Mated to A Rival Alpha-Chapter 246: Mother of Grace?

* Author Note: I haven’t been feeling well in the past few days, and today I can only make one update. But I will resume the updating schedule tonight. I’m so sorry for the delayed updates last week too. Thank you.

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[RANIA]

Rania was still deep in her thoughts even when Dalrae stopped once again to show Rania the empty space. Whatever Rania had caught, had to have been snatched already and they were back to square one.

However as Dalrae looked at her sister who was still absent-minded despite the rain hitting them both hard and cruelly, she knew that there had never been a catch.

Something had happened and Rania had made all of that up just to make sure that Dalrae didn’t prod her further. In everything, they had always been on the same side.

Dalrae was tempted to ask what was happening, but she could tell that Rania wanted more time to work things out on her own. Maybe her sister could open up to her but what else was there for them to even open up on?

"Come, let’s go back to the shelter, before we get sick. The men will get us something to eat," Dalrae said to her sister who just nodded subconsciously, again. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Dalrae could only wish that whatever it was, Rania would eventually try to let them in. Oh, how she had so many wishes right now. Maybe life would be better eventually, but until then, she would take care of her sister.

Back at the shelter, Chang Wook and Kaia had managed to fix up the house. Everything looked perfect and for a moment, it looked like this could be their home.

However, that didn’t change the fact that Chang Wook was still not okay with his sister being mated to Kaia of all the bastards in the realm. No matter what happened and how it happened, Kaia had just never been on the list.

Hell, Chang Wook had been sure that her sister would probably be mated to Jeon Jungwoo, but then as it turned out, that was never going to be possible.

Chang Wook knew there was something else, and just like Dalrae, he was hoping that all of this would come to light.

They had walked so many roads together and tried to make sense of everything they had done but right now, as the men were here in the shelter, they could all agree with the fact that Rania had been gravely affected by everything that had been happening.

"It’s Jihoon, right?" Chang Wook asked and Kaia looked at him, as if to ask the man if they were on good terms and weren’t going to be throwing objects and magical tools at each other.

Well, to be fair, they had both been violent with each other in the past few minutes, until they got the scent of the two women who had gone for a run.

And with that, they had hurriedly put everything together and made it seem like they were having a proper bonding season, when all it was, was a chance for them to not kill each other before the two best friends.

"I think so too. That bastard is the reason she is in that state. Y’know I had told her to let me kill her, but she couldn’t. She said that she still loved and hated her with the same intensity.

"Can you even believe that?" Kaia asked like that had been the most incredulous thing he had ever heard from Rania. Well, it did seem so, because of how things currently were.

Life wasn’t always in black and white, but with Rania, it wasn’t even easy to tell what was black or what was white or even whatever color there was, but that shouldn’t have been an issue, right?

"I know, right? The way she kept forgiving everything he did, trying to find an excuse not to go after him. Even now, she didn’t hurt him, when he had been the one to cause her pain.

"I don’t know if it’s the fucking mate bond, but goodness, it makes me hate that bond more than anything in this world," Chang Wook said and Kaia plopped on the ground, before Chang Wok followed suit.

They were both so pressed about what was happening with Rania and wanted to maul Jihoon in hundreds of ways, but as it was, they still had to be on the side that Rania wanted them to be.

"Am I seeing things?" a wet Dalrae asked Rania when they walked into Yanna’s shelter and found the two men talking like they had known each other forever and had been best friends in all that time too.

They looked nothing like the men they had forced to work together earlier, and for a moment it was a sight they wanted to embrace.

Well, it was all good until the girls realized that these two had been caught up in their own fairy tale world, talking about the different ways they would use to murder or even torture Jihoon.

Mercy was not possible for them and they were making it known this early. Maybe they were right, yeah? But wasn’t that what Dalrae also wanted too? Rania’s freedom from the pain was their end goal, and greatest hope.

"I think we should never leave them alone. Seeing them this happy and engrossed in a discussion together is creepy as fuck.

"Maybe they finally got over me being Kaia’s mate?" Rania whispered, though it was intentionally loud to get the boys’ attention, but instead, they just pretended like the girls weren’t there.

And so their discussion continued.

Thankfully, they had made food for everyone and the girls could eat while they remained in their discussion about Jihoon. What was unexpected had finally happened and for a moment, Rania wanted to cherish the sight before her.

She hoped that there would come a day when her friends would believe that Kaia Seto was not here to harm Rania, but to help her with her goals. Then again, they were right to be skeptical.

The tables were confusing and whichever way it turned, thankfully the goals had always remained the same.

"You saw something out there, didn’t you?" Dalrae asked Rania as they ate.

She had been thinking of what could have happened out there and what could have shocked Rania that much but watch time she didn’t have a good answer. So she figured she could face her sister and make her come clear.

"Saw what? Did something happen?" Chang Wook asked worriedly.

"Do we need to go out there and look for what you saw?" Kaia asked and Rania just sighed. This wasn’t going to help, but how was she supposed to explain what she had seen and the voice she had heard?

How could she explain and make sure they understood that she hadn’t been hallucinating and that she had seen her greatest wish happen in just one second?

How was she supposed to make them believe that her eyes and ears weren’t blocked by the rain and that she had been seeing her own things? Oh, but it was a hard one for Rania, though she knew they would never let it go.

"It was nothing, just a woman in white dress," Rania said and that got their attention.

They had always heard stories of women in white dresses, but no one had ever been able to get the full gist of what happened with the women. And now Rania was talking about a woman in a white dress.

Could it be the same woman who showed up to the other people over the years?

"What did she look like? Was she a threat? Was she crazy? Was she someone we can fight and win? Was she someone who looked creepy as Kaia? Was she someone who could cause more trouble?

"Did she come with a warning? What did she say? How did she act? Where were you and what were you doing when you saw her? Did she look familiar? Other than the white dress, what was she wearing?

"What were her features? Maybe we could identify her with? Did you see her well? How tall was she? What about her hair? What color was it? And was she having scars? Where did you see her?"

Chang Wook had so many questions evidently and Rania let out a chuckle in between the questions. She knew that it wasn’t going to be easy for her to try explaining what was happening or what had happened.

She knew that she had to figure out a way of telling not to them without them adding more questions, but was there a simpler way to do this?

What if she dedicated and told them that she was thinking Dalrae had too many similarities with Jungwoo?

Would they believe her?

And was she even sure dalrae and Jungwoo were alike?

Oh, but Rania felt like she was at a crossroads. Between lying and telling the truth, she felt cornered and maybe that was why she was trying to find a better way of explaining what she had seen.

"Wow, you really have so many questions, bother. What else are you going to ask this time? How old she looked or even whether she had a head rounder than your ass?" Kaia asked and Chang Wook just punched him playfully.

Dalrae wasn’t sure what was even more shocking right now. The fact that the woman in the white dress that Rania had seen, had managed to make her best friend zone out terribly.

Or the fact that Chang Wook and Kaia were now calling each other brothers. What was she supposed to face first, if they both were her current reality?

"I saw my mother... And she looked like the goddess’s sister, the one we were taught of in werewolf classrooms. My mother looked like Kim Hyerim."