[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-alpha-s-unwanted-bride":3,"chapter-the-alpha-s-unwanted-bride-the-alpha-s-unwanted-bride-chapter-688":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Alpha's Unwanted Bride",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1497140,1945,"Chapter 688: THE WRAITE","the-alpha-s-unwanted-bride-chapter-688",688,"\u003Cp>JASMINE’S POV\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The table felt too quiet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not silent, there was the faint crackle of fire somewhere beyond the walls, the gentle clink of cutlery from a distant hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But between us, everything felt suspended, as though the room itself was holding its breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I pushed a piece of bread around my plate, appetite fading again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Aiden,\" I said softly, breaking the stillness. \"You said someone locked my wolf.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked up immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My fingers curled against the edge of the table. \"Who?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t answer at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His jaw tightened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The words hit harder than I expected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My mother’s family?\" I echoed, disbelief tightening my chest. \"But she was abandoned. Cast out. She had nothing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes,\" he agreed quietly. \"And that is precisely why.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I frowned. \"Why would that make sense?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aiden leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A cold shiver crawled up my spine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re saying...\" My voice trembled. \"You’re saying someone punished her through me?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He met my eyes. \"I’m saying it’s possible.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My hand flew instinctively to my belly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The baby kicked sharply, as if reacting to my fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t understand,\" I whispered. \"Why lock my wolf? Why not kill me?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because killing you would have been mercy,\" Aiden replied. \"And whoever did this wanted you to suffer.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My throat closed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They wanted you weak,\" he continued. \"Confused. Vulnerable. Dependent on others who would mistreat you. An unshifted wolf in hostile packs. A walking contradiction.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My chest ached.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every memory surfaced at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The whispers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cruelty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The way I had always been less than.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The way everyone looked at me like I was broken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They succeeded,\" I said quietly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No,\" Aiden said firmly. \"They didn’t.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked up at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re here,\" he said. \"Alive. Pregnant. Powerful enough to cross worlds without meaning to. That alone proves they failed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tears blurred my vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Look at me,\" he said gently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I am glad you found your way here,\" he said. \"More than glad. I’ve waited for this moment longer than you can imagine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My breath hitched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I will protect you,\" he continued. \"Not as a king. Not as a ruler. But as your father.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The word still felt strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And I promise you this,\" he said, voice unwavering. \"You will shift. You will give birth to your child. And you will survive.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something inside me cracked open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thank you,\" I whispered. \"I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me without conditions.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His lips curved sadly. \"That’s because the world you came from was afraid of what you could become.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I nodded, wiping my cheeks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We will try everything,\" he said. \"Ancient rituals. Blood-unlocking. Soul-echo healing. There are many ways to free a sealed wolf.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I let out a shaky breath. \"I’m grateful. Truly.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He squeezed my hand once, then returned to his seat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a moment, we ate quietly again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then something stirred in my chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There’s something else,\" I said hesitantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked up immediately. \"What is it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I see my mother,\" I said. \"In my dreams.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The change in him was immediate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His shoulders stiffened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His eyes darkened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The air felt heavier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Are you certain?\" he asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes,\" I said. \"I’ve seen her more than once.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stood abruptly, pacing a few steps away before stopping himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What does she look like?\" he asked tightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Red hair,\" I said. \"Curly. Like mine used to be. Freckles. She looks young. Too young.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His breath left him sharply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And what does she say to you?\" he pressed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Not much,\" I admitted. \"She mostly smiles. Once she held me. She knew my name. She knew about the baby.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned back to me slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That worries me,\" he said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fear spiked in my chest. \"Why?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because the dead rarely linger,\" he said softly. \"And when they do, they rarely speak through dreams alone.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I swallowed. \"You think it’s not her.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I think,\" he said carefully, \"it could be a wraith.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The word sent a chill through my bones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A wraith?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They are echoes,\" he explained. \"Spirits drawn to strong emotions, grief, longing, love left unresolved. They wear familiar faces. They speak truths mixed with lies.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But she felt real,\" I whispered. \"She felt... like my mother.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That is how they gain trust,\" he said gently. \"Especially from women who are pregnant. Your soul is open right now. Bright.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My arms wrapped around my belly protectively.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What do we do?\" I asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I won’t let anything touch you,\" he said firmly. \"We’ll give you medicine ancient wards brewed from moonroot and starvine. It will block spiritual intrusion without harming the child.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I nodded, heart racing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t want to be tricked,\" I whispered. \"I don’t want my baby harmed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And they won’t be,\" Aiden said. \"Not here. Not under my watch.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the first time in my life, answers didn’t feel like weapons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They felt like armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And for the first time, sitting across from a man who had once been a stranger, I allowed myself to believe something dangerous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That maybe...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just maybe...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had finally reached a place where I didn’t have to survive alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I was worried.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It baffled me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had been so happy to finally see my mother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then to find out that it was a wraite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It broke my heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just when I had believed I had been seeing my mother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I fingered my emerald necklace as I thought of it all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And my heart shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So I could never dream of my mother again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tell her about how my pregnancy was going.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet once again I felt betrayed by my own bloodline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Are you okay?\" He asked me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I swallowed hard and gave a tight smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I had really hoped that mother was real.\" I managed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He gently pressed my hands. \"Don’t worry. I’m here. I’ll protect you and I am sure that wherever she is. She would want to keep you safe.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I smiled at him and he did the same before resuming his meal while my heart still remained broken\u003C\u002Fp>",1191,"2026-06-06T04:22:25.635Z",1,"novelbin.me","46780605dbb208619e81b59a17150553fbf63e16f12eb81bf7683d05d6de8fa8","the-alpha-s-unwanted-bride-chapter-689","the-alpha-s-unwanted-bride-chapter-687",728,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-alpha-s-unwanted-bride-cover.jpg"]