The Delta's Daughter Chapter 173

Day 14 of The Gladiator Games

KELLEN

The atmosphere amongst the Gladiators in the barracks was somber, to say the least. Not that any of us were ever really charismatic being enslaved. Ajani’s death had hit our hearts and the reality of our situation was once again shoved in our faces.

We had lost Gladiators previously and we all acknowledged each of their deaths. No death was good and each man we lost to the games sat heavy in our hearts and minds. We had become an unaffiliated pack of sorts. However, Ajani had been a strong fighter the Gladiators looked up to him and they all knew he was not in top shape when he went out to fight, that was one reason why I was taking his death harder more than the others. The other reason kept playing in my head over and over like a film being rewound. He had saved my life in the arena. We both could have been dead if it wasn’t for him.

Rogue sat by me, he had been by my side since I walked off the arena floor, patting my shoulder as I passed through the other Gladiators who gave me words of encouragement and praise for my display of power. Though their words were encouraging, they were also earnest given that Ajani's body had still lain there for a few hours, even after they had taken the visiting Gladiator's bodies away, until guards had been ordered to clean him up.

“What will they do with his body” I asked a guard who was part of our growing coup.

“He will be taken underground and fed to his pets.” The guard told me. All I could do was nod, knowing already that would be his answer. I asked about the other Gladiators and he told me they would be sent back to the visiting Alphas pack to be buried. They were going to receive a warrior’s burial.

Ajani would be tossed into… wherever and fed to some beasts that nobody could tell me what they were. He would not be received by the Moon Goddess. He deserved better than to be treated like nothing.

Rogue tapped my shoulder and made hand gestures to me, using his fingers to spell out TEAL and then bumping his fists together. “Teal… meeting” I said finally getting what he was trying to say after he repeated the motion a few times. He nodded his head.

I hadn’t seen Teal since yesterday, He had already been called to the Palace by the time I had washed all the blood from me. One of the Gladiators told me he had been escorted by a dozen guards on Vargr’s command.

I frowned realizing he still hadn’t come back when it was the early hours of the morning. I got up walking from the little area, Rogue following me as we crossed the barracks to where Teal usually slept. He wasn’t there either.

“Corey,” I yelled to one of the Gladiators, he came walking through the barracks, “Did Teal come back”

“No, he didn’t.” His face creased with worried lines as he realized Teal was not amongst us.

I was ready to walk to the common area to see if I could ask a guard when the gate to the arena opened and Teal was dragged in by two guards and was unceremoniously dropped into the dirt.

Rogue, Corey, and I hurried over to him. His body was black and blue and his face was swollen so badly you couldn’t see his eyes. I took note of the lacerated burns that sporadically marked his skin. I could hear a faint heartbeat but he was severely damaged.

Rogue nudged me and made a sniffing motion. I leaned close to Teal and smelled him, a trace of silver came from his wounds but more prominent was the whiff of wolfsbane that covered every open wound.

“Help me get him up Rogue, Corey go get a bucket of water and any clean shorts you can find. We need to clean and dress his wounds.” I instructed. Corey hurried away while Rogue and I picked Teal up off the floor and carried him to his cot.

“Fuck Teal what the hell happened to you” I mumbled to him as we got him situated and began to clean him up as soon as Corey came back with a bucket of water and some clean-ish rags.

Later on, that evening while Rogue and I made ourselves comfortable in Teal's quarters, not wanting to leave him alone in his vulnerable state. I felt Conri, who had been abnormally quiet since yesterday stir.

‘Give Rogue your blood’ He said. This wasn’t the first time he had suggested this but I couldn’t figure out why he wanted me to.

‘What is the point Conri’ I replied as he paced in my mind. ‘It’s not as if we can establish a pack link with him. So why are you being so persistent with this’

I felt his agitation and growled at me, causing a thrumming buzz in my head. ‘Just do it’ he snarled, very unlike him.

“Hey Rogue,” I said looking at him. He lifted his head, his deep dark brown eyes held no emotion as he waited for what I was going to say. At that moment I was reminded of Hunji and how he rarely showed emotion, how Hunji’s eyes always looked so dark like his wolf was just sitting on the surface. Rogue had that same wild look in his eyes.

“My wolf wants me to give you… my blood.” I watched for his reaction and he gave me a confused look, pursing his lips and then raising his palms asking me why, or the gesture meant ‘AND’. “I don’t know why, but he is insisting, it’s not like the mind-linking would work if I became your Alpha,” I told him my honest thoughts.

Rogue stood up and left the room, coming back a few seconds later with the sword the old woman, Nandie had given me. He shoved towards me and nodded his head.

“You want to do it” I asked him; again he nodded his head and narrowed his eyes with a determined look. “Ok.” I stood up, still unsure about this, but again what did we have to lose Worst case, nothing happened.

I slit my palm and then slit his “I, Kellen Moon, Alpha of the New Moon pack, King of the New Moon Kingdom accept you into my pack. Do you pledge to honor and uphold our laws, to remain loyal to not only your King but also members of the pack and kingdom”

He nodded yes and we held our palms together letting the blood mix. Surprisingly, I felt a link form, like a rush of adrenaline pulsing through my veins. It was brief but a pack bond had been formed.

Immediately, I tried to connect a mind-link to Rogue, but just as I thought, there was still a block from the inhibitor chip. I sighed feeling disappointed when a stronger feeling of disappointment started to creep across me accompanied by the feeling of what I could only describe as admiration.