Mated to A Rival Alpha-Chapter 129: The Wells of Sorrow

*Today’s official update hihi

[JIHOON]

"Once upon a time, there lived a werewolf pack named Calindra. A land so peaceful and with a loving alpha, until the alpha went berserk and everything changed. No one knew what happened, but many were worried for their lives."

That was the tale that many from Calindra would tell, if their alpha didn’t stop whatever he was doing. It was almost like he had been possessed by the wild spirit of anger and irritability, and the only people who could bear the brunt of it all, were his people.

The pack was burning and people were scared. They had been too scared to seek help, let alone call the king to their aid. No one knew what he would do next, but they had assumed that this was just the beginning of it all.

For the first time since he had lost his mate five years ago, Park Jihoon had finally lost it. He was irrational and was always growling at his people. Everyone pissed him off, including his very own best friend and beta, Lee Daehyun.

Daehyun himself was confused and wasn’t sure what to do for their people. They had never seen their alpha like that, in so much pain and anguish. He looked like he was finally living through the pain of losing a ate and it was messing with him real bad.

Granted, Jihon was the psycho. But just like Kim Rania, Park Jihoonm had never been cruel to his people, not even once, and yet in the past two weeks since he had come from Incayon, he had burned down ten houses and injured a hundred of his own warriors.

It was a terrible situation and no one had the courage to say anything to him. Not even his parents and that went to say a lot.

For the first time ever, Calinda was doomed.

And it was because of their alpha.

Their protector was hurting them.

And they had nowhere to run, save for the hidden caves... Which the alpha was aware of.

The children and women had been taken to the caves, while the men stayed behind to guard Calindra, in the hope that their alpha would go back to normal. But what was normal to them? What else could they say to justify what their alpha was doing?

If Kim Rania had been around, they could have easily assumed that Rani had been the one setting the fires to their homes. They could have assumed that the psycho girl had come to get her vengeance and show Calindra what it meant to lose everything.

But Rani wasn’t even in the realm.

"What? Huh? You’re tired? Then go be a rogue! I don’t need weak warriors in my pack. If you cant handle the pressure, pack up, all of you and leave me the fuck alone!" Jihoon boomed at his warriors.

He had been training them for seventeen hours now and they were visibly tired. But that didn’t even seem important to their alpha, because he felt like they were intentionally slacking.

The stench of smoke and fires was thick in the air, and there wasn’t even a thing they could do right now. The purifiers were in the alpha’s room and no one had the courage to go to the alpha’s room. Not when he had set his Luna’s wing ablaze.

"Take it easy, brother," Daehyun said to Jihoon before turning to the tired warriors.

"Go clean up and get some rest. Also, check on your families. We will resume tomorrow evening," Daehyun said and Jihoon glared at him as if to tell his beta that he was the alpha and Daehyun was just his beta.

Then again, the two of them had always been brothers despite their obvious roles.

Daehyun knew that Jihoon was hurting and the worst part of it was that he didn’t even know what was hurting his best friend. He felt so useless standing there with him as the warriors rushed away from the training field before Jihoon had changed his mind.

They knew that something was wrong, but what was it?

"They should train. I let them slack for a while and look at how terrible they have gotten. Who knows when we will be attacked?

"Will they be our first line of defense with their measly abilities?" Jihoon asked frustratedly and Daehyun grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him off of the training field.

"I don’t know what has gotten into you, but overworking the warriors is not something you should be doing right now. They are doing their best. And you have been shouting at them like a madman, which by the way isn’t that far from what you are close to.

"What the fuck happened? Why did you burn the pack houses? Why did you torment your own people? What is going on with you? And what can I do?" Daehyun asked in the hope that Jihoon would say something.

Of course, Daehyun knew that it was a really long call, but surely there had to be another way to vent without burning down Calindra, no?

"I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me. You can join them in leaving. Everyone always keeps leaving anyway, so why don’t you leave too before you make me comfortable and bandom me too, huh?

"Why don’t you go with them and be free of whatever the fuck this is? I needed her and she left, without telling me, and now what do I do?" Jihoon mumbled the last bit as he walked back to the burning pack house.

He didn’t care that he had set the Luna’s wing on fire or even that there was a chance of the fire spreading to his wing. What mattered to him was that everything was burnt down.

For a moment, Daehyun looked at Jihoon, wondering if this was about Rania and the possibility that they were mates. But then Daehyun figured that Jihoon wouldn’t be this tormented about Rani.

Or maybe he had finally started allowing himself to grieve his loss of Yanna, right? But then what were the chances that he would start mourning his dead mate five years later? It just didn’t make any sense, no matter what angle Daehyun looked at it at.

Everything was just so jumbled and frankly, it was frustrating.

"You burnt down everything that reminded you of Luna Yanna. You made sure to bring down the side of the house that was hers, and now you burnt it. Is this how you mourn her? Making your people terrified of you?

"Is this the mate she would have wanted you to be to your people?" Daehyun asked, even though he wasn’t sure that trying to use the emotional approach would work with Jihoon right now.

He looked so hurt and so lost.

He looked like he was going through all the stages of grief, except the fact that he was skipping acceptance, and going right back to depression. Maybe he needed help, but would he accept it? Even if someone came for him, would it make him feel better?

"I miss her. She shouldn’t have suffered like that. I should’ve protected her, even once. I let her suffer so much and in my hands too. I should’ve been a good person to her, and now...

"All I can do is look at the sun in the hope that someday my light would come from the west in the morning, but it wouldn’t. And it hurts. I miss her, I want her back," Jihoon said and Daehyun looked at him, confused.

Who was he talking about?