The Delta's Daughter Chapter 16

VIVIAN (Lamias Mother)

Tears stung my eyes as I held my little girl's hand. She looked so weak and fragile lying in the hospital bed. The color had drained from her, her olive skin now a pale grey. The doctors said she would be fine and heal. She just needed to recover and rest.

Her right arm was wrapped and bandaged and had now started to heal, but slowly. Her leg was still seeping from the wounds and had to be stitched. I asked why it was taking so long to heal. They told me, because of how weak she is from using all her energy and the bone in her thigh had become infected from the claw that had been lodged there during her fight, the bear shifter had laced his own claws with silver and even though they managed to pull the claw out, it’s tip had broken off and had been lodged in her bone. They couldn’t see it until they did an x-ray. So it would take longer to heal, hence stitching her to help the process.

A whimper left my lips and more tears shed. We were all in her hospital room, Marcus, of course, the King and Queen, Beta Michael and Olivia.

Kellen sat on the other side of her bed holding her hand, refusing to leave her side. And Mike jr. had finally joined us after being checked out and cleared. Luckily, he was just going to be a little sore and stiff from the impact of hitting a tree and being tossed around, but he would be right as rain in the next few days. Luckily, he had already turned 18 and his healing abilities had kicked in so his wolf could heal him a lot faster.

I had listened to the report Beta Michael gave and the details of her fight from the boys and Hunji, who had retired to his room we had set up for him.

My baby had taken on a bear shifter!

I stroked my baby girl’s hair, trying to offer her comfort in her comatose state. She now had 3 streaks of black in her hair. One from the day she shifted into her wolf for the first time, the second from today, when she defeated the bear, but the third? The boys were hesitant to tell me how the third had come about, just saying ‘It happened when she was going through the poison prevention training’. I was sure there was more to that story, but I wasn’t going to press the matter. Not today anyway.

Her soft lips were dry and cracked and the heart monitor she was attached to beeped in the background. This isn’t the life I expected for our baby girl. When Marcus and I found out we were having a girl, we were over the moon.

Olivia gave birth to Mike a few months before Sarah and I, then Queen Sarah found out she was having a boy and we felt so lucky to have a girl. We never even thought she would grow up to be the warrior she is.

We knew she was smart and brave from a young age and the more she grew the more strength she developed. She would follow Kellen and Mike around everywhere and they never seemed to mind. In fact, it was hard to pull the three away from each other.

By the age of 9, she followed her daddy no matter where. She would often escape school to go hide under the bleachers to watch her father train the warriors and guards, until she was caught and Marcus promised to train her every day if she promised to stay in school and get good grades. They even pinky swore. When she shifted at 14 with Kellen, it was, to say the least, a huge shock to us all. Mike jr. had been upset that Lamia had gotten her wolf before him.

She and her wolf trained hard. Her wolf was the blackest I had ever seen, a true black, blacker than her father's, with a midnight blue glow under the moonlight and a white stripe across her eyes. Just like the Royals and her father, her eyes stayed the same emerald green as her own, whereas most wolf eyes, when shifted, were black or deep dark brown. As she grew, her wolf grew as big as an Alpha and still bigger than some Alphas.

 At 15, her wolf was larger than her father's and she was strong, stronger than her father who was a Delta, stronger than the Beta’s and not that the king would admit it, but we were pretty sure she was more than a match for him too. 

That was when Alex, the King, had decided it was a good idea for her to move into the palace with them and train with the royal guard until he shipped her off with Kellen and Mike jr. to the Alpha academy. He wanted her to be as trained as his son, the prince.

Lamia is like a niece to the king and queen and just as much of a daughter to the beta couple also. Even though it broke my heart for her to move into the palace with them, and she was only a 10min walk away, I understood their thinking and was happy that she would have the opportunity to go to the academy.

Now I was regretting that I allowed it to happen. If I had been more stern and made her stay here with us, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. However, I also knew if I had made her stay, she would have hated me for it. She was meant for great things. We all thought it, now we have all seen it. It is not some small feat defeating a bear shifter.

*****

MARCUS (Delta)

We were sitting in the king's office; we had been there for a good 2 hours now, discussing not just Lamia, but the attack on the convoy in general. Hunji joined us. He is a well respected man in the werewolf world and considered not just worldly but an excellent advisor and strategist. As he had come here to further train Lamia and was part of the attack, it made sense to ask him to be involved in our meeting.

“They targeted the prince’s car, my lord. That much was apparent.” There was venom in the Beta’s voice as he recounted the incident. “I believe they were targeting him. Do you think it could have something to do with the increased rogue attacks on the surrounding smaller packs and the Royal pack?” he asked.

“It could be.” The King replied, his face strained, scratching his chin as he sat in his chair behind his desk.

I sat in the far chair opposite while the Beta sat in the chair next to me, Hunji was standing looking out the wide floor to ceiling window and Mike jr. was sitting on one of the leather couches, his feet up on the coffee table twirling the four inch black claw they had pulled out of my daughters bone, between his fingers. A grim and pale look on his face, no doubt still, worrying about Lamia.

She still wasn’t awake and Prince Kellen had been excused from the meeting as he refused to leave her side.

They seemed closer than the last time we had seen them during the winter solstice. I was not sure what changed, but there had definitely been a shift in their relationship.

I cleared my throat, although I was concerned about my daughter, she was going to be OK; we still had other pressing matters to discuss. “If these attacks are related, I still can’t understand how or why they would have a bear shifter working with them. He must have been a rogue shifter.”

“He could have been hired for muscle,” Michael interjected.

“No,” I paused, my eyebrows coming together in a scowl as I tried to process the reasoning “Still doesn’t make sense, Rogue shifter or not, he was a long long way from bear territory. Plus, they usually don’t associate with rogue wolves, not even for hire…” I trailed off, still trying to magically conjure the answer.

“He was a rogue. His eyes were red and smelt like them, rotten and foul. His fur was matted and patchy.” Mike Jr’s voice was emotionless as he continued to stare at nothing, still twirling the claw in his hand. He had been shaken up by what happened, seeing his best friend almost die.

His father was a little better but he had told me about how she had pulled the shifters' head off and the bloody scene he came upon, her lifeless body straddled over the bears, still holding his severed head. It sent shivers through my body, creeping goose bumps covered my arms at the thought of my princess, my baby girl, covered from head to toe in blood.

He spoke so softly, his middle-eastern accent thick, that if we weren’t were-wolfs, we might not have heard him. Hunji turned from the window, now facing us. “Not unless… it was a rogue Alpha wolf working with a rogue Alpha bear…” He trailed off, looking between the three of us.

I looked at Mike Jr; I knew he wanted to go see her. “I think Mike could be excused for the remainder of the meeting. We can fill the boys in tomorrow. It’s been a long day for everyone.” The King nodded his head at my suggestion.

“You may go, Mike,” he said.

Mike didn’t wait a second before thanking us and hurrying out the door.

The King stood up, tall, his massive frame suddenly making the room feel smaller. His eyes darkened, filling with impatience a stern expression aimed towards Hunji.

“Is there something you are not telling us, Hunji? Or, you should be telling us, Hunji?”

Hunji took a fearful step back, his wolf submitting to the king “No your Highness.” He bowed his head, not being able to meet the king in his eyes. “I promise you, I am working on a theory based on where packs that are under the rule of your kingdom, have been attacked.” He wasn’t lying then and was not lying when he added “I would like to think on this… theory, a little more your Highness and suggest we all sleep on it and we can investigate my theory tomorrow? It has been a long day and I, for one, am spent.” His gaze shifted from me, to the king and back to me, and he bowed.

He was honest and sincere. Hunji was a man known for his wisdom and worldly experience, as well as his sword skills. He may have been younger than us, in his late 20's to early 30’s, but he exuded knowledge and respect. He is a strong wolf.

I was too tired. Hunji was right. It had been a long day. I was mentally exhausted. I sighed out loud and sat back

“Alex, please dismiss Hunji, I really don’t want to tackle that tonight, and I just want to go see my wife and daughter.” My words holding a light grunt.

“Very well, Hunji, we will see you in the morning.” The king dismissed Hunji and he thankfully left the room, bidding everyone a good night.

“Now it’s just the adults. I think we should address the few elephants in the room, namely the kids.” I looked at Beta Michael, his lips pressed in a tight line and eyes darting between the King and myself.

Alex leaned back in his chair, resting his hands behind his head. “What more can our kids have done now? I’m almost afraid to hear it.”

Michael cleared his throat and shifted uneasily in his chair. I stiffened, waiting for him to continue and spit it out. Like the King, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear any more.

I felt like I had enough to worry about for the rest of my life. I just wanted to go see my wife and daughter and be with them. Did they not understand? I couldn’t concentrate on anything, I was mentally shutting everything out because of the worry and fear I was harboring about the condition my daughter came back to me in.

“Well, your Highness, Marcus,” He looked at each of us in turn, apprehension showed on his features. “It seems that Kellen and Lamia didn’t wait until they turned 18, they have… um ma.”

“I swear to the Goddess if you finish that sentence Mike!” I warned, snarling my words at him.

“Fuck.” The king muttered, scrubbing his face with his hands, he looked at me, “I’m sorry Marcus” Sincerity laced his voice and showed in his blue orbs. But it wasn’t helping me.

This was not what a father wanted to hear. How his daughter had slept with her long-time best friend. I didn’t want to hear about her mating with any male. At all!

I was barely keeping my composure as it was, my wolf starting to lose it. He was agitated as fuck! I felt the room closing in on me. I got up to pace the room; I couldn’t sit still any longer. My hands pulled at my hair, leaving the black strands disheveled, my pace quickened. I just needed to calm down; there was nothing I could do, short of killing the Prince.

I laughed at that thought. I loved that boy to much.

Though, if I am being honest with myself, I can’t say I’m that surprised. Still, I didn’t like it. Just one more thing I had to worry about. Him and her running around behind our backs, then if they turned out not to be mates, we would either be picking up the pieces of a broken heart or dealing with a raging teen wolf. One or the other was going to get hurt.

“Marcus, I’m sorry, but you are really not going to like what comes out of my mouth next,” Michael stood up and went around the desk to stand by the King. Alex gave him a weary and cautious look as to why he had rounded the desk.

The hair on my arms and neck were standing up now, “Spit it out Mike! What the fuck is going on?” I was on edge, I couldn’t take much more, what the fuck else could I be hit with tonight? There’s an air of disquiet in the room.

He swallowed deeply and fiddled his fingers, he was quiet when he spoke “It um, it came to my attention when I got to the academy, that… um… shit” the beta slouched his shoulders, his head tilting, he looked at me with wide eyes, pleading, begging for calmness.

He looked me dead in the eyes. “Lamia was accidently overdosed and almost died at the academy during her Torture prevention class. Phew” he said as fast as possible, a sigh of relief for getting it off his chest.

But I caught, every. Single. Word.

“WHAT!” I shook the walls and windows, as my growl bellowed out! I was sure the whole palace heard it; even the king was taken back. I couldn’t hold back, pure anguish and anger radiated off me in thick waves and before I could stop myself, my fist met with a wall.

“Marcus! I ORDER you to calm down!” The King barked at me using his Alpha tone. I had to submit, even though my wolf wouldn’t allow it, I couldn’t go against his orders, so my shoulders sagged as I stumbled to the chair and flopped into it. My head resting in my hands, palms pressed to my eyes as I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees. Trying to reign in my wolf, I was defeated.

“Is there anything else you want to throw at me tonight? Or is that the end of the ‘let’s give Marcus a heart attack for the night’ show?” I mumbled the words but they were coated thick with sarcasm. “Or can I please go now?”

I didn’t wait for a response; I didn’t care if I disrespected the king. Right now, as a friend, the king knew not to push my buttons. I got up and left. I didn’t care. I just did not care at that moment.

I needed to see my mate, my sweet, sweet Vivian, who hadn’t left Lamia's side since they bought her home and rushed her straight to the hospital.