The Alpha's Unwanted Bride

Chapter 354: THE NEW MENU

Jasmine shifted unsure of what to say.

While Xaden still flipped through the pages of the ledger.

”Why can’t you read?” He asked randomly.

That took her by surprise and she fidgeted with her dress.

”I wasn’t raised like a daughter of the Alpha.” She said. ” I worked and did chores. I took the identity of the daughter of a slave and I never had the opportunity to be taught how to read or write. Or they didn’t think it relevant for me to know how to.”

He sighed and shut the book close.

”I will look into the matter you brought before me and investigate it.” He said.

She still looked at him, her eyes with question.

”Is that not what you wanted? For me to investigate your findings?” He asked.

”Yes. But I need some money to make some changes in the pack.” Jasmine said. ”The pack isn’t in good condition. The workers are finding it very hard to complete tasks.”

He folded his arms and looked down at her. ”So you want me to look into the same account and give away more money for projects that have been promised but weren’t eventually executed.”

”Would you want the royal family complaining about the pack when they come.” She asked him.

His face went hard and Jasmine instantly regretted her words.

But he didn’t lash at her. Instead he simply said. ”I’ll discuss with Belinda and she will speak to you by the end of today.”

”Thank you.” She said and with that she turned around about to leave when he grabbed her arm and stopped her from leaving the room.

”You know that you are still going to do my chores.” He stated. ”Just because you now man the pack, doesn’t mean you would forget mine. I am a priority. Keep that in mind.”

She felt small and dominated by him .

Then she nodded and hurried out of the room.

As she went out of the doors, she bumped into Uther.

”I’m sorry.” She apologized.

He looked down at her with his dark eyes and stopped her. ”Wait.”

She froze and then slowly turned around .

”I had been meaning to ask you.” He said. ”Xaden said that your journey here had been difficult. He mentioned it all to me.”

And then he reached her shoulder to gently touch in a way to pacify her.

She shivered and withdrew.

It felt like he had ulterior motives.

She managed a stiff smile. ”I’m fine.”

He gave a stiff smile himself and then said. ”Your father was a dreadful man. Killed my sister and her husband and changed my life for the worse. But I don’t think you should pay for those crimes.”

Coming from anyone it would have sounded honest and genuine.

But coming from him she had her mind blaring with warning signs.

She didn’t trust anything he said.

She managed a smile. ”Thank you.”

He was looking down over her with the same hungry gaze most men did.

She felt as if he could see through her clothes and into her nakedness.

”If you would excuse me”. She said. ”I have some work to do.”

”Of course.” He said stepping to the side and letting her pass through.

She tried her best not to come in contact with him as she passed him and then she felt his arm on her shoulder.

She hurriedly walked away.

Mya was waiting for her down the hallway.

”Let’s go.” Jasmine said.

”Is everything alright?” Mya questioned. ”You look flustered and red.”

Jasmine quickly shook her head. ”Yes everything is fine. I’m just a bit tired.”

They went off and Jasmine tried her best not to look back at Uther even though she was fully aware that he was still looking back at her.

Together they went back to the Kitchen where she started her work.

She assisted the chef in making the dinner .

She added new recipe and tasted the soup.

She went around checking to see how everyone was handling it.

By the time the food was done and ready for dinner, it smelled and looked delicious.

This was better than any food she had seen or even had in the pack.

The chef himself was so excited to have a change of meals.

He kept on thanking and praising her so much she felt ashamed of his excessive gratitude.

Then it was time to serve the meals and when she looked out she saw that it was already dark .

Time had gone so fast she had barely even noticed.

As they prepared the meals into trays, Lady Belinda came in.

She looked very surprised at the meals.

”You set up this meal?” she asked Jasmine.

”It wasn’t just me.” Jasmine gave a slight shrug. ”The others were here working so hard. It was a joint work.”

Lady Belinda walked to where the food was kept.

She tasted from it and her eyes widened in surprise.

”You actually out did yourself.” Lady Belinda applauded Jasmine. ”We haven’t had food this good in a while.”

Jasmine beamed in gratitude and then she turned to the maids. ”You can please begin taking the food into the dinner hall and setting them up.”

Then Lady Belinda turned back to Jasmine. ”Alpha Xaden spoke to me regarding your investigation into the missing funds.”

Jasmine swallowed.

”I wish you had met me before you met him.” She said.

”He doesn’t believe me?” Jasmine asked her heart racing.

”He does. it’s just that the accountant has covered his footprints and left dead Aurora to bear the brunt of it all. When Xaden called us all, he confronted him and the accountant quickly revealed paper work that he had from the funds he had given to Aurora. In his own accounts, she was the one who solely spent the money.” Lady Belinda said.

”Isn’t that a good thing?” Jasmine asked now confused as she watched a maid pick up the plate of steak.

”No. Because the accountant too is in on everything and it’s not just her. This has been going for a very long time you see.” lady Belinda said. ”If you had met em we would have found a way to go around it rather than meeting the Alpha himself.”

”Im sorry. I really had no idea. I Didn’t know who to trust.” Jasmine explained.

”Thats perfectly okay.” Lady Belinda said. ”I applaud your boldness though. Even I didn’t the have the mind to go meet him.”

Jasmine felt pleased at her approval.

”Thank you very much.” Jasmine said with all honesty.

Lady Belinda smiled at her.

”How did you know that he was involved in it with her?” Jasmine had to ask.

She intended on getting to the bottom root of this later because even if Xaden completely believed that it was only Aurora involved, the accountant would always hater her and probably even get away with more things.

”Because when I figured that Aurora was not doing the things she was meant to,” Lady Belinda started. ”I went to meet him. He claimed to be innocent about it and gave a reason. I had someone follow him for a while until they caught him going to secretly report to Aurora that I was on to him. That was how I knew. I could not report the matter because it was going to be he say she say. And that would have only made the matters worse. So what she did was, to keep me out of poking into her business, she instructed the accountant to give me my own funding so I didn’t have to go through her. That way she got to do what she wanted to do without me finding any loopholes. And that is how it has been for the longest time.”

”You could have tried to tell him at least.” Jasmine emphasized unhappily.

Lady Belinda gave a weak laugh. ”You didn’t meet the rest Alpha Xaden. He was barely ever present and few people even had access to him. We were at the mercy of Aurora. And whenever he returned to the pack he was always training.”

That was the exact thing that Mya had said.

”He cares about the back alright. But he was driven on complishing his own goal, he really didn’t put much thought to the pack. Things have just been much better now. He even laughs. He never used.”

Jasmine bit her lip and then sighed. ”Thank you.”

”One more thing.” Lady Belinda said. ”Even if it ends up that Alpha Xaden believes the accountant is clean you should remain vigilant. You should be very careful with him.”

Jasmine nodded.

She had not seen this man yet before, but from the few she had picked up, he was as bad as Aurora.

She made a mental note that when she went back to Loren’s quarters she would ask about him.

She felt a sudden wave of dizziness hit her again.

She waved it away and then a maid came to her. ”Lady Jessica has required your presence in the dinner hall.”