?Chapter 342:

    Several times, I’d asked the question, and several times, he had wooed his way out of answering.

    Ryder’s jaw tightened, and he looked like he wanted to argue, but before he could, my mother’s voice broke through the room.

    “She was behind the attack,” my mother said softly from where she was seated in the corner of the room. My father was next to her, his usual stoic demeanor firmly in ce. “But Ryder believes there’s someone else involved.”

    I blinked at them, my irritation growing. “And no one thought to mention this to me before now?” I snapped, my voice sharp. “I’ve been lying here like a damn invalid, and you all decided I didn’t need to know what’s going on?”

    La snorted. “They probably thought you’d freak out. Which, to be fair, you are.”

    “Oh, shut up,” I muttered under my breath.

    Ryder sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Jasmine, you were unconscious. Healing. I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”

    “Oh, how thoughtful of you,” I shot back, my tone dripping with sarcasm. “Because I clearly don’t have a right to know who’s trying to kill me.”

    Wait, what? Was it just me being rude, or was something in me making me act this way?

    His eyes darkened, and for a moment, I saw the alpha in him—the one whomanded armies and made grown men tremble. But I wasn’t scared of him. I never had been.

    “You’re right,” he said finally, his voice low and controlled. “I should’ve told you. But I wanted you to wake up first. I wanted you to be safe.”

    That took some of the wind out of my sails, but I wasn’t ready to let go of my anger just yet.

    Before I could retort, a sudden wave of nausea rolled over me, and I mped a hand over my mouth.

    “Jasmine?” Ryder asked, his concern immediate as he reached for me. I batted his hand away, taking deep breaths to steady myself.

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    “I’m fine,” I muttered, though I wasn’t entirely sure that was true.

    “You’re not fine,” La said pointedly. “You feel like shit, and you know it.”

    I ignored her, but the unease in my stomach wasn’t going away. And then it hit—

    The exhaustion. The nausea. The weird emotions that didn’t feel like mine.

    “Oh, no,” I whispered, my eyes widening.

    “What?” Ryder asked, his voiceced with panic.

    I shook my head, my mind racing. It couldn’t be. I mean, it could be, but… no.

    “Oh, it is,” La said smugly. “Congrattions, you’re probably pregnant.”

    My stomach dropped. Pregnant? No. Not now. Not when I had enemies crawling out of the woodwork and my rtionship with Ryder was hanging by a thread.

    “Trust my wolf instinct, Jas. If only you had listened to me, you wouldn’t have gotten shot.”

    “Jasmine, talk to me,” Ryder said, his voice sharper now.

    I red at him, my frustration bubbling over. “You don’t get to demand anything from me right now,” I snapped. “Not when I’m still mad at you.”

    His face fell, and for a moment, he looked almost… defeated.

    “I know,” he said quietly. “But I’m trying to fix it. I’m trying to fix everything.”

    I wanted to tell him that he couldn’t fix this, that the damage was already done. But then I saw the dark circles under his eyes again, the way his shoulders sagged with exhaustion.

    He looked like hell.

    Fuck me. No, fuck this feeling. As much as I had a heart, a small part of me softened.

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