Chapter 688: THE WRAITE

JASMINE’S POV

The table felt too quiet.

Not silent, there was the faint crackle of fire somewhere beyond the walls, the gentle clink of cutlery from a distant hall.

But between us, everything felt suspended, as though the room itself was holding its breath.

I pushed a piece of bread around my plate, appetite fading again.

“Aiden,” I said softly, breaking the stillness. “You said someone locked my wolf.”

He looked up immediately.

“Yes.”

My fingers curled against the edge of the table. “Who?”

He didn’t answer at once.

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.

“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.”

His jaw tightened.

“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.”

The words hit harder than I expected.

“My mother’s family?” I echoed, disbelief tightening my chest. “But she was abandoned. Cast out. She had nothing.”

“Yes,” he agreed quietly. “And that is precisely why.”

I frowned. “Why would that make sense?”

Aiden leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled together.

“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.”

A cold shiver crawled up my spine.

“You’re saying…” My voice trembled. “You’re saying someone punished her through me?”

He met my eyes. “I’m saying it’s possible.”

My hand flew instinctively to my belly.

The baby kicked sharply, as if reacting to my fear.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “Why lock my wolf? Why not kill me?”

“Because killing you would have been mercy,” Aiden replied. “And whoever did this wanted you to suffer.”

My throat closed.

“They wanted you weak,” he continued. “Confused. Vulnerable. Dependent on others who would mistreat you. An unshifted wolf in hostile packs. A walking contradiction.”

My chest ached.

Every memory surfaced at once.

The whispers.

The cruelty.

The way I had always been less than.

The way everyone looked at me like I was broken.

“They succeeded,” I said quietly.

“No,” Aiden said firmly. “They didn’t.”

I looked up at him.

“You’re here,” he said. “Alive. Pregnant. Powerful enough to cross worlds without meaning to. That alone proves they failed.”

Tears blurred my vision.

“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.”

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.

“Look at me,” he said gently.

I did.

“I am glad you found your way here,” he said. “More than glad. I’ve waited for this moment longer than you can imagine.”

My breath hitched.

“I will protect you,” he continued. “Not as a king. Not as a ruler. But as your father.”

The word still felt strange.

“And I promise you this,” he said, voice unwavering. “You will shift. You will give birth to your child. And you will survive.

Something inside me cracked open.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me without conditions.”

His lips curved sadly. “That’s because the world you came from was afraid of what you could become.”

I nodded, wiping my cheeks.

“We will try everything,” he said. “Ancient rituals. Blood-unlocking. Soul-echo healing. There are many ways to free a sealed wolf.”

I let out a shaky breath. “I’m grateful. Truly.”

He squeezed my hand once, then returned to his seat.

For a moment, we ate quietly again.

Then something stirred in my chest.

“There’s something else,” I said hesitantly.

He looked up immediately. “What is it?”

“I see my mother,” I said. “In my dreams.”

The change in him was immediate.

His shoulders stiffened.

His eyes darkened.

The air felt heavier.

“Are you certain?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I’ve seen her more than once.”

He stood abruptly, pacing a few steps away before stopping himself.

“What does she look like?” he asked tightly.

“Red hair,” I said. “Curly. Like mine used to be. Freckles. She looks young. Too young.”

His breath left him sharply.

“And what does she say to you?” he pressed.

“Not much,” I admitted. “She mostly smiles. Once she held me. She knew my name. She knew about the baby.”

He turned back to me slowly.

“That worries me,” he said.

Fear spiked in my chest. “Why?”

“Because the dead rarely linger,” he said softly. “And when they do, they rarely speak through dreams alone.”

I swallowed. “You think it’s not her.”

“I think,” he said carefully, “it could be a wraith.”

The word sent a chill through my bones.

“A wraith?”

“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.”

“But she felt real,” I whispered. “She felt… like my mother.”

“That is how they gain trust,” he said gently. “Especially from women who are pregnant. Your soul is open right now. Bright.”

My arms wrapped around my belly protectively.

“What do we do?” I asked.

“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.”

I nodded, heart racing.

“I don’t want to be tricked,” I whispered. “I don’t want my baby harmed.”

“And they won’t be,” Aiden said. “Not here. Not under my watch.”

I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

For the first time in my life, answers didn’t feel like weapons.

They felt like armor.

And for the first time, sitting across from a man who had once been a stranger, I allowed myself to believe something dangerous.

That maybe…

Just maybe…

I had finally reached a place where I didn’t have to survive alone.

But I was worried.

It baffled me.

I had been so happy to finally see my mother.

And then to find out that it was a wraite.

It broke my heart.

Just when I had believed I had been seeing my mother.

I fingered my emerald necklace as I thought of it all.

And my heart shattered.

So I could never dream of my mother again.

Tell her about how my pregnancy was going.

And yet once again I felt betrayed by my own bloodline.

“Are you okay?” He asked me.

I swallowed hard and gave a tight smile.

“I had really hoped that mother was real.” I managed.

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.”

I smiled at him and he did the same before resuming his meal while my heart still remained broken