The Delta's Daughter Chapter 310

UNKNOWN

“My Lord, we have a possible location on one of the stones. The Alpha of the Wolf Paw pack can get one of your spies in.” I look down at the feeble hybrid, bent at the knee, head bowed. Treating me like a king, that I am not.

The lost and unwanted souls of Hybrids with no spirit animal. The lost souls of rogues and humans, desperate to even the playing field in this realm.

I have built my empire with them. Grown and cultured an army who are no longer scared of the Packs and Clans. Ready to take back what they think is so rightfully theirs.

I too once thought that way. Even joined forces with two powerful shifters who promised me the future I saw for my family.

It was all a lie.

Just like I have told promises of salvation and a future of acceptance to my followers. Lies.

I put the syringe down, turning away from my subject to acknowledge the weak hybrid knelt before me. “Get up.” I bark, making the poor male flinch.

He stands, but he daren’t look at me. Too scared to see what he might find. The horror that may lie in my eyes. Or the black tendrils of shadows that creep below the surface of my skin. “Subject 29 will go,” I tell the pathetic waste of skin. Dismissing him.

Once he leaves, I turn back to my patient, picking the syringe back up. “Now, now, this will only hurt for a little bit.” I smile down as the poor girl looks at me with horrified eyes. Her mouth is sewn shut because her screams give me a headache.

They always scream. I wish I could make it hurt less - if only to silence them. I run my black veined hand over her naked skin.

Tracing the scars I left there earlier this week. Such a shame she couldn’t carry a child. Nevertheless, she is not wasted.

I can make use of her in another way. One I’m too keen on but still useful in a fight. Uncapping the syringe, I plunge a little out. The green liquid oozed from the tip. “I’m sorry,” I tell the girl, “It will all be over shortly.”

With those words, I stick her in the neck and watch as the contents disappear into her. I know the moment she feels the burn. Her wide scared eyes begin to water desperately looking around for a way out.

There is no way out. Only death can free her now. But not yet, she has a purpose to serve. Once she has fulfilled that purpose, only then will I allow her soul to be free. Allow the shadows to end her meaningless life.

I stroke her hair as the concoction I gave her burns through her veins. Her body ceases and constricts, her skin burning off and flaking to reveal the pale grey of her new form. Her eyes water and bleed red, if I was empathetic, I might just feel sorry for her. But I’m not.

Although I do understand how the transformation can be so painful. And for that, I relate, which is why I offer her comfort. “No more scars, little one. You have been reborn.” I tell her when her body goes into shock, giving up and passing out.

“Milo, bring me one of my new pets, I want to see how they react to the formula.” I lay the syringe down, knowing my assistant heard me and has done as I asked. I roll the operating table over to the large walk-in freezer, pushing my new pet in there to cool down her body. Shutting the door and putting the lock in place.

Tomorrow we will see how compliant she is, once her body recovers. If she lives through the night.

I pull the thin gloves from my hand throwing them in the bin. Remove my white coat, and walk out of the lab into my study.

“My Lord,”

“Yes, Milo?” I turn to my assistant a frown forming on my face when I notice he has no animal with him. “Explain,” I say quirking a questioning eyebrow at him.

“I just received word that someone who looks like you, has been seen leaving the councilman's mansion.” His voice is shaky, knowing he hasn’t done what I asked, but I can forgive him, he brought me interesting information.

I think for a moment, there’s only one person who could carry my face, but I was told he died along with my mate over twenty years ago. “Have him followed, find out who he is.” I finally decide. Maybe he is a lost relative. If so his blood could come in handy.

My eyes land on the locked safe, where the last of my untainted blood lies. I dismiss Milo, knowing he will now fetch me one of my new pets to experiment on.

I look down at my hands, my black veins crawling beneath my skin.

You would think someone who had been tortured and bled to death, several times, would be more caring. Less likely to do the things I do. But when you die, and a demon promises you revenge, it’s all you can think about. It’s all you want to taste. I lick my lips, at the thought of drinking my enemy's blood.

Then, the reality smashes into me, and seethe that that right was taken from me. My revenge was snatched from my grasp, the thrill of the kill stolen by the chosen one and her friends.

Only Aodh knows, how Silas and Orion needed to die. But that was my kill. Not theirs.

No matter, I had other goals now. The first to fulfill my promise that came with my rebirth. The second is to even the playing field and bring each kingdom to its knees.

Only then might I find peace.

Only then might I be released from this hell.

Milo walks back in a struggling wild on a leash drug behind him. The corners of my lips tip akin to something of a smile, albeit a cruel one.

He follows back through the swinging doors, into the lab, forgoing my coat but placing a fresh pair of gloves on my hands I have Milo bring the wild to me.

“Let us see what we can make,” I cackle to Milo, grabbing the wild by the scruff, tutting when the thing growls and bears his teeth. “Shame on you, I’m going to make so much more powerful. Don’t you want that little wolf? To never be afraid, to be the scariest predator out there?”

I throw the wild on a clean table, holding him down as Milo injects him with a sedative. Once the wild is calm and strapped I tell my assistant “Ready Subject 29, he has a job to do. The lucky fucker gets to go to a party.”

“As you wish my Lord,”

“Oh, and Milo,” I call back to him, “Send for Charron, I want to reward his finder.” Milo scurries away, like a good boy. The fear seeps out of his pores and tickles my senses. Feeding the demon inside me. He’s obedient and loyal, I tell myself. Trying to talk myself out of bleeding him. But he smells oh so delicious.

“There, there,” I pet the wild wolf, his breathing slowing, evening out as he sinks into the darkness. “When you wake, you will be reborn.”

I inject the beast with a different concoction from what I gave the hybrid, but as I did with the poor girl, I wheel him into the walk-in freezer.

My work completed for the day, I switch the lights out and head above ground. At one point I had many labs, labs I ran with Orion and Shayna by my side. Until they turned on me - found I had no more use. Bled me dry and left me to die.

Except I came back. Reborn with a new mission. A new future for the realm. A purpose that I fully intended to see through.

All the pieces were starting to fall into place, it was just a matter of time before I fulfilled my destiny.

*****

CRIMSON

“You will be needing this” Abner appears in the doorway to the room he put up in. Holding out a garment bag.

I had intended to only stay one night, then head back to Cambiador to make amends with Tawny, but that one night turned into two more as we poured through the folder and other text he had collected over the years regarding the gateways.

The thirst for knowledge outweighed the notion to run back home. My idea was that if came back with more information, the trip would be worth it and she would see that, hopefully forgiving my disappearance and extended stay.

A guy could hope, right?

I frown at the bag, just about to ask him what and why when he answers me.

“I just spoke with Mathias, he informed me your mate is heading to the New Moon Kingdom and will be attending the coronation.”

I smile at him, “Thank you,” I say taking the bag from him. “You are not what I was expecting,” I tell him honestly.

I didn’t know what to expect of Abner, or what his intentions were. It turns out Abner is one of the good guys, looking out for the realm. Mostly looking out for Mathias and his younger brother Alpha Xander. Having their best interests at heart.

He wanted the information about the jewels and the gateways to remain hidden, safe from the wrong hands, and the only way he could effectively do that was to obtain the artifacts. Keep them where he knew they were safe.

Abner had debated on destroying all the information, but something kept him from doing it. In the same way, something kept the late King Agrius from destroying that information - Instead, sending it to Cambiador where Papa Armand kept it hidden for almost forty years.

I throw my bag in the back of the car, laying the garment bag down over the seat. A smile plays on my lips as think of the hopefully happy look on Tawny’s face when I surprise her by turning up to escort her to the coronation.

Before I leave, I check in with Wyvern, who discloses that my Kitten left only hours after my departure with Mason. At least he was with her to protect her. My smile vanishes as he recalls the events after I drove away.

It doesn’t make me happy that it was because of my actions that made her cry and drove her to leave Cambiador. Wyvern assured me he, Gillian, and Tristan had everything under control in the werecat kingdom. It eased a little of my worry, the rest was solely directed at my mate.

I want proud of myself, but it was done now. The blood pact was fulfilled. There was nothing else hanging over our heads now. We could start new, begin the life we both want. Run the kingdom, raise cubs.

Climbing in the car I start it, the engine roaring to life. I take off, only glancing back at the dark mansion once before I keep my eyes on the road before me.

“I’m coming to claim you back Tawny,” I say to myself as my foot presses down harder on the accelerator. Wanting to get to her as fast as I can.

The roads are packed with snow, luckily clear enough for my car to glide over the crunching wet surface yet, the slickness slowing me down. I’m not far from the border now and know once I come down the mountain pass, I will be crossing into New Moon territory shortly.

It will be easy sailing from then on out and I will be one step closer to reaching Tawny.

Out of nowhere comes the sound of a dirt bike. I look out the front windshield trying to gauge where it's coming from when the dirt bike sails up and over the hood of my car, the back wheel just grazing the metal as it lands on the other side of the road, scaring the living shit out of me.

I lose control of the wheel for just a split second before regaining my control and my heart. “What the fuck,” I breathe out, my heart pounding wildly.

I shake the experience from my head and proceed forward, still half thinking about the strange happening.

The next thing I know, two more dirt bikes are heading straight for me on the narrow road, not flinching as they fast approach me head-on. “What the F-“ My words are cut off when they throw something at my car, the heavy object sticking to the metal on my car like a magnet.

I hear a succession of quickening beeps before the sound implodes around me and my car goes flying up. I feel the impact of the first hit, as my car comes back down to the ground. Before I know it the car is rolling, tumbling down the side of the mountain, my body is slung from side to side as it bounces down the steep slope.

The car lands on its roof, braced against a tree, finally coming to a stop after what felt like a lifetime of continuous rolling. The smell of copper fills my senses and I blink my eyes until they focus. Blood covered everything and I knew I had seriously injured myself.

Smoke billowed from the engine which was exposed and slightly charred.

I shook my head, forcing myself to see straight so I could remove myself from the vehicle before it caught fire. Managing to cut my seatbelt with a clawed finger, I dragged my body from the wreckage, crawling to a safe distance.

I rolled over, peering down at my body to assess the damage. “Fuck,” I groaned, looking at the torn flesh on my torso and the blood that dripped from my face. I would heal, it would just a little time. I laid back in the cold snow, gulping in deep breaths of the icy air, amazed I was alive.

The low hum and grumble of dirt bikes filled the silent air once again, getting closer with each second. At least the assholes were coming to help me out, I thought to myself as I attempted to sit up and get to my feet.

Except when those bikes came closer, they didn’t slow down. Instead, one flew right by me holding out a long black stick and when it came near, a bolt of lightning shot from it, shocking me back down to my knees. I roared at the sting, my skin glimmering as I attempted to shift. “Aghh” I roared again as I was hit with the same electrifying pain, then again, and again. Until my body convulsed and my eyes rolled back into darkness.

“Tawny,” I murmured with the last bit of consciousness I desperately held on to. Her face was the last thing I remember seeing as I was consumed by a blanket of darkness. “I'm sorry.”