The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 671

Chapter 671: SIRA’S OAK

The sky was only beginning to peel from black to grey when Otto shook me awake.

The fire had died out, reduced to a smudge of ash and a faint orange barely holding on.

The ashes blew by the morning air.

A thin breath of morning fog curled between the trees, cold enough to sting my nose.

We packed quietly.

The kind of quiet only two people holding too many unspoken things inside them could make.

By the time we mounted the horses and began riding through the forest, the sun was barely a pale disc above the horizon.

The air was crisp, the grass wet, and my clothes still smelled faintly of last night’s smoke.

We rode like that for a few minutes, nothing but the crunch of leaves and the soft breaths of the horses.

Then Otto cleared his throat.

"Jasmine... about earlier..." he began carefully. "I just want to apologize again."

I stared ahead, jaw tightening.

I was still angry.

Not the screaming kind of angry but the kind that sits heavy in your chest and flickers ready to burn out.

"Otto," I said slowly, my voice edged and cold,

"In the future, anything involving me... my life, my body, my choices... you will tell me. Immediately. I don’t care if I’m near death, half-conscious, or running for my life. You tell me. Not Hildegard, not Rose, not anyone else. Me. Do you understand?"

His shoulders fell.

He nodded quietly.

"Yes. I understand. I’ll tell you next time."

"Good," I said, eyes fixed on the rising sun, "because I’m done with people choosing for me. And I can’t imagine what could have happened. I could have done something stupid without knowing I had a baby."

He swallowed, then after a moment I asked, "How did you know? About the baby, I mean."

He kept his eyes forward.

"Hildegard knew."

A dull ache hit my chest.

Of course she did.

I said nothing, letting silence fall between us again.

The forest wind brushed against my cheeks, soft but cold enough to wake every thought I had been trying to avoid.

I looked down, my hand naturally drifting to my stomach.

My baby.

My child.

There was a time that sentence had filled my world with light and then a time it drowned me in darkness.

After losing Thalira I had assumed I would never have another.

Moreso I told myself Xaden and I were done and would never happen again.

The both occurred.

"I suppose you’ve heard," I said quietly, "that I lost my first baby."

Otto stiffened, clearly unsure whether to respond.

He tried to act surprised.

I let out a humorless breath.

"It’s fine. I’m sure everyone knows."

"...yes," he admitted finally. "I knew."

I nodded once, more to myself than to him.

Then he asked cautiously, "Who’s the father?"

I hesitated only for a second.

"Xaden."

His eyes widened slightly, but I kept speaking.

"And honestly... this is for the best. What happened the last time..."

My throat tightened.

"I don’t want to be around him. I don’t want him to know. I don’t want anything tying me back to that place. This is my chance to start over."

Otto nodded slowly.

But then he frowned.

"Jasmine... how will you deliver the baby? You’re human. The child is going to be a wolf. It could be dangerous-

"The Goddess will make a way," I said stubbornly.

"Jasmine...."

"I said she will."

We dismounted quickly and approached. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

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