Shunned By An Alpha, Cherised By A Lycan

Chapter 284:

A lightning bolt of pain speared through my chest, claws raking through my heart.

A gasp turned into a ragged sob. My fingers clenched around Ryder’s hand, my nails probably leaving marks, but he didn’t even flinch. Because Ryder was Ryder.

The pain cranked up to an unbearable, scream-inducing level. So I screamed. It felt like something was trying to rip me apart from the inside out.

“Release her!” the witch commanded, her voice cutting through the chaos like a whip crack.

The darkness hissed back, resisting. But the witch’s power flared, a blinding light spearing through the shadows. The darkness shivered, then shattered like cheap glass. The icy weight vanished, and I sucked in a breath so deep it felt like the first real one in years.

My legs gave out, but before I hit the floor, Ryder was there, catching me, holding me close.

“It’s gone,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “The blood tie is broken.”

I barely heard him over the rush of relief. Tears blurred everything, hot and uncontrollable. The suffocating pressure was gone. Finally gone. My wolf, Layla, stirred inside me, fierce and warm, her strength wrapping around mine.

We’re free, she whispered.

Layla was back???

Layla???

A sob burst out of me, raw and messy. The tears just wouldn’t stop—a flood of anger, grief, and relief. Ryder held me tight, his fingers in my hair, his heartbeat steady against my chaos.

It’s been seconds. Maybe minutes, maybe hours. The rage inside me quieted, and then I felt someone else move closer. A hand touched my shoulder, hesitant, like they were testing a landmine. That scent—feminine and sharp with regret—hit me.

My mother. Or the woman who had the audacity to call herself that.

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“I’m Jasmine,” she whispered, her voice barely holding together. “Please…”

I turned, face streaked with tears, heart hanging by a thread. Her eyes, glistening and full of regret, locked onto mine.

“I’m so sorry,” she choked out, voice breaking. “For everything. For leaving you. For letting you suffer. I thought I was protecting you, but all I did was hurt you. And I’m so, so sorry. I was scared you were going to die. I was scared of losing you.”

The walls around my heart cracked. I wanted to scream, to tell her she was too late, that her apologies were as useful as a broken compass. But instead, all I felt was a bone-deep sadness. The dream—she truly was scared, but why didn’t she tell my supposed father, rather than give me away like I was a borrowed cookie?

Before I knew it, she pulled me into a hug—hesitant, like she expected me to push her away.

The dam shattered again. I sobbed harder, clutching her dress like a lifeline I didn’t want to need.

“Let it out,” she whispered, her hands stroking my hair. “All of it.”noveldrama

So I did. I cried for the little girl who thought she was unwanted. For the betrayals, the poison, the lies. For the years I spent feeling like I was never enough.

She held me together while I fell apart.

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