Chapter 182 THE MOUNTAIN

Chapter 182 THE MOUNTAIN
MALIA'S POV:

The world is a blur of harsh light and throbbing pain as my eyes flutter open…
A dull, agonizing pulse hums right behind my temples, making my skull feel as if it might split in two and I blink rapidly, trying to clear the haze from my vision. I slowly realize I am lying on a small bed in a strange room I have never seen before.
The air smells faintly of pine and the clothes I wore back at the Manor are gone, replaced by soft, oversized clothes that feel clean against my skin. Then I feel it…
A gentle, warm dampness presses against my forehead!
I turn my head towards the side of the bed, my eyes adjusting to the dim room, and my entire body freezes!
What the hell?!!
Sitting on a small wooden chair right beside me, holding a damp cloth against my skin, is Vaela!!!
My heart leaps straight into my throat as the sudden memory of her cold, ruthless eyes from back in the woods flashes through my mind! the feeling of my own blood soaking the forest floor as her claws slashed through my body, the sheer terror of taking my last breath as she smirked above me…
Instinct takes over before I can even think and I jump violently, scrambling backwards until my back slams against the wooden headboard!
"Get away from me!" I gasp out as my hand flies up defensively.
My sudden movement seems to startle her just as badly because Vaela shrieks loudly, jumping up from the chair so fast her knees knock straight into a small side table. A ceramic vase sitting on top wobbles, slips over the edge, and crashes loudly onto the floor!!
The shattered pieces of the vase scatter across the floor and Vaela drops to her knees, throwing both hands over her head.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't hurt me! Please don't hurt me!!!” she sobs, curling into a tight ball on the floor and shielding her face as if expecting a blow to fall on her any second.
I stare at her, completely stunned… My breath catches in my throat. 
What on earth is going on?! Where am I?!!!
Before I can process the bizarre sight, the wooden door to the room bangs wide open.
"What happened?!" a loud, familiar voice booms through the doorway.
Maddox rushes in! My brother’s eyes scan the room frantically, landing first on the weeping woman on the floor and he immediately drops to his knees beside her, placing a large, gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, hey... it's okay," Maddox speaks softly and his tone is surprisingly gentle. "You're okay, Mutt… Nobody is going to hurt you. Shh, take a deep breath. It’s just a vase…”
Vaela slowly lowers her arms, looking up at him with tear-stained cheeks and wide, fearful eyes. As Maddox continues to murmur quiet comforts to her, she slowly relaxes, wiping her nose with her sleeve and nodding faintly.
My jaw hangs open in complete, absolute disbelief. Mutt?! Did he just call Vaela, Mutt?!! And why is she acting like a frightened child?!
Maddox helps her stand, gently guiding her towards the far corner of the room where she sits down on a sofa, hugging her knees to her chest. Only then does my brother turn toward the bed.
His eyes meet mine, and they widen in shock! The hard edge on his face instantly melts away.
"Malia?” he breathes out and relief washes over his feature. “You're awake!!”
Before I can say a word, Maddox crosses the room in three quick strides and pulls me into a fierce, suffocating hug!
His familiar scent instantly wraps around me… All the confusion, horror, and fear trapped in my chest breaks apart, and I bury my face in his shoulder with tears brimming in my eyes. I wrap my arms tight around his neck, holding onto him as if he might vanish if I let go.
I missed him so much! After the lies Kieran told me, after believing he and my father were dead... having him right here, holding me, feels like a miracle.
"I was so scared..." Maddox murmurs into my hair, his voice sounds rougher than usual. "I thought you weren't going to wake up! You've been out for four days, Malia…”
I freeze instantly and I pull back from his embrace, my eyes widening in sheer shock as I stare at him.
"Four... four days??!” I exclaim with my voice cracking. "Oh no... No, no, no!"
Reality crashes back over me like a tidal wave as the memories of the grand hall come flooding in with terrifying clarity...
Lucien!
A sharp, agonizing pain pierces my chest… The last thing I remembered before passing out was Lucien lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor, his body poisoned and bleeding out from that blessed silver spear Valir drove into him! Oh Goddess… If I’ve been out for four days… Is he…
"Maddox… where am I?!!!” I ask frantically, grabbing his forearms. "What happened after I passed out?! Where is Lucien?! Is he okay?! Did you... did you just leave him there to die?!"
The thought of Lucien being left behind to bleed out alone while I was carried off to safety makes my stomach turn nauseous. I swing my legs over the edge of the bed, desperate to get up, to run, to find him!!!
“Whoa easy there… Hey, calm down! Stop moving!!!” Maddox catches my shoulders, firmly pushing me back onto the mattress.
"No! I have to find him!!!” I cry out, fighting against his grip.
Maddox groans and his jaw tightens as a look of deep annoyance crosses his face. "He's fine, Malia… The Lycan King is fine, okay? Just sit the hell down!"
I stop struggling, staring at him in utter disbelief. "He's... he's fine?"
"Regrettably, yes…” Maddox mutters under his breath, crossing his arms over his chest. That old familiar disdain flickers in his eyes, He always hated Lycans… Clearly that hasn’t changed. ”He didn't die… You can see him later, but right now, you're the one I'm worried about… How are you feeling?” 
My breath catches in my throat. “Wait… He's... he's here? Lucien is here?!"
"Yeah, he's here," Maddox says, dragging a hand down his face like the thought disgusts him. "After you were unconscious, Dad and I dragged your body into the van to get you out before the Lycans could retaliate… But as we were pulling away, one of the Lycans stood right in front of the vehicle."
Maddox scowls slightly. “Some hefty guy with crazy purple eyes… He refused to let us leave with you, slammed his hands on the hood and swore he'd tear the van apart with his bare hands if we didn't take him with us. Kept saying something crazy about not letting anyone take you anywhere without him."
Viktor?!
My heart skips a beat… Viktor insisted on coming with me? Even after how I betrayed them?
“For some reason Father let them in the van…“ Maddox continues, rubbing the back of his neck with an irritated huff. "So... we ended up bringing a few of them along. Can you believe that? We brought freaking Lycans with us! Including their King…” His scowl deepens at that. “He was pretty banged up but we patched him up… So he didn’t die. Unfortunately…”
I ignore the bite in the last word and let out a long, shuddering breath as a wave of relief washes over me. Lucien is alive! Viktor and the others are here… They survived!!!
"I still don't get it, honestly…” Maddox grumbles, frowning. "I don't get why Dad was so accommodating to them. Bringing Lycans into our camp? They're the enemy… They've slaughtered our kind for generations."
My face falls and my gaze drops down to my hands.
The memory of the entity’s form takes over my thoughts… The obsidian horns… The way my claws turned living men into heaps of smoldering ash in less than a second.
"I... I used to think the exact same thing, Maddox," I whisper softly with my voice trembling. "I hated them… I thought they were all mindless beasts and monsters... but I was so wrong."
I look up at my brother, my eyes stinging with fresh tears. "And... it turns out I'm one of them. Maddox, how is that even possible?! How am I a Lycan?!"
Maddox’s posture stiffens slightly and he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, looking away for a second before meeting my eyes again.
“That’s a conversation you should probably have with Father,” Maddox says quietly then he steps closer, grabs my hand and squeezes it firmly. "But listen to me, Malia… I don't give a damn about what happened in that hall, or what kind of blood runs through your veins. You're still my little sister… You'll always be my little sister, okay?"
A soft sob escapes my lips. "Even... even if I'm a Lycan? Even after what I became?”
"Even then.” Maddox says without a single second of hesitation. He leans in and wraps his arms around me again, squeezing me tight.
When he pulls back, a subtle frown creases his forehead and his eyes search mine, his tone turns cautious. "I heard rumours… Is it true? That the Lycan King... Lucien Voss... Is he really your Mate?"
My Mate…
Guilt hits me like a physical blow, heavy and suffocating as I remember how I had betrayed Lucien… My hand reaches up to touch the necklace he had given me, still around my neck and tears spill down my cheeks as I nod slowly.
"Yes..." I whisper. "He is."
Maddox’s jaw line hardens instantly and anger flares in his usually gentle hazel eyes. "Did that bastard hurt you, Malia?! Tell me the truth… Because I swear to the Goddess, after everything they’ve done to our kind, If he harmed a hair on your head…”
"No! No, Maddox, stop!" I interrupt him quickly, grabbing his arm. "He didn't hurt me! It's... it's the exact opposite, actually. He protected me. He did everything to keep me safe, even when I didn't deserve it…”
Maddox blinks, looking thoroughly confused, but he lets out a heavy sigh and doesn’t push further.
I wipe my cheeks with the back of my hand, taking a deep breath to steady my voice. "Maddox... you still haven't told me where 'here' is… What is this place?"
"We're at the Crescent Pack's secret camp... In the mountains." Maddox explains, pacing slightly across the room. “It’s high up in the northern ridge, It’s pretty old and very few people know of its existence. After the raid and Kieran's... betrayal, the runaways from our pack gathered here. Once word got out that the Kade Pack sided with the Lycans, we gathered the survivors from the other surrounding packs too. This is our main stronghold now."
He pauses, giving me a strange, almost proud look. "You know... Before we pulled you out of that place, you had already killed a pretty massive chunk of the Kade pack's soldiers. Seriously, you wiped out half of Kieran's unit."
I shudder at his words and a cold knot tightens in my stomach. I don't want to be reminded of the murders… I don't want to remember the feeling of life leaving those men as they turned to dust under my bloody claws.
Maddox’s expression darkens as he continues. “But Kieran... that complete asshole! I still can't believe he turned out to be such a snake… Betraying his own kind, Betraying us after we literally took him as part of our family?! I can’t believe you almost got married to that piece of shit…. When I see him again, I’m going to rip his fucking throat out!”
"Wait Maddox… how did you guys even get into the Dark Valley to begin with?" I ask, staring at him. "The Dark Woods surrounding the valley are enchanted. Non-Lycans can't navigate it. Only a Lycan can lead someone through those woods without getting lost or killed!"
Maddox stops pacing. He turns around and points a thumb toward the far corner of the room at Vaela… She's still sitting silently on the sofa, hugging her knees and staring solemnly at the floor.
“Mutt got us through...” Maddox says casually.
My jaw drops. "Who?!"
"Mutt," Maddox repeats. “Our scouts found her wandering the mountain borders near the Dark Woods. When they saw she was a Lycan, our soldiers were about to execute her on the spot. But then they realized she was totally out of her mind… She didn't even know where she was, who she was, or what was happening. The only word she kept repeating was 'Mutt', so we just kinda call her that now…”
I stare at Vaela in complete, utter shock. 
Goddess have mercy! Whore really did destroy her... She really erased every single piece of Vaela's mind that night.
“Father realized she was completely harmless and docile," Maddox continues. "So he decided to keep her around. To use her to get us through the woods and when we heard rumours about the Kade pack’s new weapons, we figured we’d infiltrate the valley during the chaos of the melee.”
Maddox’s face darkens slightly with a look of sorrow touching his eyes. "Unfortunately... we couldn't save most of the captive women… We had to move fast before the Lycans caught up.”
Panic shoots through me like a bolt of electricity.
"What? But I thought you saved my friends? What about Lila?!" I demand, sitting straight up. “And Sophie?! Aurora?!"
"Lila is fine!" Maddox says quickly, waving his hands to calm me down. "Lila came with us! Same with Aurora and a few other Crescent Pack females we could get in the van…”
He tilts his head, looking puzzled. "Who's Sophie, though?"
My heart breaks into a million pieces. Oh no… Sophie...
Sophie and the rest of the breeders are still trapped back at the Dark Valley. Still at the mercy of Valir and Kieran!
I push the thought down before it swallows me and start to move again. “I have to see Lucien!” I say firmly, swinging my legs off the bed and planting my feet firmly on the floor. "Right now!!”
"Malia, No…” 
“I mean it Maddox! I have to see for myself that he's okay!”
“You just woke up!” Maddox steps in front of me, shoving me back by the shoulders. "You're not going anywhere! You literally had enough blessed silver in your system to kill a normal wolf twice over! You are not sprinting off anywhere! You need to rest!"
"I don't care, Maddox! I need to see him!" I protest stubbornly, trying to push past his broad chest.
“No! You're staying in this bed until I’m sure you’re really fine…”
Suddenly, a crash sounds from outside the door, followed by heavy, urgent footsteps and then the door bangs open so hard it slams against the wall!!
Maddox instantly spins around, drawing a silver blade out from his belt in a split second. "What the hell?!!!”
Filling the entire doorway, with his massive frame blocking out the light from the hallway… is Viktor!!!
He looks exhausted… Dark circles bruise the skin beneath his eyes but his massive shoulders are set in a rigid line, and his eyes burn with an intense, unyielding light.
Maddox steps up immediately, squaring his chest against Viktor despite the height difference and shoving him back with a firm hand against the pureblood's chest. He points the blade at his chest angrily.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing here?!" Maddox snarls, his voice dripping with venom. "You know you should follow the strict instructions you were given if your kind wants to continue to stay in our camp! You stay on your fucking side of the fence! You can’t be in here!!”
Viktor completely ignores Maddox's tirade… He doesn't even glance at the blade pointed at his chest, nor does he react to my brother shoving him.
His eyes pass right over Maddox's shoulder, locking onto me instead.
A heavy, shuddering breath escapes his chest and the raw worry etched into his features slowly eases as he scans my body from head to toe, confirming with his own eyes that I am awake and unharmed.
When he speaks, his voice is raspy and hoarse. “I heard you were awake.” He looks over me slowly again, like he’s convincing himself I’m really here, alive and breathing.
But then his next words knock the air clean out of my lungs.
“You need to come, Malia… Lucien needs you.”