The Delta's Daughter Chapter 226

11 YEARS AGO

HUNJI/KIAN

I ran across the open street, shifting into my skin form and still using my wolf’s senses to scent the children. Underneath the heavy smoke and climbing flames, I could just make them out. My ears pricked at the wailing cry of the little girl I had come to know over the past few months.

Rushing toward the burning building I didn’t think twice before throwing myself against the wooden wall and crashing into it. “Where are you?” I called out to the children. Their whimpers reached my ears, but they didn’t respond. “Zeenat, Zayd?” I called again, covering my mouth and nose from the smoke.

I crouched down low, flames licking at my bare skin. I began to panic. I couldn’t find them. The heavy weight of the built-up smog was thick and just as hot as the burning fire. My eyes watered and even though covered with my hand, it began to clog my nose and throat. I moved forward into another room and that’s when I heard Zayd, calling for help in between his coughs.

Pinpointing exactly where he was now, I leaped over a fallen beam that had caught fire – bursting into another room. The blazing inferno followed me. Singeing my hair and melting the skin on my arms. I pushed forward knowing Ruda would be able to help heal me.

“Hunji!” The boy coughed out, more than relieved to see me. His sister lay in his arms, limp while he huddled in a corner. I thought I was too late, then noticed the slight movement in her tiny frame and felt a huge sigh of relief leave my lungs, the action making me cough harshly.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” I promised them. looking around and finding the outside wall. I huffed and puffed then ran at the wall crashing into it with all my force. The wall shuddered and creaked. The building was going to come down on us any minute. I ran at the wooden wall again this time using every bit of weight and strength from my wolf I could muster and went tumbling through the splintered planks. I righted myself quickly and went back in, seeing Zayd and Zeenat still in the same place.

I picked up Zeenat from his arms, then picked Zayd up in my other arm, fleeing the room from the hole I had created. Once outside and far enough away, I put the boy down on his feet and lay Zeenat on the ground. She had stopped breathing. She had inhaled too much smoke. I began administering CPR, careful not to break her ribs. “Come on don’t die on me little one” I ground out, bending over to breathe in her mouth again. Fully aware that I was completely naked with my lips on a little girl.

I started chest compressions again when suddenly she took in a large breath that made her cough out several times. “Hunji?” she said with a croaky voice “You saved us.”

“Yeah, I did kid” I smiled down at her, thanking the gods for sparing her life.

“Zayd! Zeenat!” Their mother came rushing towards us. Dropping to her knees once she reached us. Hugging her children and sobbing with relief.

“Hunji saved us!” Zayd beamed, unaware of how close he was to losing his little sister. He was only 12 and Zeenat was 8. They had no idea how close they were to… I didn’t even want to think about it.

“He did, thank you,” Their mother said lifting her head to look at me “Please save the Alpha, Hunji. If he dies in battle this village will be claimed by the rogues and, and…” She sobbed.

She didn’t have to say anything else. I understood the rogues would ransack the village, take the women and children - giving no mercy to anyone else. “Go find a safe place to hide,” I told them standing up, ready to shift again and join the fight. To save the small clan I had been staying in for the past three months.

I run towards the opposite side of the village where I can hear the clan members fighting the rogues. The Alpha was standing tall, taking hit after hit. He may be a were-bear, but this was a small clan of black bears, and the rogues were a mixture of races.

I found, once I had regained my wolf, that I was faster and stronger than I was before. I was always an Alpha wolf – now though, I was much more powerful. More robust after training, yet more nimble and quick on my feet. My wolf was even larger making me a force to be reckoned with.

I dove headfirst into the fight, the Alpha bear looking my way as I joined his ranks and wasted no time sinking my teeth into wolf after wolf, leaving the rogue bears for the clan members. Ripping out their throats and clawing at their chests, I didn’t hesitate. My temper soared that these rejects had been cruel enough to set fire to the village school, almost killing innocent cubs/children.

My wolf took pleasure in his kills and when there was no other rogue standing in our way, we turned our attention to rogue bears and launched an attack on the first one to cross our paths. Ducking and weaving from his paws, circling around his rear, and sinking our bloodied teeth into his hind legs. The rogue bear fell hard, and my wolf was fast to tear his throat out.

The Clan’s Alpha roared, signaling that we had won the fight – The remaining rogues retreated with their tails and ears tucked.

“Hunji,” The Alpha bear addressed me, already shifted into his skin form. I joined him, transforming into my human also. “I owe you a debt. You did not need to fight alongside us. Yet you did as if you were one of ours. My Den Mother, tells me you saved our children – ran into a burning building and pulled them out?” Assuming his mate had already mentally informed him.

He wasn’t really asking but I replied anyway. “I did, Alpha” I bowed my head to him “You owe me nothing. I only did what I would hope anyone would do.”

“Not only did you save my children, but you also very well saved some of my clan members. You fight with grit – both you and your wolf.” This time he bowed to me. A motion unheard of for an Alpha. “I open my home to you and invite you to stay for as long as you wish. I would be honored if you accepted my invitation and became a clan member.”

“Thank you, Alpha, I am most humbled by your offer, but it will soon be time for me to move on. I am glad I could have been of service, and I hope I have gained your friendship so when I do pass through again, I am welcome?” It was a nice thought – the idea of belonging somewhere again. Having a home. As much as I thought of the sanctuary as my new home – it was not. It was a place where I healed. Asena and her people clothed, fed and taught me. At the end of the day though, I was still a werewolf without a pack. My body may have healed but mentally I was still broken, and my wolf still pined for his mate – a mate. I was as alone on my journey as I was in life.

A week later I said my goodbyes to the Alpha bear and his children. Gathering the same small bag and pair of swords with which I had arrived. Nothing more. Nothing less. The chosen one was not here and I had already spent far too long in this village. With the empty promise of seeing them again, I walked away from yet another place that opened its arms and hearts to me and asked me to call it home.

I could not. When I left the sanctuary a few months ago I didn’t know if I would ever find a place to call home again.

***FLASHBACK***

“Take these. Give them to the chosen one when she turns eighteen and her wolf awakens. They were forged in the mountains of Avalon – hardened in the pools of eternal life. They belong to Inanna and are inscribed with a prayer to the goddess.” I took the wooden box from Asena, looking down at the pair of short swords that lay within it. They were beautiful, weighted perfectly and the pommels were a wolf’s head.

Asena had said she felt the chosen one’s spirit. This means she must have turned sixteen – the age most werewolves get their spirit animal, unless they are an Alpha or royalty, then, it is possible for them to shift at fourteen. Like I did. At least I knew what age group I was looking for. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was something.

***END FLASHBACK***

For the next two years, I roamed the continent, guided by my wolf, in search of the young girl – the chosen one. Coming up empty-handed each time. My travels somehow always led me to cities, villages, and towns that needed my help in one way or another. Whether it be to fight for them or train them - and I would. Sometimes I found an individual who required my help and again – I would help them how and where I could. I never stayed longer than a few months, if even that, at each place my wolf guided me.

More often than not, I found myself fighting the battles of someone else. I didn’t mind so much, and neither did Ruda. Our hunger for a fight grew with each place we visited. The emptiness in our hearts expanded creating a black hole. The desire for companionship settled in our souls, and still, we remained true to our vow. No matter how hard it was.

Eventually, the hunger for a female and the craving for combat became less and less, yet the disgruntled mood of my wolf and I stayed.

Over the years it eased, but it wasn’t until I reached Andora, did I begin to learn how to respect myself again. I would say love, but that didn’t come until much later and I don’t think I could ever truly love myself again. My crimes still haunt me, little did I know, 13 years later they would keep haunting me.

When my wolf finally guided us to Andora, I was excited. For the first time in a long time. I thought being here would be the end of my journey – that we would find the chosen one and be able to return to the sanctuary, at the very least we would be set free from our promise and oath. Maybe I could find happy – or something close to it.

No such luck. For the next year, I looked for the chosen one. Every female shifter I found who was sixteen did not scream powerful. Asena said we would know when we found her.

Andora was peaceful and full of life; I made many friends and joined the guild so I would have access to their library and scrolls. That’s where I met Tristan ScarClaw. One of the very few people whom I hoped to remain friends with even after I left Andora.

ScarClaw had lost his family years before in a tragedy. Leaving him mateless and childless. His mate and children had taken a vacation to Rero, a small country off the coast, north of Andora. They were out on a boat when a huge storm swept in and swept them out, leaving poor Tristan alone. When I found him, he was a drunk and hadn’t used a bar of soap in weeks. It was a miracle that he hadn’t been kicked out of the guild and off the council. Despite his tragic past and his lack of self-hygiene, Tristan was a kind man and offered me a room in his house.

I obviously accepted and found his friendship easy, and I looked forward to spending the evenings conversing with him. My company, in turn, was good for him too. I didn’t drink, therefor he drank less, and we filled our time outside of the guild playing chess and conversing on the city trends and politics. Some nights we would stroll the streets and he would tell me stories of his ancestors and family. Many times, he asked about my family and where I came from. I never did tell him, no matter how good of a friend he became. I just couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud – Every time I thought about it, shame, guilt, and remorse would rear their ugly heads. I didn’t want to disappoint Tristan – I didn’t want to see his reaction when he knew the truth about me. What I was. What I had done. So, I always deflected his questions, changing the subject. If he minded, he never said.

It was about this time in my life that I had come to terms with being celibate and never having a second chance mate. The craving for a female was no longer there. The urge to draw blood – lessened to nothing. For the first time ever, even before I was sentenced to death and after Asena had saved me, I left a sense of peace. Not happiness - but not darkness.

Still at night when I looked in the mirror, I saw the true monster I was. My eyes were still black, and my body was scarred. To everyone else, I looked like I had seen too many battles, and maybe I had. But I knew the lines that marred my body were not from battle. They were my punishment. Deserved or not, I could never forget what I had done. I would wear my sins for the rest of my life.

It was exactly a year when my wolf began to get antsy, and the itch to move on began to eat away at him. He started to claw at me in my mind. Breaking down my resolve until I gave in and yet again, we were to say goodbye to yet another friend. We had stayed in Andora with Tristan longer than any other place we had and would for the next several years.

I was comfortable in Andora. I didn’t want to leave. The reminder of my promise and oath was always at the forefront of my thoughts. Each time I felt or heard my wolf, each time I shifted or used my wolf’s abilities I was reminded of just how I got him back. I was always reminded of how I lost him. So, with heavy shoulders and the same old bag and swords I left.

My next destination took me south to the country of Kar, finding work on the fishing boats and learning the trade. When the season was done so was I, and my wolf carried me west to the coast of Sirtya. I roamed from village to village until I settled at the docks, loading and unloading goods that were imported and exported to the second continent.

Nine years I had been a lone wolf, nine years I had wandered from place to place. It was one day I was loading a container that would be shipped across the vast ocean when the foreman stopped me.

“Hunji, the captain is short a boat hand. Today you get to cross the ocean.” He gave me papers and when the boat launched, I went with it.

I will never forget standing on the Bow, looking out at the horizon as the sunset. The bright blue of the ocean turned a dusty pink with the fading sunlight and eventually became black and reflected the night sky and all above. I had been traveling for just over nine years now, and it was beginning to take a toll on me.

Nine years and no sign of the chosen one. I felt that this quest had been a failure. Still, I would keep searching until I found her. After all, that was the reason the moon goddess had given me a second chance and returned my wolf to me - to serve her and find the chosen one.

The cargo boat landed on the docks of Ormka, a small receiving town on the coast of the werewolf kingdom or as I came to know it - the Moon kingdom. Immediately I noticed the difference in cultures from the second continent to the western continent. They had retained the use of common electronics such as phones and television. Getting off the boat I heard the sound of music coming from a radio instead of live instruments. Commoners wore dress shirts and jeans, including women, instead of Jodhpurs and Bandhgala – a loose button-up jacket. Women wore short skirts and high heels instead of Kaftans and Saris. My wolf was giddy, prancing with excitement, the smell of the foreign food tickled our senses making our mouth water.

‘This is where we are meant to be,’ Ruda said, conversing with me for the first time in a long time. Usually, it would only be a word or a feeling here and there. Or a reply when I spoke to him first. He was never a big talker but even less so after he had been reunited with me. ‘My gut tells me this is where we were always meant to be.’

I couldn’t deny it. I felt it too. A sense of belonging, of purpose. A sixth sense that seeped into my whole being – This is where we are meant to be. ‘I feel it too, Ruda’ I agreed, scenting the cool air. ‘It took us a long time, but we are here.’

‘Tomorrow, we head inland. I can feel we are close Human.’ I chuckled at his use of the word human like we were separate entities.