Chapter 280
Chapter 280:
Jasmine’s POV
The vision came again. I was in my pack, Silverclaw specifically. I saw it all. Luna Anna, her face serene, eyes soft with false concern, pouring Veilroot into my food like it was her sacred duty. Not once, not twice, but almost every damn day. The realization crawled under my skin like fire ants. I hadn’t been wolfless after all. Layla, my wolf, had been there, screaming inside of me, muffled by that wretched poison.
And for what? To keep my truth hidden—that I wasn’t just anyone. I was Viper blood. The very thing they feared. The thing they wanted to erase.
My head is spinning. No, the world is spinning. Or maybe it’s the ceiling? Hell if I know. It all blurs together into a chaotic mess that I can’t quite grasp.
I’m flat on my back, staring up at a ceiling that suddenly feels like it’s a thousand miles away. Voices swirl around me, distant and warped, like they’re underwater. I can’t make out the words, just the frantic edge to them. They’re worried. About me. But who cares? My skull feels like it’s being split open with a jackhammer.
“Is she going to be okay p>
That voice—soft, hesitant, unfamiliar—drifts through my head. Not Ryder. Not Sapphire either. My brain fumbles to place it, but it slips away like sand through my fingers.
I fight against the weight pressing on my eyelids, clawing my way to the surface. My vision is still a murky mess, but shapes start to form. Shadows solidify. Awareness creeps in. My vision is getting clearer, like a fog suddenly disappearing.
And then I see him. Ryder. His eyes, sharp and desperate, locked onto mine. Beside him are the two couples. Two couples? Oh right—my brain stutters back to life. The woman with my hair, the man with the face I’ve seen in nightmares. My so-called birth parents. The couples I met earlier before I suddenly blacked out.
The Vipers? They are here?
A cold shiver ripples down my spine as the memories hit: walking into the dining hall, seeing them, feeling the ground slip out from under me. I’d passed out like some damsel in distress. Great. That’s exactly the impression I wanted to leave.
“Yes, she’s going to be fine,” Dr. Lee’s voice cuts through the haze, clipped and impatient. “We just need to find the witch as fast as possible to break the damn blood tie p>
Blood tie. Right. Because my life wasn’t complicated enough.
A cough, the sound rattling out of me like a rusty old engine trying to start. The reaction is immediate—a collective jolt of panic. Ryder’s face appears above mine so fast I almost think he teleported. His eyes scan my face, wide and wild, like he’s searching for cracks.
Dr. Lee murmurs something about “breathing space,” and Ryder reluctantly backs off, his jaw clenched. His hands are still on me, though, grounding me, his touch steady even when his eyes scream chaos.
He helps me sit up, his grip firm as I wobble into a semblance of balance. The room steadies, and my gaze locks onto them.
The woman—my supposed birth mother—is staring at me like I’m the last miracle on Earth. Her eyes, glistening with unshed tears, are a storm of regret and longing. She tries to smile, but it falters. The man beside her—my father, the Viper Prince, or is it the Viper Alpha now?—is stoic, his face carved from stone, but his eyes betray him. There’s pain there. Pain and something else I don’t want to name.
I suck in a breath, my chest tight, my brain teetering on the edge of overload.
“Jasmine…” The woman’s voice is soft, fragile, like glass about to shatter. “I’m so sorry p>
Message from Noah: Enjoy the weekend dear ones. God loves you and Noah whishes you all the best. /