The Alpha's Regret: Return Of The Betrayed Luna - Chapter 438

Chapter 438: Chapter 438 Been Played
He began to see what Zion was hinting at, and the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Greg and his people weren’t actually trying to release the locust swarm; they were trying to provoke everyone into acting rashly.

And what if everything Maxwell had overheard from Greg and Chase’s conversation before, which made him end up with his speculation, was actually wrong? What if they were being led by the nose, herded exactly as Greg intended, so that every move they made played into his plan?

A shiver ran down Maxwell’s spine as the realization sank in.

But what they didn’t know was that even Greg and Chase were completely unaware of the truth. Their master had played everyone, including his own people. He believed that if he wanted his enemies to believe a lie, then he first had to convince his own subordinates of that same lie.

So everything he did, his orders to Greg, his furious act of killing his subordinate, was nothing more than a performance meant to convince his followers that he was enraged by Greg and Chase’s failure. In reality, everyone had been deceived. Only he knew what was truly about to unfold.

After all, if his plan had genuinely been ruined and he had gained nothing, would he really have had the appetite to mess around with a woman afterward, acting as if nothing had happened? Wouldn’t he be raising hell instead?

Chase eventually realized this, which was why he quietly left their territory to investigate. Greg, however, remained stewing in his anger, never noticing that something was terribly off.

Now that both Maxwell and Zion had realized this, they turned to look at each other. They didn’t need to speak; they could already sense what the other was thinking. Maybe it was because of their mate bond with Addison, or maybe it was their growing tacit understanding, but in that moment, it felt as if they could read each other’s minds.

Both of them drew in a sharp breath as a tremor of fear rippled through their hearts. They understood now; they might have been standing on their enemies’ chopping block all along without ever realizing it. And all this time, they had believed they were the ones altering fate… when in truth, they were nothing but fools dancing to their enemies’ tune.

And if they had only just begun to sense that something was wrong, then the moment they fully understood it… it might already be far too late.

“We need to let Addison know about this…” Zion whispered, his face dark as the bottom of a soot-covered pot. His eyes were glowing gold now, simmering with the rage of someone who had just realized he’d been played. Shura, his wolf, was already bristling, ready to pounce, to tear something apart, but with no enemy in sight, all he could do was snarl and hurl curses at Greg.

“Damn it!” Zion spat.

“We can’t send a messenger bird; if it’s intercepted, our enemy will know we’ve caught on. And we don’t have a mage to send a secure message either. If one of us leaves, it’ll look suspicious, and if we send someone else, there’s no guarantee they won’t be intercepted… or killed.” Maxwell laid out every scenario without mercy. He refused to cling to false hope anymore. Better to face what they couldn’t do now than repeat the same mistakes like fools.

“Shit!” Zion snarled again. He couldn’t argue with Maxwell’s reasoning, and the frustration clawed at him so hard he raked his fingers through his hair, nearly tugging at the roots. “We can’t do this, we can’t do that… so what, we’re left with no plan at all?” he muttered. He wasn’t angry at Maxwell, far from it. He understood exactly what Maxwell had realized, but the helplessness of their situation was suffocating.

Their rendezvous point was still several miles from the Golden Hue Pack, closer than any other arriving pack, sure, but still not close enough. And they had no idea whether they were being watched. If he or Maxwell left, it would draw attention. If they sent a messenger bird or a warrior, the enemy could intercept it… kill them… and the message would never reach Addison. Worse, it would alert their enemies that they had caught on.

So what options were left?

To hope?

To pray that Addison would somehow realize the danger on her own?

But what if she didn’t realize it in time?

That thought alone made their blood run cold. The biochemical agent they planned to use against the locust swarm, if misused, wouldn’t weaken the creatures at all. Instead, it would strengthen them.

The main component of the biochemical agent was demonic energy harvested from the North, and the Red Devourer was a demonic creature by nature. Using that biochemical agent on the swarm would be no different than feeding them a feast… a feast that could push them to evolve.

The Golden Hue Pack in the West was far from the North, far from the Red Devourer’s natural habitat and the energy that empowered them. That distance was the only reason these locusts were still manageable, almost indistinguishable from a normal swarm aside from their size and density. But if they were exposed to concentrated demonic energy now, their dormant demonic traits would awaken.

And once awakened, the consequences would be catastrophic. They wouldn’t just become stronger and more violent; the barrier might not even hold them anymore. Worse, instead of devouring only crops and the greenery, they might begin consuming anything alive that crossed their path.

After all, the Red Devourer didn’t earn its name for nothing. Among demonic creatures, it was one of the most feared, not because of its individual strength, but because of its terrifying numbers. Like piranhas that had tasted blood, once they swarmed, they left nothing alive. Flesh, crops, even bones… nothing was spared when the Red Devourer was unleashed.

“How could I overlook this?” Maxwell muttered, his voice dazed as the realization struck him. His face turned pale as he recalled every horrifying characteristic of the creature. “We… we need to stop this,” he whispered to Zion, tension tightening every muscle in his body.

But at the same time, they both knew the cruel truth that they couldn’t stop it. The mages on the other side were already reaching their limits, and the barrier would break sooner rather than later. Yet they also couldn’t hope to eliminate the locust swarm bit by bit with their own manpower; it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Worse, the locusts could fly, giving them an impossible advantage.

And still… they couldn’t allow Addison and the others to use the biochemical agent.

“We… we really have been played,” Maxwell whispered, his voice hollow. “They pushed us too hard, forced us into a corner so we wouldn’t have the time to reassess, to think, to look for another solution…”

“Fuck it! There’s no way this was Greg’s plan; he’s not that clever. Even that bastard was probably in the dark,” Zion growled, running through the clues in his mind and forcing them together like scattered shards.