(FOUR ChapterS DAILY IN TWO BATCHES!)
JASMINE’S POV
Early the following day, perhaps around two in the morning, Jasmine woke up in Alpha Xaden’s arms.
She looked at him, gently touched his hair, and tucked it behind his ear.
He was so handsome.
He had told her that he wanted her to be his alone and he wanted her to come to his bed every night.
She had been terrified of mating, especially with their first time together when he had been rough with her.
But this was different.
He was different from her.
It was like he was a whole new person.
She did not know what her future held, but she knew that she wanted to be happy in this moment.
She very quietly eased herself out of the bed. And then put on her clothes.
She gave him a peck on his cheek, and she felt incredibly foolish.
He only stared, and then he flung his arm around her, and she gasped as she was pushed back down on the bed.
She froze instantly.
He resumed breathing quickly, and then, very slowly, she could pry him away from her.
And then she headed to the door. After one last look at him, she went back on her way out of the bedroom.
She gently closed the door behind her and hurried down the hallways.
It was still dark in the entire pack, and people were not moving around.
Only the guards stood in place.
She hurried off to the servant’s quarters and found that, fortunately, they were all sleeping.
She went to her side of the room and lay down on her bed, and then she knew you tucked herself inside her blankets.
She turned to face who was lying down asleep.
"If the guards discover that you slept out of your chambers, you would be in big trouble."
It was Fiona.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she almost jumped up, startled.
She gently touched her racing heart and set it to ease.
"Lady Aurora came looking for you." She informed.
Jasmine felt a knot in her tummy.
"I told her that you were with the healer. So if she asks you, you can use that story. I do not want to get into trouble if they find out I lied."
She did not know how to respond, so she said a soft thank you.
Fiona said nothing, then she put her blanket over her head and turned the other way.
Jasmine could feel the shift in energy with Fiona, and she suspected that it had something to do with her announcement as the enemy’s daughter.
She swallowed hard and said, "I am sorry I did not tell you who I was. I did not want it to cause a rift between us."
Fiona did not move or say a word.
Jasmine silently lay to sleep.
After a few minutes, Fiona turned over and faced. "I don’t get it. Why didn’t you tell me? Huh?"
"I tried to," Jasmine said. "But you said it did not matter who I was."
Fiona’s mouth snapped shut, and then she said something.
"I knew I could never make a friend," Jasmine said. "I knew that this was all too good to be true."
Fiona was quiet and said. "No, you are right. I did say that. And I should not change because I now know who your father is."
Jasmine watched Fiona’s unease, wondering what her own story was.
Wondering what trauma her father had given her never to forget.
"A lot of the people here hate me," Jasmine said. "They have already painted a picture of who I am, and there will be no change. They all have a story behind my father’s actions, and I do not blame them. What did my father do to your own pack?"
Fiona shook her head. "I do not wish to speak about it."
Jasmine recoiled.
Just how bad was this?
Why had her father done all of this? To so many people.
She sat back and started to rethink if she was genuinely doing the right thing, helping him escape after he had hurt so many people in so many ways.
What had they all done to him? To what gain has he committed these atrocious acts?
As if to add fuel to bed thinking, Fiona eventually spoke up. "We are friends, and friends keep no secrets. I shall tell you. Your father sent his men because he wanted my mother, and he was going to give me his son as a sex slave."
Jasmine became appalled.
"My mother was a Luna," Jasmine said. "Without an Alpha of a rogue but harmless pack, she ruled us. Because she was just, the wolf council let the pack remain. As you know, rogue packs are outlawed. They had a meeting with other Alphas, and then he saw her. He wanted to have her as his concubine. My mother took it as an insult. She had sworn a blood oath of chastity after my father had died, you see. She declined it."
"But we did not know that he was not going to let it go so easily. When she returned home, he had his men raid our pack. Then he forced himself on her."
Jasmine gasped and covered her mouth.
There was a cold smile on Fiona’s face. "Oh, he didn’t kill her after no. He still wanted her, but this time as a slave, and then I would be made a sex slave for his son. Remember that blood oath? Since it was broken, it affected her brain, and she went mad and started killing them. Her wolf lost control, and then before she could kill him, he killed her."
"I watched everything with my very own eyes. And I was unable to do a single thing. He took us like cattle and forced us to follow him. But he was ambushed by Xaden’s men. He got away, and Xaden saved me. I stayed in a safe territory before Xaden deemed it safe that I could come to stay with him in his pack."
Jasmine’s heart bled.
She was short for words.