"Why Are we really here? It's barely two days to the alpha camp. I just don't get why you couldn't wait till the camp, or better yet, why choose us?
"It's not like we are professionals in whatever you are planning for us, besides, the whole of Obren knows we're unhinged, so why?" Rania said, her voice so strong and unapologetic.
Of course, Jihoon knew she would get in trouble with the king, so he stepped so hard on her feet that Rania let out a string of curses, "Fuck you, you little trinket! Why in seven hells would you do that what the fuck? Goddess, I will kill you!"
The alpha of Incayon had her blade on Jihoon's throat, and the man wasn't even shocked. It was almost like he knew this is what she would do in that position. The guards at the palace door had rushed in so fast, pointing their swords at the alphas.
Jihoon looked at Rania.
There was something about this woman, something that he needed to stay away from, and yet with every fight they had, he always felt like he needed to know more. She was a murderer because she had killed his mate.
However, Jihoon was smart enough to know that there had to be a reason why Rania did that. Sure, she was the most unhinged person he had ever met but she was also an intelligent woman who knew better than to put their peace at stake.
However, he wasn't going to get sentimental with the person who had killed the love of his life, which is why he started right into her soul, before talking to her.
"If you're not going to kill me, quit the theatrics and listen to what needs to be done. Goodness, I wonder how the fuck you became the alpha of Incayon!" Jihoon asked angrily as he stared at Rania who was not even budging.
"The same way your stupid ball-head became the alpha of the Calindra pack. I think you keep forgetting that it was I who murdered your stupid and weak mate, Yanna.
"Now if you step on my foot again, pact or not, I will slit your throat here and now, got it?" Rania said coldly, before pushing Jihoon back to his seat and getting back to hers. She however had not missed the queen's flinch when she mentioned that she had killed Jihoon's mate.
But for the moment, Rania wasn't going to think about that. She wasn't going to think too hard about what he had seen, because just as she had planned earlier, she would disappear at the alpha camp.
She wouldn't be going back home, and if this mission was her way out of Incayon, and hell be damned, Kim Rania was going to use it to escape her bindings. She loved Dalrae alright, but Incayon had never been home.
It had been her prison, the place she couldn't even breathe right in.
Maybe if she went away from the werewolf kingdom, she would have a different life, one that she would be proud of and a lie that was more peaceful than the one filled with pain, that she had been leading in Incayon.
Jihoon tried to pretend that Rania's reminder of his mate didn't affect him in any way, but even a blind man could see that it did.
It was a reminder that he had lost his love, because he hadn't protected her right. His Yanna should have been alive, and yet this spiteful woman had cut short her life, just like that, with no explanation.
The worst part of it all, was that she had done it in war, when the packs were fighting, so it was hard to believe that Yanna's death wasn't a consequence of war.
Any time he saw Rania, Jihoon remembered that this woman had taken away his happiness, so he would remind himself to never give her a quick death. He would make Kim Rania pay and maybe this mission was all he had been waiting for throughout the years.
"Straight to the point I see. Anyway, I like that," King Seojoon said, trying to ignore the amount of directness that Rania had spoken to him with. He had to remind himself that he needed their help and they didn't need his.
He had to be patient.
He needed to.
"This mission is highly classified, but you are intelligent to know that already. You two are to go to Drarun, the vampire kingdom, and find a way to talk to king Nathaniel to release my son.
"If that doesn't work, use any means possible to bring Jeon Jun-woo back home." the king said sternly. It had been years since he had seen his son, and as time went by, he wanted him, but Nathaniel had been adamant.
He was determined to make the king suffer, or rather, to make Eunbi suffer. It was a tiring expense of love, the one thing they couldn't fight against.
King Seojoon always had an army ready, but each time he was about to send them to Drarun, he could receive rogue threats, he would hear of attacks across his kingdom.
Sure, the alphas of Obren were smart and well trained, but that never stopped the attacks. It was almost like the attacks were intentional, and he always had to put the interests of the people before his own child.
So much time had truly passed and this time, Eunbi, the werewolf queen had made it clear that she would go after Nathaniel herself.
And so, the king had a choice to make, to lose two members of his family, or to seek assistance from the craziest of Obren. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he would regret this decision, but he decided not to focus on that.
As long as he got his child back.
"Sounds to me like whatever happens, we are to come back with the prince right?" Rania asked nonchalantly like she was talking about how she liked her coffee. She was intentionally ignoring the tension in the room and the skepticism of the royal guards.
She couldn't blame them though. If the woman could pull a blade on Jihoon, then she could as well pull it on the king, besides, she had nothing stopping her from doing it anyway.
"I always knew you were intelligent. Yes, that is what must happen. I don't care how you do it, or how long it takes for you to bring my son home," the king said with conviction, like he wasn't worried the woman would make an attempt at him.
The thing about Kim Rania, was that she truly had nothing to lose.
Kim Rania was simply the devil's playmate and if not, she was worse than the devil herself. Unlike Jihoon who had a conscience and cared about the people around him, Rania didn't care.
She knew for a fact that the king wouldn't dare raise a hand on Dalrae. Because if he dared, then Kim Rania would burn down the Obren kingdom without remorse.
"That's a little selfish, you know. Just swamping us with a mission, not telling us details and now you fucking don't care about what happens as long as we bring your son home? Did you ever stop to consider that we may have wanted to stay back home?
"Or maybe that we have people we care about?" Rania asked, her tone coming out harsher with every word that came out of her mouth. She hated that this man was here trying to sprout her from her very boring life and forcing her on a mission.
He could have at least asked if they wanted to do this.