The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 674

Chapter 674: THE DISTANT LANDS

Jasmine’s POV

Two months can change a life.

Two months on the road can change a person.

Two months while pregnant...

can change everything.

The forest no longer felt endless to me. I knew its smells, its sounds, the way it breathed.

The earth had become familiar under our horses’ hooves, and the wind carried less fear than before. We had crossed rivers, towns, borders I’d never heard of, and somehow we were still moving, still running, still trying to reach the distant lands where all the answers waited.

But today I felt tired.

A different tired.

Not the exhaustion of running or fear or grief.

A deeper tiredness. A bone-deep heaviness that came with the weight inside me.

My hand drifted to my stomach again, resting on the curve pressing forward.

The baby kicked light, like a flutter but it still startled me every time.

Otto slowed his horse beside mine.

"You okay?" he asked, voice soft with concern.

I nodded automatically. "Fine."

He gave me that look, the one where he didn’t believe me but was too gentle to argue.

We kept riding.

The sun was dipping low, painting the mountains in orange light. My back ached in a dull, throbbing way, and my wrists hurt from holding the reins for too long. I shifted slightly on the saddle, but the heaviness of my stomach made it impossible to find real comfort.

Two months...

And already I was almost due.

It wasn’t like Thalira.

This pregnancy wasn’t slow or steady.

It raced.

Like the baby was in a hurry to reach the world.

Sometimes, when I lay down at night and felt her—or him—move, I wondered if I would even make it to the distant lands in time.

We had learned the rhythm of traveling:

only during the day

never at night

avoid towns too long

avoid questions even longer

rest whenever my body trembled or my breath grew shallow

Otto had been... gentle. Too gentle. Sometimes it made my throat ache.

He carried things before I could reach for them.

Helped me mount my horse.

Stopped every hour so I could breathe or drink water.

Even spoke to my stomach, whispering small things like, "You’re doing amazing," in a tone not meant for my ears.

I pretended not to hear him.

I pretended a lot of things.

As we turned up a slow hill, Otto suddenly gasped.

"There," he whispered, almost reverent. "Jasmine... look."

I lifted my head, breath catching.

Below us. spread across a wide valley was a pack.

A real, bustling, alive pack.

Smoke curled from chimneys. Streets twisted between houses of carved stone and dark wood. Wolves shifted and

unshifted walked the marketplaces.

Music drifted faintly through the wind. Children ran in circles chasing one another. Bright cloth hung from windows.

Life.

Vibrant and loud and unhidden.

My heart fluttered.

"Is that...?" My voice cracked.

Otto nodded. "We made it. The edge of the distant lands."

A breath I didn’t know I was holding left me slowly, shakily.

These lands...

Somewhere here or beyond here my mother’s people lived.

My real family.

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