The Alpha's Unwanted Bride

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."

My voice trembled, but I held on. "The last pregnancy grew so fast. Three months and the baby was already fully formed. This one... I don’t know what will happen."

Otto tried to calm me.

"We’ll find a way. I won’t let anything happen to you."

I nodded but said nothing more.

We continued riding until the sun climbed fully into the sky, warming the dew off the leaves.

Eventually, around early afternoon, the trees opened into a small clearing and beyond it was a town..

A small wolf town.

Buildings formed from old timber and colorful cloth stood in uneven rows, pups running between the stalls, music drifting on the air, merchants shouting over each other, and smoke rising from cooking fires.

It looked nothing like the royal pack.

Nothing like the moonlight pack.

Nothing like anywhere I had ever known.

"Welcome to Sira’s Oak," Otto announced as we rode in. "One of the furthest towns in the wolf world. Past here... everything stretches toward the distant lands. The sea boundary is far behind us now. The closer we get, the fewer rules there are."

I looked around, absorbing it all.

"Who lives here?" I asked.

He lowered his voice. "Gypsy wolves. They don’t have an Alpha. They stay on their own here. No pack hierarchy. No strict laws."

He gave me a pointed look.

"Meaning: be careful. Watch your pockets."

As if on cue, two pups ran past us fighting over a stolen apple, nearly colliding with our horses.

I pulled my reins tighter.

We rode deeper into the town, passing colorful fabrics, mismatched jewelry, herbs, weapons, and things I didn’t even recognize. People glanced at us with suspicion—

then quickly looked away.

"Otto," I said suddenly, pointing ahead.

He followed my line of sight.

A wall.

Covered in flyers.

Wanted posters.

We dismounted quickly and approached.

My heart slammed into my ribs as Otto ripped the nearest flyer off.

A sketch of a girl.

With long, curly red hair.

My face beneath it though exaggerated, harshened.

Underneath it:

WANTED — ALIVE ONLY

BY ORDER OF THE QUEEN

REWARD: 5,000,000 GOLDEN COINS

Right beside it was

Otto’s face.

He snatched his own poster and scoffed loudly, "I look nothing like this! My nose isn’t that big!"

But I couldn’t even breathe.

"She’s already sent word here," I whispered. "The Queen’s men... they could be around."

Otto quickly rolled the posters into his bag and hissed, "Don’t worry. It’s a good thing you have blonde hair now, isn’t it? Even if they were right in front of us, Jasmine, they wouldn’t know you."

I touched my hair and the blonde strands glinting like sunlight in my fingers.

For the first time since I’d dyed it,

I felt grateful.

We stood there, in the heart of a wolf town filled with strangers, danger, and eyes watching us from every direction.

And I realized something.

My life as Jasmine the orphan...

Jasmine the servant...

Jasmine the girl who was always last... was gone.

I was no longer running from one pack.

I was being hunted by the entire world.

And despite the fear clawing at my throat

I wasn’t turning back.

Not this time.

"I think it’s time I get a new look don’t you think?" Otto winked at me