Chapter 24: The Victim of Love

[Margaret’s POV] The way Armstrong stared at me made me uneasy. His eyes held an intensity that was difficult to ignore, filled with something between longing and regret. I shifted my gaze away, pretending to be interested in the small potted plants lined up neatly on his desk. A deep sigh escaped his lips. "I miss you, Margaret." His words landed like a stone in the pit of my stomach. "A lot has happened in the tribe," he continued, his voice laced with exhaustion. "I'm the Alpha now, but sometimes, I feel powerless. Elizabeth… she’s not like you. She doesn’t lead like you did. She doesn’t understand me the way you did." His confession hit me harder than I expected. There was a time, long ago, when I would have given anything to hear him say those words. Back then, I had spent so many nights wondering if he ever regretted his choices, if he ever thought about me the way I thought about him. If he had just once told me that I was the best, that he needed me, that he missed me—it