The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 688

Chapter 688: THE WRAITE

JASMINE’S POV

The table felt too quiet.

Not silent, there was the faint crackle of fire somewhere beyond the walls, the gentle clink of cutlery from a distant hall.

But between us, everything felt suspended, as though the room itself was holding its breath.

I pushed a piece of bread around my plate, appetite fading again.

"Aiden," I said softly, breaking the stillness. "You said someone locked my wolf."

He looked up immediately.

"Yes."

My fingers curled against the edge of the table. "Who?"

He didn’t answer at once.

Instead, he studied me, his gaze drifting briefly to my stomach, then back to my face. I realized then that he was weighing how much I could take. How much truth my heart could withstand in one sitting.

"I need to know," I said firmly. "I can’t keep walking around with half answers. I’ve lived my entire life in the dark."

His jaw tightened.

"From everything we’ve been able to uncover," he said slowly, "from the way your magic behaves, the nature of the seal, the blood-signature it carries... all signs point to someone from your mother’s family."

The words hit harder than I expected.

"My mother’s family?" I echoed, disbelief tightening my chest. "But she was abandoned. Cast out. She had nothing."

"Yes," he agreed quietly. "And that is precisely why."

I frowned. "Why would that make sense?"

Aiden leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled together.

"Scarlett wasn’t just abandoned," he said. "She was rejected. And in powerful families, rejection doesn’t end with distance. It often ends with punishment."

A cold shiver crawled up my spine.

"You’re saying..." My voice trembled. "You’re saying someone punished her through me?"

He met my eyes. "I’m saying it’s possible."

My hand flew instinctively to my belly.

The baby kicked sharply, as if reacting to my fear.

"I don’t understand," I whispered. "Why lock my wolf? Why not kill me?"

"Because killing you would have been mercy," Aiden replied. "And whoever did this wanted you to suffer."

My throat closed.

"They wanted you weak," he continued. "Confused. Vulnerable. Dependent on others who would mistreat you. An unshifted wolf in hostile packs. A walking contradiction."

My chest ached.

Every memory surfaced at once.

The whispers.

The cruelty.

The way I had always been less than.

The way everyone looked at me like I was broken.

"They succeeded," I said quietly.

"No," Aiden said firmly. "They didn’t."

I looked up at him.

"You’re here," he said. "Alive. Pregnant. Powerful enough to cross worlds without meaning to. That alone proves they failed."

Tears blurred my vision.

"But I’m scared," I admitted. "I don’t know what I’m carrying. I don’t know what I am. And I don’t know if my body can survive this."

He rose from his seat then, slowly, deliberately, and came around the table to kneel beside me. Not beneath me. Not in reverence. Just close.

"Look at me," he said gently.

I did.

"I am glad you found your way here," he said. "More than glad. I’ve waited for this moment longer than you can imagine." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

My breath hitched.

"I will protect you," he continued. "Not as a king. Not as a ruler. But as your father."

The word still felt strange.

"And I promise you this," he said, voice unwavering. "You will shift. You will give birth to your child. And you will survive."

Something inside me cracked open.

"Thank you," I whispered. "I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me without conditions."

His lips curved sadly. "That’s because the world you came from was afraid of what you could become."

I nodded, wiping my cheeks.

"We will try everything," he said. "Ancient rituals. Blood-unlocking. Soul-echo healing. There are many ways to free a sealed wolf."

I let out a shaky breath. "I’m grateful. Truly."

He squeezed my hand once, then returned to his seat.

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