My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 157: Crossing

Violet

The border markings appeared just as exhaustion finally caught up with me.

Stones spaced far apart from one another marked the edge of neutral territory. Beyond them, the forest was subtly different. The trees were more orderly, and the undergrowth seemed to have been deliberately cleared in patterns that suggested regular patrols.

We had finally arrived at Orpal’s territory.

I stopped at the boundary line, swaying slightly on my feet. My vision blurred at the edges, and I blinked hard to clear it.

This neutral zone had been larger than I had expected. I hadn’t slept for three nights in a row now. Not since he had been following me. The thought of closing my eyes with him nearby made me uncomfortable, so I simply didn’t until I had a brilliant idea after the first night with him.

If I didn’t eat or rest, maybe he would get tired first at some point. And the exhaustion could slow him down, make him vulnerable, and actually give me an opening to finally lose him when we arrived. At the very least, he would be asleep and by the time he had woken up, I would have been long gone.

The bond worked the same way as sensing someone. The distance had to be immense. I could no longer feel the pull to Kael at the moment, but I still wished to see him.

But the plan didn’t seem to be working at the moment.

Rowan was still a few paces behind me, but his footsteps were just as steady as they had been days ago.

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, trying not to make it obvious.

He looked... fine.

Alert, even. His posture was straight, his breathing even, his eyes unusually sharp as they scanned the forest ahead. There was not a single hint of fatigue in his expression.

How was that possible?

Was he truly that alert? Or was he forcing himself to stay awake, pushing through sheer willpower?

I couldn’t tell, but I hadn’t eaten much either.

Even if I wanted to eat, I didn’t have much of my appetite and I would just think of the others sometimes and wonder how they were faring.

And the occasional anger would just rise up and lodge in my chest.

I nibbled on what remained of the dried meat and flatbread from the supplies, and I had decided to eat that even while standing and moving. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

I did not give him any space or time to even go hunt for animals to eat, and he didn’t.

He hadn’t eaten for the past four days now.

And unlike me, he couldn’t draw energy from the sun or moon.

He should have been the one stumbling by now, slowed by hunger and exhaustion. Not me.

Or was it...

Come to think of it, I don’t think I had ever tested how long I could function without sleep.

’No. No. No.’

"We can stay in the neutral zones between packs in Orpal," Rowan said quietly behind me, breaking the silence that had stretched between us for hours.

I turned my attention back to the border markings, grateful for the distraction from my spinning thoughts.

He pulled something from his coat pocket. A small medallion, bronze and worn, with intricate engravings that caught the sunlight.

"It’s an honorary traveller’s talisman," he said, holding it up briefly before tucking it away. "It will mark us as someone passing through peacefully just in case we encounter any patrol guards from the Capital."

I paused and stared at the pocket where the talisman had disappeared.

He’d had that this whole time. Prepared. Ready.

Just how much had he planned for this?

I looked at the forest beyond the border and before I could even think, he had suddenly walked up to stand beside me.

I flinched and stepped away from him.

He smiled weakly, a flicker of sadness in his eyes before they disappeared and he continued, "It might take a longer time, but if we can head to the capital through the neutral zones without entering the pack lands directly."

"You are saying it is normal for wolves to travel through... the neutral zones?"

My thoughts trailed as he nodded.

I hadn’t known about that.

In Shadowpine, I had rarely seen outsiders. When travellers did pass the two times I was aware, they always went pack by pack, presenting themselves to each Alpha along the way and requesting formal passage.

But then again, there would surely have been wolves who preferred to avoid packs entirely. Wouldn’t that be more dangerous, though? Even if they didn’t come across patrols from the capital, neutral zones between packs meant fewer protections. More rogues, wild animals, and uncertain terrain.

Still, it also meant fewer eyes and less scrutiny.

And it was something I likely needed at the moment.

I considered abandoning him in a pack instead, but it would be trickier for me to get to the Capital, and he would be able to access food and rest in a pack.

I sighed, unfurling the map in my hand to look at it. "How long through the neutral zones before we get to the capital?"

"Unlike Fresna, Orpal’s capital isn’t located dead centre of the territory. So it should take us two weeks, maybe three..." He paused, his tone careful.

I weighed the options, my exhausted mind struggling to think clearly.

This was the worst time for me to do this. I could have just done this when we were close to the capital.

’Well... nothing is stopping me from doing it again when the time comes.’

But three weeks in neutral zones with him...

Three weeks of this tense silence. This constant awareness of his presence. This feeling of being watched, followed, trapped.

And the disturbing tug of the bond...

I pushed the thought aside, my anger resurfacing.

"The neutral zones are fine," I grumbled, taking heavy steps further into the territory.

As we walked, my feet started to drag. Each step took more effort than the last, and my vision kept doing that thing where it blurred at the edges, forcing me to blink rapidly to clear it.

I was drawing some energy from the sun even as I walked, why did it stop working now? Or was this my body’s way of telling me to just stop and sleep?

"Do you want to stop and rest?"