Mated to A Rival Alpha-Chapter 111: Daehyun School of Mates

[JIHOON]

"Could you answer me this, brother...Have you ever fallen in love, Daehyun?" Alpha Jihoon asked later that evening, when the prince was gone back to the Obren palace, and Han Seong had already left for the Valley of the Whites.

"Love? Are you sure you didn’t have too much to drink? You and the prince shouldn’t be allowed to drink for hours," Daehyun said, clearly not sure where the conversation was headed.

The Calindra alpha, Jihoon, had never even talked about love, not even when he had Yanna by his side. Yanna Park had loved him so much and treasured him, but there never was a day when Park Jihoon of Calindra ever said he loved Yanna.

It was like the word ’love’ itself was a forbidden word in his dictionary. For people who had been together for years before Rania showed up to kill Yanna, it had been quite strange. Hell, Daehyun had never once heard the alpha talk about Yana in a loving way.

To Jihoon, Yanna was always just a best friend. That was all the woman was to him, and he had married her, to protect her, and certainly because he loved her and that was a truth that only Lee Daehyun the Calindra beta knew of.

Then again, how could Jihoon love Yana when he didn’t even know the first thing about love?

He had had friendships his whole life and he had done the woman a favor, though now that Daehyun was closely connecting the dots, Daehyun suspected that his brother, best friend, and alpha had never really fallen in love.

Maybe that was also why it was easy for Jihoon over the years after Yanna, right?

"Oh come on, brother. You’re starting to sound like old Han. He seemed to think that my pain was caused by something else, like a mate who was hurting, which is something weird, because as far as I know, Yanna is long dead, thanks to the psycho.

"So none of that really makes sense. But maybe it was just Old Han rambling about love because he wants me to take another mate. It’s just been seven years since I lost Yanna, surely I can wait three more years before I get Calindra another luna.

"Don’t you think so, brother?" Jihoon said as they walked back to the pack house. He didn’t know what it was that made the people around him wonder so much, but maybe they were finally feeling the pain of losing Yanna too, right?

Daehyun wasn’t sure what was happening right here but then with every word that came out of Jihoon’s mouth, he was more convinced that his best friend had never really known love. Yanna wasn’t anything to him.

If he had been sick because of his mate bond, what were the chances that Rania was hurting too? But then surely the universe couldn’t be that crazy to pair the two psychos, right? It wouldn’t be fair, to the both of them.

Rania had gone through hell since her sixteenth birthday and Jihoon had been a part of Rania’s pain from the onset. If it so happened that they were mates, then there was just no way that the psychotic Kim Rania would forgive Jihoon, and that would ruin Calindra, not to mention Obren.

The justice system of the werewolf nation would be questioned and the supernaturals would have to come to see for themselves. The werewolves would be the greatest joke of the century and boy would that be embarrassing.

Maybe Daehyun was just overthinking. Maybe Rania wasn’t Jihoon’s mate. Maybe they were safe, but what were the chances that he was wrong? And what were the chances that he was right? Those uncertainties without a doubt kept Daehyun on his toes and boy did it scare him.

"Hey, are you still listening?" Jihoon said, snapping his fingers before his beta’s face, snapping Daehyun from his horrible and chaotic nightmare. He had hope but at the same time, that hope meant rin and he wasn’t sure if he needed to accept it or run away from it.

"What? Oh yeah. What did you ask again?" Daehyun said and Jihoon just sighed. Lately, his best friend had been zoning out on him and he knew that something was happening with Daehyun. But he would respect his best friend and wait for Daehyun to open up.

Until then, he would seek answers he wasn’t sure he would need from him anyway.

"Do you have someone you love? Or rather even a love of your life. I know you still don’t have a mate, but do you have a prospect?" Jihoon asked, shocking his friend even more.

Daehyun was not sure what his best friend wanted to now, but maybe he could answer the questions as given, right? Maybe that would help Jihoon with the clarity he was seeking, because at this rate, it was almost impossible to tell if there was a better option for the man.

Besides, he just got better today anyway.

"Oh that? I don’t have someone right now,but if I ever find my mate, I won’t ever let her go. I will protect her with my life and be there for her, no matter what happens. Even if my mate tunes out to be a man, I will be there for him.

"Maybe I’ll find him in the next ceremony. Bottomline is, nothing scares me more than losing my mate. I would prefer to die with them, if I am to lose them," Daehyun explained thoughtfully, and Jihoon listened keenly.

Of course, he knew that this wasn’t going to be an easy topic for the both of them, but it wasn’t like they could keep hiding away from reality, right? Then again, sooner or later, they would find mates and have to live their lives together, so this was probably warm up to them.

But why did Jihoon feel like something in him was missing? Like there was an emptiness that even Yanna had never been able to fulfill?

"That sounds pretty intense. You make it seem like losing a mate is like a death sentence brother. I lost mine, and I’m fine, don’t you see?" Jihoon said, his words sounding foreign to him, but he chose to focus on the words his brother and best friend was talking about.

Maybe he would find ways to cope and even better, ways to get a new mate, one who wouldn’t judge him and one who would love him for who he was, right? Fate was crazy, but it would be crazier if Jihoon found a different mate, one away from what the people who knew him knew of.

"Looks like I’ll enroll you in the Daehyun school of mates, brother," Daehyun said with a chuckle and Jihoon punched him lightly on the shoulder. He knew that when Daehyun’s tone changed into what he was using right now, it would always end up with Jihoon regretting it.

However this time, even though he knew his best friend would mock him, probably for how he had dealt with the Incayon psycho alpha, Jihoon was ready to learn. And that was just about the scariest part of it.

"Aye aye captain, get on with it, shall you?" Jihoon mocked.