far too arrogant to hide in the shadows and scheme against the werewolves.

If Leon truly wanted to cause them trouble, he wouldn’t resort to convoluted plots or indirect methods. He would act openly, perhaps even wage war outright, just as the Tigren Clan always had.

”Addie,” Levi said slowly, his expression darkening, ”are you saying that something is wrong with the biochemical agent, and that our enemy deliberately planted it on the Tigren Clan?”

He leaned forward, voice low and controlled. ”They used the Tigrens as unwitting messengers. Let them deliver both the trouble and the item, so no trail would ever lead back to the real culprit. And when everything goes wrong, the Tigren Clan takes the blame.”

Levi’s jaw tightened. ”If that’s true, and the biochemical agent truly carries a hidden danger, then once the consequences surface, we, the werewolves, would demand an explanation from the Tigrens. But their pride and arrogance wouldn’t allow them to explain themselves, let alone admit fault.”

His gaze hardened. ”And when words fail, conflict follows. A war between our clans would be inevitable. By the time either side realizes they’ve been manipulated, both would already be crippled, bleeding, exhausted, and tearing each other apart exactly the way our enemy intended.”

”But what they didn’t anticipate,” Addison added with a snort, ”was that Leon forcefully chose me as his mate before their so-called God of War...”

”What?!” Chase sprang to his feet, eyes wide, as if summoning every ounce of strength that was left in his body just to stand. His wolf inside his mind bristled, every instinct on high alert at the revelation that Leon had forced her. ”What... happened?” he demanded, unease twisting in his gut.

Addison met his gaze calmly, but her tone was firm. ”It’s a long story. You’ll know in time. But for now, we need to focus. It feels like we’re close to the truth, or maybe I’m just letting my overactive imagination run wild, but either way, we need to consider every possibility.”

After hearing this, Chase tried to settle himself, but his mind churned with anger and disbelief, not at Addison but at Leon for forcing himself on her.

Five mates... not four. And the fact that this hadn’t even spread through the werewolf kingdom meant that only a handful of people knew, and they had kept it tightly under wraps, ensuring that even any spies lurking within the walls of the Royal Palace wouldn’t catch wind of it.

”No, Addie, everything you said actually gives us a new perspective on what our enemy might have been thinking while plotting their schemes. They never saw it coming that Leon, driven by his own lust, even went as far as to force the Princess of the Werewolf Kingdom to be his mate. That miscalculation... it’s where they went wrong. If they wanted our two races to fight to the death, that might not even happen now. We could use your mate bond with Leon to our advantage...”

Even as Levi spoke, the words grinding out through his teeth betrayed his anger, every syllable laced with how furious he was thinking about Leon’s schemes against Addison.

”But maybe... they only used the Tigrens as their last line of offense to clean up the werewolves, or even target the Royal Family. Surely, if a war broke out, my father would be at the frontline, facing the Tigrens’ Chieftain. That might be exactly what our enemy hoped for: to assassinate him. And if that failed... well, the plan continued.”

”First, releasing the locust swarm, like they ordered Greg and Chase to do the other day, only for Maxwell to stop them, was meant to weaken the werewolves. Then, they could manipulate another race to finish the job.”