The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 712

Chapter 712: AN END?

The fall knocked the breath from her lungs.

Jasmine hit the ground hard, the impact tearing a raw cry from her throat as pain exploded through her body.

The portal snapped shut behind her with a sound like the world sealing a wound, leaving only silence and the smell of scorched air.

She lay there for a moment, stunned, the earth cold and unforgiving beneath her palms.

Then the pain surged.

It wasn’t distant anymore. It wasn’t something she could breathe through or reason away. It was here.

Now. Ripping through her hips, her spine, her belly like her body was being split open from the inside.

She screamed.

Her hands clawed at the ground as another contraction tore through her, sharp enough to steal her vision.

She gasped, choking on the sound of her own voice, sweat breaking out across her skin.

"No," she sobbed. "Please... not like this."

Her son.

All she had wanted.

The one and only reason she had looked for help in the first place was about to make it alive in the most dangerous was possible.

And worse she had no one available.

She was all alone.

She forced herself onto her side, then her knees, every movement agony. Blood slicked her thighs. She could feel it now, terrifyingly real, the pressure, the inevitability.

The baby was coming.

She pushed herself upright with a broken cry, swaying as the world tilted violently around her.

And then she heard it.

"Jasmine!"

The sound cut through the haze of pain like a blade.

Her head snapped up.

"No," she whispered. "I’m hallucinating."

A figure was running toward her from the treeline, skirts bunched in her hands, hair flying loose behind her.

Dark and flowing.

Familiar.

Her heart stuttered.

"Jasmine!" the voice called again, closer now, frantic.

Tears blurred her vision.

"Eleanor," she whispered. "That’s impossible."

Two more figures appeared behind her, women she didn’t recognize, shouting for help, but Jasmine couldn’t focus on them. She could only stare at the woman closing the distance between them.

Eleanor dropped to her knees in front of her, hands already reaching out.

"Oh gods," Eleanor breathed. "You’re bleeding."

Jasmine recoiled weakly, shaking her head.

"No," she rasped. "You’re not real. You’re a wraith."

She started to back away out of fear and terror

Eleanor froze, understanding and compassion flashing across her face.

"I’m real," she said urgently. "Jasmine, look at me. I’m here."

"You’re dead," Jasmine whispered. "I saw it. They said you were dead."

Eleanor swallowed hard, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I’ve been looking for you," she said. "Please. Let me help you."

Another contraction hit, brutal and unforgiving.

Jasmine screamed, her body folding inward as Eleanor caught her, holding her upright despite her own shaking arms.

"Am I on the other side," Jasmine gasped. "I need to hide. My father... he can’t find me. He will kill me. We need to stop him."

Eleanor shook her head fiercely. "You’re safe. You’re not where he can reach you. I swear it."

Jasmine shook her head aggressively. "No Eleanor. You don’t understand. He is going to take me and use me as a weapon. He is going to mold the world into his own image. Please we need to-

"Jasmine!" Eleanor snapped crashing Jasmine back down to reality.

And then in a very gentle voice, she cupped her cheek and said. "No one is going to hurt you. I just need you to hold on for now."

Jasmine sagged against her, sobbing, her strength fading fast.

"I can’t hold on," she whispered. "I haven’t shifted. I haven’t... I don’t know how to do this."

Eleanor’s hands trembled as she guided Jasmine toward the base of a massive tree, easing her down onto the soft earth.

"The baby isn’t agreeing," Eleanor said, panic threading her voice. "He’s not waiting."

Another wave of pain ripped through Jasmine and she screamed, raw and animal.

"I can’t," she cried. "Please. Help him. Help my baby."

Eleanor forced herself to steady, eyes flashing with resolve.

"Then we do it here," she said. "Right now."

She shrugged off her cloak, spreading it beneath Jasmine, then reached into a worn leather bag at her side.

Her movements were fast, practiced. She murmured words under her breath, and water bloomed into existence, steaming gently in the cool air.

Jasmine barely noticed.

The pain swallowed everything.

She thrashed, sobbed, screamed until her throat burned, Eleanor holding her shoulders, whispering through clenched teeth.

"Breathe. Stay with me. I need you here."

Blood soaked into the earth beneath her. Her vision flickered.

"I’m dying," Jasmine whispered, terrified.

"No," Eleanor said fiercely. "You’re giving birth. And you will make it alive. The baby will make it alive. Let’s just do as I say okay?"

The pain peaked.

And then something else happened.

Heat.

Not the fevered heat of illness or magic gone wrong.

Fire.

It ignited beneath her skin, spreading fast and merciless.

Jasmine screamed again as flames burst from her body, real and searing, curling around her arms, her back, her hair.

The night sky burned red.

The moon overhead flared, turning the color of fresh blood.

Jasmine’s wolf screamed awake.

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