Chapter 04

one

It was just one thing that Yuri always wanted. A mate. A lover who he could shower love. The pent up emotions in his heart he could not show his family.

He earned for the day he could leave all his troubles and walk into his mate's arms, not caring what rank they were. He just wanted someone to love, so for love, he searched for three years, and he would search for three years more.

Being 19 and mateless in his family was seen abnormally, coming from a history of wolves mating at 16. He had tainted that streak by not accomplishing his parent's expectations, immediately becoming the black sheep between his siblings and cousins.

So standing with Aaliyah's arms wrapped around him while her mate awkwardly stood by, he felt like a bratty bitch.

With those memories teeming and trapping his mind, he slowly removed his grip on the curly-haired woman and glanced at the tan male behind her.

Yuri looked at Aaliyah and softly smiled when she saw the disoriented but concerned on her face. Her pearl-like face showed red roses blooming from the intense emotions she had been feeling.

He silently chuckled before taking her rough hands and dragging her towards her mate, the only sound registering of his converse squeaking against the floor and unknown to her voice seeking to reach his ears.

He walked straight towards the orange-haired man and took his callused hand and placing Aaliyah's into his before pushing her.

The Turkish girl's face slammed into her mate's chest while the male wrapped his hands around her waist, making her ears red from shyness.

The male looked up and glared at Yuri before opening his mouth to say something only to be interrupted from the omega.

"You're a real milestone for her aren't you?" He teased, winking at the male when he heard his friend squeak and whip around.

Yuri tried, he really did, but he burst out in laughter when he saw his friend's face flushed in red.

Her mate's arms wrapped around her stomach while she was trying to lunge at the laughing boy. Yuri looked at the tan male with his gauzy eyes and laughed even louder when he saw he was trying to control his laughter too.

He stifled the laughter with his hand and tried to save his friend from more embarrassment. He dashed through the halls in an attempt to escape from the chuckles and shouts.

Still running in the halls, Yuri decided to bunk the last class of the day and head home early, praying that he wouldn't bump into his siblings or parents.

The young brown-haired boy inhaled deeply when his face got slapped with fresh October air. Scrunching his button-like nose in realization when he figured that winter would soon be around the corner.

Willfully shivering, he placed his hands inside his pastel hoodie, playing with his long fingers inside as he walked the sidewalks of Seoul.

It wasn't always like this though. Yuri's family tried to be accepting of the fact that he hadn't still met his mate, well at first.

They comforted Yuri, their youngest son when he cried tears of guilt and embarrassment.

A soft smile appeared on his face when he remembered his older sister and brother chuckling when the brunette used to say that he wanted to be like them.

Those sympathetic moments didn't last soon.

He laughed as he recalled the memories. Passerbys suddenly started picking their speed up when a rather odd situation began to unfold in front of them.

The young boy stopped and started laughing even louder, making him seem like a mad man to the others.

His laughter started to fade into sobs as he crouched onto the street and hid his face in his knees, blocking the overwhelming sonance of whispers with his own noises of despair.

He was scared. Deep down, he was scared that they'd call him as one of the unfortunate ones.

The outcast.

The one without a mate.

To be known as the poor and unlucky soul who lost his wolf young was like walking around with the word 'disgrace' tattoed across a forehead.

So as he cried at the sidewalk, he realized that being mateless is quite rare, making him understand that the odds of him not having a mate were less.

Yuri stood up, stomped his foot, and wiped and sniffed the snot away before he nodded to himself and walked forward.

The young boy snubbed all the stares he got from the way he was walking.

Well, maybe not all of them.

Someone had once said, "Pride is the mask of one's fault." If one controlled their contentment, they would be deemed weak, but if they couldn't, they are to be labelled egoistic and selfish.

So while Yuri was ignoring stares, Kak's wolf, Arriage, was scorning the shouts of his human to run back to the palace. He was ready to die while fighting the rogues, but Kai wasn't.

Something within him was screaming 'Fight Back!'. Something he hadn't heard in ages and that was the last straw for the wolf staring his challengers down while holding himself back.

Arriage leapt and immediately aimed for the most massive wolf's neck. He bit on the flesh as he acted on his impulsiveness. He was jerking his head left and right as the wolf was dragged with the movement, trying to release himself from the blood churning grip.

So when a head had rolled and bounced with thuds, the rest of the rogue's posse had realized one thing. They weren't dealing with an ordinary alpha they were dealing with a True Blood.

True Bloods were the most competitive and ruthless wolves out there. Ripping the heads of any wolf who dares to defy them, but to see them able to control anger is like a shark ignoring the smell of blood.

So Kai gazed at the wolves and gnarred at them, causing them to flinch and whimper like felines before spinning around and sprinting away from the young prince.

As the true blood gazed at the retreating bodies, he smelt and heard the palace guards coming towards his way. He ran his eyes at the back of his head at the irony of the situation, not forgetting to give the detached head next to him a harsh nudge with his nose before he turned and walked towards the noise.

-Time Skip to the Palace-

"How can you be so reckless?!" The head alpha fumed at his son. "You are the only heir left for the throne yet you went out as if it's some kindergarten playground?!"

Kai was trying to ignore his father words as he stared at the marble floor, finding the fading lines and smudges more important than his father.

His mother sat not far from his father, flickering her candy red eyes between the father-son duo. She released her pheromones to try and calm her husband down. The king was unseemingly falling into his wife's trap as he took a deep sniff of the scent wafting in the throne room.

The king sighed before he placed his scarred and callused hand on his back and looked at the mop of black hair that was faced his way.

"Raise your head, younger one." The head alpha commanded, causing Kai's eyes to turn blood red and snap his head up, staring directly into his father's eyes.

"You are a True Blood," The king pointed out, "So act like one Kai..."

Kai clenched his jaw and stared at his father before letting out a measly response, "Yes, father."