My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 255: Quiet Hours

Violet

I woke slowly, my cheek pressed against parchment.

For a moment, I didn’t move. The library was silent around me, and the crystal lamps still glowed steadily overhead.

I blinked, lifting my head carefully.

The scroll I had been reading was still spread beneath my hands, the unfamiliar script blurring slightly as my eyes adjusted. I must have dozed off while studying it.

I hoped I hadn’t slept for long.

My gaze drifted to the table beside mine, and I went still.

Rowan was lying on it.

He was stretched out on his back, one arm draped across his face, the other resting on his stomach. His chest rose and fell in the slow, steady rhythm of sleep.

He looked deeply asleep.

I stared at his sleeping form, surprised.

He had stayed. Even after I told him he didn’t need to.

I sat there for a long moment, watching him breathe.

The discomfort from earlier had settled into a duller sensation now.

I had sensed Nessa in his room when I was leaving Bei and the others. The awareness had puzzled me at first, before it made me uncomfortable. I found it odd how she had just entered his bedroom just like that and had stayed there until Rowan had entered.

Like an idiot, I had made the decision to race to the hallway. I didn’t know what I had been thinking or what I had been hoping to hear. But the moment I arrived there, Nessa was already stepping out.

But Telsid being in that room moments earlier had eased something in me, though I wasn’t sure why it should matter.

If Rowan had a history with Nessa...

I closed my eyes briefly.

I had no right to judge him for it or feel any sort of way about it at all. Not when I am entangled with Kael, and especially not when I had asked Rowan not to tell anyone about us.

I was in no position to demand anything from him, but it still made me sad as much as I would like it not to.

I glanced at Rowan again.

His arm still covered his face, hiding his features from view. I found myself wishing he would move it. I wanted to see his sleeping face.

The wish caught me by surprise and I immediately looked away.

What was I even thinking?

The longing startled me.

I pushed down the feeling and carefully stood, making no sound as I rose from my chair.

He had inconvenienced himself for me. I doubted the table was comfortable enough for him to sleep on, especially since it was shorter than his frame.

Guilt twisted in my stomach.

I gathered the scroll and book I had been reading earlier and moved quietly to his table, hoping he wouldn’t wake up.

It was strange how at times, he was a light sleeper and other times he slept so deeply.

I sat down on the chair beside where his head rested, close enough that I could see the slow rise and fall of his chest.

He didn’t move.

I continued from where I had left off, but once in a while, my eyes would drift towards him.

To the arm covering his face.

To the steady rhythm of his breathing.

To the warmth of his presence beside me in the quiet library.

I hoped he wouldn’t wake yet.

I wanted to stay like this a little longer.

[ - ]

The next two weeks passed in a strange rhythm.

Rowan had gotten busier, pulled in every direction by the weight of responsibilities he had neglected for months. I saw him rarely, and he was disgruntled by not being able to spend time with me which never ceased to amaze me.

I wasn’t sure anyone had ever wanted to be in my company for so long.

But I understood he was a Supreme Alpha. His territory needed him.

Before he left for a pack right beside the capital, he had promised me a full day for us to spend time with each other upon his return. He had already arranged everything, and when I tried to protest that he didn’t need to go through such trouble, he simply insisted. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

I don’t think I have ever heard such a thing about someone setting up a whole day to be with someone.

And in a sad way, it reminded me of the weeks I had spent with Kael trying to hone my syzygy.

In truth, I still missed Kael, and it was slowly alarming how much I was growing fond of Rowan.

In his absence, Telsid became my guide to the private archive. He was stoic and efficient at first, and oddly reserved around me, but he turned out to be a very warm person by that second week since Rowan had left.

I spent hours in that vast library, working through the Lycan documents one page at a time.

The space had also been an avenue for me to freely used my abilities.

Outside the archive, my days took on an unexpected pattern.

Nessa.

She appeared everywhere. In corridors when I was walking to visit Bei and the others. In courtyards when I was taking in air. In the garden I had started using as a shortcut. She would always with that bright smile, always with some reason to fall into step beside me, and start talking.

I always wondered if she had anything better to do...

It was irritating at first. I couldn’t tell if she was watching me, testing me, or simply incapable of leaving people alone.

But what truly stunned me was how quickly she charmed Bei, Ana, and Corin.

Within days, she had embedded herself in their circle like she belonged there. She made Bei laugh, traded stories with Ana, and somehow coaxed smiles out of Corin, who I had rarely seen smile at anyone. I watched it happen with a mixture of disbelief and reluctant admiration.

She was persistent, overwhelming, and far too curious about things that weren’t her business.

I still hadn’t forgotten that she had been in Rowan’s chambers that night, or the knowing smile she had worn when she left.

But she never brought it up or even hinted at it.

Why wouldn’t she just leave me alone?