Chapter Text
PETE'S POV
“Pete! Over here!” Someone calls.
I quickly turn my head in the direction of the voice. It was Arm, who was waving his hand towards the seat in front Implying that I sit in it. Yes, in front of him, this is because I could see that the seat next to Arm was already taken up by his tall Alpha mate.
I always thought that the two of them looked like a pair straight from a fairy tale. They have been friends ever since they were young, liking each other but never really having a special relationship. That however changed since they ended up becoming mates later. It is understandable why they like each other, and it seems that they also know that they are compatible, but they aren’t in a romantic relationship. The reason was because of the mating rule that was held in this country. They couldn’t dare to go any further just in case they weren’t each other’s chosen ones and ended up hurting each other.
The mating rule is a set of rules regarding relations between the secondary genders. It stated that Alpha and Omega mates were predetermined by the moon goddess ever since they were born. An Alpha can be mated with either an Omega or another Alpha, and Omega can only be mated with an Alpha. This wasn’t the case for Betas though, they had the freedom to choose their mate, however, they could only choose those who were also Beta.
Although an Alpha’s and an Omega's mate is determined since birth, they can only recognize who their mate is when the Omega or Alpha turns 18 years old.
Each Alpha in this country has a tattoo-like mark which is located behind their right ear. They are born with a mark that is unique from every other Alpha, this means that if a baby is born with an Alpha’s mark, then they will automatically be recognized as an Alpha. However, Omegas and Betas are different they are not born with a mark, therefore our status is only known after we take a secondary gender test at junior high school.
The Alpha’s mark will later become a sign which helps them identify their mate. Since every Omega after turning 18 years old will also have a mark identical to their mate, the difference is that where the symbol will appear randomly on the Omega's body.
People like Arm and Pol are extremely lucky since they ended up being mates, even after they figured out their feelings for each other. Unlike me.
"You’re not having the vegetables?" Arm asks as he glances at my food tray which seems to be missing vegetables.
"I don't like them," I answer keeping it short and to the point. Arm just nods and continues to eat whilst occasionally responding to Pol's comments, as always, I always found it amusing.
“Ahh, I’m so tired!” A tall, tan-skin figure suddenly sits rudely beside me. His hand violently grabs the drink on the table which must have been Arm’s, whose drink could it have been? Arm quickly took out another bottle, alongside it he took a mini fan, turns it on, and gives it to Porsche. I sometimes wonder if Arm has Doraemon's pocket, which contains everything he carries around.
"Why?" Pol asks Porsche looking at him with concern.
"Well…” Porsche says taking a deep breath.
I pick up a tissue from the table and start to slowly wipe Porsche’s sweat that was trickling down his forehead, face, and neck. Listening to him speak about his long day.
” Today’s lab work needed me to go back and forth to the laboratory 9 times because the results of the practicum were not being approved…” He rants. I relax and ignore the entire cafeteria who looks at us with wide curious eyes.
Why are they looking anyways? I'm just helping him by wiping his sweat, it's not like I'm kissing him. Yes, it was understandable that they must find it strange seeing an Alpha and an Omega who were not mated doing something this intimate. But even though Porsche and I were unmated, we were still not interested in each other.
"Who's the lecturer?" Pol asks casually.
"If I told you the lecturer, will you help me beat them up?” Porsche replies. Pol’s lips widen into a grin, and he shakes his head whilst Porsche goes up to get his food.
I suddenly hear the unintentionally loud gossiping of the omegas that were a table away from us.
“…. it’s already the 21st year but there's no sign of who will be the next King…” one said to the other.
The word that caught my attention was “King” since when was the new king a subject of gossip on our school campus?
"What are they talking about, babe?" Pol seemed to have heard the gossip too, immediately turning to Arm, asking.
"Why are you asking me? Do I look like I’m the type of person who would gossip?" Arm grits out. I smile shaking my head at the two. The dynamic between the pair was indeed funny. Pol is so humorous, and Arm is so serious. But they both did complement each other.
"No of course not, but you are the most reliable informant here, that's why I asked." Pol corrects himself. I can see the corners of Arm's lips curve up slightly, suppressing a smile. He quickly schools himself and starts to clear his throat while adjusting the position of his glasses which had slumped slightly. At the same time, Porsche settles himself in his seat with his food. He automatically starts to listen along since he knew that Arm’s behavior meant that there was some serious tea to disseminate.
“So….” Arm starts, taking a deep breath.
“…the next King Alpha hasn't been announced yet, even though this is the current King's 21st year in office. So, the people are beginning to sensationalize the announcement so that the King can announce the successor to the throne. But the royals are still silent about the topic…” Arm answers.
I nod, understanding. To be honest, I don’t have much interest in the royal’s life, but when it comes to the successor to the throne, I can’t help but be curious too. Because surely the successor to the throne this time will be around my age. I was curious about who the young person would be, who is going to bear such a heavy burden.
Oh right, the King that has been the subject of our conversation is King Alpha Chan. He is the 28th Alpha King of the country who has served for almost 21 years and has yet to announce who his successor will be. King Chan was notorious for being a very good-looking king. Under his reign, the country has managed to remain in good economic condition for two decades. He reigned alongside Great Omega Big, who together allowed society to progress rapidly. There have been no wars or any form of oppression and marginalization, and more importantly, since the reign of King Chan and Omega Big, we Omega’s and Beta’s are treated with equal rights to Alpha’s, we are not oppressed and mistreated like in the previous reigns of Alpha Kings.
So, I assume that people are afraid to let the King go since they have been nothing but satisfied with his leadership. That is also probably why they are demanding that the King should immediately announce who his potential successor was for people to decide if the replacement was worthy and successful as King Chan.
"Does it always have to be 20 years for each king?" Porsche asks. I shrug also curious about the answer to that question. I didn't really like history so something as trivial as this I didn't know about. After all, I always had Arm who seemed to know the information about the world and everything in it. So why would I waste my energy figuring it out myself when I could simply just ask?
"Not always..." Arm replies,
"...7 generations ago there was a King who served for 26 years, but that was because the successor wasn’t old enough to replace him."
"Well, who knows if that's the case again," Porsche responds. I nod in agreement.
"No! The birth of the next King Alpha always coincides with the full moon. And you know when the last full moon was? 20 years ago. So yes, the next King Alpha is old enough or at least almost old enough to replace King Chan. So yeah… I don't know why it hasn't been announced yet.” Arm's explanation was short, but it made sense.
If you are wondering if the King's successor was his son, the answer to that would be no. The term King in this country is not hereditary or based on human genetics. It was determined through his Wolf descendants. The King's Wolf doesn't always pass his Wolf to the King's biological son or daughter. However, the descendants of the King's Wolf will choose for themselves who has the right to lead from the moment the Alpha is born. So that's why the biological son or daughter of the King does not always immediately become the King's successor. And indeed, for the majority of the 28 generations, there have never been two Kings of the same lineage in succession. After all, the current King didn't have a biological heir either.
"Who do you think it could be?" I ask, in the spur of the moment.
"What?" Arm say, not understanding fully what I was asking.
“The next King Alpha,” I clarify.
“If he is indeed 20 years old or almost 20 years old, doesn't that mean he is in the same generation as us?" I continue. It's ridiculous because there was a possibility that the next King Alpha could be studying at our university. Since he was probably around our age and since our university was the number 1 university in the entire country. It was highly likely that the future King Alpha would study here.
"Who else could it be? It's Anakinn." Pol says as matter of fact.
“Augh... Augh…” Porsche suddenly chokes, and his hands reach for Arm's water bottle. Meanwhile, Arm and Pol start to panic over him. My eyes widen knowing he ordered meatballs. Without thinking I immediately hit the back of his neck.
BLEARGH…
“Pete!! That freaking hurts!" he shouts. I smirk back at him.
"This is better than dying, right?" I reply casually. And he just rolls his eyes and continues to eat. But I notice that his eyes were becoming unfocused.
"So why Anakinn?" I ask Pol. I could immediately feel Porsche moving restlessly beside me. Ahh, looks like I really must ask this kid something.
"Why Anakinn? He is the most powerful Alpha, is he not? Remember in the first year when our class was playing hunting in the mountains, he managed to bring fifteen large deer? FIFTEEN." Pol says dramatically. My memory flashes back to that moment. It was crazy! As far as I know, a normal Alpha can only hunt five deer at most. While Anakinn had hunted three times as much. So, Pol's opinion this time is very reasonable.
"That’s not that hard, I could’ve done it too. But all the deer were gone," Porsche replies. That is true. Porsche at the same time had managed to bring home 7 deer. Even though they were not as large as Anakinn's, Porsche could outpace any Alpha. If I remember correctly Porsche had brought 7 deer back and then directly handed one of them to me. I almost blushed at the time!
But I was being foolish, Porsche had done that because he didn't have an Omega or another mate. And I as his only friend who didn't have a mate was probably his only option, he must have wanted to share it with me for that reason.
"Um, but it can be Vegas too." Arm suddenly chimes in. Now it was my turn to be silent, and restless.
Oh, that name...
My mate's name.
The Mate that I will never admit to. The Mate that I can't resist.
If it were possible, I would break this fated bond. I didn’t want it.
Vegas…