Chapter 9: The Mountain Paradise (written on February 1st, 2020)

Garth awoke with a huge headache. The land kept bobbing. The orange wolf realized he was being carried. Beneath him was a bulky dark grey wolf covered in scars. The same kind of wolf was underneath Lilly. Both of them were being carried. The two dark wolves were the Rogues that Alabaan brought to his den. That was when Garth remembered Lilly being violated. He was held down, facing away, when it happened, but he knew it happened. After that, Garth supposed he was knocked out.

He vowed vengeance on Alabaan and the young wolf only known to him as Rocky. No mercy.

At the moment, his four legs were tied up with vines, and he could barely move. All he could do was look at Lilly who wasn't tied up. It seemed that she was still in her deep sleep. Maybe intercourse wasn't the cure... Regardless, she still looked as beautiful as ever in Garth's eyes.

The Rogues were carrying them up an incline. They were in the middle of the mountain range, but they were high above the tree line. The ground, the cliffs, the ledges—everything was grey and jagged and cold. There was thick cloud cover, and the clouds were not too far above their heads. Bleakness reigned. The Rogues were following a long winding path on the slopes. They only went higher and higher. The path didn't appear to be natural. Garth could see the digging marks. Then his heart dropped. The path was long and wide enough for five wolves to walk on side-by-side. That meant that it took a great amount of time and a lot of wolves to build. Garth thought they must be heading to a huge group of wolves! Not only that, they must be heading for an ancient group of wolves. The digging marks looked incredibly old. But the Rogues were not known to be a thing more than four years ago. It didn't add up.

Four years ago, a year before Garth, Kate, Humphrey, and Lilly were born, a wolf whose name was made illegal lived in the Valley. He was known for hating and abusing Omegas, and he saw their destruction as necessary for wolf evolution. During Winston and Tony's leadership, he proclaimed himself a king of all Alphas after he was denied power. "King" then decided to leave the Valley, taking his loyal followers with him. He formed an all-Alpha pack in the land known as Banff, the national park neighboring Jasper to the south. The King Pack would spend the next four years terrorizing and raiding the Valley, hence they were called Rogues.

The Valley lay within the humongous mountain range called the Rockies. The mountains that closely surrounded the Valley were always crawling with Rogues. Valley wolves such as Easterns, Westerns, and Northerners never ventured out into the mountains. It was too dangerous. But Garth and Lilly were done with the Valley. Garth wanted a happy life with her, and he was willing to leave the Valley to achieve it. Rogues were an issue, but he believed that within the Rockies there was a place with no Rogue influence where he and Lilly could be alone, a place called Mons Paradisum. When he and Kate were forced to be married two years ago, he wanted Kate to hate him in hopes that Kate would talk to Winston about ending their marriage. Garth hated the arranged marriage as much as Kate did. He had the best time of his life with Lilly while Kate and Humphrey were in Idaho.

"It's a turtle that fell and can't get up!" she had said during that time. It made him smile.

He missed seeing her pretense. He liked seeing that Omega in her. He would never ask her to change. He would never ask her to become an Alpha, so they could be together. And he presumed Lilly wouldn't ask him to change into an Omega. They wanted to be themselves. The law was stupid. He didn't want to upset Kate in their marriage with his pretense, but it was necessary. He thought back to what she had to him.

"Just stop it! I can't stand you! You just can't leave me alone! All you want is my body. I thank my lucky stars that I'm a light sleeper or who knows what you might've done."

"I like you," Garth replied. "To heck with it, maybe I even love you. But I'm not an anti-feminist or a pervert. We'll just have to get used to each other. That's all." It made Garth sick to his stomach knowing that he said those things. But he wanted Kate to hate him, so he could be with Lilly.

"You are hereby officially divorced from Kate," Winston had declared, "so she is no longer below your authority. You have to find another den. And if I find out that you're going around making trouble, I will dish out punishments. Understood, Alpha? Your dad will not be pleased with you."

He pretended he was angry, but inside, he was celebrating. He didn't care about his dad because he was going to leave the Valley forever. That was his desire.

"Garth?" whispered a feminine voice.

"Lilly! You're awake!" Garth was right. Intercourse was the cure.

"Garth? What's going on?"

"Quiet!" yelled one of the Rogues.

"Long story," said Garth. "I'll tell you later. But know that you've been sleeping for over a week."

The two Rogues carrying them on their backs then entered a small tunnel in the mountain. For three minutes, they walked in almost complete blackness. When they came to the other side, they were welcomed by the warm spring sun. They flinched as it was very bright. The land they entered didn't seem real.

They were within a deep hole in the mountain. There were black vertical walls that encircled the entire space. Above was nothing but the sun and the clear blue sky. In the middle of the hole was a large platform surrounded entirely by a reddish-orange liquid that radiated an unholy amount of heat. Garth and Lilly could hardly breathe. After exiting the tunnel, they walked on a wide bridge of black rock that led them to the platform. Remarkably, this platform was covered in vegetation. There were grasses, shrubs, and even short trees. Garth wondered how that was possible.

There were dens too, and when they made to the platform, wolves exited them to see what was going on. All of them had dark fur. The two Rogues dropped Garth and Lilly at an area in front of a large den. The dark wolves behind sat down and silenced themselves. Someone important was coming out of the den. Garth thought it must be King. But it wasn't.

As one would expect, it was a dark-colored wolf, and he was full of muscle.

"Welcome, my pups, to Mons Paradisum, the mountain paradise!"

"Uhh, hi," Garth replied. He couldn't believe it. This was Mons Paradisum?

"Is it my birthday?" the leader asked with joy. The wolf who carried Garth then replied.

"These two will do nicely in our army. We got them from the Drifter. He was delighted to have more of the fermented tenebris berries." Garth presumed the "Drifter" was Alabaan.

"The Drifter has been a wonderful asset. We should ask him again sooner than later if he can provide us with more fighters. We can give him all the berries he wants. They have no use to us."

"Fighters? What in the world is going on?" said Lilly. Garth came closer to her and tried to explain.

"You know that grey wolf who let us into his den? The one who had that drunk she-wolf?"

"Yeah?"

"He's the Drifter that they're talking about. A week ago, I think he gave you some berries, and you fell into a deep sleep. He was going to violate you until I stopped him. But he came back with help. He gave you some weird-ass berries, and he gave you, I believe, a heavy dose. The only way to wake someone up from the deep sleep is sex. A friend of his violated you, then, from the looks of it, he traded us to the Rogues for more of those weird berries."

"What the hell?! Are we going to be slaves?"

"We're about to find out," said Garth.

"You two! Stand up!" ordered the leader. "Untie him," he told one of his subordinates. The Rogues cut the vines with their claws. Garth stood up and stretched. "Do you two know why you're here?"

"We were wolfnapped!" said Garth.

"No, it's destiny!" he corrected. "My name is Antwon, and you are to bow down to me. Understand, Alpha?" Antwon stood on a ledge in front of his den that was a few yards higher than them. Garth could feel the spit from the dark wolf's mouth touch his snout.

"It seems we don't have a choice."

"You're damn right! No one escapes the Black Mountain Pack!"

"I thought the Black Mountain Pack died out a long time ago. I thought you guys were Rogues."

"Oh? You must not have heard of us. Let me give you a bit of background. All of us were Rogues, but we discovered two years ago the remnants of the old Black Mountain empire. There are networks of trails and paths on the mountains that go as far as a hundred miles from here! At its height, the Black Mountain Pack was the greatest pack in all of Jasper. I figured, fuck it, I should continue their legacy! King sees us as a faction of Rogues, a threat to his influence, probably because he knows how advantageous our position is in the mountain range. No one can touch us! You can't easily invade terrain like this! We've moved beyond King now. We're the true successors of this territory! Mons Paradisum was the center of its government, and it is once more! The Black Mountain Pack lives on!" All of the dark wolves cheered and hurrahed.

"But what about us?" said Lilly. "What are you going to do with us?"

"You two... will be our assassins!" said Antwon.

"No! I don't want to be your assassin!" the white wolf rebuked.

"You dare to challenge my decision?!"

"I may be an Omega, but I'll kick your ass!" All of the dark wolves gasped, including Antwon.

"Lilly, please," said Garth.

"You're an Omega?!" Antwon yelled. "How dare an Omega enter this place!" He turned to the wolf who carried her. He immediately went into a submissive position.

"I'm so, so sorry, sir. I had... I had no idea..." Antwon got down from the ledge and walked up to the wolf. He glared at him for a few seconds before slashing his neck open with one swoop. The wolf fell to the ground and convulsed while his blood pooled. None of the other wolves looked surprised.

Antwon then glared at Lilly. She screamed in fear and tightly hugged Garth. All Garth could do was watch him come closer with murder in his yellow eyes. Antwon grabbed Lilly by her scruff and pulled her away from her grip on Garth. She started hyperventilating and grabbing anything on the ground she could to slow Antwon down. Garth stayed put. His heart was pounding. The other wolves moved out of the way as Antwon continued dragging Lilly. He was taking her to the edges of the platform. He was going to throw her into the red superhot liquid!

"This is lava," said Antwon, "the life of Black Mountain. You, Omega, will die in the most painful way imaginable!"

He was ready to swing his muzzle to throw her when Garth yelled.

"Stop!" He then dropped Lilly.

"What?!"

"Take me instead..." Garth went to Lilly and hugged her, but it was cut short.

"What are you talking about?!" said Lilly.

"Take me, Antwon. You don't want to kill her... She's smart! She's... she's a genius... She's the best wolf I know. She will be a better assassin than you can ever dream of... I promise you! Take me... I will just betray you! You don't want me with her gone... I love her. My emotions will only get in the way of your missions."

"Garth... don't do this..."

"I have to, Lilly," Garth replied. He then turned to the dark wolf. "I have to because it's true..."

"She's an Omega! What makes her better when she's the definition of emotional?!" said Antwon. "What use could she possibly have?!"

"She's not just any Omega... She's been with me... If you turn her into an Alpha, trust me, she will surprise you... She surprises me every day..."

"No, Garth, it's okay," said Lilly. "We're not doing thi—" Suddenly Antwon shoved Garth off the edge, and he fell down into the abyss. "NOOOOOOO!" Lilly screamed. She looked over the edge and down the chasm. Garth screamed all the way to the bottom. When he hit the lava, he screamed even more. Everyone in Mons Paradisum could hear it. His body caught fire, and he was quickly overwhelmed by the molten rock. Once all of his skin and fur turned black, he stopped screaming, and his body slowly lowered until it was out of sight. Lilly then covered her eyes and cried profusely. Antwon placed a forepaw on her shoulder.

"I guess we'll see if he's right. Your name shall be Metrialyn, after the legendary assassin from the old empire. Your first mission is to kill the Drifter. He gave us an Omega." Lilly closed her eyes and brought down her paws. Her entire heart was broken and black and cold. She took a few deep breaths before answering.

"As you wish, sir..."