Mated to A Rival Alpha-Chapter 219: The Expected Fists of Fate

[JIHOON]

As the night slowly gave birth to a new dawn, the Calindra wolves knew that they were on a timer. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Most of them hadn’t had a wink of sleep while those that had managed to get some sleep were left feeling devastated and defeated thanks to the war that was coming for them.

None of them had anticipated that there would come a day when shit would happen like this, but then none of them even knew that the woman coming to war with them was also the woman they should have been able to protect well.

At the moment they were well past the phase in which they would be trying to siphon and summon all the positive energy to help them deal with Kim Rania anyway.

So whatever was left for them was to make a run for it, and what better time to do that than dawn when the whole of Obren were asleep?

Then again, there was a chance that while they were packing up, the people who were to attack them, were sleeping peacefully without a care in the world.

It was also like they loved riling up everyone and then sitting back to watch the chaos uncurl. But this time, there was no such thing.

The only thing that was standing between humanity and fate, was the man who was walking outside the Calindra pack house, their alpha, Park Jihoon.

"Is everything ready?" Jihoon asked when he noticed the warriors were already carrying the consumables for the pack members.

It was a long journey into the west of Calindra and the safe haven that only the Calindra vows knew of, but then it was one that they had to make as soon as possible, lest they come back to a home that had been invaded and conquered.

Today would mark the beginning of a fight for hope or pointless fight steered by a man who was hoping that the world would be a tad bit nicer to him, but wasn’t the world always cruel, no?

"Yes, alpha. We woke up a little early and those that carried the baggage for the women and children are almost on their way back here for the next round," the warriors said and Jihoon just nodded sadly but proudly.

He was proud of how his warriors had been so diligent and at the same time, he was worried on their behalf because in the past four months, Calindra hadn’t exactly felt like home to any of the wolves who were so dedicated to it.

It was almost like the world was screwing them over and the only thing they could do was to nod and smile. But how many times were they supposed to nod and smile when Alpha Taeho was also leading them?

It was a brutal reign for sure, but at least one thing the Calindra wolves were sure of was the fact that even though Jihoon was a psycho alpha, even though he was a cold one and cared for almost no one–

Their alpha wouldn’t let alpha Taeho try different shit with them. These were Jihoon’s people at the end of the day and Taeho was just helping.

If only that was encouraging enough for the warriors who were about to go to war.

If only that was making their lives a little bit better, oh but if only life was all roses and shit, they wouldn’t be evacuating their home this early like they were not wanted in Calindra.

"Hey, brother. Are you okay?" Daehyun asked when he reached where Jihoon was.

He could see the worry and disappointment on his brother’s face.

He could see the determination to make things better and yet at the same time, he could see a man with a heart so shattered that it was almost hard to tell what was going on in Jihoon’s mind right now.

He clearly had a lot to deal with and for the first time in so long, Daehyun wished that there would be something for them at the end of the war. Then again what were they supposed to hope for?

A better future?

A life in reigns?

A love that would prosper beyond the possible lands? A ruler that wouldn’t mind coming at them and helping them set things straight? It was hard to tell, and that was the scariest part of it all.

"What if I surrender myself?" Jihoon asked and his brother looked at him like he had truly gone nuts. Surender? When everyone was leaving home? What the fuck was the man even thinking?

It was impossible to think that Jihoon was giving up this early, right? But what if he was? What if he was truly giving up? What if he didn’t want to go to war against the woman who had been in pain all her life?

But would Rania care that Jihoon was trying to make peace with her?

Would she accept his offer and try to be civilized? There was so much pain and bad blood between the two and if Jihoon was hoping for a reconciliation at the battlefield just because of one surrender, then he was in for a rude shock.

"You think that will change anything? She has gone through so much. She has endured a lot of mockery and ridicule. She hates you so much that even if you surrender it won’t mean shit to her.

"I doubt she even has space in her heart to think about the mate bond that had been fucked anyway. You need to think strategically," Daehyun said to Jihoon. It was a truth that Jihoon had been hoping to outlive.

There was no doubt that Kim Rania hated Jihoon so much.

She had spent most of her adult life making sure everyone knew that even if there were just the two of them on earth, Kim Rania would still not look in his direction.

However, as he stood there listening to his brother try to pump some cruel truth into him, Jihoon wondered if any of that was a certainty.

If Rania hated him so much, why would she come to check on him when he was hurting? If she hated him like everyone believed and like she had managed to convince people, why would she show up and try to defend him over the years?

Jihoon had been thinking about all the times he had been lucky as the Calindra alpha and as he thought of it all, he knew that no one could be that lucky all the time, and especially when there were pack fights.

Rania had every chance to make him bow to her and yet she had let him live. She had let him be free and hated her as he wished.

Sure that shit didn’t mean anything to Rania at the moment, but Jihoon sure was finding it hard to believe that the woman who hated him so much, cared so much for him at the same time.

Maybe it was possible, though in a world where he and Rania lived, possibilities and impossibilities were on the same train. It just wouldn’t ever make any sense to anyone who didn’t understand them.

So what was the alpha thinking of?

"She’s not that cruel as you make it seem," Jihoon said and Daehyun let out a chuckle, despite him having seen that Rania wasn’t as cruel. Maybe there would come a day when they would fix things, but would they?

Of course he knew that, a little too well.

He knew that for the first time, he had unintentionally listened to Rania and Dalrae in the Obren palace. He knew it and that’s why he was desperate to think that everything would be fine even when nothing clearly would ever be fine.

But a man could hope, no?

"Well, I don’t know what’s going on in your mind, but I know it would be best for everyone if you snapped out of it real quick. You have everyone waiting and trusting you.

"You may have handed over power to your father dearest, but they know that they will have to be fighting alongside you. So have a clear mind, brother. I have to go check on the other warriors," Daehyun said, patting Jihoon’s back.

Jihoon knew that his brother was right, but he also knew that he wasn’t wrong about his emotions and what he had felt when Rania had come for him.

Granted, it seemed like a long shot, but it was one that Jihoon wasn’t scared to explore.

And maybe that was also why instead of staying beside the warriors, instead of trying to make things work easily for his people, Jihoon went back to bed, to relish the few memories he had with Rania.

He didn’t mind that most of them had been in battle, he did mind that she was easily the craziest woman and wolf he had ever met, no. That didn’t seem like a problem for him.

The only thing he cared about was the fact that even at this crucial point, barely half a day from when the Incayon troops would possibly come to Calindra, he was still going to choose to trust the mate bond.

The same bond that Rania had been fighting for for so many years now. But what would he do when he was faced with Rania’s new reality?

What would he do when he realized that his mate, the one he had been so confident about, had found comfort in the arms of a man so unexpected that even myths were gracious about?

What would he do then?