Jae slept less and less as the days went on. His nights were restless, and his days were dull. The prince's mood was dark as he sauntered down the hall. The source of his distraught was nothing other than the approach of the convention between the five strongest packs of the east. As much as Jae longed to run away from the inevitable occurrence of the convention, he could not escape his duties as prince.
The true blood had not uttered a word the past several days, and his mood only darkened. Jae's gaze was dull as he passed the blue-eyed alpha and returned to his office to continue tending to his duties for the day. Yejin released a breath when he watched the prince walk past. Yejin wanted to lift the prince's mood, but he did not know how. One wrong move and a very upset true blood would be on his tail for the remainder of the day.
The alpha shook his head and rid his mind of the possibly haunting memory that was yet to come. 'Come on, Yej, you have to do something. You can't let Jae stay like this. He's going to blow at some point.' The alpha berated himself for going this long without helping his friend and prince.
Yejin sucked in his breath and prayed to the moon goddess for his safety before starting after the prince. Jae was already seated behind his desk and was going over documents when Yejin entered his office. The true blood flicked his eyes up at the alpha for a split second before returning to the paper in his hands.
"What is it, Yej?" The prince's voice was low and tired, and he did not move his attention from the document when the alpha came to stand before his desk.
"How busy are you?" Yejin inquired as he looked down at the sitting true blood.
"Why do you ask?" Jae returned, his eyes still on the document in his hands.
"Can you spare a moment?"
The prince let out a huff as he tossed the document on his desk and began, "Yej, what-"
Yejin was quick to cut off the prince. Jae was getting agitated, so he needed to provide his reasoning for the pestering. "Race me."
The prince knit his brows at the alpha's request. "Yej, I can't just up and play with you. I have duties," Jae said as he reached his hand out toward the document.
"If you won't race me, spar me," the alpha insisted as he leaned down and placed his hand on top of the cluster of papers, stopping Jae from picking up the document. The prince released a soft scoff and leaned back in his chair. "I just told you I can't. Why are you so persistent today?" The true blood ran his fingers through his dark hair and let out a breath as he looked up at the alpha with bewilderment. "What is going on?"
"Race me, and I'll tell you."
"Yejin-"
"Do you want to know or not?" The alpha hoped the lure would be enough to pull the true blood out of the castle and into some good ole' nature. There was, in fact, something of importance Yejin needed to tell Jae, so he decided to use it to his advantage.
"How important is it? Must I race you?" The true blood inquired as he placed his arms on the wooden desk in front of him.
"Ae, you must." Yejin did not waver from his decision to have the prince race him.
Knowing the alpha would refuse to tell him the information he was holding unless he raced him, Jae finally agreed to Yejin's terms. "Very well, I will race you. But once I catch you, you must tell me." Jae lifted his finger and pointed at the alpha to emphasize his one condition.
Yejin tilted his head in a shallow bow as a show of compliance to the prince's agreement. "Of course."
"Okay, then," Jae sounded and stood to his feet. "Let's get this over with."
Yejin lifted up a silent prayer to the moon goddess before following the true blood out of his office. The prince was known for being vigorous when it came to races, and Yejin had received the brunt of it as Jae's friend and right hand. 'Please don't let me die, Moong Goddess.' Yejin was exaggerating to the moon goddess, but he did genuinely fear for his safety. Jae was a ruthless pursuer.
The true blood remained in the lead as the two made their way out of the castle and to the wide field north of the palace that separated the castle from the dense forest. The true blood and alpha came to a stop at the edge of the field before shifting into their wolves.
'You had better not regret this.' The prince's large, black wolf linked Yejin's dark brown wolf as it turned to face the forest. 'I will not go easy on you today.'
Shivers ran down Yejin's spine at the prince's warning. 'I'm gonna die, I know it.' The alpha's internal thought was halted by the true blood beginning the countdown.
'Three.'
'Two.' Yejin threw away all thoughts of backing down as he voiced the second number through the link. He needed to last as long as he could. He needed Jae to blow off as much steam as possible. Yejin knew Jae was irritated at the moment, but the alpha hoped that after a good run the prince would have released some of the pent-up emotions and energy and would feel better. Therefore, the alpha was ready to give his all. He would race the prince to the best of his abilities and hope he would come out relatively alive.
The alpha and true blood readied themselves as they both voiced the final number. 'One.'