[TODAY]
"Hey! Are you even listening to me? Whose best friend are you again?" Rania complained as she threw her pillow at Dalrae who was pretending to doze off.
She had been listening to her best friend go off about the alpha camp, again. The two girls had had a long day, and with the alpha camp coming, they knew it was just a matter of time before they were called again, to go and tend to the pack.
The alpha camp was a place where the alphas of different packs would come together to discuss the future of the kingdom while their betas took charge of the packs. They could also whine and complain about how hard their lives had gotten over the years.
"Your royal highness, is my sleep really a joke to you?" Dalrae complained, throwing Rania's pillow at the door.
It was the same complaints day in and out, and no one could actually blame Dalrae for wanting to glue her best friend's mouth. She loved her, but there were times when Kim Rania was a pain in the ass, specifically, Dalrae's ass.
"Help me out here, sis," Rania whined, sitting closer to Dalrae.
Lim Dalrae was the only person she could complain about anything and everything to, and Dalrae would always listen to her, without any trace of judgment. It was a harsh world they lived in, and Rania having Dalrae beside her, was a blessing to her.
"Like I said the previous hundred times, you can either run away or stay and put up with the arrogant alphas, love. I'm not always going to be there beside you, y'know? Someday you are going to have to learn to function alone my Rania.
"You'll meet so many people, and as much as you may have the intense urge to punch their faces into their skulls, you must practice patience and breathe, love. Breathe, alright?" Dalrae said to Rania who was diligently listening.
Dalrae continued talking and encouraging her best friend, only to realize that the little imp had fallen asleep on her. On a normal day, Dalrae could have woken her up, but today, she understood what Rania was going through.
It had been seven years since Rania had gotten her wolf, and in all those years, she had never had a mate that wanted her for who she was. Instead, they rejected her each time, even without knowing her.
Rania was a beautiful and powerful girl who could get whatever she wanted. She had the best weaponry skills; she was a good tracer. She protected her people with her life and loved everyone without discrimination.
Rania was simply a lovable girl. However, even with her excellent qualities, she had never managed to get a mate for herself. Everyone who wanted her, left her immediately, like she was some sort of plague.
However, Rania had realized she needed to toughen up, because somehow she knew the rejections would never stop coming. She braced herself for the worst on many occasions and nothing about the rejections made her feel better.
Not that she would be telling it to anyone.
"Rania, you have to wake up, your dad's coming," Dalrae alerted her sleepy friend. Instead of getting up, Rania just snuggled into the bed, not caring that her hell was about to break loose. Maybe she was just tired of everything and needed a break.
"Rania, he's almost here," Dalrae insisted.
"I'm trying to come up with a better plan for killing Jihoon. One of these fine days, I'll just shove a nuclear bomb in his pillow, to make sure he never sees the light of the day. You have to help me when that day comes—" Rania trailed off, as she fell back asleep.
So, when Rania's father walked in and saw Rania sleeping, Dalrae just bowed at the alpha and excused herself. Rania's relationship with her parents had deteriorated over the years and it wasn't hard to guess why. The woman was a rebel.
"Wake up little girl," alpha Kim said to his daughter who just ignored him. She was probably still dreaming about Jihoon's death. It was a sinister plot, but she had gotten used to it, and strangely enough, it gave her comfort.
"I'll go to the damn camp if that's what you're here for. Go away!" Rania said and her father scowled at her tone. He knew his daughter had long given up.
It broke his heart, but it wasn't like there was anything he could do. No one knew how Rania's brain worked except for Dalrae. And Dalrae had promised to never out her best friend, so it had been pointless all this while.
"I need to talk to you. I didn't come all this way just for nothing," Alpha Kim insisted.
"No one asked you to come here, now off you go," Rania said, covering her ears with the pillows.
Kim Rania hated her parents so much that if she could kill them, she would. But she just couldn't because somehow, the Incayon pack loved them. It was something that Rania had never understood, but what could she do anyway?
"Get her up," the alpha said to the warriors who looked at him skeptically. They always had the misfortune of being caught in the middle of the father-daughter disagreements and most of the time they ended up getting hurt.
"Alpha Rania," one of the warriors called out and looked at the alpha who was staring at them.
"She's twenty-three. Don't tell me you can't get her up, the three of you!" Alpha Kim bellowed and the warriors knew they had no option.
"Goddess, save us," the warriors said as they held Rania up. She didn't even look bothered.
After so many years of her father using the same tactic to try and talk to her, Rania had realized it was pointless to use the warriors. She understood them, really which is why as they got her up, she used her alpha command to kick them out.
"Get out before I punch you guys myself."
Tiredly, Rania sat back on the bed, waiting to hear what her father had to say. This man here made her blood boil, but today, Rania was determined to be a good child. She would try and listen to him.
After all, this was probably one of the last few days they would be seeing each other.
"What do you want, Alpha Kim?" Rania said to her father, her voice emotionless and cold it could freeze the damned room.
"So many years have passed Rani, and you can't still call me f—"
"If you came here to be sentimental, please wait a week. You and your rowdy warriors interrupted me in the middle of my beauty sleep. I had almost got the perfect plan to kill Park Jihoon and you ruined it.
"Now, if you don't mind, I have a murder to plot, alpha Kim," Rania said, walking out the door, leaving her father seated in the room and wondering about so many things.
Everyone in Incayon knew about Rania's obsession with killing Jihoon. It wasn't news to them. So, when they heard the alpha warning her daughter not to cause tension between the two packs, they just minded their businesses.
No one was ever able to get through to Rania.
They had turned her into what she was today.
The people of this pack had pushed her away, and thought of her as cursed. They pitied her in public and were proud of her in private. Rania was their hope, but they pretended not to know that, and maybe that was why Rania had wanted to get away from home.
What was the point of fighting for people who despised her and never appreciated her? This very pack was filled with people she had been mated to and had blatantly rejected her, openly.
Her parents hadn't even tried to talk to the boys to understand their choices, instead, They led their perfect lives and watched while their only daughter was haunted by the fears and anxiety.
They knew for a fact that Rania couldn't connect with anyone other than Dalrae, and they also knew it was their fault. All that mattered to them was that Rania was a good alpha. And that angered Rania more than anything.
They only remembered that she existed when there were possible rogue threats to their home. Over the years, Rania had made sure that the rogues never even thought of their home, and when that happened, her people forgot about her.
"Fuck off!!" Rania shouted at her father as she looked around for Dalrae. She needed to cry and only Dalrae could help her, as always.
She was used to everyone looking at her like a nutcase even when all she wanted was love, not that she was ever going to ask her people for it. She had a good heart, but over time, the people of Incayon had made her into whatever she was today.
They had hurt her in more than one, and while she had been brave enough to fight back, there were times she wished she would lead a normal life. One in which she didn't have to suffer for attention or love.
She just wanted to feel like part of them, but that was costly, and she had learned that the hard way.
As she walked away from her father and to her best friend, Rania knew her father would come calling again, which is why, three hours later, when the warrior came to look for her, she wasn't surprised.
"The Senior alpha demands your presence, Alpha Rania."