The Delta's Daughter Chapter 344

JONDA

I came to in darkness, hands bound behind my back and mouth gagged. The effects of the drug the stranger smothered me with had left my brain feeling foggy and my body groggy. Even though I could hardly move, it still felt like a ten-ton weight was pinning me down.

I couldn't see, but I knew I was in a car, specifically in the trunk. The vehicle bounced over the road and I with it. I laid here for what seemed like hours, breathing through my nose, the smell of the exhaust making me want to hurl.

Finally, the vehicle came to a stop, and I listened to the car door open, and slam shut. Then the trunk was being opened and light flooded through temporarily blinding me. A stark contrast to the freezing air that whips at my bare arms. I squinted against the bright sun and looked up at the figure who stuck a hand out and roughly grabbed me, dragging me from the trunk.

I stumbled to stay upright and, on my feet. Tripping over when I was shoved forward. "Keep moving." the stranger said. Picking me up from the frozen ground. A blanket of snow covered the earth beneath my knees, the dampness soaking into my jeans.

I wanted to yell at him - fight back, but between tied-up hands, gagged mouth, and whatever drug he used on me, it was a losing scenario.

My vision was still hazy at best, but I managed to look around, only seeing a large metal warehouse, similar to the ones I worked in at the shipping docks. There wasn't much else around. Nothing that would give me any clue as to where I had been taken.

Damn curse! I thought, thinking that I would do anything for shifter abilities or a connection with my wolf at this moment. How long had I been out for? Was anyone missing me yet? Had anyone even realized I was no longer at New Moon, or on the Sea Dogs Pack island?

The strange man pushed me to walk forward while keeping a tight grip on my bound hands behind my back, leading me to a small metal door on the side of the warehouse. He punched in a code 132109. I memorized it, thinking if I have the chance to escape, I might need it.

We entered a closed-off hallway, dimly lit and with no indication of what kind of facility this was. At the end of the hall, we turned left only to be greeted with another hallway, but at the end of this one stood a double door with glass windowpanes.

We walk through the doors and a man with pale hair and greying skin sits behind a desk. He looks up "He's not happy you let the thief escape Twenty-Nine," He says, with eyes that are the palest blue I have ever seen.

"I brought him a present," The man who kidnapped me says. "I will return to finish the job."

"That's if he lets you live." The man with blue eyes shakes his head. "Go see him, I will bring her in a moment. Let's see if you live or die first."

Their conversation was odd, but things weren't looking good for the man who was called Twenty-Nine. An odd name for someone. And odder were the features of both men. I may not be connected to my wolf, but I didn't need shifter abilities to recognize that these two men were not… usual. Their skin was pale grey, and their eyes, though different colors were both strange shades of yellow and pale blue. Noses were flat and chins pointed. Twenty-Nine had a shade of brown hair, whereas the other man had a shade of pale blond. Everything on them just looked dim. As if all their color had been washed out.

The male called Twenty-Nine, disappeared through another set of double doors, and I was left standing there like an idiot. The man with blue eyes, not paying one bit of attention.

I look over my shoulder wondering how stupid it would be of me to try and make a run for it. Before I could think on the subject any further blue eyes stood from his desk, walked around, and grabbed my hands pulling me towards the other set of doors.

This room was much bigger with high-tech equipment set up around the room, and surgical tools lined up and ready for use. Small glass-fronted refrigerators dotted the room, and I could see vials of green, blue, and yellow liquid. Along with those vials, were test tubes with a dark red liquid in them. Blood.

The room was spotless, the surfaces were so shiny I could almost make out my reflection. I cast my eyes around, finding Twenty-Nine standing in front of another desk. That's when the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up, an unpleasant chill raked through me, and I shivered as I looked at the man behind the desk wearing a white coat.

His face was familiar, his hair was long but with many braids. His skin was tanned a caramel color with a slight redness to it. A handsome face, but it was the eyes that had that shiver rolling over me wave after wave. Eyes black as night. Not like Mike's when his wolf is present and the mark of the knights shone out, But black pools of an abyss. Lifeless, heartless, and swimming with evil.

He held a large red stone in his fingers, looking at it like it held all the answers to all his questions. As if it held the secrets to the universe. Maybe it did, but there was something familiar with the stone and I puzzled over the familiarity for a brief moment until my eyes caught sight of the golden crown that sat on the desk, tossed aside like yesterday's leftovers.

I liked to think I was a good judge of character, and everything in me screamed to run. The fact that I couldn't, scared me even more.

By the gods Jonda, what did you get yourself into now?

I truly was cursed and not just with my wolf.

I was shoved forward and stumbled once again, closer to the evil man and the red stone that had been the centerpiece of Tala's crown.

It dawned on me that I was in the enemy's camp and big trouble.

"You did well Twenty-Nine," The man in charge says, putting the stone away securely then standing to walk around his large metal desk.

"I brought you a present master. The Beta's mate. An Alpha female." Twenty-Nine's tone is smug and hopeful all in one. And I am presented like a prize cow to 'master'.

"You are a very beautiful little lady. I bet if I took that gag from around your mouth you would have some choice words for me." I do indeed and mumble from around my gag, having some choice words. Of course, my words are garbled but I'm sure my eyes explain how pissed I am at the situation. "Stay still and this won't hurt a bit." Suddenly he's holding a dagger and nicks my neck. I can feel the blood trickling down the column of my throat, down my chest, and beads of blood rolling beneath my shirt.

I refuse to call out at the small pain and instead glare at the evil man. He brings the knife up to his lips, his tongue darting out to taste the blood that coats the tip of the dagger. His eyes turn from the deep lifeless black, glazing over into a smoky grey as he licks the blade clean.

I have no idea what's going on, but I look to my side and see Twenty-Nine licking his lips watching his master with greedy mustard color eyes. As if he too wants a taste of my blood.

Shit, these people could be cannibals for all I know!

"I see you cursed one. I know you cursed one. You belong to me now, cursed one." His words were like a whisper in my mind, tickling all my senses and leaving me lightheaded. Willing me to submit to him, to accept his ownership to agree and comply.

I'm powerless to fight his invasion and the pressure in my mind grows until I feel him in there. Poking. Prodding, sifting through my memories like a parasite, stealing what doesn't belong to him.

In a flash, the moment is gone, and I fall to my knees, weak and exhausted. My head thumping with the mother of all headaches. What did he do to me?

*****

SHADOW

I liked it when things went according to plan. If they didn't then my anger would flare up and I couldn't control it. The rage inside me grew with every spell, every shifter I changed, and every wild I altered.

Rarely did I smile these days, not since before I was reborn. Yet now, A hint of a smile ghosted my lips as I held the blood-red ruby in my palm. "Exquisite" I whispered to no one. My eyes explored the smooth surface of the stone, the golden flecks that swirled in the center of it.

The magic I felt from this stone was powerful, exciting, and dangerous all rolled into one.

"You did well Twenty-Nine."

"I brought you something else master. The Beta's mate. An Alpha female."

I pull my eyes from the stone, "Did you now?" Milo had brought the bound and gagged female into my lab. A very pretty one.

He shoves the female forward so she can stand in front of me. Her eyes flare with wildfire and anger. A beautiful female. But something was off.

I place the stone in a velvet-lined metal case and deposit it into the safe under my desk. Standing I do up the buttons on my coat and walk around the desk. Stopping only mere inches in front of the female. I hold out my hand and click my fingers at Milo. He places a dagger in my hand.

"You are a very beautiful little lady. I bet if I took that gag from around your mouth you would have some choice words for me." The female says something from around the rag, but the strength in her words is lost when it just sounds like noise. "Stay still and this won't hurt a bit." I nick her neck with the knife and blood seeps from the small wound.

I don't need her to speak, her blood will do the talking for me.

I lift the knife to my lips and lick off the crimson liquid. The coppery taste is welcoming, and the power this female's blood holds is an instant high. My eyes close and my mind is filled with flashes of her memories.

I sense she is a shifter, but she holds no spirit animal. Cursed by a powerful witch. I see the white witch through her eyes. And the same female I saw in Miko's memories. The thief is being held in a cell. I see more. The Beta, their love, flashes of lightning. His eyes.

My eyes fly open. "The thief, did she tell you about a child?" I demand the female Alpha to answer me, she scowls instead. I rip her rag out of her mouth. "Answer me!" I scream. "Did the thief tell you about a child?"

She shakes her head no quickly, fear evident in her eyes and the way her body begins to tremble.

That is twice I have seen my breeder in someone else's memories. The only breeder to have ever escaped. If she gave birth, she should be dead. My breeders never survived if they successfully carried my children. If she survived the child must have too but I didn't see anything in Miko's memories. No memory of the child.

For three years I had been looking for my breeder and had come to the conclusion she had died along with the child she carried. Only to find her being detained in the New Moon dungeons.

"Is there a child?" I asked the quaking female again with a prominent voice and rip the gag from her mouth.

"I don't know!" She screams back.

I suddenly find myself grabbing the female, my teeth growing to points and sinking them into her soft pink skin. Drinking her blood, tasting more of her memories. She grew weak in my arms until the sound of her heartbeat went from erratic to a slow thump of a beat. I let her go shoving her towards Milo. "Lock her up until I decide what she should become." I snarl.

The female's memories play over and over in my head, I pick through them savoring the ones that could be useful and tossing out the mundane ones.

"The Beta is the key. The stones are the lock." The Beta was not her mate, but she was as good as. I felt their love and would use it to get what I wanted.

It was unfortunate my son's blood gave me nothing. It was as if his memories were blank, hidden from me. A Grimalkin was the essence of magic, so it didn't surprise me I couldn't read his blood. It was disappointing though. But this female, I could taste the magic that had touched her.

I could lift her curse, but I had a better use for her. Although… If I lifted her curse, I could harvest her wolf for Aodh.

It was high time my daughter checked in with me, I was still three stones down and no closer to obtaining the other three. Except I wanted the child. He belonged to me. My creation, my design. He was exceptional. Special. The only male of his kind to have ever been born and he has been hidden from me.

That is if he lived. There was no way the child didn't survive if the breeder did.

It was time to start a new game. And my new female had just become the latest pawn in a game they couldn't win. And I had a new job for my daughter.

For years I had been waiting to find the pieces that would release the god that gave me new life. I had been patient and tolerant. But time was drawing near and Aodh expected results. He was ready to crossover and claim his queen.

"Milo! Send for my daughter!" I order, needing her expert skills to find the child I am sure still lives. It was also time I orchestrated a visit to the councilman Abner Brooks.

"Today you live Twenty-Nine. Don't let me down again." I dismiss him with a wave of my hand and he backs out of the lab with a "Yes master."

Not long after, I find myself standing at the door to a cell that houses the Beta's female. I watch through the small window as she paces the 8x8 room. Her bounds and were removed.

Opening the door, the female scuttles back until her she hits the wall. I can smell the fear dripping off her, the scent tantalizing and teasing. I took a good amount of her blood and the demon inside me has been woken once again. Craving more.

"What is your name?" I ask her softly, examining her slowly with my eyes. Trying to decide how best to use her. She was a puzzling creature and the magic side of me was intrigued by the curse that tainted her blood.

"I will only ask once more. What is your name?" I repeated my question a warning hidden in the stiff tone.

"J-Jonda," She spoke softly. She had seen me, just as I had seen her. She feared the very thing I was. As she should.

I step closer and she presses her back into the wall. Except it's useless. "Whatever you were, whoever you were before. Let go. You are mine now." I whisper the words like a melody. Black shadowy smoke curls from my fingertips as I reach out to touch her.

She shies away, head turning and eyes closing as my magic reaches out, brushing over the pale pink of her skin. She shivers when the darkness of me makes contact. The coldness of my magic caressing her skin.

"I could lift the curse. Just say yes," I coerce her into binding herself to me. But she shakes her head. My magic reaches inside her, the dark shadows seeping into her pores and licking her life essence. Searching for her spirit animal that we can sense. "Moira," My lips tilt. "Did you know that's her name?" Again the female named Jonda shakes her head.

"Do you want to your wolf Jonda? I can give you that?"

She tries to pull away, "I want nothing you offer or can give me." She's tough, strong-willed. If she won't freely give herself to me, then I will take her will and feed her soul to the god of the underworld.

"Then that is your loss child." With that, I plunge my hand forward grabbing her neck and letting loose the darkness inside me. My shadows creep out and smother her, consuming her until I feel her will begin to bend. "Then you will suffer."

Her screams fill the small room as my magic seeps in further, crawling through her body and leaving a trail of dark vines as it invades her being. She writhes and thrashes, fighting the shadows, fighting me. Until the shadows have crept up her arms, over her shoulders and neck and face pleading with pain for them to stop.

They reach her mind, "Give in child and the pain will stop," I tell her. She still fights against it, but the moment she relents I see it in her eyes. "Good girl." I withdraw my shadows and her screams die down. Like the undead, she stands there staring into space. My new puppet.