How To Lose Your Billionaire Alpha Husband In 365 Days (Or Less)!-Chapter 51: In Her Mindscape...

AIDEN’S POV

"You ready for this, Alpha?"

Ace’s voice rumbled in my head the moment my claws touched Jasmine’s skin.

"Do I have a choice?" I replied tightly.

"You always have a choice. But this one? You’re already hers. You’ve been hers since the second she looked at you like you weren’t just another cursed wolf."

"Then we’re doing this."

As my claws pierced the base of her neck, everything disappeared.

The room. The couch. Alara’s voice.

Gone.

All I could hear was Jasmine’s heartbeat, thundering through our bond like a war drum.

Everything was replaced by a blinding surge of raw, incandescent light that yanked me off my feet and into the void.

I wasn’t falling.

I was being pulled.

Dragged.

Until—

I landed hard, boots skidding on slick pavement. Rain pelted down in icy sheets. Thunder cracked in the sky overhead.

The smell of burning rubber, blood, and ozone hit me all at once.

The road beneath my feet shimmered with oil and stormwater.

"This is it," Ace murmured. "The night."

I didn’t need him to tell me.

I felt it in my bones.

The night of the accident.

Headlights screamed through the rain. I turned just in time to see a silver sedan veer around a bend, tires skidding, engine howling. Inside were two adults and a child’s silhouette in the back.

Jasmine.

There was a blur of movement.

Something massive and hulking leapt from the shadows of the trees, a werewolf with glowing red eyes and claws like razors. It slammed into the side of the car.

Glass shattered. Metal screamed.

The vehicle flipped, once, twice, then skidded into a muddy ditch.

My chest caved in with the sound.

"No, no, no—" I ran, splashing through rain and wreckage.

From the mangled car, a small shape crawled free.

Jasmine.

She looked so small, bloodied, and visibly shaking. Her collarbone was bleeding, right over the place where her scar now lived.

She was so small. So vulnerable. It twisted something deep in my gut.

Then, her mother stumbled out—her long white hair soaked, her robes shredded. Lunar energy crackled around her fingers.

"High Priestess," I muttered, recognising the Silverline sigils etched faintly into her sleeves.

A massive man followed, half-shifted. Eyes like midnight. Claws out. The Dark Alpha. Her father.

A huge man followed, partially transformed. His eyes were as dark as night, filled with a powerful intensity that you couldn’t miss. His claws were also out, ready for action.

I had only heard stories about him before, but seeing him in person was something else entirely. The tales didn’t do him justice: he was The Dark Alpha, and he was her father.

The rogue wolf lunged again, and he met it head-on.

Their clash was brutal, more animal than war. Blood sprayed. Fur ripped. Bone cracked. Magic shrieked in the air.

"Run, Jazz!" her mother shouted, scooping up the child. "We have to run, baby."

"No!" Jasmine cried, reaching back. "Daddy!"

But her mother held tight, sprinting into the forest with her in her arms. Behind them, her father roared one last time.

Suddenly, there was silence.

Then came a disturbing crunch.

But it wasn’t his crunch; not the Dark Alpha.

The rogue twitched once, then crumpled beneath the weight of Jasmine’s father. A final snarl escaped its torn throat, followed by silence.

The Dark Alpha stood over it, blood dripping from his claws, chest heaving. His body was torn, bitten, and soaked in rain, but not broken.

Ace’s breath in my mind rumbled low with respect. "Damn. That’s a true Alpha."

I couldn’t look away.

"Come on!" the High Priestess called, holding Jasmine close to her chest, her arms shaking. "Graham, we don’t have time. They’ll send more!"

The Dark Alpha—Graham—nodded once and broke into a run, flanking them. His sharp eyes scanned the treeline as if he could sense the storm already forming in the distance.

The forest swallowed them whole.

As I followed, the branches brushed against me, but I stayed hidden like a ghost clinging to Jasmine’s memory. Everything around me felt blurry, as if the scene were fading away like an old film reel coming apart.

Ahead, the trees opened to a moonlit, ancient, and sacred clearing. Etched stones surrounded a flat centre where the ground pulsed faintly with lunar energy.

Her mother panted as she set Jasmine down gently. "Her blood, her scent... It’s drawing them towards her."

"She’s not ready," Graham replied, scanning the woods. "She hasn’t even shifted."

"She doesn’t need to. Not for this."

"She’s too young," he growled.

"She won’t survive if we don’t do it now," her voice cracked. "You saw what that rogue was. We’re not just being hunted; we’re being hunted by those who know what she is."

Jasmine whimpered behind her, clutching her own bleeding collarbone.

The High Priestess took a breath and stood, eyes glowing with moonlight. "We seal it. Now."

Graham’s jaw clenched.

Then he turned without a word and stalked toward the treeline. His body pulsed with energy as he shifted further, claws sharpening, bones popping, and muscles expanding.

"I’ll make sure you’re not interrupted," he said without looking back.

Then he vanished.

Jasmine’s mother wasted no time.

She knelt in the centre of the clearing, drawing a thick rune in the dirt with her own blood, murmuring words I didn’t understand. The power in them vibrated through my bones.

Jasmine lay flat on the stone now, eyes fluttering, chest rising and falling in panicked little gasps.

"I know, baby," her mother whispered, voice breaking as her hands hovered above the wound. "I know it hurts. I wish I could carry this for you."

Her hands began to glow, silver and violet, and the light twisted into sigils that floated above Jasmine’s body.

A wind rose. The trees bent.

And far in the distance, a growl.

No. Multiple growls.

"They’re here," Ace said.

A moment later, Graham’s snarl echoed, accompanied by an unearthly crack of thunder.

He was already fighting.

The High Priestess didn’t stop. Her voice rose as she chanted. "In the name of moon and blood, we bind the wolf! We bind the light! Let her be hidden until the time is right!"

Jasmine cried out as the seal began to form, glowing lines snaking from her chest outward like veins of fire.

Another crash. A scream. Metal. Bone.

And still, her mother kept going.

"By the night we love and the life we give, let her power sleep until the blood moon rises."

Another explosion of light. The rune blazed into her skin, forming a crescent shape just above her collarbone.

Jasmine went limp.

"It’s done," her mother whispered, collapsing beside her.

But there was no rest.

Graham stumbled into the clearing, bloodied, eyes wild. "We don’t have time! More are coming. Three, maybe four. Trained."

Jasmine’s mother stood, her hair wild around her shoulders. "Then we finish this."

"No," he snapped. "You take her."

"I’m not leaving you again!"

"You have to," he said, grabbing her shoulders. "Take her to my brother. He’ll hide her."

"Vale?" she blinked. "You want to give her to Vale?"

"Remember our last resort plan? He’s the only one they won’t suspect. He’ll protect her."

Her face contorted, but she nodded, just once. Then she looked down at Jasmine’s small, unconscious body and lifted her carefully.

"Where will you go?" she asked.

Graham growled low. "Back the way I came. I’ll buy you time."

Another howl split the night. Closer.

He kissed Jasmine’s forehead, his fingers trembling. Next, he kissed her mother’s forehead.

"I love you both," he said.

Then he turned and ran into the trees.

I stepped forward, my claws twitching, the bond to Jasmine buzzing in my chest.

Just before the memory shimmered again, I heard her mother whisper, "Survive, Jasmine. Survive until the moon calls you home."

Everything blurred.

And then...

From the edge of the clearing, a wolf stepped into view. It wasn’t a typical wolf; this one looked like a spectral. Its fur sparkled like the stars, shining silver and giving off a majestic, almost royal presence.

It stared at me with golden eyes.

"Her wolf?" I whispered.

It growled, not at me, but like a warning. Then it turned and bolted through the trees.

"Go," Ace barked. "Don’t lose it!"

I chased, the forest twisting around me. Scenes flared like shattered glass: Jasmine at five, staring from a window. Vale speaking in cold, clipped tones. Boardrooms. Broken hearts. Her eyes locking with mine at the mansion.

She didn’t know what she was, but her soul had always carried the weight of it.

The wolf slowed before a massive door carved from obsidian, pulsing with faint lunar light.

"What is this?" I asked.

"The centre," Ace said. "Where her power lives. Where the seal is tethered."

I stepped forward.

The wolf watched me once more, then vanished like mist.

I reached out, claws still extended, and pressed them to the door.

The rune in the middle started to glow. A sharp pain shot through me. And then I heard a voice say, "Not yet, Aiden."

I froze.

The voice was hers, not child-Jasmine’s, but adult.

"I’m not ready," she said again.

The bond trembled and I staggered back.

"Jasmine?"

The door shimmered, cracking slightly. Lunar light spilled from the cracks.

"She’s holding it shut," Ace said. "But it’s weakening."

"I’m here," I said aloud, pressing my hand flat against the surface. "Jasmine, I’m here. You’re not alone."

The bond pulsed, steadying as I channelled my energy through it. The cracks held for now.

Then came the howl louder. Darker.

Shadows slithered beyond the door.

Then a whisper followed. Not Jasmine.

"Aiden!" Alara’s voice called, distant and panicked. "Pull back!"

"I can’t!" I shouted. "She’s not done yet!"

Everything blurred.

Light. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Darkness.

Then the seal pulsed again.

And I didn’t know if I was still in Jasmine’s mind...

Or lost somewhere in-between.