My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 171: New Shores

Violet

I felt numb.

We moved through the port in silence, and I kept my eyes fixed ahead, refusing to let them drift toward him.

The same way I had been trying to do so on the ship.

The past two days at the sea had been odd. He had also been quiet.

And the worst part was that I felt hurt that he was hurt.

I couldn’t bear to look at him because of it.

I wasn’t sure how exactly he had known what had been going through my mind at that moment. And him asking me about Kael had stunned me because I truly was thinking about Kael, alongside the fact that I ended up failing to shake Rowan off.

The moment I had seen the flash of pain cross his face, something in my chest had twisted sharply.

I shouldn’t have cared, and I didn’t want to. But I did.

And that realization had sent me spiralling into a decision I had made somewhere in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by nothing but water and the relentless pull of two bonds I never asked for.

I had actively decided to block it out.

Because this was not why I was here.

I came for the pull, the ruins or whatever was waiting for me at the end of my destination. I hoped to get answers out of it.

That was my focus. That was all that mattered.

But even as I told myself that, a bitter thought crept in.

Why was I being tortured with more than one mate bond?

I shook my head sharply. It didn’t matter.

If it came down to the point that I could no longer handle this, I would have to reject him.

I glanced up to see his back as the decision settled over me with a strange kind of finality.

He was a Supreme Alpha. Strong, powerful, with abilities and many resources. Surely the rejection wouldn’t harm him the way Damon’s rejection had nearly destroyed me. He could at least withstand it without collapsing or feeling like his entire world had shattered.

And if it did affect him or caused him so much pain to that degree... along with whatever weakness or consequences that came with severing a mate bond, I would not mind helping him.

I owed him that much, at least.

I didn’t care if the rejection affected me too.

I had survived Damon’s rejection. I could survive another one.

The pull in my chest was what I needed to focus on. Everything else were just miserable distractions.

’Then again, this is strangely easier to navigate than how it was with Kael...’

Or was it because I cared about someone else now?

"Violet?"

Rowan’s voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I blinked, suddenly aware that my legs had just been moving on their own through the bustling crowd.

I turned to look at him, and immediately regretted it.

He looked tired, but something in his eyes had changed. Quiet and resigned, like he had accepted something painful and was simply carrying it now.

And I knew what it was.

"Do you want to rest for the night?" he asked gently. "It would be good after spending all that time at sea."

I paused, actually checking my body for the first time since we had gotten off the ship.

We hadn’t exactly slept on proper beds and I had for the first time, slept sitting upright like that. But I only felt a bit stiff. It was something I could barely notice and we could still keep going regardless.

Did we even need to stop?

"You were in such a hurry to have us cross that night and now you want us to rest?" I asked him, unable to help the slight irritation creeping into my voice. "And I don’t necessarily feel tired..."

He scratched his jaw and sighed, glancing at some of the wolves passing by. "I know, but a night’s rest would not hurt. We also have a long journey ahead of us. Even if we aren’t entirely exhausted, it isn’t proper to wait until our body breaks down completely before we have to give it adequate rest."

I couldn’t help but think about the incident that led us to Mira’s house in the first place.

Even if he was referencing it or not, I silently grumbled.

He was right.

"Then where would we stay?" I asked him.

"We are in the territory of Ascalone," he answered, still glancing around the port with a thoughtful look. "Their capital has a lot of inns and taverns. We should be able to find one to stay in."

I didn’t understand what he meant by an inn or tavern, but I guessed it was more or less a place visitors could sleep...?

I looked around.

This place was even more crowded than the one we left that night. I didn’t see any buildings in sight, there was only a massive tall wall of rock facing the beach where we stood. On a far end of the rocky wall was a dense forest and at the other end, the wall seemed to slope downwards and I could see wolves going and coming down that turn.

"The capital is on top of the cliff. You can’t see it from here."

Is that what it was?

"What about the Supreme Alpha?" I asked carefully. "Are they... here?"

He shook his head. "Their ships are still at the port in Orpal. They haven’t arrived yet... or likely won’t for the next few days at least."

His forehead wrinkled slightly, and he mumbled something under his breath.

Something about the situation being strange.

The pull was slightly stronger here than it had been at Orpal’s capital, and I followed it without thinking.

"Violet?"

Rowan’s voice stopped me, and I turned to find his body angled in the opposite direction.

’Oh...’

I had literally turned to head for the trees while he was going where the others were passing.

"You can’t get to the capital that way." He walked up to me. "It’s heavily patrolled. We need to go around."