Mated to A Rival Alpha-Chapter 263: You Shouldn’t Have Tried That

[OBREN PALACE]

"Well then, how about we trade a son for a son, and then we can talk about the rest later?" the king said as he brought forth a young boy who looked nothing more than a six-year-old.

He was too familiar, way too familiar, and for the first time, Paloma faltered and dropped her weapons in shock. There had to be a mistake somewhere because there was just no way that this was real, right?

Seojoon was good at getting warlocks to do magic for him, so there was just no way that this was real, no?

"What?" Paloma shakily forced out, as she looked at the kid before her.

There were so many times she had wished for a moment like this, but circumstances hadn’t allowed her. She had always been too busy fighting to save herself or her people and as the years passed, Paloma had made the resolve to never want children.

But standing before her, was someone she was sure never existed anymore.

He just couldn’t be him, and certainly not on a day when she had just lost her best warriors.

She had mourned him a few years over and she was slowly healing when the werewolf king decided to pull such a stunt, Paloma knew that she had to make the choice, even when the options weren’t exactly working in her favor.

"Mimi, I’m scared," the boy said and Paloma felt herself stiffen.

She had been ready to walk over to Seojoon and punch the living daylights out of the man, just like she had made his son a wireless bastard.

At that moment, she was seriously contemplating whether her hallucinations were really hallucinations or they were just the truth of what had happened. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

’Mimi, can I go play? Mimi, can I eat this? Mimi, I met some new friends. Mimi, why are you crying? Mimi, can I give you a hug?’ That was all that Paloma could hear as she looked at the id before her.

There was only one person in the goddamn universe who ever called her Mimi, but just because he never knew how to pronounce mama since he had learned to speak. And right now, she was staring at... him?

"Vijay?" Paloma called out, in the hope that this was some stupid reality but when she saw the kid flinch at the werewolf king’s touch, the queen felt her world collapsing.

The fact that it was Seojoon who was with her kid, made it even more believable because long before the madness that they are currently living in, Paloma, Seojoon, Eunbi, and the werewolf king had been the best of friends.

Maybe this was just another game for him, right?

"Mimi," the kid called out again.

Paloma looked around her, to find the warriors slaying the apalce warriors. This wasn’t how she had imagined her reign, but with all they had gone through, retribution was the least Paloma could get for them.

Her warriors were fighting; fifty of them against hundreds and while they couldn’t be killed, fatigue was the one thing that was about to wear them out.

"Call off your people, Paloma. We both know I would never stoop this low unless it was serious," the werewolf king said and Paloma once again looked at the son she had lost, the son she had mourned for years on end.

She had buried him and she had watched the flowers grow in the very grave that she had watered every day. For years she had hoped that her son would come back to life and now as she stared at him, Paloma knew there wasn’t a choice.

She would never choose anyone over her family.

"I guess today I finally get the chance to be a bad mother," Paloma let out a lonely laugh.

"What?" the werewolf king asked in shock.

He had known Paloma to be the softest person in their friend group and maybe that was also why he was so sure that she would be moved by her son’s reappearance. He was counting on her extreme empathy, but he was forgetting they were at war with each other.

Granted, the woman had always wished to have her son back, but there are just things that she couldn’t have, and a son coming back to life was just not it for her.

"Burn it all down!!! For Oshita!!" the rogue queen shouted, as she joined her warriors in slaying the Obren warriors.

Once again, the king of Obren had to watch as his warriors were slaughtered. The rogues didn’t even bother with him, even as he pushed the child away and got ready to defend his people too.

A king stepping into the battlefield was unheard of, maybe because the werewolf king had made that rule and had never once stepped into battle himself. Through the years, he had always sent Jisung to lead the war as his general, but with Jisung dead, he had to.

"Ah fuck it," the king said as he picked up his sword and charged at Paloma.

"Why the fuck are you here? What the hell are you even doing here?" Seojoon asked as his sword clanged against Paloma’s. The rogue queen looked fierce, hot, and pissed, all at the same time.

She was mad that her friend had brought back memories that she had been trying to move on from for years on end.

She was aware that Seojoon was trying to manipulate her, and more than anything, she was mad that everything had happened so fast and they all had never gotten the chance to breathe even for a moment.

"You fucking messed up the treaty that brought peace, and made us targets of other factions, yet you still have the audacity to ask me why we are here?

"Maybe I should let them beat you senseless since you’re hoping I would be kinder to you," Paloma said to Seojoon who looked at her like she was bonkers.

Of course, he knew that what he had done had been shitty and he shouldn’t have, but then Paloma didn’t have him with many options either way.

He was hoping to save whatever was left of the endless battalions, but as he watched his warriors fall and get mutilated one by one, he wasn’t sure there was anything worth protecting anymore.

"It was that psycho bitch Rania who stole the royal seal and tampered with the treaties you idiot," Seojoon said as he fought her.

They were both powerful and could hold their own against each other, but how long was this supposed to take? How long was this to go on before they really fucked each other up anyway?

"Yeah right. Just because she challenges you, you think she fucked you up? I told you from the beginning Seojoon. Give in to the demands I gave you, and we will let your son and Eunbi alive, but refuse and you might have to bury a son.

"Though I won’t come to you with an illusion of your death. I’m not that self-centered," Paloma said as she swung so hard at the king that he faltered. She was pissed at the stunt the man had pulled.

"Sorry about Vijay, by the way, I shouldn’t have. I thought it was the only way to make you give in," Seojoon said as a diploma looked at the man, wondering how the fuck their friendship had gotten to this crucial point.

When the hell had they gotten to running each other’s lives with their past pains? Maybe Paloma could make him feel the pinch too, right? Maybe it would be fair for her to make him understand that sometimes pain was always in the unexpected of places.

"Of course you are," Paloma said as she smirked at the king.

They were hitting each other like they had been enemies for years on end they were hurting each other in the cruelest of ways and right now, Paloma didn’t see a reason for her to keep saving him from the emotional pain.

Maybe then, he would know how it really felt to be on the receiving end of things that were unexpected.

"Tell them to stop," the king said and Paloma just laughed at him. He did really think they had come to leave anything alive, right? Well, save for his family they were about to ruin even completely.

"I will do that, when you and Eunbi find your missing children. Did you know the girls didn’t die and are some here in the world right now?" Paloma said and Seojoon called her bluff.

It was almost like she was messing with him like he had messed with her, but was that really it?

"You’re insane. You know we only had one dead child, not cool by the way. You shouldn’t mess with people like that," King Seojoon said and all plasma could think of what the entitlement and the double standards the bastard before her was letting on.

He couldn’t really be serious, right?

"You and I both know that your pretty ass wife had a fling with Nathaniel long before the changes, and before we even drifted apart. Anyway, I’ll give you three days to decide, or I’ll start sending you your son’s body parts.

"Test me Seojoon, try and call my bluff. I won’t hold back on him this time,’’ Paloma said with a smile on her face.

"We’re done here, let it all burn," Paloma said to her wolves who had long finished slaughtering the palace warriors.

Once again, the werewolf king was left standing in the middle of a massacre, and this time, his home was burning.