My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 211: Still Waters

[Warning: Mixed POV]

- Rowan -

The water shimmered beneath from the blue glow, and it looked very inviting, reminding me of how filthy I felt. We still hadn’t been able to take a shower at the old lady’s place either.

Violet knelt at the edge of the pool and cupped some in her hands, bringing it to her nose. She frowned slightly at the scent.

I doubted it was drinkable water. I could smell the minerals all the way from here.

"Let me." I crouched beside her, dipped my finger into the water and tasted it.

The mineral taste hit my tongue with a sharp metallic sensation.

"I don’t think this is something we will be able to drink," she said, and I nodded. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

She was right, and it was clear as day that the water tasted this way because of the glowing crystals at the base.

"But I guess we could bathe in it. It’s safe for that."

She looked down at herself, and I followed her gaze without meaning to. Her clothes were rumpled and stained with the dust of the market. Her hair had come loose from its tie, strands clinging to her neck.

She looked exhausted.

And beautiful.

She caught me looking and before I could see another look of discomfort reflect on her face, I looked away quickly.

"You can go first." I got to my feet, turning away. "I’ll keep watch at the entrance. Will be facing the passage to make sure no one comes in."

"Alright... Thank you."

I walked to the narrow opening where we had entered through, grateful for the excuse to put some distance between us.

I went outward a bit, positioning myself with my back to the cave. The passage stretched ahead, dim and empty. The sounds of the city were faint here, barely a hum in the distance.

It didn’t take long for the soft rustle of fabric to disrupt my focus.

I stared at the stone wall ahead, counting the cracks, the variations in colour, anything to occupy my mind.

The sound of water reached me as she stepped in.

I closed my eyes and my mind immediately began to paint pictures I had no right to imagine.

I wondered how her skin would catch the blue glow in the water. I had seen her before, though not clearly enough. When I had woken from the poison to find her passed out beside me, drenched in my sweat, I hadn’t been able to leave her like that.

She had been exhausted due to caring for me, and she was soaked through. I don’t think anyone would be able to sleep comfortably drenched in sweat like that.

Especially someone else’s.

I still wasn’t entirely sure why I had done it but I’d tried not to look. Kept my eyes averted as much as possible while I peeled the damp fabric away from her skin and replaced it with something dry. But fragments had slipped through anyway.

The curve of her shoulder, the dip of her waist, and the way her chest rose and fell with each sleeping breath.

But now those fragments, with the sounds I was listening to at the moment, made my imagination fill in the rest.

I stifled a groan and buried my face in my hands, steeling in every form of resolve I could summon.

’I wish I was there.’

My wolf chuckled and I forced myself to focus somewhere else before he started disturbing me.

I thought about the market instead. Getting money was a far pressing issue at the moment. The thought of dancing slipped into my mind once again and it unfortunately didn’t help.

The dance just made me think of bodies pressed together.

I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste copper.

The splashing had stopped.

I heard her rise from the water, along with the drip of droplets falling from her body onto stone. Then there was the faint rustle as she dried herself and started to dress up.

Each sound was a small torture.

"I’m done," she called out.

I took a breath. Then another.

I made my way back in when I was sane enough and I still wasn’t prepared.

Her hair was wet, clinging to the nape of her neck and the sides of her face in small tendrils. She looked so lovely with her hair cropped short. Even better with it wet. Her skin was still damp, glistening faintly in the blue light. Water trailed down her throat, disappearing beneath the collar of her fresh shirt.

My eyes traced the path of a single droplet before I could stop myself.

I snapped my gaze back to her face.

She was watching me with a stunned expression and she too looked away.

- Violet -

We had both cleaned ourselves, and we were now against the wall, eyeing the water.

"The dance," Rowan spoke up, eventually breaking the silence.

I looked at him.

He was staring at the pool, but I could tell his mind was elsewhere.

"It could be a way to earn money," he continued. "The coins they were throwing. If we learned it, we could do the same. I could get a sense of what some coins were worth from conversations during that space."

My eyes widened and a shiver crept across my skin. "You want us to dance? Like that?"

"It might be a faster way to earn." He finally met my eyes. "And don’t worry, we won’t necessarily dance like that."

I slightly inched away from him, my chest stirring at the memory of how close those dancers had been. Their bodies had moved so close together and his hands had just travelled carelessly all over her body.

I immediately banished the thought as I pictured Rowan and I together.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, frowning.

"We could think of something else," I muttered. "And I don’t even know how to dance."

"I could teach you."

His low words hung in the air between us.

He said it simply, like it was the most reasonable thing in the world. And as if teaching me to press my body against his and move in perfect synchronization was no different from teaching me to read a map.

"It’s not as complex as it looks," he added. "The basic steps are simple. The rest is just feeling the rhythm. Moving together."

Moving together.

I spared a glance at him and went still to find him staring at me.

The blue light played across his features, softening the angles of his face. His green eyes looked darker and deeper here.

Something in my chest shifted.

I did not like this.

I looked away and got to my feet. "I—"

"I might be wrong, but I think it really does pay a lot. From what I noticed at similar stands on our way here, a small percentage goes to those wolves watching the coin box and I guess there has to be some sort of payment for the stand. The more money we get, the quicker we find a way out of here..."

I was about to completely banish the idea but I paused to think.

He had really thought this over.

I wasn’t sure about remaining here either. I had mixed feelings about the place but was still very surprised to have seen Omegas moving about without a care, and it had been a beautiful thing to witness.

But the thought of being trapped here did not feel pleasant at all. I especially still needed to follow the pull towards where I was going.

"We would need clothes," I gritted out. "And I am sure that costs money too. Normal clothes like what is worn here to blend in, and the ones to... dance in. The dancers were dressed differently than anyone else."

Was I trying to dissuade him or give him ideas at this point?

"Yes, that makes sense."

My throat felt dry and I looked to find him staring into the water once again.

He was smiling.

It was a small thing, just a slight curve of his lips, but it made something warm unfurl in my stomach.

What was happening?!