Claimed By The King(s) Of Kings

Malric

Where the fuck was he?

Malric paced back and forth violently along the dusty dirt trail, his sharp jaw clenched so tightly the muscles in his face throbbed. Every step he took was full of restless, boiling aggression. Near them stood the massive, towering stone archway that served as the grand entrance directly into the heart of the dark forest, marking the boundary for the start of the hunt.

All around the archway, dozens of male students were milling about, pacing or stretching out their limbs. Most of them, Malric included, were completely shirtless, their bare, broad chests exposed to the crisp morning air. The only reason half the boys standing near the front weren’t wearing shirts was because they were about to shift into their wolf forms to go hunt, and nobody wanted to shred their good clothes to pieces mid-transformation.

Malric continued to pace up and down with his brothers, the air around their group suffocatingly tense. They were all just waiting. Waiting for Travis.

For some ridiculous reason, that arrogant Whitelock boy hadn’t even shown his face at the morning assembly that had just taken place on the main grounds. How the hell he was getting away with skipping a mandatory gathering in front of all ten headmasters, no one actually knew.

Groaning in utter frustration, Malric whipped around and called out sharply to their homeroom professor, who was casually leaning against a wooden post nearby, looking thoroughly unbothered by the chaos.

”Professor Lax!” Malric barked out.

Professor Lax was a pretty laid-back guy who taught Advanced Combat Tactics, usually preferring to let his students figure things out the hard way rather than micromanage them. He slowly blinked his sleepy eyes at Malric, raising a brow.

”Professor, we can’t start yet, and we are going to be behind!” Malric growled, pointing an angry finger toward the empty archway. ”One of our teammates isn’t here!” Professor Lax frowned slightly, scratching his jaw. ”What? What do you mean?”

Before Professor Lax could utter another single word, the temperature around the stone archway plunged into a bitter, icy chill.

Roiner appeared.

He walked out from behind a tree, his dark, towering shadow stepping smoothly into the light. His deep, commanding voice sliced straight through the noisy chatter of the crowd. ”Do not worry about Travis Whitelock,” Roiner spoke calmly.

Every single head snapped violently in his direction. Malric froze mid-step, his dark eyes locking onto the Headmaster as Roiner slowly walked toward their group, his broad hands folded casually behind his back. ”He will not be participating in this round,” Roiner stated flatly.

What? Malric thought, his brain stalling for a second as sheer disbelief flared up inside his chest. What? That doesn’t make any fucking sense!

Before Malric could even open his mouth to rage, Theo beat him straight to the chase. Theo stepped forward, glaring at Roiner with sharp confusion. ”Wait, what do you mean Travis won’t be participating? I don’t think that’s an option! We all have to participate in this!”

Vance immediately chimed in, his arms crossed over his bare chest as he sneered at the Headmaster. ”Yeah! It’s against the rules! Everyone has to participate!” Roiner stopped right in front of them, looking down at the young princes with a cool, mocking indifference. ”You know what is against the rules? A third year participating in a tournament with first years, or being placed on the same team. That is against the rules. But I guess that is special... because why is Travis even on a team full of third years?”

The princes instantly shut their mouths. Absolute, dead silence fell over them.

Deep down inside his head, Malric winced. Oh... that’s because I paid off someone who desperately needed money to put him on the same team as us, Malric thought, his jaw working as he kept his expression strictly blank. I literally bribed the registrar to slip his name onto our roster so our plan could work. But obviously, I’m not going to say that out loud.

Clearing his throat, Malric raised his chin, refusing to back down completely. ”I don’t know, but he’s our team member. So he should be here.”

”Do not worry,” Roiner said smoothly, his dark eyes fixing onto Malric’s with an unreadable, terrifying glint. ”He will be here for the next two rounds. He just won’t be participating for this round.”

Malric stepped right up into Roiner’s space, his .chest heaving with pure, offended frustration. ”Why?! How is that even the case?! We have always participated in every single event, and we are princes! How come he doesn’t have to participate?!” Roiner’s gaze hardened into pure, solid ice. The air pressure around them grew so heavy it felt like a physical weight pressing down on their shoulders.

”I would choose your next words very carefully, Malric,” Roiner rumbled softly, his deep voice carrying a terrifying threat that made the hairs on the back of Malric’s neck stand on end. ”You have already crossed several lines which you are still to pay for. Do you wish to cross another?”

Malric’s fists clenched tightly at his sides. He knew when he was backed into a corner, but his pride refused to let him surrender quietly. ”Fine,” Malric snapped, forcing a cold, bitter edge into his voice. ”Fine, I will... we will participate without travis, and I will leave this matter for now.”

He leaned in just a tiny fraction closer, his eyes narrowing as a wicked, mocking smirk slowly cut across his face. ”But if this Travis boy still isn’t here tomorrow, then I am sure the council would love to know that the Headmaster of the academy is getting chummy with a student.”

Roiner didn’t even flinch. He just watched him. Malric let out a low, sarcastic chuckle. ”I’m not saying anything or assuming anything, of course... but you do have a certain glow to you today, Roiner. And well... that glow can only come from...”

Stepping right up to the Headmaster’s side, Malric leaned in and whispered directly into Roiner’s ear, his voice dripping with poisonous sarcasm.

”...getting fucked.”

Malric pulled back, a triumphant, arrogant smile plastering itself across his face as he stared at the Headmaster.

Even though Malric himself knew deep down that his wild accusation was completely, 100% baseless, he just couldn’t shake the memory from yesterday. He couldn’t stop thinking about that intoxicating, maddening scent of jasmine he had smelled out in the woods.

Though he prayed with everything in his soul, though he desperately hoped that the ecstasy of that sweet jasmine scent had absolutely nothing to do with his missing Omega, and that it was just some other random student who happened to smell like jasmine, he knew he was lying to himself. He knew in his gut that something was deeply fucked up and wrong.

He stared intensely at Roiner, waiting for a crack in his composure.

But Roiner just stood there. A slow, infuriating smile slowly spread across the Headmaster’s handsome face. He looked entirely undisturbed, in fact, he looked absurdly, ridiculously happy. This one is too happy, Malric thought bitterly, his stomach twisting into a furious knot. He is way too fucking happy.

Aina

Back at the quiet, sunlit cabin, Aina was still buried deep under the heavy, luxurious blankets of Roiner’s bed.

She was lying flat on her stomach, her phone propped up in front of her face as her small thumb casually scrolled through her screen. Her body still throbbed with a dull, aching soreness, but resting here in the warm, scented room felt like pure heaven compared to being dragged out to some muddy forest field.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed softly in her hand, a notification popping up across the top of her screen. It was a text from Ally.

Ally:

Sorry I missed your message! I didn’t have any network out here. I wasn’t ignoring you or anything, I swear!

The moment Aina’s eyes scanned the text, she instantly sat bolt upright on the bed. A sharp, burning sting flared straight through her core from the sudden movement, making her gasp and wince violently. ”Ow, ow, ow!” she hissed, clutching her stomach.

But despite the agonizing ache, excitement surged straight through her veins. ”Finally, Ally!” she squealed out loud to the empty room.

Without hesitating for even a single second, Aina hit the call button and slammed the phone right up against her ear. It rang twice before the line picked up.

”Aina?”

The background noise coming through the speaker was filled with the loud, heavy crunching of dry leaves, snapping twigs, and the distinct sound of someone stomping aggressively through thick trees. It was blatantly clear that Ally was deep inside the forest, walking on foot. She clearly hadn’t shifted into her wolf form yet, which was the only reason she was able to hold her phone and talk. Because she was a rogue, she didn’t belong to any official academy team, leaving her to hunt all on her own.

”Ally!” Aina practically yelled into the receiver, her voice trembling with frantic, breathless emotion. ”Ally, I’m so happy you messaged me! I thought you were so mad at me! I’m so, so sorry! I should have told you the truth, but you have to understand, it was like a secret that I wasn’t trying to tell anyone—”

Aina was rambling so fast her words were tumbling all over each other, her heart hammering against her ribs.

On the other end of the line, Ally let out a breathless, fond chuckle as she stomped through the brush. ”Calm down, girl! Calm down! I understand. I understand what you’re doing. I get it. We all keep secrets!”

”No, I shouldn’t have kept this secret from you!” Aina cried out, clutching the blanket tightly with her free hand. ”Especially with how deep we are in things together!”

”Still, no, it’s fine!” Ally reassured her softly, the sound of leaves rustling over the line. ”Relax! It’s really not that deep. Just... promise me something.”

Aina perked up, holding her breath. ”What? Anything!”

”Just promise me that there will be no more secrets between us, Aina ... or Travis... see, I don’t even know what the hell to call you anymore!” Ally laughed. Aina’s face flushed warm, but she nodded frantically against her pillow. ”Yes! I promise! No more secrets! Full transparency from now on!”

Ally paused on her end, her heavy footsteps slowing down slightly. ”So... that’s really it? The fact that you’re actually a girl is the only thing I have to know? We officially have zero secrets left?”

Aina went completely, dead silent.

She sat frozen on the bed, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. Her face rapidly turned from pink to a dark, scorching shade of crimson as the sheer reality of her life flashed before her eyes.

”Aina?” Ally’s voice came through the speaker, filled with sudden suspicion. ”Why are you quiet?”

”Well...” Aina squeaked out, her voice pitching up an octave. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, taking a deep, frantic breath before the words exploded out of her mouth in one single, hyperventilating ramble.

”Since you said no more secrets... I’m the girl in the purple dress, I’m fated to the princes, and I’m fated to the Headmaster, of which I had sex with last night and bonded with! Yeah, that’s all now!”