Bounded

08

Chapter Eight

There is horror in her words.

-

Fate Pierce’s Point of View

What can I do to let him fly back?

The second we reached the house, I was already thinking of ways to have my father back to town. While I wanted nothing more than to have him stay longer than I wanted to—I know that it was not possible. Dad couldn’t stay calm when he is far from my mother.

I mean, I could think of ways to lure my mother in and that would eventually pull my father here. Even if I know that spending days without them would be lonesome, I never realized how much. My father easily realized that he just thought of the worse, and had spent his free time with me. We grabbed some leisure walks in the town and found an old movie to watch.

Having him spend the entire hours with me made me remember how Dad would often take me out to play when I was young. It also had been a while since we had done that without anyone noticing us. The whole thing made me feel relaxed, and that small sprinkle of normal made me crave for more.

“Don’t even think about it, child.”

I could almost let out a laugh. “I would love to experience that again,” I could not help but whisper, slowly taking a seat on the couch. “I do miss everyone so much.”

“I am sure you do, pumpkin.”

Having a day to spend with your grandparents isn’t all that bad, trust me. The privilege of having both of them is one thing I’ll never take for granted. Silvester, my grandfather on my mother’s side—had lost his wife when giving birth to my mom. It had taken him a while to even know that he has a daughter. My grandfather spent most of his life in isolation and grief, knowing from the link that his mate had died.

That’s why he would often make me realize how precious life is.

This is why living with them is something that I do enjoy in my life, although this seemed empty without my other grandfather on the other end. Now, we can never have something that would require both parties to have some sort of competition.

Since I am the only female that my parents had given birth to, both parties treasured me like an angel—especially since both my parents were the only child. This is the reason why I could never do anything wrong to my grandparent’s eyes.

“I could not believe that you had made friends with a Princess.” Granny muttered as she offered me hot cocoa. She looked elated, but I could see that her mind was thinking that it wasn’t surprising for my character. “Do you know how much Kun is freaking out because he had talked s**t to the Royal Beta?”

I chuckled, grinning at her.

There is no way in the world that I would ever forget that. My brain could still vividly remember his panic upon hearing who he had cussed out. It wasn’t particularly fear that plagued my brother—but the disrespect that he had done. Werewolves are extremely loyal creatures. Since they have a hierarchy system, most who are devoted to their kind would always want to be on good terms with those who are above them.

Even if my brother is an Alpha, himself—he always speaks good words when it comes to the palace. So it wasn’t all that surprising that he was panicking when his wolf is probably kicking himself by now.

“He really does worry a lot,” I mentioned, drinking slowly. “I doubt that the Royal Beta does mind by his reaction. Any brother would do the same way, and as a werewolf, I am sure he is aware of such possessiveness in nature.”

“The man is rigorous as I am aware.” Granpapi muttered, frowning at me. I could see the gears of his mind working from a mile away. “Had he reacted in anything harsh towards you? That is something I could never forgive, despite the man’s position.”

Granny made a noise to shut him up, even glaring at her own husband. “What would you do, old man? Beat up a man that is the second command of the King? Do you want us to die with you?”

My lips bubbled a laugh. I know that my grandfather wouldn’t be terrified to scold anyone who dare mess with me. “Don’t worry, Granpapi. The Royal Beta treated me well. He seemed like a nice guy. He made sure that no man would walk up to us during the whole night. The Royal Beta is like a threat repellant through that entire party, so thanks to him we did enjoy it.”

Remembering the party made me think through their situation.

Somi really does like the man; it did not take over two drinks of alcohol before she blurted out such words. I made sure that the man would not hear her confession but it was getting hard with her screaming into the dance floor that she was hurt by his rejection of her.

Even still, I was sure that he had hardly heard her. He has a phone strapped into his ear every five seconds and it does make me question how he was able to balance work and looking out for Somi.

Granny nodded. “As a Beta would. He will make sure that the King’s sister and her friend will always be safe.”

“That is not entirely our job,” Grandpapi frowned.

It was also a situation that I wanted to read more about. Since I am a son of an Alpha, I know well how the betas are supposed to act. They have a set of jobs just like an Alpha does—but hardly does any of them include being a bodyguard. Betas—to my observation—is more like an Alpha in training.

That when in a difficult situation, they would be the ones handling the pack. If the Alpha dies in battle, the beta would effectively be the Alpha. Frankly, it was the reason why my father became an Alpha, to begin with. Since the pack’s Alpha only has two daughters—both, who is mated with two men in power—my father, being the son of the beta, had to take the title of being an Alpha.

“Granny, I have something to ask.” I whispered, looking at her. Leaning forward the seat, I continued. “Somi is seventeen years old, so she still does not know who her mate is. But if her mate is over the age of 18… he will know that they are mates, right?”

She frowned, confused as to why I needed clarification for this. “Fate, you’re a good student. You should know the answer to that.”

I do.

That is why it seemed weird.

Johnny reacted differently to Somi. I had seen shades of his worry and protectiveness whenever she would ever graze through the lining of danger. He was careful with her, and it was obvious that he was the one in charge only to make sure that if all else fails—he has a reason to kill someone.

“Then, is it possible that someone would hide that they were mates until the other one had reached the age in which they will understand?” I asked.

Granpapi didn’t even seem surprised by that idea. “Yes, it is possible. However, that situation is rare. You have seen how possessive werewolves are. When we reach a certain age when we know we are mated to, our animal instinct would take over from there. Only a werewolf who has the perfect self-control could do something like that. Evidently, it is a different feeling if one person could feel their mate for the first time.”

“Especially if they’re female.” Granny added as if thinking through her prime. “It has a different spike to us women, so it’s extraordinary when we find our mates. That experience is one of the things that I do treasure, so I would understand why some people tend to let the other party experience that.”

Could it be possible that the royal beta was just hiding the fact that they are mated so Somi could feel something like that? Or are they really not mates to begin with?

Based on his reaction to the party, he was never really jealous of the person that Somi was talking to. In fact, he let things happen and would only break the talk if Somi were getting too drunk to even function.

Was I wrong?

“Why? Do you know someone who is like this?”

“Well—”

I stilled, frowning as my phone had rung. Excusing myself of my grandparents, I have walked to the bar to fetch my phone when I saw that Somi was calling me for a facetime. Confused, I only accepted her call and chuckled as I saw a game that I have told her.

“My brother’s playing!” She chanted, her face seemed frustrated and annoyed to anything that could have happened a few minutes before this call. “And he won’t shut up. Please do something about this!”

“Is that her?”

My eyes paused upon seeing a blonde man on the screen. I simply blinked, clearly taken aback by their genes. I know that Somi was beautiful, enough that she was gathering hefty of attention—but never would I think that I would gawk at his younger brother. His brown eyes were sharp, and I could see how he was a mirror to his father—and only gotten his mother’s hair color.

To hear that Somi talked about me is very sweet.

“Can you please help me defeat this level?” Prince Maxwell asked, waving the game on his side.

“Of course,” I answered, taking a seat on the couch. “I’ll sit by the sideline and try to help you as best as I could.”

“Thank you,” he mumbled, eyes focused as his character entered the arena.

I had watched the game with interest as she had hyped him up. The Prince did have some surprising moves, enough that I was surprised by his capability despite his rank. What I do realize that he needed helping is his timing. Since he has an ample amount of SR ranked items, he would often go all out—and as result, he hardly had enough to release on the last loop.

“Hold that power up,” I mentioned, seeing that his finger was inching on the card. He seemed to flinch, but follow through with my instructions. “Continue using the sword until it breaks.”

“But that's—”

“It’s fine, he doesn’t have much longer,” I assured him.

“Go, Maxwell!” Somi cheered.

“Hold it,” I advised again, seeing his hands close. My eyes could see how he was struggling. This was the last opponent, and losing on this one could make him repeat everything again. Despite that, I let the character do the damage on the Prince’s before seeing an opening. “Now, use it!”

Prince Maxwell did was he was told and continued on damaging the opponent. What used to be an advantage on the other team clearly flipped by the card. I could very much see that he had read through what the Prince was doing—and holding on to the last item gave them an inkling that he had no other power-ups.

And just like that, Prince Maxwell finished the level.

“You’re so good!” Somi cheered as she switched the camera to her face. Walking to where her little brother was, I smiled to see the young prince. He looked pumped, and I could see how his eyes were glinting in excitement. “Say hello to the woman who will kick your ass!”

I offered a small smile, followed by a wave. “He is excellent though. You only need some control on those items, because the opponents often take notes of your consistencies. Have you reached the golden temple?”

“You passed that level?!” He screamed, automatically dropping the composed expression from before. Maxwell did not hesitate to grab the phone from Somi as she had whined, asking for it back. I do not think he cares as he looked at me with eyes shining. “How did you do that?”

I did not have another time to say anything as the phone was whipped away from him, and this time, it was someone with brown hair. His brown eyes shined upon seeing me, as if excited to meet me. “Hello! I’m Maverick.”

Oh, the fourth born!

With a smile, I greeted. “Hello to you too! My name is Fate.”

“You should just let her play with you when some come to visit, Maxwell! Everyone wanted to see you get beaten in the first place.” He looked back into the phone before smiling. “You will defeat him when you visit, right?”

I stilled.

When I f*****g what?

My mouth let out a laugh, clearly unaware of the right words to say. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Have you not invited her yet, Somi?” The Little Prince asks.

Somi only sighed in the background. “If only Maxwell did not steal the phone, I would have asked her. So can you give it—Hey! Maverick, please give it back.”

“Not so fast,” he replied before looking at me. A small sad smile was given to me as he had given the words that seemed to shake my world to the core. “Please come visit us! Mother wanted to see you and our little brother Matthew wanted to see you too! He often gets scared of strangers, but he wanted to meet you.”

The Young Prince knew exactly what he was doing. Showing anyone such expression could grant him anything he wanted. Not only that, but a mention of their youngest—who was hardly ever seen by the public, is an additional jab. Maybe it would work less when I don’t adore children.

However, I am a sucker for them.

Prince Maverick has an obvious mischievous face. The strong genes of the former Alpha King could be seen by their faces. I could see my grandparents in my peripheral vision, unsure of what their reactions would be. The three on the other side of the phone continued on telling me to come to their house and play while my body was shaking.

Go inside the palace of the wolves and pretend to be human? While I do treasure my relationship with Somi, the palace feels different. The Alpha King was the one who had ordered my kind to be enslaved and kept in a mill. While I am not sure if they see foxes in the same light, I could not be aware if I would be open to the idea of visiting the palace.

“Uhm…” I mumbled, not really knowing what to say.

Somi slipped into the frame, a smile pressed on her face. “It’s nothing bad! My parents wanted to thank you for looking out for me. Also, you are aware that you’re the first friend I have made.”

“We’re also excited to meet you! It must be fun to be your friend!” Prince Maxwell chimed in the background.

Maverick, who was holding the phone, nodded. “We are! So, please come!”

I can’t handle all of this pressure. The fact that my parents made me move here to scare me about the possibility of being found out by the palace—and to me, being invited to the same place in the guise of being Somi’s friend seemed like a nightmare.

I wasn’t sure why I did not see this one coming, or have never thought for a second that I would be invited. Then again, maybe it was for a fact that no humans are generally allowed in the palace. I wasn’t aware that they could simply take a blind eye to that rule for their only daughter.

Maybe I was the one who had dug this grave for myself.

Not only was that scared to ever enter the palace, but I doubt that the Alpha King or the King Father could not see through my lies. To have their invite usually means that the conversation is over. I am sure that they were preparing the palace as Somi and her brothers speak to me on the phone.

I doubt that I could keep this going on.

The Alpha that I am about to meet had governed through the realm for a long time. I am sure they could see through deception if it was presented to them in plain view. I might be trained not to leak my identity, but I doubt that I could to such high-ranked people.

Is it even possible to lie to their faces?

What if I get hunted because of this?

Somi is another thing, as our friendship does not really get swayed when she thinks that I am lying about being a human. I honestly doubt that she would see anything different. From what I gathered, she really is kind as she is presented in the papers. But would her family act in such a way, too?

Jeez.

Why do I feel like a storm is coming on?