My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 234: Silverwood’s Capital

Violet

It turned out the reason why the Alpha had been so unsettled around Rowan was he had just recently taken over his uncle’s position as Alpha a few months ago, and not once had he ever seen the Supreme Alpha before.

After a few private conversations with Rowan, we were set to leave again, and this time we would be headed straight for the Capital which worried me a bit since it would be a relatively far journey and we had just managed to get a proper night’s rest.

But I was even more eager to see that Bei, Ana, and Corin were safe.

Rowan shifted into his wolf form once we were out of the pack, and after climbing his back, we were off again.

He moved faster than usual. The trees became streaks of green and brown, the landscape shifting so rapidly I could barely track it. I pressed myself flat against his back, fingers buried deep in his fur, and held on.

The first day bled into the second.

I dozed at times on his back, jerking awake whenever the terrain shifted around us.

Rowan would occasionally slow down or stop to let me drink from streams or eat from our dwindling supplies, but the stops were very brief.

It seemed he was in a hurry to finally get to the capital.

And unlike before we didn’t stop at any of the nearby packs.

By the third day, I had stopped trying to track our progress.

The landscape had changed around us. The dense forests had given way to rolling hills, then back to forests again, though these trees were different. Taller. Older. Their trunks pale and smooth in a way that caught the light strangely.

White-barked trees.

They grew more numerous as we went, scattered at first, then clustering together until they dominated the forest entirely. The effect was striking, almost ethereal, especially when shafts of sunlight filtered through their branches and illuminated the pale wood.

I found myself staring despite my exhaustion.

On the fourth day, the forest thinned, and the outskirts of the Capital appeared before us.

[ - ]

I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.

The Capital sprawled across a vast valley, built into the natural rise and fall of the hills themselves. It was enormous, far larger than I had anticipated, and unlike anything I had ever seen.

Buildings climbed the slopes in layered clusters, their dark wooden frames and steep shingled roofs blending into the landscape as if they had grown there naturally.

The structures varied in size, from modest homes with glowing windows to larger buildings with multiple stories and wide balconies. Stone foundations anchored them to the hillsides, and wooden railings lined the winding paths that connected one level to the next.

A wide river cut through the middle of the city directly.

It wound between the buildings in a gentle curve, its surface catching the light and glittering like scattered gems. Stone bridges arched over the water at intervals, and some of the buildings extended out over the river itself, supported by thick stone beams driven into the riverbed.

The white-barked trees I had seen in the forest grew here too, scattered throughout the Capital. They rose between the structures, their pale trunks and green canopies providing shade and softening the edges of the architecture.

The further we went, the more I noticed.

Moss crept along some of the older stone walls, adding patches of green to the grey. Flowers spilled from window boxes and lined the edges of bridges.

Strangely enough, wolves were swimming in the water.

It felt so alive.

Following the very edge of the capital, it took hours to get to where we were going, and as we rounded a final curve in the river, I saw the large castle.

It rose at the end of the valley where the river originated from, built into the base of a towering hill. The structure was massive, its dark stone walls climbing upward in a series of towers that seemed to merge with the rocky earth behind it. Waterfalls cascaded down from somewhere high above, feeding the river that flowed through the entire city.

I held my breath. It was just as large as Kael’s own, but the structure looked very strange.

Wolves in formal attire were already gathering in the courtyard, having clearly received word of Rowan’s arrival. I could see the tension in their postures, the barely contained chaos of a household scrambling to receive their ruler after months of absence.

And among them, standing at the front with arms crossed and a foul expression, was a male wolf who looked close to Rowan in age.

He was slender, had long dark hair, and brown eyes. And from the intense power radiating off him, I had a very good guess that this was Rowan’s second beta.

Rowan slowed to a stop and I quickly slid off his back, trying to ignore the pointed stares.

I remembered some of them from the summit in Fresna and they looked horrified to see me.

Rowan shifted into his human form.

"Telsid." He raised one hand in a weak greeting. "I’m back."

I looked at him, eyes wide. Why was he so casual with them?

Telsid’s jaw was clenched so tight I could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin.

He stepped forward, dipped his head in a formal bow, and when he straightened, his expression was composed.

"Welcome home, my Lord."

The others followed suit and Rowan just raised a hand in a casual greeting, seemingly unbothered by the tension radiating off Telsid. "Good to be back."

Telsid’s gaze shifted to me, and disbelief flashed across his features.

"This is Violet." Rowan said it simply, without elaboration, and then grabbed me by my shoulders, and directed me towards the open castle doors as if the introduction were entirely complete.

Telsid’s mouth hung open.

My eyes widened.

Rowan was already walking behind me while nudging me forward.

What was happening?

"Rowan?" I whispered, a little unnerved by how carefree he was acting.

Yes, he had the power and authority to do whatever he wished, but again... what just happened?

"My Lord!" Telsid’s voice called out from behind us and Rowan sighed.

"Hold still."

Before I could understand what was happening, he lifted me in his arms, bags and all and rushed forward.