04| the king's weakness

04; the king's weakness

The door of Alpha Valius's office cracked open slightly as his beta slipped in quietly. At the unannounced arrival, Alpha Valius abruptly looked up from his paperwork, tearing his mind away from his thoughts with the action.

Alpha Valius might have seemed to be busied with the analysis of all his paperwork that was spread across his work desk, but the truth was his mind was nowhere near work-related worries. Instead, all he had ever been able to think about lately was that little rogue with those bright red eyes.

She was not exactly petite despite the fact that he kept calling her little in his head. He had seen smaller females, and his mate was not at all small. It was evident that she was fitter than most females, which was not a surprise for a rogue. Male rogues were usually fit enough to take on pack warriors, and female rogues would naturally become fitter than those in a pack due to their living environment.

The way her eyes had flashed into their bright shade of red when they met his eyes replayed in his head. The moment they recognized each other as mates, he recalled.

He remembered feeling a wave of emotions before anger completely washed over him and took control. He knew why he was angry, and he was unapologetic about it. He didn't need a mate. All this time he has been King of Alpha, he has been without a mate, and he has been strong enough. A mate would only slow him down, weaken him.

A king did not need a weakness. To be king, he had learnt, was a lonely and selfless route. A king should place his kingdom before himself. He served his people. In order to protect, he had to be stronger, the strongest wolf. He had to rise to his title if he wanted to be able to proudly claim his title as King of Alphas.

He hated how much his wolf desired the little rogue within the few seconds they have met. He hated how a part of him was almost fine with having a weakness if it meant he could have a queen by him.

He wanted to scream. Love was weak. Love ruined life. Love ruined his family. He came to the world because there was love. And love was the reason he was left behind, alone. Love destroyed his parents and made him a child king at fifteen. He was too young to be sitting on the throne, too young to have to punish the ones who have wronged. Too young to see how the ugliness of his world-the one he has to rule immediately after his parents' death.

He didn't need that. A weakness. He had a kingdom to rule, he must stay strong.

All the thinking was making his head hurt, so he was happy for a distraction- even if it was just his beta. Alpha Valius leaned back in his chair as his beta stepped closer to his desk.

"surely knocking couldn't be that hard, could it, Beta Ryan?" Alpha Valius's right eyebrow raised in question.

Beta Ryan simply chuckled at his Alpha before returning to his seriousness again. "the rogue has been put in the dungeon for five days already. Under the regulations of the pack, we do not feed prisoners whose cases were not confirmed. What are we charging the rogue for, Alpha?"

It has been five days already? Clearly, Alpha Valius has been too preoccupied to be taking note of his days lately.

Alpha Valius remained silent. What are we charging the rogue for? He questioned himself too. He didn't know why he had commanded to put her into their dungeon himself. For being his mate? For setting foot on his land as a rogue? What did he want to do to her? Kill her?

Beta Ryan eyed his Alpha. He was trying to read him like he always would as they had been friends since he was young. "Alpha..." he tried again.

"this rogue, are you planning to have her killed? We usually kill rogues the moment we find them. Why is she sitting in the dungeon instead?"

The wolf within Alpha Valius was snapping his jaws at the mention of killing his little rogue. It was pounding his paws against his human cage, ready to pounce. Alpha Valius turned his head away slightly to control his animal.

Alpha Valius's eyes almost shone gold again, but he quickly calmed down for his eyes to return to their usual ash-grey shade.

Beta Ryan did not say anything, but he saw what had just happened. The flash of gold was hard to hide, even if it was only for a split second.

When Alpha Valius finally had himself under control, he looked up at beta Ryan. "I'll have to speak to the rogue. "

---

It's been five days without food in the dungeon for Chelsea. The dungeon keepers would occasionally pop by her gate to offer her a bowl of water. The dungeon keepers were gangly men who patrolled around every hour. They weren't all that intimidating to Chelsea, but she decided it was best that she did not try to speak at all.

For these past few days she's been in the dungeon; aside from inhaling the stinky air, she had observed the dungeon keepers' movements.

They had shifts every few hours, and whenever a new group of men would come down to take over, they would make loud noises as they came. It was not intentional, but they were just loud in their movements. From her position in her cell, she shamelessly stared at every passing dungeon keeper.

She did not have a plan to escape or anything of the sort. She was just waiting to see what happens to her. And in the meantime, she would just observe everything around her, quietly.

When she first arrived, every shift of dungeon keepers was surprised to see her in one of the cells. Their eyes would widen for a second before they dismissed it after. They seemed surprised to find a female rogue in their dungeon for some reason.

Chelsea was in a daze, as usual, staring at the floor beside her feet when the heavy metal gates creaked open. The chains were released from around the thick bars. Chelsea didn't scramble towards the opening in hopes of a chance to escape as other prisoners would; she merely turned her head towards the sound.

A distinct scent filled her nose at that very instant. Musky peppermint. It's that Alpha again.

Chelsea dragged her eyes across his figure to look at his face. His face was lacking emotions. His eyes were relaxed, they were staring in her direction, but he did not seem to be looking at her at the same time. He just seemed like he was staring ahead, which happened to be at her.

As he moved closer, Chelsea noticed his attire. He was in an all-black dress shirt and vest with a pair of black trousers. The all-black outfit on him made the golden crown on his head stand out more than ever.

Wearing a crown to meet a prisoner in a smelly dungeon seemed a little excessive to Chelsea if she was being honest. It was unnecessary, but it had confirmed her suspicions when they first met-he was in fact the King of Alphas and not just any Alpha.

The gates started creaking again the moment he fully entered Chelsea's cell. They were locking the gates again, Chelsea realised. They were locking the two of them in.

Her head was starting to spin, be it the lack of food in her system or her wolf trying to overpower her after she had put her wolf to sleep for the last few days. At the closeness of her mate, her wolf had awakened suddenly to her dismay.

Alpha Valius stopped at her feet, looking down at her who was on the ground, still leaning against the wall. Her head lowered from before, and she was staring at the floor again.

He sighed, trying to calm his crazy animal down within him, before speaking.

"now, I believe we both have similar feelings about-"

A fierce growl echoed through the cell, and suddenly, the King was tackled to the ground.