The Delta's Daughter Chapter 285

MASON

I drop into a crouching position. Drawing in a deep and exasperated lung full of air. Holding it for a beat then letting it woosh out of me all at once.

I feel sick to my stomach with desperation and fear. I palm my face, a sad attempt at trying to school my frustration and lack of control. “Somebody give me something!” I grind out, standing back up and eyeing the men who have been searching for Princess Tawny and Sir Kolby.

Solemnly, they all shake their heads. “You’re the fucking Alpha team!” I yell unable to control my anger, “Not one of you has found a lead, not even a fucking clue as to where they went?” Again, they shake their heads low, glancing at one another.

It’s not as if I can even be that angry at them. Really, I’m angrier at myself. How the fuck could this happen? I am one the best trackers on this side of the realm and I can’t even find my ward! I can’t expect them to find anything when I, myself, have found no lead.

“Where the fuck could they have gone?” I grumble out loud to no one in particular.

It had been almost twenty-four hours since I last laid eyes on the princess – walking into the jungle brush with Kolby Crimson. Not long after I heard her scream and the whole team followed the sound.

We have searched, and called out for her and Crimson, but found nothing. Their lingering scents were found, only yards away from the campsite. A few drag marks, and then… nothing. It’s as if the dark of the jungle just swallowed them up.

*Commander Mason, sir. Commander Wyvern has arrived at the campsite.* I receive a link from one of the warriors on the Alpha team.

*I will be there shortly* I reply. After hours of searching, I finally sent two team members back to the Palace to inform Wyvern of what had happened.

I start trekking back to the campsite, shifting into my cat to get there faster. Thankful that Wyvern made the call to come out here. We could do with all the help we could get.

“Wyvern,” I say as I shift back into my skin form once I reached the camp and was standing in front of him.

“What happened?” His brows form a deep V, and he looks as harrowed as I feel. “The warriors informed me of the situation, but I need to hear it from you.” He says, crossing his arms and waiting for an explanation from me.

“Fuck man,” I rub my chin, “I don’t know. The Princess and Crimson wandered into the brush,” I point towards where I last saw Tawny disappear with Crimson, “I linked her to see if she ok and I figured they were going to… well, you know.” I shrug my shoulders.

Wyvern’s scowl deepens for a moment before his eyes go wide realizing what I meant. “You think they were finally going to get their shit together?”

I shake my head, “I don’t know man. But I figured she was safe with him, ya know? We all heard her scream and all of us ran toward the direction it came from.” Again, I shake my head unbelievingly at the turn of events. “I don’t know man… FUCK! This is insane… Poof gone! Both of them. Without a fucking trace!” I dig the heels of my palms into my eyes in aggravation with my lack of control. I was losing it – my grip on sanity.

“We’ll find them,” Wyvern states calmly patting me on the shoulder. “I brought the Beta team’s first string with me a few trackers. We won’t rest until we find them.” His words are meant to be reassuring, a comfort, but I find no ease in them.

“Commander,” I look up at the new voice and anger boils to the surface “What the fuck is he doing here?” I below at the werecat who approaches us.

Tomislav stills with my heated question, swallowing deeply. I look at Wyvern questioningly, silently asking if he had lost his mind bringing this asshole with him. “He’s a damn good tracker-“

“He challenged the princess! He’s Maydor’s fucking son! Who, might I add, gets wind of this fuck up, will have an absolute field day with it!”

“I can assure you, Commander Mason, sir, I will not be reporting this back to my father. I had no idea I would be challenging princess Tawny when he brought me there. She beat me fair and square; I serve the crown.”

“You better fucking hope you are on her side, because I swear to the goddess, I will kill you if you even think of double-crossing us.” I glare at the werecat who accepts my promise and looks at me with regret in his eyes.

“The satellite phone, sir.” Tomislav holds out a hand toward me, a bulky black phone in it. “Lady Gillian and Sir Tristan requested you check in with them.”

I look at Wyvern, “They are concerned.”

“I take it they are handling everything while we are here?” I ask Wyvern.

“Yes. Lady Gillian was ready to come here herself,” Wyvern smirks “We convinced her she would be better off taking care of things back at the palace until we have located the Princess and Sir Crimson.”

If we don’t find anything by this time tomorrow, I know I’m going to have to call this in. A shred of fear roped through me, making me shudder at the thought of having to call Hunji and explain that Tawny is missing. Or worse, having to call Queen Lamia.

Moons this was bad.

*****

We spread out, fanning the jungle. Starting from where we last caught their scents. Looking for anything. A drop of blood, broken plants, claw marks on trees. Drag marks, anything.

Yet so far on the second day of Tawny and Crimson’s disappearing act, we have found nothing - still.

I was going to have to call it in and notify Queen Lamia, I just knew it. I felt my Tom push his emotions onto me, calming my inner turmoil at the thought of letting down not just the princess but also Queen Lamia. How the fuck was I meant to tell the Queen of shifters that I lost her best friend?

She would probably have her mate eat me. I shudder at the thought of King Mathias and his very intimidating aura. The guy was an angry man, and I would be stupid to get on his bad side.

*I got something. I think* Tomislav’s voice cuts through my inner thoughts and my Tom perks up at his words.

*On way to your location* I reply. I hear his trill, giving us his location, and make haste toward him.

“Tomislav?” I call out not finding him when I reach the general area.

“Up here!”

I look up, up into the high trees, and find him perching on a branch just above me. “What are you doing up there?” I question with curiosity.

“Come on up, you need to see this, Commander.” He calls down, motioning with his hand to join him.

I make quick work climbing the tree, using my claws to grip the smooth bark of the tall tree.

Joining him, I perch next to him on the thick branch. “What am I looking at?” I ask, looking down and around, trying to see what he’s looking at.

“We weren’t finding anything on the ground level, so I thought I would take a look at it from a bird’s eye, right?” His lips turn up to form the hint of a smug smile. “What do you see when you look down?”

I look down not seeing much that could help. I shake my head “Lamins terms Tomis,” I say not wanting to guess.

“Ok, well… From the ground, everything looks fine, but see there?” He points to a patch of ground close to where we last caught their scent. “It’s been brushed over, not very well either.”

I look closer and… I’ll be damned, you could see where dirt had been moved to cover over a drag mark. Fuck me, how did I miss that?

“And then I found this,” Tomis stands and motions for me to follow as he leaps to a neighboring tree, easily navigating the branches. I follow. “Broken branches, all the way up here. And then claw marks there.” He points out the leads he found then bounds up and over to a few trees away. “This.” He says, stopping short on a lower-lying branch.

I look at the trunk of the tree he crouches next to, a smear of blood coats the smooth bark. I dip my finger in the blood and bring it to my nose inhaling, then taste it.

“I take back what I said.” As I pat him on the shoulder as in a job well done. “This is Tawny’s blood.”

Tomislav’s face pales, and he looks fearful. “It’s not enough to consider her seriously hurt.” I offer him peace of mind and myself. If there had been more blood, I would have been panicking. But it was a smear - like she had tried to grab at the tree and cut her fingers or paw open. “What else did you find?” This was more than we could hope for an hour ago, but we needed more. A trail that would lead us right to her.

“Nothing yet, sir.”

“Then let’s go, let’s see what else we can find.” We bound from tree to tree trying to find more evidence and clues as to where or what direction they took Tawny Crimson in. but we come up empty.

By the tie the sun starts to dip down behind the ravine, the trail had gone as cold as when we first started. Our guess, at best, was that they had headed south. Come the morning we would trek further in that direction.

They couldn’t have gone too far. The vast canyon stretched far and wide and it seemed impossible that they would be able to cross that opening in a day or two.

I would hold off on calling Hunji or Queen Lamia. I was confident that we would find her and Crimson. At least I hoped we would be able to.

*****

I wasn’t able to relax, my mind overthinking the worst and the best-case scenarios. While most of the men slept, I stayed wide awake until the break of dawn came. At dawn’s first early light, I snuffed out the fire and started to rouse the sleeping men.

Wyvern and I explained our plan to head south, sharing the information of what Tomislav was able to find. We would have men on foot and paws. On the ground and in the trees.

Every one of them looked uneasy as we finished delegating teams and tasks and finalizing our plan. “What’s their problem?” I ask Wyvern when the warriors had dispersed to gather up their gear.

“Unknown territory.” He says with a sigh. “We all grew up hearing of the tales that warned us about what’s in that ravine.” He gives a halfhearted chuckle, “They say a long-forgotten race of were-cats live in the shadows of the caves down there, cannibals. Venture too far and they will snatch you up, never to be seen again.”

I pale at his explanation. Because really… the two heirs to the throne of Cambiador just vanished into thin air.

Goddess, I hope there wasn’t any truth to that folklore.

“Don’t look so scared Mason, “ Wyvern chuckles more loudly, a twinkle in his eye “It’s just a story. In all honesty, the men are probably uneasy because we don’t know the area. It’s never been mapped or explored this far south.

Several hours later the dense jungle begins to thin and through the greenery, I can see the vast canyon of the ravine down the hill. The whole way we searched, hoping to pick up a trail, or at least one of their scents.

I pull out the satellite phone and punch the button for the saved numbers. It rings twice before I hear the familiar sound of Gillian’s voice. “It’s Mason,”

“Talk to me Mason, have you found any trace of them?” Surprised by Gillian’s demanding words, I stammer to tell her no, we hadn’t found any more leads as to where they could have gone.

From the first day we met Gillian, she was shy and meek. Right now, she was all business. Strength and courage seeped through the poorly connected line with each word she spoke.

“Listen, if Tawny is with Crimson, she will be okay. He won’t let anything happen to her. He – He’s different Mason. He can handle himself. Whatever situation they are in he will get them out of it. I hope.” She grumbles the last part.

“What if he can’t?” I swallow my words with apprehension. I am fully aware that both Tawny and Crimson can take care of themselves, but what if…

I refuse to finish the thought.

“Don’t try to cross the ravine Mason, just… Give Crimson a chance to get them out of whatever they got themselves into. Have a little faith.” She pauses and I hear her sigh. “I have to have faith that he will come back to me. That he will bring Tawny back to us.”

Her strange words have my brow furrowing. I thought she would be over Crimson. She met her mate, Tristan. I scratch my head, deciding not to reply to her, and end the call with a promise to update her.

“Bad conversation?” Wyvern asks, coming up behind me and surprising me.

Shit, I had to get my head together and couldn’t even sense someone sneaking up on me.

“You’ve known Crimson and Gillian a long time?”

Wyvern nods. “Yeah, our whole lives. Why?”

“I don’t know. Just something Gillian said. You were there when she and Tristan found out they were mates?”

“I was.” He looks at me curiously, as I try to make sense of why Gillian said what she did.

“You think she would reject him for Crimson?”

Wyvern scoffs. “No fucking way man. You should have seen how it went down she is over the moon she found her mate. Confused, scared but the look in her eyes is what we all dream of.” He smiles and looks off over my head as if thinking of finding his own mate. “Why do you ask?” He says after a beat.

“she said ‘I have to have faith that he will come back to me’ It was just a strange thing to say and it wasn’t so much as what she said, but how she said it.”

“Man, those two – Crimson and Gill, thick as thieves. Don’t read too much into it. You have to remember, those two were inseparable as kids – best fucking friends. I have no doubt she will always have feelings for him but if you’re worried about Kolby and the princess – don’t. She won’t do anything to taint their bond or hers.”

“I hope you’re right,” I mumble, repeating it in my head. I surely do hope he is right.

“You don’t think this could be an inside job, do you?” I’m skeptical, but I wouldn’t and couldn’t rule out someone from the Capital being involved. Someone like Maydor or another Lord. Maybe even a member of Cambiador’s council.

“I highly doubt it. But…” He raises his brows and I scrub a hand over my face and through my hair. “I wouldn’t completely rule it out either.” He speaks the same words I was thinking.