Alpha Kim's office was on the same floor as Rania's office, but they were on opposite ends. Rania's mother had insisted that they stay apart for the sake of peace in their home.
"What if—"
"No speculations, Rania. We will only know if you walk in there. If we go in and see what it's all about. So, focus on that, woman," Dalrae said and Rania just agreed. She had a feeling that she would be bothered by what her father would be telling her today.
But then, just like Dalrae had said, it was impossible for them to know if they kept speculating.
So, taking one last breath, Rania walked into her father's office, her head held high, because she was the girl who was never scared of anything. She was the alpha's daughter and many respected her even if they pretended to hate her.
That was enough for her.
"Heard you wanted to talk, pa. What's up?" Rania asked nonchalantly. She didn't care and yet at the same time she cared. Her father had been insistent on meeting with her in the past few weeks and she had been avoiding him by every means possible.
Now that they were in the same room, she wasn't sure she wanted to hear what he was going to tell her, though if she could try and gauge, it had to be something about his arrogance and pride not being ravished at the alpha camp.
Goodness, that idea alone made Rania fist and unfist her hands, because she hated it. She hated being in that position and if that was what her father had in mind, then Rania could have as well told him to his face.
"Ah yeah, you're here Rani. I've been meaning to talk to you about the alpha camp—"
"See, I knew it! Don't worry about your reputation though, I will guard it as well as I can, almost like they don't know about your ever so rebellious daughter, right?" Rania said as she got up to walk out the door.
Dalrae watched her best friend, worried about what Rania would do next. Her friend was a time ticking bomb, one they didn't even know how to control, not that Dalrae would ever want to control Rania.
It was just that sometimes, she considered herself less crazy when she compared herself to Rania.
"Y'know what? I changed my mind pa. Dalrae was right, why speculate when I can just ask it to your face, yeah?" Rania said angrily as she walked back into her father's office, her hands hitting the desk so roughly it cracked in the middle.
The pain in Rania's eyes was enough to tell Dalrae that her best friend had just about had enough of this shit. Dalrae always wanted Rania to patch things with her dad, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
But what if today was the day that happened?
She watched her best friend glare daggers at the alpha as if she wanted to kill him. Of course, Dalrae knew that she couldn't kill her dad, because of her mom, but the warriors didn't know. So, when the warriors came at Rania, she stopped them.
"Don't you come in," Dalrae warned them not to take another step and given that she was the beta of the pack, it was common sense that they obeyed her. Because if they didn't, their actions would be considered a challenge to Dalrae's authority.
"Did you— did you ever love me pa?" Rania asked weakly, her voice shattering the hearts of everyone in the room including even the alpha. He hadn't expected that from his daughter, which also made him wonder, what more Rania was holding in.
"Tell me pa. You don't have to lie; I just need to know. I— It's been on my mind for years and since I've grown, I figured I'd know where I stand with you, yeah?" Rania asked sadly, before wiping off her teary eyes.
She refused to let them see her cry.
She refused to be the girl they broke over and over again.
Of course, she was already that broken girl, but these people had no idea how much they affected her, and Rania wanted to keep it that way.
"You're being a sentimental fool, Rani. Anyway, back to what I called you here for. Park Jihoon will be at the alpha camp, so don't do anything that will piss him off. I'm in talks with his father, so he can be your mate.
"Do not disappoint me, child. If you try anything in that alpha camp, your mother will bear the brunt of your indiscipline," alpha Kim said and Rania just looked at Dalrae as if to tell her best friend that her father would never change.
"Do not disappoint you? Oh, come now we both know I'm the greatest disappointment to you. I thought we were past the sentimental foolishness. And you're threatening me with my mother, and your mate?
"You must really be a stupid man, Alpha Kim. If you want to harass her, then you do what you want. I don't care, not anymore. You can beat her up, make her a servant or even a slave for all I care, after all, she's your mate.
"You know more about the mate and then I do anyway. So go on the great alpha Kim of the Incayon pack. Beat your wife in an attempt to control your daughter—" Rania let out an angry laugh at that.
The audacity her father had was really something. Rania had already made her peace with the state of her home. Everyone in Incayon hated her for some reason, and she wasn't going to try and be their scapegoat this time too.
"Y'know, I'll do you one better. Do you want to see your wife and mate suffer so badly? How about this—" Rania said to her father, before turning to the warriors. She smirked angrily at them, before giving them her orders.
"Bring Luna Kim to the public square and tie her up. Her husband seems so desperate to have a conversation with her. Seems to me like they never get much time together, maybe we can give them this chance, in front of everyone.
"Go on now, get her and bring me my whip. I may just need it before the alpha camp," Rania commanded and her warriors had no choice but to follow her orders. If her father wanted to play the long game, then Rania was ready too.
Besides, what use was holding on to love when her parents didn't want her in the first place? She was just their trophy, the Incayon trophy that was to be shown to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who wondered about how the pack was so strong.
This time, Rania was determined to show them how much of a monster they had made her. She wasn't going to care because this right here was their doing. If she was a monster, then she was theirs, but one thing was certain, Kim Rania was no angel.
"You can't do that," Alpha Kim said to his daughter who just laughed at his statement.
"Can't? Or do you wish I won't be able to? Those are two different things, Alpha Kim. You wanted a daughter, and an alpha who didn't have a mate, right? How about we share that feeling, yeah? How about we share the pain of losing mates?
"Oh wait, you won't exactly feel what I've felt since my first rejection. But maybe I can give you one hint. You've been mated to your mother for so many years, and that gives me the advantage. You created a bond with her, hell, you even had me with her.
"I promise you; this will be fun. The world will watch and word will spread, if anything, I will do the spreading myself if the messengers will be having a hard time with all that. Don't blame me though, father. I am who you made me be."
Rania's tone scared even Dalrae.
It was almost like she had snapped.
Dalrae could finally see what pain did to Rania all these years. She may have been Rania's shoulder to lean on, but clearly, Rania hadn't been open about everything. The anger in her eyes was too much for a girl like her to hold.
They had ruined her.
They had given her a hard time and she had adapted to the pain. What they were seeing was the shell of who she once was. With the alpha camp coming up in three days, this was going to be the subject of discussion there.
"Rania—"