Rania watched her father walk out the door with her jaw on the floor. She couldn't believe that this was happening right now. She couldn't believe that there was a possibility that she would be sent on a mission with the man he shared so much.
Had the king never heard about the rivalries between Rania and Jihoon? Surely he wasn't blind to all that was happening in his kingdom. This was crazy. Who could have thought that this was what it all had come to?
"Dalrae, did you hear what he said too?" Rania said quietly to her best friend who was still processing what had happened. Something was not right. Someone had played the other, but who had played who?
"Rania—" Dalrae said, looking at her friend, worry filling her voice. She hadn't expected this to happen, not like this.
The worst part of the whole thing was that it was a command from the werewolf king, and as much as Kim Rania was a rebellious little shit, she knew if she declined, the king wouldn't hesitate to make Incayon pay the price.
Her fate had been sealed and she wasn't about to contest it. Besides, even if she wanted to contest it, who would she go to whine to?
Certainly not the werewolf king.
King Seojoon wasn't the kind of person to take no for an answer, so Rania just laid her head on her table, waiting to see if this was just a dark cloud hovering above her world, hoping that it would all go away eventually.
She hoped for too much and yet she knew there was nothing she could do.
"If only I had made a run for the hills earlier, I wouldn't have had to deal with whatever this is. I think I'll need that drink I've been putting off for months, Dalrae. Get the wine glasses, we might as well drown in the cellar, as this could be the last time we see each other."
If Jihoon really got the invite too, then it had to be something so serious. Of course, the king was aware of the repercussions of the alphas missing the camp, but having two alphas out of the camp two days earlier was suspicious enough.
As they drowned in the wine and got drunk, Rania's brains were working overtime. She wanted to know what could have been so important in the kingdom that the king had to pick the top alphas in the kingdom.
Granted, Rania and Jihoon hated each other, but away from their rivalry, they were by far, the best that the werewolf world had ever produced. They were strong alphas, and powerful, not to mention intelligent and calculative.
On a different scale, the two alphas were the perfect combo for a world like theirs. They could have been mated to each other, but then, given the pain they both had gone through with their mates, it was obvious they never wanted to think about that ever again.
"Maybe the king chose us because we are expendable, don't you think Dalrae. It's quite sad, how the only thing that asshat and I have together, is the emotional damages left by our mates. Maybe the king chose us because he could see we had nothing more to lose, right?"
Rania needed to know. She wanted to understand and the more she thought about it, the more the truth was almost there. She had studied the werewolf kingdom and it was true that she and Jihoon were the best in their world.
It was obvious that they were clear-minded on the battlefield no matter how harsh their personal lives were. They never mixed personal lives and their professional lives, making them the perfect attackers.
"Maybe it's about his son—" Rania continued blabbering, but her drunk friend shushed her.
"Quiet down Rania, no one knows about the king's son, and the situation he's in. If anyone knows, we will be in trouble, and we'll be asked how we knew that, and well, y'know where we got it from wasn't exactly the legal channel, yeah?" Dalrae reminded Rania.
They had eavesdropped on the king and his queen when they had come to Incayon four years ago and had been fighting to keep the secret from anyone and everyone. No one in the kingdom knew, except for the palace workers.
And obviously, the palace workers knew better than to blabber around. None of them wanted their heads on spikes and they couldn't be blamed for wanting to stay alive yeah?
The two girls had stumbled upon that information and hoped that someday the king would talk about it, but then it had been years and no one knew where the king's son was. Most of the people never even knew he had a son.
Those that knew of the king's son, were compelled by the hybrid at the palace to forget. The king had gone through great lengths to make sure that shit stayed a secret. And that was something that Rania had no right to tell anyone anyway.
"Okay, fine. But what could be so important that the king had to choose the worst of his people with regard to humanity and the best of his weaponry? If that asshat got the same message as me, then it could mean that I'll be going with him.
"Just the two of us? Goddamn. How the fuck will I be able to keep calm and focus on the mission when the stupid man is all I want to end?" Rania said before laughing sadly and continuing.
"But maybe we're both too broken to be fixed, and somehow too important to be discarded, so yeah. Damn, I wish I had a whole different life. Maybe I would be the fucking Cinderella or shit. Or maybe I would be loved by my parents," Rania whined.
"Rania, don't worry. I'll take care of your parents; I promise I won't let anyone hurt them. You know that, don't you?" A drunk Dalrae said to her best friend as she stumbled over to the couch. She needed to rest, they both needed to rest.
"I know Dalrae, and I'll keep my promise to you, my love. I'll find them, no matter where they are. I'll bring them to you and let you do what you want with them, yeah?" Rania said sleepily. She was slowly fading.
Dalrae had already fallen asleep, but before Rania's eyes closed, she heard someone say something she would never forget.
"She's still looking for Dalrae's parents, how sad."