Chapter 677: THE DISTANT LAND PACK
We left the inn just as the sky finished turning gold.
The streets were quieter than the night before, merchants only beginning to set up their stalls, smoke curling lazily from chimneys as breakfast fires were lit. The distant lands looked softer in the early light less dangerous, almost mind but I didn’t trust it.
I pulled my cloak tighter around my body, instinctively shielding my stomach.
Every step felt heavier than the last.
Otto walked slightly ahead of me, his shoulders squared, eyes scanning the road as if expecting danger to leap out from the shadows.
He carried the bag with his books slung across his back and his staff strapped at his side. He looked like a man who had prepared for this moment for years.
Well he truly did.
After all, Otto had said it.
This was going to be proof to all his peers and everyone that he wasn’t crazy.
That his wolf going rabid was not in vain.
In a way we were both people who were trying to redeem our past and proof to ourselves that we could look forward.
I needed to find my family and find my peace.
Find an explanation to my roots.
Understand why I was nothing like an unshifted wolf
I looked like a woman trying not to break in half.
The farther we walked, the more I felt it.
A pressure.
Low.
Deep.
Like something inside me was stretching… pushing… testing the limits of my body.
I slowed.
Otto noticed immediately.
“Jasmine?” he asked quietly, turning back. “Are you-
“I’m fine,” I said quickly, forcing my feet to keep moving. “Just… slow.”
He didn’t argue this time.
We followed the main road out of the outskirts, the land rising gradually as stone replaced dirt beneath our boots.
Tall walls appeared in the distance ancient, weathered, etched with markings I didn’t recognize. Wolves moved in and out of massive gates, some armored, others dressed plainly, all carrying themselves with a confidence that made my spine prickle.
This wasn’t like the royal pack.
This place felt… older.
Sharper.
The air itself felt heavier, charged with something unspoken.
“That’s the city center,” Otto said under his breath. “And beyond that… that should be the pack house.”
I stopped walking.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
This was it.
Somewhere inside those walls were answers I had been running toward my entire life.
Where Bale’s brother was expected to be somewhere her.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Bale had exiled his brother here or done worse.
He was a monster.
But this was it.
I felt the anxiety in my palms and the my stomach flipped.
I pressed my hand to my stomach again, grounding myself.
“I can do this,” I whispered more to myself than to him.
Otto turned fully to me then, his gaze steady. “You don’t have to be strong all the time.”
I met his eyes.
“Yes,” I said softly. “I do.”
Because no one else would be.
We reached the gates just as the sun fully crested the horizon.
Two guards stepped forward immediately, both tall, both scarred, both watching us like predators deciding whether we were worth the effort.
“Halt,” one of them said. “State your purpose.”
Otto didn’t hesitate.
“I am a wandering rapid wolf,” he said evenly.”
The guard sneered and quickly shifted his hands to a claw in repulsion.
Otto went on very gently while My heart skipped in fear.
“I seek healing and passage. My wife is with child. We need somewhere to rest.”
The word wife landed strangely in my chest.
The guards’ eyes flicked to me then.
And lingered.
I hated how exposed I suddenly felt.
“How far along?” the second guard asked.
I swallowed. “Close.”
That was all I managed.
The first guard’s gaze narrowed slightly, then softened not with pity, but with something close to respect.
“Pregnant travelers are granted entry,” he said. “You’ll be escorted to the healer. If not for her you would have been killed here on the spot.”
He sneered at Otto.
Relief washed through me so sharply my knees almost buckled.
Otto exhaled slowly beside me.
We were led through the gates and into the heart of the city.
It was bigger than anything I’d imagined.
Stone buildings stacked against one another, bridges arching overhead, banners fluttering from high towers. Wolves of all kinds moved through the streets different accents, different clothing, different scents. I felt small. Very small.
And yet…
Something inside me stirred.
A pull.
Like the land itself recognized me.
I felt another sharp kick stronger this time and I gasped softly, bending forward instinctively.
Otto was at my side in an instant.
“That’s not just a kick,” he said quietly.
“No,” I whispered. “It’s… pressure.”
The escort slowed, glancing back. “You should hurry. The healer will want to see her immediately.”
I nodded, biting down on the fear crawling up my throat.
As we walked deeper into the city, one thought echoed louder than all the rest:
If my mother had walked these streets once…
If her blood ran in the people around me…
Then this place would either save me
Or break me completely.
I tightened my grip on Otto’s sleeve.
“Whatever happens,” I murmured, “don’t let them take my baby.”
His hand covered mine without hesitation.
“I won’t,” he said firmly. “I swear it.”
And for the first time since the dream
I believed someone.
“Where can we find the healer?” Xaden said a he grabbed a nearby innocent servant.
She jumped in fright and gave him the directions.
Otto didn’t bother a thank you, he hastened to lead me towards the healer’s door.
As we both rushed out of towards the healer’s room, we stepped into the large foyer of the great pack hall.
Right in the center of the room at highest hall, was a large painting of a man with blonde hair.
A man so handsome that my heart skipped.
He had a perfect jaw and was perhaps around the age of twenty seven when it had been taken.
I closed my eyes and opened again.
At that moment I knew he was Bale’s brother.