My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 131: Person of Interest

Kael

This woman.

I should have known she would bring this up regardless.

"The person of interest I notified you about earlier," Palisa continued, her gaze sweeping the table before landing deliberately on me again.

One would think that after all the mischief she has cooked up and bathed in throughout her forty-seven years of living, she should have been satisfied.

She knew Violet was here. She knew she was in my custody. And most of all, she knew how irrelevant the issue was in the grand scale of other things we had to discuss. But it was still important enough to provide her with some sort of entertainment... even if it ended in her loss or not.

Solid proof or not, that idiotic Alpha had put himself and Violet in trouble.

Palisa leaned forward slightly in her chair, her expression one of calculated interest. "The Omega from one of my packs, remember? You met Shadowpine’s Alpha."

I dragged out a lengthy sigh, letting the annoyance bleed through. "Yes, I have met him."

"What is this about?" one of the others asked.

"Whatever it is, I doubt it is relevant enough for us to discuss here," Calder clipped in, castling a sidelong glance at Palisa as he thankfully shared my sentiment. "Especially when it is coming from you."

Palisa pouted. "I don’t jest all the time. He just happens to be housing an Omega—"

"While that is interesting," I cut in, not giving her any breathing space to drop any incriminating nonsense. "I am holding the Omega until her trial later during the summit. Though, I am sure everyone will agree that now isn’t the appropriate time for such a discussion. It would be better addressed in the formal hall where all delegates are present for transparency’s sake."

Palisa’s smile didn’t falter, but I saw the slight narrowing of her eyes. She knew exactly what I was doing. Delaying. Controlling the narrative. Ensuring I couldn’t phrase things in my favour when the time came to it.

The trial was inevitable. But I would be damned if I let her control how it went.

"I am curious," Asquire spoke up, surprising everyone, me included.

That woman hadn’t said anything until now.

"We all have issues about our territories," she continued, her pale eyes fixed on Palisa. "But what is so important about an Omega for it to be presented during this summit?"

Palisa chuckled, clearly delighted that someone had taken the bait. "It is a very funny case. You will see it soon."

"All I hear is your inability to properly reign in your wolves," another Supreme Alpha cut in.

"Not at all. In fact, one of my wolves saw her." Palisa turned to look at me and I frowned.

She wasn’t lying.

"It may or may not have been her. Dark hair, unusual grey eyes—"

Wood dragged against the floor, creating a sharp striking sound that alerted all of us.

Rowan had shifted abruptly in his chair, his hand gripping the armrest tightly. His entire posture had slightly gone rigid, his expression frozen in brief shock that vanished as he started to compose himself.

His fidgety beta, Ezra, leaned closer and whispered in his ear. Rowan waved him off with the shake of his head.

Palisa aside, something has been off with Rowan for a while now.

Throughout the entire meeting, his attention had been elsewhere. Distracted. He kept glancing at me when he thought I wasn’t looking, and his expression looked troubled in a way that didn’t match his usual easygoing demeanour.

What was wrong with him?

"Rowan," I said carefully, "Is something wrong? You’ve seemed rather out of it for most of this meeting."

He blinked, seeming to come back to himself, and forced what was clearly meant to be a casual smile.

"No, nothing’s wrong," he said quickly. "I just remembered something I needed to address with my beta later. It’s not relevant to this meeting. Please, do not worry." He offered an apologetic gesture to the table. "My apologies for the distraction."

He was lying...

The timing was too convenient.

Particularly this reaction at the mere description of Violet.

The pieces were there, but I couldn’t quite make them fit together yet. Had he met her?

The thought settled uneasily in my chest, mixing with the concern that had been gnawing at me for days now.

Violet had been down since that day she went out into the city. She’d mentioned running into some wolves from Shadowpine, the pack of the bastard who had tried to kill her. While that alone would be enough to upset anyone, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to it.

Something she wasn’t telling me.

Then again, seeing them would have triggered her nerves about the upcoming trial. The accusations, the scrutiny... all of that would be enough to vex anyone, let alone someone who’d already been through as much as Violet had.

’That fool must suffer for subjecting her to this one way or the other.’

I filed the observation away for later. This wasn’t the time or place to interrogate him, but I would be having a private conversation with him before the day was through.

"Well then." I turned my attention back to the table and deliberately steering us away from the annoying conversation. "That matter can wait till later. We should move to more pressing concerns."

I caught Palisa’s eye as I spoke, holding her gaze steadily. She smiled back at me, clearly enjoying herself, but she didn’t push further.

Not yet, anyway.

"We do have more important things to hash out at the moment," Calder spoke up, his gruff voice brooking no argument as he too eyed Palisa before shifting his attention to me. "Like the fact that some of us felt a solar eclipse not too long ago that wasn’t on any calendar we keep." The seriousness in his eyes deepened as he continued. "There was also a shift in the air I could not explain, and it seemed to be coming from your territory."

I kept my shock well hidden, but I still felt amazed.

Palisa raised a hand and proceeded to talk anyway. "I also felt it, and upon further inspection, I believe it was coming from your territory. I did see pillars of light rising to the sky in the distance after all."

Calder’s eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

I stifled my rising annoyance.

I had already expected this, but this phenomenon was going to be a headache to explain away.