Page 4 of The Silent Mountain (Under the Werewolf Crown #2)

four

Attacks

*ALANA*

I haven’t seen Favian for the remainder of the evening, but I’ve learned that it’s not unusual. This man works a lot, even more so than my brother, who has only recently become king.

The way Favian throws himself into his work worries me. I’ve been living here for a couple of weeks now, and I can only remember one day that he didn’t spend in his office until late into the night. I am a light sleeper myself and often hear him when he returns to his chamber. There are days when it’s almost dawn when he finally retires to bed.

I wish I could take some of the burden from him.

Then, do it! Ros encourages me.

What? Ask him if I can help?

Yes, you are his mate, she says. You are the future queen.

That’s not set in stone yet, I mutter.

Whatever you tell yourself to make you feel better, Ros says. But I know how he looks at you.

You won’t have anyone to connect with, I say. No wolf.

That’s not true, she argues. I can always take over in your human form and spend time with him. We are not the first wolf to be mated to someone who isn’t a werewolf. She pauses. Besides, it’s not true that there is no entity I can connect to. I can connect to something in him. To his beast.

Really? I ask curiously. You haven’t told me that.

Sorry, Ros mutters. I wasn’t… She lets her head hang down.

I don’t want her to apologize. She’s suffered enough already. So, you met his dragon?

Yes, Favia sometimes visits me, and then she takes me to meet their dragon spirit.

Wait a moment, I blink. You said you met Favia and the dragon spirit? Both of them!

Ros looks confused for a moment. Oh, I didn’t question it.

Her words have spiked my curiosity, to say the least. To other shifters who are not dragons, Favian normally introduces Favia as his dragon. I know Favia can take over his body and shift into a female form of him. From what I know, she truly is the spirit of a deity residing in him, the very deity who was sent by their god and has blessed him with his peculiar powers.

Now I am curious too.

I bet Favian would show you everything if you asked, Ros says, lying back down and stretching.

I don’t want to bother him when he is so busy.

Then ask him if you can help, she says.

And we are back to that topic. She isn’t wrong. I am here already, and I am starting to really like this place and the people here. It would only show my respect to them if I offered to help their king. Maybe I could contribute something. Sure, politics isn’t my forte, but I am sure there is a way to take some of his workload from him.

I want to help him.

But I feel so guilty.

Ros didn’t interrupt my train of thought, but now she raises her head again. I miss her too , she says quietly. And I feel guilty.

My heart clenches at her words. It’s been… what… six months now that my best friend, Ita, died? Yet it still feels so fresh. I know my fellow shifters won’t understand it because Ita wasn’t my fated mate. But still, the pain is so real.

Why do you feel guilty?

I wanted her as our chosen mate too, she admits. But I also knew we had a fated mate. And now, I feel like I should have protected you better, and I also should have cherished the bond more. Favian knows we were about to take a chosen mate and would have done it if she hadn’t died. And… this means I hurt my dragon as well.

You didn’t do anything wrong, Ros, I mutter. I was the one who pushed you into accepting a chosen mate.

It’s not like I put up a fight, she says.

I don’t know what to do from here on, I admit. I loved Ita so much, more than anything else. You know me, I don’t fall easily for someone. She was the only person I ever loved… and then she died. And then we met Favian. He was hurt and broken, too, from his long imprisonment, and the bond wasn’t his top priority. I pause. If I am being honest, I was relieved that taking a mate wasn’t his top priority. He didn’t reject me, and he invited me to his kingdom but told me he’d prefer to go slowly. Usually, shifters mark and mate within hours after having found their mates, but I just can’t do it… Not before I feel something for him.

I have never minded the gender of my potential mate. I would have accepted any gender as long as I had feelings for them. My friends around me constantly had new crushes, but I never did. I had one crush, a boy in school who I had my first sexual experiences with, and then I fell head over heels for Ita. I never liked fooling around with others; it just didn’t appeal to me.

But now there is Favian, and I feel like I am betraying Ita by finding him appealing. I know it’s not just the mate bond. The mate bond was never interesting enough for me to fully pull me in.

You think it’s too soon, and that confuses you, Ros says. Ita would want you to be happy.

I guess I could at least offer my help, I say, like you suggested.

With that said, I finally settle down to sleep. Favian made sure I got the most beautiful suite they have here. It’s not just a room; it’s several rooms adjacent to each other, which gives me the feeling of having my own place and my privacy.

The bed is comfortable and warm, and I soon feel exhaustion settling in. I’ve been outside most of the day, and that ride on Favian’s back was amazing. My body aches, but in a good way. My mind and heart, however, hurt differently.

I slip in and out of sleep, constantly haunted by the day I lost her.

“My Warrior Princess.” Ita grabs my hand, “I love you so much.”

Sorrow overcomes me while I see life fade from her eyes.

“I would have been proud to become your chosen mate.”

The sound of the warriors around us engulfs me, my ears ringing from everything that’s happening. But the worst is the pain that rips through me when she takes her last breath.

All the talks we didn’t have.

All the chances we missed out on.

All the hugs I didn’t give her.

The times I missed out on telling her how I feel.

We had an argument only hours before she died. I wish we could have made up properly before she left me. So many regrets, my sorrow about missed chances, and guilt all eating me up at night.

I wake up briefly just to doze back off.

Ita’s image before me gets more blurred all of a sudden, as noises reach me. The sound of blades hitting blades startles me. And before I can even realize what’s happening, I see Favian in my mind’s eye. He is lying in the snow, blood oozing out of his stomach.

No! I can’t lose another person! I can’t go through this again.

I startle awake, my chest feeling heavy as if someone were sitting on it, but I can’t linger on this feeling.

Who is hurting him? Who is hurting him? I angle for something under my pillow, feeling the cold metal of my dagger between my fingers, and grabbing it tightly. I’ve gone through the whole warrior training in my kingdom and know how to wield a weapon. I just can’t have history repeat itself. My heart has barely healed from losing Ita. I can’t have it ripped open again by losing my mate.

I halt my breath, trying to listen to the sounds around me. I can hear yells and cries. Who is attacking us? Didn’t we just erase the threat that had almost wiped the dragons off existence and attacked us wolves, as well?

I can hear the roars of the werebears that attack us, and amidst that, a creature so big it makes the blood freeze in my veins. But why? Why is he back? We freed the bear goddess of the spell, which bound her to the darkness and made her go mad. She fought on our side at the end. Did someone enchant her again?

I cannot let that happen. The dragons have lost so much already. Favian lost so much, and I’ve only just started to feel more comfortable here, to heal, and to open up to others again. The kingdom of the Silent Mountain has given me hope and a task at hand. I am here to help the dragons and my mate. I can’t disappoint them.

I jump out of bed, grabbing my dagger tighter and sneak out of the door. My heart is beating so fast I can barely hear anything, just my rigid breath and the cries from outside. I need to find Favian and Elio; I need to help them.

I am barefoot, and my steps on the marbled floor are silent, almost inaudible, but my senses take up another presence. Someone is approaching me. I grab my dagger tightly, preparing myself for an attack. My ears are still ringing, and my vision is blurred, but I’m ready. I’m not that easy of a prey.

I feel someone grab me, but I allow my instincts to come forward and slam my elbow into their stomach. For a moment, their grip loosens, and I spin around, ready to slam my dagger into them. I can’t have anyone stop me; this is just wasting my time while my new friends here are in danger.

A voice seems to try to reach me, sounding mildly familiar. I try to free myself by using my dagger, once more trying to hit my attacker with it. It seems to hit against something soft, then it’s suddenly pried from my fingers. Something locks me in, a grip so tight I can’t seem to escape.

Then I feel them.

Tingles.

What… tingles… how? And where is Ros? I only realize now that I didn’t hear her throughout this whole ordeal.

…lana…

The terror seems to leave my body, and instead is replaced by confusion and fear. What’s going on? I try to reach out for Ros once more, but it feels like a wall is surrounding me.

Alana, listen to my voice. Just focus on me.

It’s a female voice. I try to focus on it, just like she said to, following her lead until I see Favia in front of me. Favia looks worried, her eyes lighting up in relief when she sees me. Before I can react, she has hugged me already. Slowly, the walls around me seem to disappear. I can suddenly feel Ros again, and her panic. She comes rushing towards Favia and me, licking my hand and whimpering in worry. I only remotely wonder how this is possible, how she and I can be in the same place at the same time. It’s like back then when we were so wounded that we were in a coma, but this time, it’s different. I am not in my own mind.

“It’s okay,” Favia whispers. “You are okay. You had a nightmare. A very real one. It mixed with your reality.”

Now that she’s said it and that Ros is with me again, I feel my senses return completely. The ringing in my ears stops. There is no battle sound, no cries, nothing, just someone panting next to me.

“How did this happen?” I whisper.

“I don’t know, but we will find out,” Favia promises, grabbing my face and looking at me. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you. My dragon king needs his warrior princess more than anything else.”

Her dragon king… Favian! I feel the tingling, so he has to be here with me. It’s the final push I need. Favia just smiles at me as her frame becomes more blurred again, and she disappears. Ros is back in my mind, and I can finally open my eyes to reality again. I am kneeling on the ground with Favian hugging me to his chest. I am in the castle, in the corridor that connects his chambers to mine, and the dagger is lying next to me.

To my horror, there is blood on it.