The Alpha's Unwanted Bride

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.

”Well?” Anna asked, shutting the door behind her. ”Any sign of him?”

Lisa’s expression was sharp, her jaw tight. ”Nothing. Not a whisper. It’s like the body disappeared.”

Lily let out a shuddering breath. ”No one’s said anything. Not even the guards. You’d think someone would’ve noticed by now...”

Anna crossed her arms. ”That’s what’s bothering me.”

Lisa gave her a look. ”You think I don’t know that? I staged everything. I watched him hang. I made sure his neck snapped just right. And now—” she stopped, chest rising and falling fast, ”—now there’s nothing.”

Anna studied her. ”You’re sure he was dead?”

Lisa’s face twisted. ”Yes. I’m not an idiot.”

Silence fell again, thick and tense. Outside, an owl hooted somewhere in the trees.

”So what does it mean?” Lily asked, her voice barely above a whisper. ”That someone moved him? That someone saw?”

Lisa sat down heavily on a barrel. ”If someone saw us, they would’ve said something by now. Unless...”

Anna’s eyes narrowed. ”Unless they’re waiting.”

Lily looked up, alarmed. ”Waiting for what?”

Anna didn’t answer. She was already thinking two steps ahead. The situation had gone from risky to volatile. They’d killed Rudy. Lisa had ensured it was quiet, that it would look like suicide — a sad, tragic end for a man who drank too much and kept too many secrets. It should’ve passed without more than a ripple.

Instead, it was a black hole swallowing their plans whole.

Lisa stood again, her tone growing colder. ”We should’ve dumped the body ourselves. I knew it.”

”You killed him alone,” Lily snapped, surprising both of them. ”You didn’t ask us first.”

Lisa turned to her, eyes blazing. ”And if I had? You would’ve stood there wringing your hands the way you are now. I did what had to be done. He saw us. He was going to tell.”

Anna raised a hand. ”Enough.”

They fell silent at once.

Anna paced to the far end of the room and leaned against the wall, eyes distant. ”No one’s asked about him. No searches. No mention at dinner. Nothing.”

”That’s good, right?” Lily asked. ”Maybe they haven’t noticed yet.”

Anna shook her head slowly. ”Or maybe someone already knows. And they’re watching.”

Lisa crossed her arms. ”You think Jasmine—”

”No,” Anna said flatly. ”She’s too distracted. She’s worried sick about Xaden, and she’s barely keeping herself together. But Erik...”

She trailed off, frowning.

Lily swallowed. ”You think he knows?”

”If he doesn’t yet, he will soon. He and Rudy were close,” Anna muttered. ”Closer than we realized.”

Lisa scoffed. ”He was still a stablehand.”

”Yes,” Anna said, turning to face them. ”But a loyal one. Rudy was asking questions before he died. About the horse. About the day Jasmine fell.”

Lily covered her mouth. ”Do you think he figured it out?”

Anna met her gaze, dark eyes steady. ”I think he was very close. That’s why Lisa killed him.”

Lisa didn’t deny it.

There was a moment of stillness again. Then Lily asked, ”What do we do if someone finds the body?”

”We hope it still looks like suicide,” Lisa muttered.

Anna exhaled slowly. ”No. If they find it now — days later, hidden — it’ll raise more suspicion. And if there’s even one mark that doesn’t line up with a hanging...”

She let the sentence hang, unfinished.

Lisa started pacing again. ”Then we’re done for.”

Anna stepped into her path. ”We’re not done. We just have to stay calm. Say nothing. Act normal.”

”Act normal?” Lisa hissed. ”There’s a dead man missing, and we don’t know where the hell he is!”

”Keep your voice down!” Anna snapped.

Lily trembled where she sat. ”I can’t sleep. I keep thinking he’s going to show up at my door.”

Anna’s voice turned cutting. ”Then grow a spine. We can’t afford to fall apart now.”

Lisa glared. ”Easy for you to say. You didn’t wrap the rope. You didn’t feel his weight drop.”

”And you were supposed to make sure it looked clean,” Anna hissed. ”You promised.”

”I did,” Lisa barked. ”But maybe someone got to him before us. Or maybe someone moved the body. Or—”

”Or maybe he didn’t die,” Lily whispered, her eyes wide and glassy.

Both women turned to her sharply.

”He’s dead,” Lisa said. ”Don’t be stupid.”

”But... what if he wasn’t? What if he—”

”Enough!” Anna said. ”It doesn’t matter how or why the body is missing. All that matters is what we do now.”

Lisa stepped forward. ”So? What’s your plan, oh wise leader?”

Anna’s lips curved into a tight, practiced smile. ”We wait. We listen. We watch.”

She turned toward the door, her cloak rustling softly. ”And if anyone starts asking questions — especially Erik — we make sure they find the answers we want them to find.”