Mated to A Rival Alpha-Chapter 73: Please, Let Me In, Rani
[RANIA]
"The vampires want me, for killing one of their own, not the people of Incayon. Yanna was a hybrid, remember? Relax love," Rania said flippantly to Dalrae who was so close to smacking her in the head. Her best friend was clearly not in the right mind.
No one ever was happy and relaxed about being targeted by the other factions. Dalrae knew it was a death sentence and she despised the fact that Rania wasn’t willing to fight them anymore. It was like she had given up her resolve and wanted to get the Yanna issue over and done with.
The death of that one woman had turned her into so many things and made her a monster before so many people. To the point that everyone seemed to have forgotten the simple fact that they were the very reasons why Rania was in that state at the moment.
They had ruined her and none of them had taken responsibility for it.
"Rania—" Dalrae called out to her friend who wasn’t even worried one bit.
"What is it, love," Rania responded, as she looked at the blue skies above them. The sun was slowly going down, but the sky had remained prettier than usual. If anything it looked like today was supposed to be peaceful, but her people had been forced into hiding by the vampires.
Rania knew a time would come when she would have to give herself up to the vampires, but she also knew that Dalrae would fight tooth and nail to save her. The woman beside her right now, was the most loyal person that KimRania had ever seen.
And for that reason, Rania was tempted to tell Dalrae the truth about why she had killed Yanna, but she just couldn’t. Because she knew if Dalrae knew, then Calindra, and possibly the whole of Obren would have to pay the price. So Rania decided to sacrifice herself as usual.
"You never really told me why you killed her. I know it wasn’t because you wanted to make Jihoon pay. You were never one for foul play. You always fought your enemies head-on, that has always been your strategy, but with her, you just walked and stabbed her to death, Rani.
"What was it that pushed you that far? What was so different with her? I know you. And I know you always think about everything and the consequences. Which is why it just doesn’t make any sense that you just snapped.
"Tell me, Rani, why did you do it? We both know I won’t judge you or even look at you differently, just let me know so I can protect you form them all. You didn’t have to fight them alone, sister," Dalrae asked and Rania just sighed.
She looked at her best friend, the worry on Dalrae’s face making her feel like she was being a terrible friend. But the truth was too costly. She couldn’t put Dalrae through that. She just couldn’t.
"Let’s call the wolves in. We need to have a meeting and tell them the security measures to keep in the palace in case the vampires come again, alright? Get up, sister, we have work to do," Rania said, intentionally ignoring the questions Dalrae had posed to her.
She was clearly running away from the truth, and it was so un-Rania, because this woman always loved running toward trouble. And that piqued Dalrae’s interest even more.
Dalrae thought of the reasons that Rania could have killed the other alpha’s mate, but the more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t get any answers. At least none of them was reasonable.
Of course, the obvious one was to teach Ihoon a lesson, but that was too cowardly a strategy, especially for a woman who had spent her life not running away from problems.
The other reason was that Yanna had wronged her, but Dalrae could swear on her life that Yanna had never stepped into Incayon before the pack war. In fact, that battle was the first time anyone in Incheon had seen Yanna Park, which was also why they didn’t understand why Rania did that.
The other option was that Rania could have killed Yanna because she wanted her parents to banish her, but if that was so, Rania could have just denounced the werewolf throne and walked away.
Her parents were bitches and more than once had they proven not to be on Rania’s side; so it just didn’t make any sense.
The other one was that Jihoon was Rania’s mate, but that was impossible because Yanna and Jihoon had been mated long before Rania was even rejected on her sweet sixteenth birthday. So many things aren’t adding up, but one thing was clear enough.
Dalrae wasn’t going to leave her side.
"Y’know what? You’re right. Let’s fix our home before I can fix you. No matter what it is she did, no matter what the crown will decide, I won’t leave your side, Rani. If they banish you from Obren, then I will follow you to wherever.
"I don’t care where, but even to the pits of hell itself, I will follow you," Dalrae said, the determination in her voice making Rania look at her again wondering if her best friend was hanged.
Maybe she was or maybe, she had just been hanging around Rania for far too long. Whatever it was, they needed to fix it soon.
"Hey, wait up," Rania said and Dalrae ignored her. She kept walking and seemed to have something in her eyes, which Rania quickly noticed were stray tears.
Dalrae was crying? That was impossible. Her tears were never to be seen and Rania had promised to bring down whoever made Dalrae cry, and yet she was the first one to do that. Oh, how she was screwed.
"You’re crying?" Rania asked carefully as she hurried towards Dalrae.
She was confused as to why her best friend was in that state. Maybe it was something she had said, but then as Rania thought about her words, she couldn’t find anything that would trigger Dalrae, so why the fuck was the Incayon beta wiping her tears?
"What happened, Dalrae? Who hurt you?" Rania asked again when Dalrae just kept walking toward the caves, pretending like Rania wasn’t even around.
Ten more minutes, and Rania was finally convinced it was her damned fault. Maybe she was slow at understanding emotions, but she wanted Dalrae to never cry again.
"I’m sorry," Rania said and Dalrae stopped walking. She hadn’t been expecting her baby friend to apologize, but what Dalrae needed wasn’t an apology.
She needed answers. Answers that only Kim Rania could give her and yet for some reason, the woman was determined to make her life a little too hard. Was it so much to ask the truth of her?
"Then tell me, Rani. Why do you have to suffer on your own when I am here? why do you have to bear the burden on your own? Is it because of the prince? I told you I could dig an extra grave just for him. So what is it?" Dalrae asked again, even though she knew she was hoping for too much.
She knew that getting Rani to open up after all those years was something else. It had been five years and the worst part of all this, was the unwillingness of Rania to fight against them.
"I’m sorry, let’s get our people," Rania said, as she walked past her very pissed best friend.
