My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 23: Unwanted Attention

Violet

Walking onto the dry land of his estate grounds made me realise just how large it was. The structure only had three floors, but was large and stretched out to encompass almost the whole clearing. A sparse forest surrounded the estate on all sides, making me understand exactly why I hadn’t been able to see into the distance through the windows.

We made our way through the forest which would eventually lead to the inner district of the capital itself.

I leaned against a tree, pausing to catch my breath. Lyra had said we weren’t far from the main settlement, but it felt like we had been walking in circles.

Suddenly, I heard sounds. Movement. Chatter. Activities.

"See? We’re already here?" Lyra said beside me, her voice warm with excitement. "It’s beautiful, isn’t it?"

"What?" I looked ahead.

A short distance ahead, I could faintly make out structures and moving figures. My body immediately seized and blood rushed to my ears. It looked like there were a lot of people. They were minding their business, but I knew very well how much that would change the moment I walked into their midst... and that was if some of them hadn’t already noticed me.

All of a sudden, I could envision the hateful gazes.

’Stop it! This isn’t Shadowpine!’

"Violet?"

My pulse hammered violently in my ears.

’Get a grip of yourself.’

"Give me a second," I breathed out, squeezing my eyes shut to dispel the nauseating feeling that had consumed me.

"Are you alright?"

The woods back home flashed at the back of my mind. The crowd. The numerous eyes watching me, including the ones I couldn’t see in the woods. A sharp pain pricked at my temple.

"I’ll go look for madam, you don’t look well—"

Without looking, my arm latched out, and within a split second, I was clutching onto her wrist in a tight grip.

I took in a steady breath and straightened, opening my eyes to look at her. She seemed scared.

"I’m sorry for worrying you. I am... alright now." I shook my head and let go of her, closing my eyes once again as I leaned my back against the trunk of the tree. "Please give me a moment."

"O... okay."

I blinked, clearing away the cloudy fog from my mind. I then directed an apologetic smile towards Lyra.

"Please, forgive me. I just had a dizzying spell. I’m fine."

She nodded, not entirely believing me. "We won’t spend long. I was just told to show you around the inner district. It is very large, so we won’t explore the whole place."

I only nodded and pushed myself off the tree.

The moment we reached the end of the treeline, the inner district stretched out before us like something out of a dream. It was vastly different from what I was familiar with. Stone buildings rose alongside old trees with very thick branches that formed natural canopies over the streets. Vines crawled up walls in a strangely organized manner and flowers I had never seen before sprouted from its green stalks.

There was union of structure and greenery that I never imagined was possible. Houses in Shadowpine were just arranged within the woods itself and in clearings, but here, both seemed to merge together.

A lot of the structures seemed to be as old as the nearby trees, but still looked well maintained. Shops lined certain pathways, a number of people walked barefoot across cobblestone paths, and others trampled around in their wolf forms.

"Welcome to Fresna’s capital."

I finally looked at Lyra and saw a beaming smile on her face. She looked like a child showing off something they were proud off.

"It’s beautiful," I murmured, looking back at the surrounding area.

A few eyes turned our way and I tried my best to ignore them, hoping the other wolves were too preoccupied to notice me.

Lyra started walking again, and I followed, my eyes darting everywhere at once. Flower boxes adorned some windows. More vines climbed walls in neat patterns, and small streams ran alongside the streets, their water clear enough to see smooth pebbles at the bottom.’

Lyra was speaking, but her words seemed to fade. The further we walked in, the more wolves appeared.

They were everywhere.

Hundreds of them.

Many in their wolf forms too.

They walked in groups, chatted near shops and homes, trained in open courtyards, both in their wolf and human forms. Some seemed to patrol the area, others carried baskets of goods, and children darted between adults, laughing.

A bustling society.

"How many wolves live here?" I stuck to Lyra’s side.

"In the inner district? About ten to twelve thousand, I think. The outer district of the capital has more... maybe fifty thousand total."

Fifty thousand.

Fifty thousand?!

Shadowpine had barely three thousand pack members.

My face went numb.

All these wolves were within his domain, and he reigned over them all. This was merely just the inner district of his nation’s capital, and then after the outer one, there were surely the numerous packs scattered all over the nation.

And they all answered to Kael.

If it didn’t register to me before, it surely did now.

The sheer magnitude of his power and authority.

’I have been too sheltered.’

I was still processing this when I realized some conversations nearby had paused. It was barely noticeable, to the extent that Lyra didn’t seem to notice either. Amongst the bustling crowd going about their business, several wolves had stopped mid-sentence, their attention shifting to us. To me.

My pace slowed. Lyra seemed too busy watching the sparring wolves.

Eyes followed our movement. They were not hostile, neither were they curious, but mocking.

I didn’t have to strain my hearing. Faint snippets of conversation crept into my ears as everything else faded into background noise.

"That’s her?"

"You sure she’s an omega?"

"She seems... no... rank..."

"Lord Kael’s..." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"What is she even doing here? Wandering around like she owns the place."

The last words were louder. Purposefully loud.

And it drew a few more set of stares.