The Alpha's Unwanted Bride

Chapter 699: RIGHT OR WRONG

I woke to cold grass pressing into my palms.

For a moment, I didn’t move. I just lay there, staring up at a sky washed in ink and silver, stars scattered like careless confessions. The night air bit at my skin, sharp enough to pull a gasp from my lungs.

Where am I?

I pushed myself upright slowly, my body heavy, my limbs sluggish as if I’d been carried for miles in my sleep.

My head throbbed dully, not pain exactly, but more like the echo of something being ripped away.

Memory.

I turned in a slow circle.

An open field stretched around me, tall grass whispering as the wind passed through it.

No paths. No trees close enough to recognize. No fireflies.

Just... emptiness.

Panic rose fast and ugly in my chest.

The last thing I remembered clearly was Maelis’ voice.

They would take you out. You won’t remember your way here.

My stomach dropped.

”They did something to me,” I whispered into the night.

I didn’t remember how I’d left the cave.

I didn’t remember walking, or being carried, or being led.

I didn’t remember the path at all.

My hands flew to my belly in sudden terror.

Please. Please.

My breath hitched as my palms pressed against the familiar curve still there. Still warm. Still real.

And then, blessedly, a kick.

Strong. Indignant.

A sound halfway between a laugh and a sob tore out of me as I bent forward protectively, wrapping my arms around myself.

”I’m here,” I whispered shakily. ”I’ve got you. I’m okay.”

I sat there for a few seconds longer, grounding myself, until the shaking in my hands eased.

Then I looked up.

And froze.

In the distance, rising from the land like something carved out of moonlight itself, stood the royal pack house.

The castle.

Its towers glowed faintly, lanterns burning along the walls, the familiar silhouette unmistakable against the night sky.

I swallowed.

Home.

Or at least... what passed for it now.

I pushed myself to my feet, brushing grass from my clothes, wincing as my back protested. Every instinct screamed at me to be careful. To think.

But I was tired.

And cold.

And pregnant.

I moved quietly, keeping to the taller grass as I approached, my heart pounding harder with every step.

I reached the outer grounds without incident, slipped past the hedges, the stone paths, the places I’d learned to recognize over the past days.

So far, so good.

I was almost at the side entrance when a voice stopped me cold.

”Jasmine.”

I flinched.

I turned slowly.

My father stood beneath one of the lanterns, light casting sharp shadows across his face. He wasn’t dressed for sleep. His hair was unbound, his expression drawn tight with something dangerously close to fear.

There were a number of guards behind him.

For a heartbeat, neither of us spoke.

Then he crossed the distance between us in three long strides and pulled me into his arms.

Hard.

Relief flooded me so suddenly my knees nearly gave out.

”Where have you been?” he demanded, his voice rough, unsteady in a way I’d never heard before. ”Do you have any idea what you did to me?”

”I’m sorry,” I breathed, the words tumbling out as my own arms came up around him. ”I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.... I didn’t-

He held me tighter, one hand cradling the back of my head, the other pressing against my spine as if to make sure I was real.

”I was terrified,” he said quietly. ”You disappeared. The guards found nothing. I thought they’d taken you.”

Guilt crashed into me, heavy and suffocating.

”I didn’t mean to scare you,” I whispered. ”I don’t even know how I got there.”

He pulled back just enough to look at my face, his hands framing it as his eyes searched me for injuries.

”Are you hurt?”

”No,” I said quickly. ”I’m fine. The baby’s fine.”

Only then did some of the tension drain from his shoulders.

He exhaled slowly and rested his forehead against mine.

”Thank the goddess.”

Something in me softened then I melted, really.

This was the man who had wrapped me in safety when the world had tried to kill me. The man who had worried himself sick when I vanished for a single night.

They were lying, I told myself fiercely. Maelis. The rebels. Twisting things to turn me against him.

He led me inside, his arm firm around my shoulders, guiding me through halls I’d walked a hundred times now.

”Tell me what happened,” he said gently once we were alone. ”Everything.”

The words spilled out of me in broken pieces as we sat about waking in the field, about not remembering how I’d gotten there, about the fear that had clawed through me when I realized something was missing.

”I think... I think I was taken,” I said, my voice shaking. ”They must have... done something to me. Lied to me. I don’t know why I listened.”

Tears burned hot and sudden.

”I don’t know what I was thinking,” I sobbed. ”They said horrible things about you. About Lydia. About everything.”

His expression darkened briefly, then softened as he reached out to wipe my tears away with his thumb.

”It’s alright,” he murmured. ”You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

”But Lydia,” I said, my chest aching. ”They said she-

He sighed, slow and heavy, as if the words cost him something.

”She’s dead,” he said quietly. ”The rebels killed her.”

I stared at him, my heart cracking anew.

”They didn’t want her talking,” he continued. ”Didn’t want her coming back. That’s how they operate, Jasmine. They destroy their own the moment loyalty wavers.”

My hands trembled in my lap.

”I wanted to believe she was good,” I whispered.

”She was kind to you,” he said gently. ”That doesn’t make her innocent. People can be both.”

I nodded numbly.

”I would never hurt you,” he said firmly, lifting my chin so I had to meet his eyes. ”Never. Not you. Not your child. Everything I’m doing is to protect you.”

I believed him.

I needed to.

He asked me where I’d been taken, how I’d been lured away.

”I don’t remember,” I said honestly. ”I just... woke up.”

I didn’t tell him about the fireflies.

I couldn’t.

Something in me twisted at the thought of the servant girl, of how quickly she’d vanished. If I spoke her name aloud, I was certain it would be a death sentence.

”That’s alright,” he said. ”Whatever they did, it will pass. This will be over soon.”

He took my hand as he spoke, squeezing gently.

That was when I noticed it.

A ring on his finger.

I’d never seen it before.

My breath caught.

Set into the metal was a stone not round, not polished into any gentle shape. Jagged at the edges. Irregular.

Red.

Deep, dark crimson, like old blood.

It looked... broken.

A shard.

Cold crawled down my spine.

I forced my gaze away before he noticed, schooling my face into calm.

”Try to sleep,” he said. ”You need your strength.”

I nodded.

That night, a maid brought the familiar cup the medicine meant to stop the dreams.

”Your tonic, my lady,” she said softly.

I smiled faintly and took it.

”Thank you.”

When she left, I waited until her footsteps faded.

Then I crossed the room and poured the liquid into the nearest flower pot, watching the soil drink it in greedily.

My heart pounded as I set the empty cup back in its place.

I slid into bed slowly, one hand resting over my belly.

”I need to see the truth,” I whispered into the dark. ”Whatever it is.”

The room was quiet.

No fireflies.

No whispers.

Just me, my child, and the night.

And for the first time, I chose to let the dreams come.