The Delta's Daughter Chapter 193

DAY 22 of The Games

TALA

Yesterday was long, today felt even longer. I sat on the bed in the back room of the female slave barracks. These rooms were much nicer than the ones the male slaves were given. The rooms actually had beds and a door, not much else in here and the only reason they had these things was for the visiting Alphas, Lords, and senior warriors so they were able to visit and pay for their pleasure. Only Vargr summoned the Hybrid slave whores to the palace. It was essentially a brothel. Except the girls had no choice but to be here.

Each girl here had been yanked from their home or the street and sold as slaves. There was no need to implant an inhibitor chip as the Hybrid girls had no spirit animal. They are faster and stronger than humans, but nowhere close to as strong as shifters. That’s why Vargr favored their race as slave whores. They could be tussled up, used violently, and would most likely recover because they could handle more. They couldn’t heal like a shifter but their bodies endured more than a human could, they could fight back though they could never match a male shifter in strength.

“Stop stressing,” I turned to Eloise when she said this raising an eyebrow “I can visibly see you freaking out, you are picking your nails again.” I looked down at my hands that were folded in my lap.

She was right, I tore almost all my nails off to little stubs “Says she who hasn’t stopped tapping her foot for four hours.” I nodded to her left foot where her heel was still thumbing on the floor excessively.

The plan was to wait here until Jasper and Kellen came to get us, once the fight was over and Vargr was dead. The boys were in no way going to let us fight alongside them. I didn’t blame them for thinking that way; El was an Omega, a weaker wolf, and had not had any training whatsoever. Me, I had had some when I was younger, but not enough. I would be more of a hindrance than a help and my presence would only distract Kellen.

The day was coming to an end, the sun lowering and dipping down behind the palace walls. With every minute I became more anxious and with every minute Mora became more restless and only accelerated my own unease further.

Eloise and I sat in silence, me still picking my nails and El tapping her heels. Each of us let out a strained sigh every now and then when the madam came busting through the door suddenly, looking frazzled and panicked. At the same time, a mind-link came through from Jasper.

“Tala, the Alpha knows you are here! His men are coming for you right now!” The madam panted out.

*He knows Jack is dead, he’s coming for you Tala* Jasper's voice filled my head.

I had no time to reply or hear what else Jasper had to say as the warriors came marching through the barracks like bulls in a china shop—kicking down the doors of girl's rooms as they went. The girls began to scream from down the short corridors. I gave El a look and stood from the bed.

“What are you doing” She hissed at me, her doe eyes wide with concern.

“I will not let them torment these girls. Vargr knows I am here, I won’t fight them.” I said opening the door and facing the men who were ransacking the rooms as they went, for no reason at all. “Stop!” I yelled out to them “If Vargr wants to see me, I will come peacefully. There is no need to destroy things.” I said confidently holding my head up high and walking forward.

Two men grabbed an arm each and hauled me out the main door of the building and marched me towards the palace, tripping on my feet as I went, trying to match their long strides. Altogether I was escorted by 6 of Vargr’s top warriors, personally, I thought it was a little excessive just for me.

I had several stares from guards as we passed through the palace grounds and many more from the staff when we entered the palace it’s self. They looked more surprised and angry than the guards and when the warriors hauled me to Vargr’s office my mother’s maid, Mildred, passed by us. The look on her face said it all. She cast me one look full of putrid anger that I knew wasn't directed at me. I turned my head to watch her hurry down the hall towards the stairs that led to my mine and mother's floor.

One of the warriors knocked on Vargr’s office and his snarling voice was heard through the door telling us to come in. The two warriors holding my arms deposited me into the office, nodded at The Alpha, and left. Beta Baron approached giving me a sorrowful look like he didn’t want to be there and placed a pair of silver-coated cuffs on my wrists. After a few seconds, I could feel the burn and itch from the coated metal as it rubbed against my skin.

Vargr sat behind his desk, his hand stroking his chin in thought as he regarded me, his eyes roaming over my body from top to bottom in a disgusting fashion. Beta Baron took up a position to his left and leaned against the door, not even giving me a glance. Instead, he kept his head down in shame. And so he should. As a Beta, he had the power to stop this, yet all these years he said nothing.

Jasper was also here, he looked worried, dark bags under his eyes, and deep in his light green eyes I could just detect a somber look, something aching to grief. This was not part of the plan; me being here. I should still be hidden in the Female slave barracks with El. Someone had dobbed us in. I was surprised Oliver wasn’t here, yet without Jack, it didn’t surprise me. Oliver didn’t know Vargr like Jack had. They didn’t have a history.

I spoke before Vargr could “You called for me Alpha” I said puffing my chest out and chin up. He had already done everything he could to me. In my mind there was no point in showing fear, I just had to play it cool and make sure I didn’t die before Jasper and Kellen’s plan was put into action. On the inside I was shaking like a leaf, on the outside I hoped I was looking as cool as a cucumber.

“How did you do it” Vargr asked his tone was way too fucking calm for my liking.

“Did what” I asked, casting a glance a Jasper.

“You killed Jack and Alice, how You are not strong enough or skilled enough.” Leaning forward Vargr narrowed his eyes at me, scrutinizing my appearance. I could almost see the cogs of his mind turning as he tried to work out how I had killed them or if I really had.

I was a little taken back. Of course, I knew Oliver had killed Jack but I didn’t know Alice had died. Or more accurately someone had murdered her. “I – I, Miss Alice is dead” I looked to Jasper understanding the emotion I saw reflected in his eyes better. Someone had killed his mother.

“Are you still a virgin Tala” My mouth gaped open at Vargr’s question, what “Jasper, check her, I want to know if she is still intact.”

“Alpha, I, umm” Jasper was obviously embarrassed and did want to do that. Nor did I want him to touch me like that. He looked at me, his eyes telling me to play along. That we could still do this, we just had to bide our time.

I licked my lips which had suddenly become very dry and cleared my throat which had also lost its saliva. “No need to go that far, yes I am still a virgin not that it is any of your concern,” I said turning from Jasper back to Vargr. How I was managing to contain myself I had no idea. Yet I still kept a blank and unbothered faade.

“Oh, but it is my business, Tala. See, I denounced you as my daughter, not that you ever were. Then the bear that brings me the biggest money makers is found dead. His throat slashed when I had declared you a whore and you were the last to see him alive. His crew wants answers. And then… poor Alice, the Beta’s mate is found dead with her throat slashed in one of the guest bedrooms. Jack’s to be precise.” He leaned back in his chair again, folding his arms over his chest. He gave his Beta a quick glance then his eyes were back on me.

I held his stare with a fiery glare of my own. “I’m sorry to hear about Miss Alice,” I said honestly. She and my mother may have had their differences but she was very kind to me. She loved Jasper and knew he loved her too. "It sounds like maybe Jack killed her if she was found in his room." I was trying to blame shift but I had no idea who had killed Alice.

“Oh you will be” Vargr smirked “Beta, take Tala to my room. It’s time to break in a new whore.”

“You sick mother fucker!” I spat at him not believing his horrifying words.

“Oh, and Beta,” He said a wide smile creeping across his face while his menacing hazel eyes still held mine “I command you to watch me fuck Tala, and after, I command you to fuck her.”

“Alpha,” Beta Baron growled. And I could hear the low growl of Jaspers wolf. This was not something we had anticipated and I did not like it one bit.

Vargr just laughed at him and tapped the back of his neck, “Do not try to defy my order Baron, even if the boy is not yours, I know you care for him. I can make you hurt him too if you are not careful.”

Beta Baron moved from his standing position and gripped one of my arms in his large hand. “You don’t have to do this, Beta. You don’t have to listen to him.” I said trying to get the Beta to back off. I knew he didn’t want to do this, I could see it in his eyes. But his wolf would follow his Alpha’s commands, but not this, his wolf couldn’t possibly follow that command.

“Oh, but he does. Don’t you Baron.” Vargr laughed “Shayna was such a smart girl.”

“Oh my goddess!” I gasped as Baron pulled me from the room towards the top floor where Vargr’s suite was. “He chipped you, didn’t he” My body twisted so I could see his face, I gave the Beta little resistance. “Beta Baron, please. Don’t do this to me, don’t let Vargr do this. He has taken so much from all of us.” I wasn’t even angry at him now that I knew he had been chipped just like the slaves. How could Vargr do something like that to his own Beta The man was truly evil.

Think Tala, think. I repeated to myself going over scenarios in my head. “But… you can shift” I asked because according to Shayna, those who were chipped would trigger the inhibitor if they tried to shift and it would kill them. “I have seen you shift”

“Orion put the chip in me; it was one of the first prototypes of Shayna's batches. It was altered and upgraded after that.” The Beta paused outside Vargr’s room, his eyes glazed over, obviously receiving a mind link. He opened the ugly ass blue doors and pushed me in, following behind.

“How long until Vargr comes to ‘break me in’” I asked shuddering and feeling bile rise in my throat. I vowed to fight him, them both. No man would ever touch me if I could help it. Only my mate.

“About an hour.” He said walking me over to the chase lounge and pushing me onto it to sit down. The Beta knelt before me “He told me to bring you here. He did not say I couldn’t take these cuffs off you.” He brought out the key and undid them without touching them, the cuffs sliding off my wrists and dropping to the floor. “He may have ordered me to watch and then…” he gulped he couldn’t even say it, he was that disgusted with the thought. "Let's hope Jasper and that mate of yours work fast."

I shook my head, he knew of the plan, he knew we were going to overthrow his Alpha. "Don't look so surprised Tala, I may have followed Vargr but that doesn't mean I agree with him. I will help how I can which is not much until he dies."

An hour. I looked out the window, the sun had almost fully dipped behind the horizon now. Was that enough time I didn’t know but I hoped so.

So Beta Baron knew about our plan, who had told him and why wasn't I told I knew he didn’t want to hurt me, but I didn’t know if I could fully trust him especially if he was still under Vrgr's command. He made no attempt to converse with me so we sat there in complete silence waiting for the minutes to tick by and I didn’t try to talk with him either making it a very awkward atmosphere.

It seemed like hours, but I knew it wasn’t. The sun had fully submerged and the stars began to twinkle as the sky turned from an ominous shade of violet and orange to a dusky dark shade of purple until the moon rose and cast its glow across the dry land. The darker it got the faster my heart beat. When will Kellen make his move Could Vargr be delayed Would Oliver provide his distraction If the stars were going to align just right for me, please let it be tonight. I prayed that Kellen would make it in time, I prayed that Oliver would make good on his promise again, and I prayed it would be before Vargr came to ‘break me in’.

Out of nowhere bell tower began to ring. I stood up and looked at Beta Baron. He too stood and walked to the window opening the French doors that led to the small veranda. The bell tower only rang when there had been a death of a higher-ranking member. I stood next to him looking out over the courtyard, a scream echoed from somewhere down below, an eerie and bloodcurdling sound that cut through the young night. The sound of the bell's chimes caused a hair-raising still to the air. I searched the courtyard until my sight landed on the twisted body of my mother, dressed in her white nightgown, her blond hair glistening under the moon's gaze. A somber and terrifying feeling came over me and I stood stoic at the sight.

“Who… what” I asked Beta Baron when I found my voice turning to him, my eyes full of tears and legs shaking. I had just become an orphan. The comprehension of what had happened slowly sank into me. His eyes met mine, looking just as oblivious and grief-stricken as I felt.

“I don’t know” he shook his head slowly, his mouthing pulling into a tight thin line. He ran a hand through his blond hair, not sure what he should do.

He opened his mouth to speak when suddenly a deafening boom reached our ears causing us to both cover them as the sound rattled and shook our brains, piercing our eardrums and shaking the walls. We both dropped to the floor of the veranda, the sudden explosion scaring the shit out of us both. The far end of the court was ablaze with orange flames, lighting up the darkened sky. A billow of smoke stretched and weaved upwards.

Someone had blown up the wall. A crater big enough to fit four cars full of rubble became visible as the smoke began to wisp upwards and dissipate into the night. Was this Oliver’s distraction But why did the bell ring

Below people moved all around bringing buckets of water in an attempt to douse the fire and stop it from spreading to the palace. The commanding warriors could be heard, shouting orders to the guards and Palace staff.

It had begun. My King was coming for me.

Despite the doom and gloom that hung over my head, I had never really known Teal and only found out he was my father a few days ago and I had lost my mother to her own mangled mind long ago. Though I felt the magnitude of her loss and my heart ached for Teal, I could not help the smile that lifted on my face at the thought of my King rescuing his princess that was locked in the tower by the evil villain. So fairytale-ish. But it was my fairytale. I bit my lip and gave the Beta one look of defiance and ran for the doors.