RA | YG [✔]

Prologue

I'm dying. Yeonjun barely had the strength to sit up and he wasn't able to shift. The gaping wound in his side had even stopped hurting, leaving him simply exhausted. The poison had played tricks on his mind as well as his body. He was lost.

Wolfsbane. Even the pups knew to avoid the deadly plant that grew in certain areas of the forest. They were taught the danger as soon as they could walk, taught to recognize the bitter taste, and the acrid smell; taught it was the one thing that robbed them of their ability to shift and heal. It was Yeonjun's own fault he had got too drunk at their birthday party to notice, or was it? Although no one expected to be poisoned by the one person they should trust above all others, his brother had laughed and filled his glass too many times to count.

Eunseok. His younger brother by merely seven minutes. How could he have been so blind? How did he not notice the bitter jealousy caused by being born the younger son and not the Alpha-heir? They had been inseparable as pups. Eunseok even had his first shift before Yeonjun, if only by a few days. Then their father had died, and childhood, at least for Yeonjun, had come to an end. At fifteen, he had been thrust into a job he was unprepared for, even if he wouldn't become Alpha officially for another ten years.

It had been their eighteenth birthday today...or was that yesterday? He had no idea how long he had been lying on the cold ground. He didn't remember leaving the party, but he had a distinct memory of the hate-fueled expression on Eunseok's face as he stood and watched the gammas hold him upright and plunge the dagger into his side—as he did nothing to intervene.

Yeonjun had no idea where he was. He was wet. The bush he'd woken up by gave him scant shelter from the rain, but at least he wasn't cold anymore. Just tired...incredibly tired. His eyes drifted shut and his breaths slowed.

"What's wrong?"

Yeonjun just managed to pry his heavy lids open again at the quiet voice. It was a child. A boy was staring at him. He had dark brown hair but the lightest blue eyes Yeonjun had ever seen.

He licked his dry lips. "I need help. Can—"

But a hand suddenly clamped over his mouth. The boy crouched and shook as he leaned over Yeonjun. Yeonjun barely heard shouts as people ran past. He could have cried as what might be his only chance of rescue was getting further and further away. He didn't even have the strength left to fight off a child. He swallowed as the hand moved away.

"I'm sorry. They were looking for me, and they will beat me." The blue eyes deepened as the boy seemed to take in the state Yeonjun was in. "You're hurt," he said bluntly.

Yes, Yeonjun thought. "Beat you?" he whispered. Who would hurt a child?

"Why can't you shift?"

Yeonjun widened his gaze. That had surprised him. The werewolves ruled the humans but everyone knew werewolves healed when they shifted. Coming across an injured man would lead to the assumption he was human. "You know what I am?"

"Of course," came the solemn whisper, "but I don't know why an Alpha can't just shift."

Yeonjun stared in confusion. He would guess the boy to be about twelve, maybe thirteen. Yeonjun didn't have the mark on his neck yet indicating his Alpha status; he wouldn't develop that until he was twenty-one, and as a human, the boy wouldn't be able to smell he was a shifter.

"Don't die." The soft command made him smile weakly.

"I may have no choice," he said. "I was poisoned. I am unable to shift now." The boy put his head to one side as if considering Yeonjun's words. "Who are you?" Yeonjun tried to sound less threatening. If the boy felt safe he may be persuaded to get help.

"It doesn't matter who I am, but you are Choi Yeonjun."

Yeonjun's eyes widened in shock. "You know me?" Yeonjun blinked and took in the too-thin frame, the bruises, the dark shadows framing the long dark lashes he knew plenty of she-wolves would kill for. The boy was human—Yeonjun would have sensed his wolf if he wasn't. "Have we met?" Yeonjun tried again.

"Not yet." The blue eyes crinkled as the boy smiled.

Yeonjun was so tired. Too tired to appreciate humor. Maybe he was dreaming. Maybe the poison in his bloodstream had reached his mind. Without the antidote, it would soon stop his heart, anyway. "How do you know who I am?" Yeonjun asked and tried to sit up. He collapsed back, panting and shivering.

"Because I saw your future when I touched you. You are destined to be the Alpha King."

Yeonjun gaped and tried to move. The boy's words were preposterous. Yeonjun struggled but he still couldn't even sit up. He fell back, exhausted. "There is no such thing as Alpha Kings anymore," he gasped.

Yeonjun had loved the old stories his grandfather had told him. The legends of the king who would bring all the packs together, mend their fractured planet, and help to build a future...but that's just what they were—stories. No adult believed them possible anymore. The days of kings were long since gone.

"Rest," the boy soothed. "I will summon them back to help you."

"You said they mustn't find you." Yeonjun shivered. He was so cold.

"It is more important that they find you," the boy answered gravely and pushed to his feet.

"But—" Yeonjun started. "You said they would beat you. Stay with me," he urged. "I can protect you."

The child smiled. "Not yet. You have not the power, but someday..."

The boy stepped out from the bush and called for help in a shrill voice. Yeonjun heard the shouts of the men who had passed and knew the boy had been heard. Yeonjun tried to force his eyes open, but he was fighting a losing battle. "Run," he urged weakly as the ground trembled from the men running towards them.

The boy just shook his head and shouted louder, ensuring the men found him straight away. Yeonjun smelled them all as human, didn't recognize any of them, but he promised coin and managed to stammer the name of one of his father's old human guards who would keep him safe and treat him until he healed. He wasn't going anywhere near any of the wolves as he didn't know who was loyal to his brother.

Yeonjun turned his head just in time to see the boy's face pale in fear as a large man gripped him cruelly and promised him a week's worth of beatings for running away.

Yeonjun opened his mouth to defend the child, but just at that second one of the other men roughly hauled him to his feet and it was too much for his shattered body to cope with. The last thing Yeonjun saw before he lost consciousness was the child cowering as the big man raised his hand.