Mated to A Rival Alpha-Chapter 161: The Werewolf King’s Declaration

[JIHOON]

"What part of ’I want to be left alone for at least twenty-four fucking hours,’ don’t you understand? Didn’t I tell you I needed to be alone? What the fuck are you doing here?" Jihoon asked angrily as he struggled to clear his desk of Rania’s photos.

He looked like a deer caught in headlights and Daehyun felt bad for the alpha for a moment.

It wasn’t news to Daehyun that Jihoon was Rania’s mate. He had suspected it and when Yanna had confirmed it to him before the mating still, Daehyun could finally understand why Jihoon felt what he felt about Rania.

Here and now, he stood in the middle of the office as he watched his best friend rush with the photos. They were pretty photos of Rania and most of them had her smile. It was like the alpha was in some sort of trance and had been thinking of Rania.

Of course, he was.

The magic that Yanna had used on him had faced over the years, thankfully and he was feeling like a new wolf ready to eat, only that he was so much of a coward to admit it out.

"We both know I wouldn’t have barged into your office if it wasn’t important," Daehyun said calmly, careful not to rile up the already panicking man.

Daehyun had kept his distance and even turned to face the door, to give his best friend some privacy. There wasn’t much to consider right now, but it was the least that he could do, given what was happening around them at the moment.

’Dammit, why now?’ Jihoon said angrily to himself once he was done putting away the photos.

He felt like his brother had invaded his privacy and while it was not intentional, a part of him wished that Daehyun hadn’t come in right at that particular moment. Maybe he could have managed to stare at Rania a little longer.

He just wanted a moment with her.

He hadn’t realized it yet, but the Calindra alpha had been cooped up in his room for the whole evening and it was almost nine o’clock in the night.

"What is it?" Jihoon said with a tired voice. He didn’t want to be rude to his best friend, but he was frustrated and couldn’t think straight at the moment.

"It’s about Kim Rania," Daehyun said and that got Jihoon’s attention just like he had expected.

His friend was going crazy because of the woman he had made the whole realm relieved he hated. If they were enemies, then why did his heart beat faster every time her name was mentioned?

Why did he feel like he wanted to be with her all the time?

Why did he feel like his breath was hitching at the mention of her name? He had so many reactions at the thought of the woman that anyone who didn’t know him well could have assumed that he was hopelessly in love with Kim Rania.

But what if, right?

"What did she tell you? Did you make the journey to Incayon? Did you meet with Dalrae or even Rania? Is she okay? Is there anything to be worried about? I don’t know what to think.

"Is she even okay on that side of the realm?" Jihoon asked, as he got up from his side of the table and made his way to his waiting friend like that was supposed to make the truth any less convincing.

He was head over heels for the woman who wouldn’t hesitate to rip his throat with her claws. How that calmed him was still a wonder, but it did and Jihoon was obsessed with it.

"First, Dalrae rejected the treaty. This means that there is no chance that Incayon is ever going to be at peace with Calindra.

"In her own words, she said to tell you that you, ’had the chance to stand up for what belonged to you and you chose to join the pipe drain and ruin all the chances.’ I’m not sure what she means by that, but that’s what she said about rejecting the peace treaty.

"She also said that she was bringing war to Calindra, because someone has to be held accountable for everything that happened to Rania, especially now that Yanna is alive.

"Dalrae said that you have a month to prepare your armies, because Incayon will be riding west, and they will be coming for us in full force," Daehyun relayed Dalrae’s message and Jihoon just stood there like a buffoon who hadn’t heard shit.

For a moment, Daehyun wondered if his friend had even heard him, and when he looked at the alpha’s face, he saw the man smiling. He was freaking smiling when war was coming to Calindra.

This man was crazy or unhinged.

There were innocents and yet the only thing he could do was to smile.

"You said it was about Rania, what is it?" Jihoon asked and Daehyun facepalmed. His brother was growing hopeless by the second, or maybe he was done fighting his heart’s desire and was ready to make amends.

Jihoon had told Daehyun earlier to announce that Yanna was back and while that was clearly dangerous, Daehyun could only assume that the alpha had instructed that because he wanted everyone to know that Kim Rania was innocent.

It was a crazy way of admitting that he was wrong to follow up on a trial that shouldn’t have been held in the right place. But maybe he was also preparing for Kim Rania’s retribution, given it was the one thing that Park Jihoon was sure would be coming for him.

"Kim Rania and Chang Wook attacked the palace," Daehyun began carefully, knowing so well that the message he had could either have him and his brother on opposite sides, or they would have to do something that none of them had ever imagined.

It was a dangerous message, something that threatened the well-being of someone Jihoon seemed to care about and frankly, Daehyun wished for the first time that he wasn’t always the one telling Jihoon the bad news because this was certainly not the very best of them.

"Go on. Why did they attack the palace, and that too after the royal seal was stolen? Or maybe they weren’t there to threaten the king? They are crazy, but surely they wouldn’t have attacked the palace like that.

"Besides, Kim Rania never hurts innocents. Anyway, what did that do?" Jihoon asked, having defended Rania in his own way. He was clearly in denial and that was something that Daehyun had noticed instantly the moment he had mentioned her name.

Hopefully, Kim Rania wouldn’t be Jihoon’s dom, because this woman was slowly navigating his emotions and that was never a good thing, especially with Chang Wook in the mix right now. But surely it couldn’t be that bad, right?

"They stormed the throne room and murdered the king’s guards. All the members of the first contingent.

"You know how strong and powerful those warriors are and the Kim siblings just took them out like that," Daehyun said, like he wasn’t sure the king had spread the right news.

It almost seemed too far-fetched but with the culprits that were mentioned, nothing was impossible and that scared the hell out of Daehyun.

"The king wants the warrior healer and Rania dead, and their bodies taken to him."