Chapter 670: A NEW FUTURE

The morning light was pale.

Soft enough to look harmless, yet somehow it made everything feel raw.

As if daylight could expose every bruise on my soul.

Otto was still staring at me.

And he wasn’t denying it.

I kept waiting for him to say something, anything, but he didn’t.

He just stared, guilt tightening every line of his face.

And then he looked away.

The guilt was completely written all over his face.

There was no hiding it.

I touched my stomach again.

My hands were shaking.

“You knew,” I whispered.

He was quiet.

In a louder and accusatory voice I said. “You knew.”

He inhaled sharply through his nose, like the words hurt him.

“Jasmine… I didn’t mean to-

“YOU KNEW!,” I repeated, this time louder, shakier, as my voice wavered between heartbreak and fury.

Otto opened his mouth again, then closed it.

He looked away.

That hurt more than anything.

“You knew,” I said a final time.

My brain grasping the weight of what he was saying by not saying a word.

He knew I was pregnant this entire and he didn’t say a word!

It felt like betrayal slipping off my tongue.

“I didn’t want to break you,” he finally said softly. “You were escaping a death sentence, running barefoot, hunted by wolves and sirens. You’d just left Hildegard behind. You were exhausted, terrified and Jasmine, you were barely holding yourself together.”

My lips parted, but no sound came out.

And then soon the words came out. “You had no fucking right!”

He went quiet

“I couldn’t add this on top of everything,” he said quietly. “I couldn’t risk it.”

I swallowed, my throat burning.

He was right.

He was absolutely right.

But it still hurt.

“So you decided for me,” I whispered.

“You kept something this big from me because you thought I was too weak to hear it?”

His face crumpled. “No Jasmine, that’s not-

“It is what you thought.”

My voice came out small, wounded. “Everyone decides for me. Everyone chooses for me. Everyone hides things from me ’for my own good.’ Rose. Coral. Xaden. Bale. The royal pack. The moonlight pack. And now you.”

My chest tightened until I couldn’t breathe.

“I’m tired,” I whispered. “I’m so tired, Otto. I’m tired of being told nothing. Of everyone treating me like a child. Like I need to be protected from the truth. Like my life is some game they can pick and choose pieces from.”

Otto moved closer, lowering himself to his knees in front of me.

“Jasmine…” His voice cracked, fragile. “I’m sorry. I really am. I didn’t want to hurt you. I just-

“I know,” I said, surprising myself.

His eyes lifted to mine.

“I know,” I repeated softly. “You had no bad intentions but you still did! How could you keep something as bogus as this from me.”

The moment I said it, everything I had been shoving down came rushing back at once.

The cell.

Rose’s betrayal.

Auburn’s cruelty.

The sirens chasing us.

Hildegard staying behind.

The forest.

The fear.

The horse stumbling.

My mother in my dream.

Her hands on my face.

Her voice.

Her song.

Her tears.

Her whisper….You’re with child.

The mother I had never known had protected me more than the people alive in this world.

A sob tore its way out of my chest before I could swallow it back.

Otto immediately reached out, but I pushed my hands against my face, gasping.

“I can’t-” I choked. “Otto, I can’t…. too much… everything…. everything hurts.”

He moved closer again, but slower this time, carefully, like approaching a wounded animal.

“Jasmine,” he murmured, his voice softer than I’d ever heard it. “You’ve been through more in one night than most wolves survive in a lifetime. You don’t have to pretend to be strong.”

But I wasn’t pretending.

I was breaking.

“I don’t know what to do,” I whispered.

My breath trembled.

“My mother… she touched me. She held me. She knew my name. How is that possible? She’s dead she’s supposed to be dead. But I felt her. I felt her.”

Otto’s eyes widened slightly, but he didn’t interrupt.

“And then she said—”

My voice cracked so badly I barely recognized it. “She said I’m pregnant.”

A shudder crawled through my entire body.

“I’m pregnant, Otto. I’m pregnant and I’m alone and I’m hunted and I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

I pressed both hands to my stomach.

“I don’t even know if this is real,” I whispered. “What if it’s just another nightmare? What if everything is just—”

My voice broke. “What if I’m losing my mind like Bale?”

Otto reached out slowly, placing his hand over mine.

“You’re not losing your mind,” he said quietly.

But when he touched me—

Something pulsed under my skin.

A warm thrum.

Like a heartbeat.

But not mine.

Otto jerked slightly, startled.

“Jasmine… what was that?”

I blinked, tears blurring my vision. “What do you mean?”

“There was—” He swallowed hard. “There was something. A… glow. Inside your skin. Just for a second.”

My breath froze.

I felt something shift inside me, slow, old, ancient, like an awakening creature stretching in its sleep.

Otto’s eyes widened.

“Something is happening to you,” he whispered.

I didn’t answer.

Couldn’t answer.

Because deep down, I knew he was right.

My mother’s song.

My mother’s touch.

The dream.

The glow.

The wolf I couldn’t shift.

The child inside me.

Something was changing.

And it terrified me.

I looked up at him with watery eyes. “Otto… I’m scared.”

He didn’t hesitate.

He wrapped a cloak around my shoulders and pulled me close, careful but steady.

“I know,” he said softly.

“I know, Jasmine. But you’re not alone. I swear to the Goddess whatever happens, I’m here.”

For a moment, just a moment, I let myself lean into him.

Just long enough to breathe and then I slowly let my hands go round my tummy.

My child.

Another gift since I lost Thalira.