Alpha’s Regret After His Pregnant Luna Left novel Chapter 204

(Audrey’s POV)

As I was about to knock on the car window, a Beta guard quickly blocked my action. His large form materialized between me and the vehicle with surprising speed for his size.

“Step back, miss,” he ordered, his voice firm but professional. “This is a secured transport.”

“I know who’s inside,” I insisted, trying to peer around his broad shoulders. “Please, I just need a moment with him.”

The guard didn’t budge. “State your name and business.”

“Audrey Winter. I’m—I’m an old friend of Alpha Stormhowl.” My voice caught on the word ‘friend,’ wholly inadequate for what Florian and I had been to each other.

Something shifted in the guard’s expression-not recognition, but communication. He touched his ear briefly, listening to instructions through an earpiece.

The passenger window lowered slightly, and another Beta guard-this one seated inside-gave me a dismissive glance. “Our Alpha says he does not recognize you,” he stated coldly. “Please step away from the vehicle.”

The words hit me like a physical blow. Not recognize me? After everything we’d been through?

Before I could respond, the window closed, and the black territory vehicle pulled away smoothly, leaving me standing alone, stunned and confused.

Was that really Florian inside? Or someone else entirely? His father, perhaps?

I pushed the doubt away. The pack healer had specifically mentioned “Alpha Stormhowl” visiting Elder Shadowcrest, and she’d used the present tense.

I returned to the medical center, my mind racing. Elder Shadowcrest was still sleeping peacefully when I entered her healing chamber. The pack healer was checking her vitals and recording them on a chart.

“I have a question,” I began, keeping my voice low. “The Alpha Stormhowl from earlier, was that his first time here?”

The healer looked up, considering. “No, I don’t believe so. He seemed familiar with the ward layout. I think he’s visited before, though I wasn’t on duty those times.”

My heart quickened. “Did you happen to hear how Elder Shadowcrest addressed him?”

The healer’s brow furrowed in concentration. “Yes, actually. She called him ‘Florian.’ She was quite lucid during his visit sometimes she gets confused about who people are, but not with him.”

Florian. Not his father or an impostor, but Florian himself. Alive and in Northern Territory.

Relief crashed through me so powerfully that I had to grip the edge of Elder Shadowcrest’s bed to steady myself. The knot that had been lodged in my chest for two years finally loosened. I hadn’t been chasing a ghost or clinging to false hope.

“Thank you,” I whispered to the healer, my voice thick with emotion. “This means more than you can imagine.”

The healer smiled kindly. “That’s a strong reaction. Is he important to you?”

“Yes, he is a very important wolf to me.” The understatement of my life.

I had often wondered, during those long, difficult nights in the Sunstone Territories, whether I could have survived the aftermath of my severed mate bond with Arthur Moonstone without Florian’s steady presence. Before my “death,” he had been my anchor, shielding me from the worst of the burden even when I’d pushed him away for his own protection.

The final straw of my spirit sickness hadn’t been losing Arthur or even my aunt Juliette-it had been believing that Florian was gone forever.

I sat beside Elder Shadowcrest’s bed, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest. Her face looked peaceful in sleep, the deep lines of pain that had marked her features during the silver poisoning mostly faded now.

Nearly an hour later, her eyes fluttered open. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, then slowly turned her head toward me.

“Serena?” she asked tentatively, as if afraid I might be a hallucination.

Relief flooded through me. “Yes, Elder. It’s me.”

Her wrinkled hand reached for mine, surprisingly strong. “You’ve returned from your journey.”

I didn’t correct her confused timeline. Elder Shadowcrest had good days and bad days with her memory since the poisoning. “How are you feeling?” I asked, squeezing her hand gently.

“Better now that you’re here.” She smiled, the gesture transforming her face into something younger, almost girlish. “Have you met with Florian yet?”

My heart skipped. “No, not yet.”

“He visits me often,” she confided. “Such a good boy, always bringing those healing herbs I like.”

We talked for nearly two hours. Sometimes she was completely present, asking pointed questions about my time away. Other times, she drifted, believing we were in a different time altogether. But she never failed to recognize me, and that was what mattered most.

As our visit drew to a close, she instructed me to open a particular drawer in her bedside table. Inside was a small pouch of rare healing herbs-ingredients that would cost a fortune in the open market.

“Take these,” she insisted. “For your healing practice.”

“By the way,” I added, as if it were an afterthought, “I hope you’re not pressuring Elder Shadowcrest about her pack will.” His eyes narrowed. “How do you know about that?”

I gave an innocent shrug. “Just piecing things together. After all, no one knows what is in the pack will, only if the grandmother is alive, can everyone have a chance to fight for the hunting grounds.”

With that parting shot, I turned and walked away, leaving him seething in the corridor.

“You look smug,” Sarah observed as we shared fresh venison at my new territory den later that evening. “I’m guessing your trip to Northern Territory was productive?”

“Florian’s alive,” I confirmed, unable to keep the satisfaction from my voice. “I saw his car at the medical center, and the pack healer confirmed he visits Elder Shadowcrest regularly.”

Sarah’s fork paused halfway to her mouth. “Did you speak to him?”

My smile faltered. “No. His guard stopped me. Said he didn’t recognize me.”

Sarah tilted her head, considering. “Could be silver shock to his brain. Some wolves experience memory loss after severe trauma.”

I shook my head. “But he recognizes Elder Shadowcrest. The healer said they converse normally.”

“Audrey,” Sarah began gently, “you heard about his injuries from the explosion. He was lucky to survive at all. Maybe he’s… different now.”

“You’re saying I should be grateful he’s alive and not demand more?” I asked, hearing the defensiveness in my own voice.

“I’m saying you might need to adjust your expectations,” Sarah corrected. “He’s not the same wolf who protected you before.

She was right, of course. Was I being too greedy? Wasn’t Florian’s survival miracle enough?

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was going on. The way the guard had phrased it—”Our Alpha says he does not recognize you”-suggested a deliberate choice rather than inability.

“He doesn’t recognize me, so I’ll go find him,” I declared, determination hardening within me. “I need to see for myself what’s happened to him.”

Sarah sighed, recognizing my stubborn expression. “Fine. I’ll see what I can find out about his whereabouts. My connections in Northern Territory’s elite pack circles might know something.”

I nodded, grateful for her support even when she thought I was being unreasonable. I knew one thing with absolute certainty now: Florian Stormhowl was alive, and I had to find out what happened to him now.