My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 64: The Man With The Scar

Violet

"The man. The one with the scar." Ila pointed at her jaw. "He’s the son of one of the Council lords."

My stomach dropped and I frowned. "I don’t know him, and I didn’t—"

"You didn’t do anything. I heard you went out to the Inner district with Lyra at some point. He’s one of those who insulted you when you were there." Ila relaxed in her seat with a sigh. "Apparently, Lyra reported it to Kael."

Slow realization dawned on me as I remembered that day. The whispers.

I straightened in my seat, a bit confused.

I knew I had heard some things, but I could not recall any insult that would—

"I know what you might be thinking," Ila’s words disrupted my thoughts and I glanced at her. "I was there. He actually said other things about you." She then rolled her eyes. "And then the obtuse fool was shocked Kael ripped out his jaw."

The world seemed to tip slightly.

I whispered. "He... what?"

Kael did that?

Ila held my gaze, speaking casually, "He ripped his jaw cleanly off his face, in front of his father too and the other council lords too."

Ila scratched her hair. The way she spoke like it was a normal casual occurrence instilled a strange horror within me... and another feeling I stubbornly didn’t want to acknowledge.

I tried visualizing Kael ripping off someone’s jaw.

"You mean, he removed his jaw from his face, and didn’t dislocate it?" I asked, my voice a bit shaky.

"Don’t worry. The healer took care of it. Even though it took extensive healing to repair, Corin’s body will handle the rest."

"But... he just talked," I whispered, my mind still trying to register the brutality of this.

Ila stared at me for a long moment. "He insulted his Supreme Alpha’s mate to his face. At the very least, he should have had the tact to mind his words."

"But they don’t know I am his mate..."

"It was already bold of him to admit what he said and claim he said nothing but the truth. That was fine, but he promptly proceeded to follow with insults. Especially after Kael had made it clear weeks ago that he would not tolerate disrespect towards you."

Kael had done that. Because someone had insulted me.

My hands were shaking slightly. I clasped them together tightly in my lap.

My throat tightened.

I was happy. Pleased he defended me in his own way.

But a faint sense of disgust lingered. This was too extreme.

I was both horrified and satisfied. I did not like the feeling.

"This might clearly be unsettling for you, but you do realise Supreme Alphas are not just there for show."

Ila stared, observing my reaction.

I knew Kael was dangerous. Even powerful. I had noticed it when we first met.

But hearing it stated so plainly, what he had done, and what he was capable of, made me realise the full extent of his strength, despite the gentle side he showed me.

"Since he can’t direct the hate to Kael, he must resent you for what happened even if it was a result of his foolishness." My attention jerked to Ila as she started talking, "Don’t worry about Corin, I’ll talk to him. Also, he may be resentful, but he won’t act on it."

I leaned back, my mind still reeling from it.

Trees passed by in a blur and for a while, it pulled me into a soft trance.

A small shiver still crawled along my spine. I could almost picture it. Kael’s hand, the same gentle touch was capable of such effortless brutality.

’Stop thinking about it...’

I looked back towards Ila.

Her elbow was propped up on the back rest of the bench, and her face rested on her knuckled fist as she seemingly stared at the window too.

As if noticing my look, her eyes drifted towards me.

Come to think of it...

"Why aren’t you traveling with the others? In wolf form?" I asked.

The journey would be faster for her that way, surely. And the carriage didn’t seem to be carrying any extra unnecessary luggage.

Ila’s expression softened. "How else would you have made it to the outer district?"

I closed my eyes briefly, embarrassed. "That was a silly question. I should have known."

"It’s fine. You can’t shift," she said gently, without judgement. "And aside it being a bit disrespectful to ride another wolf as a grown adult, I thought it might be better if you didn’t draw more attention than necessary when we arrive at the outer district."

My chest tightened unexpectedly. It was such a small thing, but it touched me more than I wanted to admit.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

She waved a hand dismissively. "Don’t worry about it. I just partly prepared it for you. I’ve been working tirelessly these past weeks. I wanted some rest during the brief journey." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

I studied her carefully. She didn’t look tired at all. In fact, she still looked perfectly energized, and her eyes were bright and alert.

"Are there a lot of Omegas in the outer district?"

There was a strange look in Ila’s eyes that faded just as quickly as it had appeared.

She smiled faintly. "If you’re worried about unnecessary attention, it will be less than you think." She looked out the window, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Omegas aren’t common in the capital, but they do exist there. You won’t stand out quite as starkly as you did here in the inner district, where everyone knows their rank."

Ila turned to look at me. She took her arm off the rest and leaned forward. "And truthfully, I can barely smell any Omega scent from you anymore. Or anything for that matter. Many wolves won’t notice, but at worst, the perceptive ones would not be sure of your rank." She smiled. "I don’t know if you can see it, but you are vastly different from before."

I went still, her words sinking in.

She wasn’t wrong. That constant undercurrent of vulnerability, that scent marker that had followed me my entire life... it was almost gone.

I flexed my fingers in my lap, feeling the familiar pulse of energy beneath my skin.

I had been too focused on the syzygy and improving my abilities to realise just how much I was changing.

Ila grinned. "Hold your head high. You are stronger than you think."