Alpha's Regret After Her Rebirth by Aurora Starling

I quickly made my way downstairs to let Viona in. I clutched my robe around myself, glad to see that the house had long since gone quiet and that the festival had come to an end–and that Noah had apparently gone to sleep.

As soon as I opened the back door, Viona rushed into my arms, tears streaming down her face.

“Hannah, I’m so sorry to bother you this late,” she sobbed.

I hugged her tightly, shivering in the cold night air. “It’s okay, Vi. I was still awake. Come on, let’s go inside and talk.”

Viona nodded and let me lead her inside. I strode into the kitchen and flicked on the light, gesturing for her to sit at the spot by the kitchen island while I began boiling water in the kettle.

“Thank you, Hannah,” she sniffled as I prepared two cups of tea.

wandered over to the two duffle bags sitting on the floor by her feet. Something had clearly happened tonight, although I wasn’t going to pry until she was ready to talk about

with two cups of steaming chamomile tea between us, Viona took a deep breath and began to explain herself without me even

after the festival and tried to talk to my parents about Andrew,” she said, her voice trembling. “I told them that I didn’t want to marry him, that I wasn’t ready for

it a squeeze as I sipped my tea. “You should stand up

let out a bitter laugh at that. “Yeah, well, my parents don’t see it that way. They gave me an ultimatum: either marry

murmured, my

the latter. So I packed my bags and left. No

sigh. “That must have been