The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 439

Chapter 439: THE MISSING SOLDIER

The fire crackled softly in the hearth, but Jasmine barely felt its warmth.

She sat at the long dining table, surrounded by murmurs and clinking silverware, but her focus was a thousand miles away. Her hand rested on her stomach, thumb brushing a slow circle over the curve. A quiet reassurance to herself as much as to the life within her.

Still no word. No news. No sign of Xaden. Her chest ached with a quiet, persistent dread.

The chair beside her scraped. Anna sat down with a flourish of her long sleeves, as if she were the lady of the house.

Jasmine didn’t look at her.

"My, you look pale," Anna said sweetly, reaching for a glass of wine. "How are you feeling, Jasmine? And the baby?"

"The baby’s fine," Jasmine replied flatly, not bothering to meet her gaze.

"Oh, that’s good to hear," Anna said, with that insincere smile she wore like perfume — suffocating and fake. "We were all so worried after your... accident."

Nanny Nia, seated to Jasmine’s other side, let out a small snort.

Anna turned her head sharply. "Was something funny, servant?"

Nanny Nia leaned back, folding her arms across her chest. "It was Alpha Xaden who gave me this seat. And as long as that chair stays empty, I’ll speak how I please."

A few people further down the table went silent. Jasmine felt the tension ripple like a crack in the glass.

Anna’s smile tightened, her fingers twitching slightly around the stem of her cup. "Well, someone should remind you to mind your tongue."

Nanny Nia raised a brow. "And someone should remind you not to pretend concern when you’ve never meant it."

Jasmine stared down at her plate, heart racing — not from the argument, but from the creeping fear that had been growing all day. She forced herself to breathe.

Lily, seated across the table, cut in with a soft voice. "Jasmine, you’re quiet. How are you feeling?"

Jasmine looked up and managed a strained smile. "I’m alright."

But she wasn’t.

Every passing hour that brought no word from the patrols carved another notch of fear into her bones. Xaden should’ve returned days ago. Even if wounded, even if delayed, someone should have sent word.

She turned to Erik, who had barely touched his food. "Have you heard anything?" she asked, voice low. "About Xaden?"

Erik glanced at her, then quickly away.

"There’ll be news soon," he said. "He’s a warrior. He’ll be back before you know it."

His words were too smooth, too practiced. And worst of all — they didn’t sound like truth.

Jasmine’s stomach twisted.

She said nothing more after that. She picked at her food but didn’t eat. The room’s noise faded into a distant hum.

Then came the interruption.

"Erik." Uther’s deep voice from behind.

Erik stiffened slightly before standing. "Excuse me."

Jasmine’s gaze followed him as he walked away with Xaden’s uncle — the man who had been circling power like a vulture for weeks. Every time she saw Uther, her skin crawled. There was something dark behind his eyes, a shadow she couldn’t name but could feel.

"I think I’ll go rest," she said, rising carefully.

"I’ll walk with you," Nanny Nia offered.

Jasmine shook her head. "No. I... I just want a moment alone."

She left the hall quietly, head down, hands trembling. But she didn’t turn toward her rooms.

She followed.

The stone corridors whispered with cold air as she moved down the side hall, trailing after Erik and Uther at a distance. She heard their voices before she saw them — arguing, sharp, like wolves growling over a carcass.

"...you haven’t brought back a single shred of proof that he’s alive," Uther snapped. "And the pack is growing nervous."

"You want his seat," Erik snarled. "That’s all this is."

"I want stability," Uther retorted. "And your empty reassurances aren’t enough. You told the girl at dinner there’d be news. But you don’t know anything, do you?"

Jasmine stopped cold behind the pillar.

"You don’t even know where he is."

The silence that followed was deafening.

Then Erik, voice low and angry, said, "He’s not dead. I’d know. We all would."

"You keep telling yourself that," Uther replied. "But your lies are going to unravel. And when they do, it won’t just be the girl who loses her mind. It’ll be the entire pack."

Their footsteps retreated, and Jasmine remained frozen behind the stone. Her pulse pounded in her ears.

Erik had lied to her.

He didn’t know. No one knew.

And now, the one person she trusted was gone, and the people left were tearing each other apart.

Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them away. She placed a hand over her stomach again and took a deep breath.

"I’ll find you," she whispered to the child. "No matter what happens... I’ll find him."

~~~~~~~~~

The moon hung high and pale above the trees, casting long silver streaks across the ground. The manor was quiet now, cloaked in the kind of stillness that only came after midnight — when most had surrendered to sleep or secrets.

Anna slipped through the side door in her night cloak, her movements silent and purposeful. The cold bit at her skin as she crept through the garden path toward the old storage house near the western stables — the meeting place. A sliver of lantern light glowed through the cracked door. She opened it to find Lisa already inside, pacing.

Lily sat on a crate, wringing her hands, her pale face made paler in the dim light.

She trailed off, frowning. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

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