Chapter 177 POUND OF FLESH
Chapter 177 POUND OF FLESH
MALIA'S POV:
" NO!!! Don't hurt them! Valir, stop!!!!"
The scream rips from my throat as I throw my weight against the heavy silver cuffs binding my wrists... The cool metal bites into my flesh, but I barely register the sensation. My eyes are locked in horror on Valir's evil grin.
"How could you do this?!" I sob and my voice breaks into ragged hitches as I stare at him in utter disgust. "How could you hurt your own brothers?! They're your family!!!”
Valir scoffs and his dark eyes glints coldly as he looks down at the weakened purebloods kneeling below him.
"Family?" His lip curl over his fangs as he raises a brow. “No… They are nothing but a pathetic disgrace to our bloodline and they are getting exactly what they deserve… Now, since you refuse to pick who dies first... I guess I'll just have to make the choice for you."
The cruel, sickening smirk spreads even wider across his face and he suddenly reaches down, digging his long, clawed fingers violently into Lucien’s thick black hair!!!
NO!!!!!
Lucien groans in agony and his face contorts in pain as Valir hauls him brutally up off the cold marble floor.
Lucien’s body hangs weakly in his grip, his breathing sounds shallow and hoarse now and the poison was starting to blacken the veins along his neck! Valir smoothly raises the silver spear, pressing the dark, lethal blade directly against Lucien’s throat!!!
"I think I'll start right at the root of the problem…” Valir purrs softly, his eyes flicking to mine. "Right here with the great King of Lycans…“
"NO! STOP IT!!!!” Panic and pure dread explodes in my chest, making my vision blur with fresh tears. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! STOP!!! LET HIM GO!!!”
Below the platform, a sudden burst of shouts rings out as several Lycan guards still fiercely loyal to Lucien attempt to surge forward to protect their King!
Chaos instantly erupts across the grand hall! The breeders shriek in terror, scattering toward the walls as the loyalist guards clash violently with the traitorous soldiers who pledged themselves to Valir!
Valir turns his head toward the commotion and his face twists into an irritated snarl.
“Alpha Kade!” Valir barks over the deafening noise. "Go deal with this mess! Use your soldiers and put those dogs down!"
Kieran doesn't hesitate but before he leaves he turns his cold amber gaze down to me and his grip tightens on my arm one last time before he shoves me backwards. "Don't do anything stupid, Malia…” he warns sternly with his voice hard as iron. “I’m doing all this for us… Don’t ruin it.”
What a delusional bastard! Us? There is no us… Not anymore!
He leaves me standing alone with my hands still bound tightly behind me in heavy silver cuffs. Even though the silver doesn't burn my skin like it does the others, the heavy iron links lock my wrists together like a vice as I thrash against them, but without my my wolf’s physical strength, I'm just a helpless human girl struggling against heavy metal.
Across the hall, Kieran and his heavily armed werewolf battalion swarm the loyalist Lycan guards. Crossbow bolts fly through the air, and within minutes, the remaining loyalists are brutally overpowered… Thanks to the new weapons I helped them get…
The werewolves force the guards and some of the screaming Lycan hybrid females down onto their knees, slamming heavy, blessed silver chains around their necks and wrists. I spot Lady Agatha’s pinched face among them as they force the old woman to kneel by prodding her back with a crossbow…
Among the captives, I watch as Laena is forced down onto the cold stone floor too and her pale silver eyes flicker across the room, locking directly onto mine.
I freeze at the look in her eyes and my heart sinks into a bottomless pit of despair.
Laena's eyes… once so sweet, so gentle, so full of warmth whenever she looked at me… darken into an angry, hateful glare! I never thought it was possible for someone as pure as Laena to look at anyone with such intense hatred. But I see it now on her face… Pure, unadulterated disgust and hatred.
She’d thought I was going to be the hero who united our species… Some hero I turned out to be.
And now she hates me. But I don’t blame her…
It’s all my fault.
She trusted me… And I handed the weapon of their destruction directly into the hands of their enemies. I ruined everything.
Laena, Viktor, Hylos, and Loki are all shackled on the cold floor with their faces pale and drawn as the poison leaches their strength away. The breeders stand to the other side and I watch with disgust as a few of them start to cheer Kieran as their hero for ‘rescuing’ them. If only they knew he was the one who sold them out to begin with.
On the platform, Lucien remains trapped in Valir’s cruel grip with the sharp silver spear still pressed against his neck while Valir taunts him like a sick predator playing with its prey.
I did this to him… Valir would never win against Lucien if he wasn’t poisoned… I still don’t understand how my childhood medicine is supposedly a poison! That’s another unanswered question to add to my growing pile... But right now my major concern was Lucien… Valir was enjoying this way too much, I’m dreading what the psychopath could do to him in this weak state.
I close my eyes tightly, and hot tears continue pouring down my face as despair suffocates my chest.
‘Whore... please…’ I cry out silently into the dark depths of my mind and desperate sobs rack my body. ‘Whore, please speak to me!!! I know you're mad at me... I know you're furious because I betrayed our Mate! I know it's all my fault for not listening to you... I know! but please!! He's in danger!! Lucien is going to die!! You have to save him!!!
I push my consciousness deeper, frantically reaching into the dark void where my wolf usually resides.
But there’s Nothing… Nothing other than complete, suffocating silence!
‘Whore, please!’ I cry harder reaching desperately for her as my mind screams in total anguish. ‘I’ll give you control! I swear it! You can have my body for as long as you want, just save Lucien! Be mad at me all you want later! Abandon me forever if you want! But please, just right now, I need you to help me save our Mate! Please!!!’
Silence.
She still isn't responding!! I don’t understand it… It seems my wolf has completely abandoned me…
"Are you praying, Mutt?”
Valir’s mocking, arrogant laugh echoes across the hall, snapping me back to reality and I open my eyes to see he’s standing on the platform, holding Lucien up by his hair and sneering down at me. "Look at you, Lucien... look how pathetic you've become. Your precious little mate even has to pray to some mythical being just to save you from my hands!! Where is your grand power now, Lucien? It’s nowhere to be found! You're nothing…”
Valir turns his dark gaze back to me and his smirk widens into a sinister grin. "Go ahead then… Pray to your Moon Goddess. Keep begging her. But by the time she hears your pathetic little cries, it will be far too late."
To prove his point, Valir suddenly shifts his grip and drives the heavy silver spear straight into Lucien’s lower back!
A loud, blood-curdling groan of agonizing pain rips from Lucien’s throat as his entire body jerks violently in Valir's grip!!!!
"NO! LUCIEN!!!!!” I scream at the top of my lungs and my voice cracks as I try to surge forward.
The dark spear wound doesn't turn Lucien into black dust like the others, but the metal sizzles violently against his flesh. Black, web-like tendrils start to spread rapidly from the wound, creeping across his skin like a dark infection and the wound doesn't close back immediately unlike before… It doesn't heal. Instead, thick, dark blood spills from his chest pooling rapidly onto the marble floor.
Valir lets out a delighted, breathless laugh.
"Would you look at that..." Valir drawls smoothly, staring down at the crimson pool spreading around his feet like it’s something entertaining. “A rare sight… The blood of the great and mighty Lucien Voss... Now you finally know what it actually feels like to bleed like everyone else, Brother. You're not so invincible after all, are you?"
Lucien’s eyes glaze over and his breathing comes out in shallow, ragged gasps as his body grows visibly weaker by the second.
"STOP IT! VALIR, PLEASE, STOP!!!” I scream and my tears are almost blinding me as I thrash wildly against the heavy silver chains around my wrists.
Valir doesn't listen… He grips the spear handle and twists the sharp end deeper into the open wound!!!!
I scream and Lucien groans loudly… I watch blood trickle from the corner of his mouth.
"I'm going to make her watch…” Valir whispers viciously into Lucien’s ear. "I'm going to make your little bitch watch every single drop of your blood drain out onto this floor until you're nothing but a hollow corpse."