The Delta's Daughter Chapter 359

MIKE

Back in the room Alpha Brett had assigned for me, I find Tobias behind the tiny desk that sits in the corner. Due to the Golden Circle pack not being as big as the palace, obviously. Tobias and I were sharing a room.

He looks up from the papers he was reading and gives me a look, raising an eyebrow. "Shut it, Toby." I bark as his mouth opens like he was about to say something.

I don't need to hear his condescending advice or listen to him joke about my situation. I was mad as shit at myself as it was. She may have initiated that second kiss, but it was me who jumped all over her and was ready to lay her flat out on the table and take what I wanted. With or without consent and no remorse.

I was wound up tighter than a top hat.

That wasn't like me. I wasn't that guy; Duke wasn't that wolf. I acted like a desperate manwhore, which only part of that would be true. I was a manwhore. Until I met Jonda. But even now, I only wanted Lyric. My wolf was adamant he was going to mate with her. He would have marked her too whether it was what she wanted or not.

So far gone in my own berating, I didn't notice Tobias had gotten up and poured me a drink until it was shoved into my hands. I knocked back the whisky, only for Tobias to hand me another glass already poured. I knocked that back too. Relishing the slight burn, it left behind as the liquid slid down my throat.

"I smell her all over you." Tobias coyly says, hinting at the obvious.

"It wasn't like that."

"I can smell it wasn't like that, but somebody got off." I glare at him. I'm so amped up and pissed and annoyed that I'm itching for a fight. He senses my turmoil and frustration, his eyes light up, and smirks at my discontent.

"I'm glad my fucked up situation is a joke to you." I sneer crossing the room for the bottle.

I need a drink, I shouldn't but the idea of drowning my sorrows is appealing. I pick the bottle up, uncapping it I swig back a copious amount of the amber liquid. "FUCK!" I roar hurling the bottle across the room only for it to smash against the wall.

I always knew Tobias was smart and not just smart-mouthed, this time he keeps his mouth shut and takes a seat on the edge of one of the beds in the room. He leans forward steepling his hands together, elbows on his knees.

"Talk to me, Mike."

I swing around to face him properly, and the next second I'm pacing the room. Hands wildly waving in the air, then grabbing at my short hair. My frustration is only fueling my wolf who just keeps encouraging me to go find Lyric and finish what was started.

I'm mentally arguing with him about why that can't happen when I feel a push on my mental barrier.

*Mike* I hear Lamia's voice. I always thought it was the most melodic voice in the realm until I heard Lyric speak for the first time.

I didn't want to talk right now. So I tried to ignore her.

*Mike!* Lamia's tone had changed from sweet to pissed.

*What?* I growl back through the connection.

*Mathias and I are sending reinforcements.* She tells me in a matter-of-fact tone. *Tobias told us what happened. I felt you through our connection. It felt like you were on fire.*

*She came to me.* I scrub a hand down my face recalling Odeia and the name she used for my wolf.

*Who came to you?* I could hear the concern in her voice.

I wanted to tell her everything, but I also wanted to see what my wolf had to say about that little meeting in the void. I wanted to make sense of it first before another wrench was thrown into the works. I figured we had enough going on as it was, and my little reveal wasn't going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things either way.

*Ashe, or Odeia whatever you are calling her. I blacked out and she came to me in some kind of void.* I tell her what was said. What she called my wolf and how I was saved from the poison of those demonic dogs by some inner light I held.

By the end of the conversation, I could feel Lamia's worry through our connection. She knew she couldn't get reinforcements here any earlier. I just hoped Rhett and his team could make it in time because I didn't know what tomorrow would bring.

If the Shadow Witch brought those beasts again, we didn't stand a chance. The way they ripped through us and ripped our warriors apart was something else. Something horrendous. They were unholy and not of this realm.

I recall Lyric saying something about the fact that Shadow had beasts when she recanted her story about her pup. She may be right. Maybe we couldn't fight them in our wolf forms. Maybe we needed to fight them standing on two feet with weapons.

Lamia reluctantly cuts the link between us, only for Kellen to immediately establish a mental connection with me right after. I gave him a status update, and he too was wanting to send more reinforcements our way. Warriors had left the New Moon capital hours ago and were on their way here.

I doubted they would make it time either.

Kellen had put taken extra measures to ensure the safety of his son and little Zane by amping up security around the border and the castle. I was happy and relieved that he had Rogue and Tyron to protect the boys. Hopefully, it would ease Lyrics' mind as I couldn't even begin to guess what she was thinking right about now. I know she hated leaving her pup as it was, and now, with the threat that Shadow wanted the kid and my mate, not to mention he already had Jonda.

Zane was in the best place to be protected. If Shadow launched an attack on the palace, New Moon would be able to protect them. I had no doubts about my pack's ability to safeguard our people.

"Everything sorted?" I had forgotten Tobias was in the room with me after my conversations with both Lamia and Kellen.

I blink. Staring out the window I stood opposite. Tobias was back sitting at the tiny desk. Or at least it looked tiny next to his size. "I don't know about sorted, but it's what we have to work with."

"I'm in this fight with you, Mike." Tobias tries to reassure me, "He won't get your mate, the pup is safe with King Kellen. We will get Jonda back."

"I wish I could have the faith you have." I sigh.

Truth is, I didn't know what we could do for Jonda. Or how we could get her back. I looked at the clock that hung on the wall above the two beds. We had less than sixteen hours to come up with a plan. A plan that would have no guarantee of working. Shit, we could all be dead in sixteen hours. Those beasts were no fucking joke.

"I want Lyric to stay in the control room. Away from the fight." I decide, speaking out loud to Tobias. "Somehow we need to get Jonda away from the enemy."

"What if he doesn't bring her?"

"Rhett, hopefully, should be coming up in the direction of the convoy. If he can make it in time, they would be able to attack from the rear. Either way, they would be in a better position to rescue Jonda. If they can." I was trying to maintain hope, but the idea of a successful extraction of Jonda wasn't looking good. It was going to be a very, very long shot.

I get up, feeling restless. Duke is pacing in my mind; he has been ever since I woke up from our encounter with the demi-god. Some would wonder if that dream-like vision was real or not. I had no doubt it was real. And I had no doubt I needed to take her words at face value. Lamia and Kellen weren't wrong when they told me she spoke in riddles.

"I'm going for a run," I announce to Tobias.

"Is that wise?" He sounds worried and leans back in the chair.

"He gave us twenty-four hours; we have another sixteen left. I doubt he will attack before then. Besides I won't be going near the border. I'll stick close to the pack house. I'll be back before Alpha Timothy arrives."

*****

Duke's paws hit the ground, shaking out his fur and rolling his front shoulders before he starts to run at a slow pace. Once we clear the tree line and the snow petered from the cover of the trees, he begins to pick up his pace. We head in the opposite direction of where we were attacked but making a mental note not to go too far from the pack house. Just in case.

'Want to explain why Odeia/Ashe called you Astaroth?' I begin the conversation with my wolf, hoping he would give more than just short sentences today. I was a ranked werewolf; my wolf was meant to communicate with me better than most. Yet Duke had always been quiet, never much of a talker. Today he was going to.

I felt Duke sigh and his ears went back and tail slightly tucked. He slowed his pace down even further until he came to a complete stop and sat down nowhere in particular in the forest.

For a moment we sat in silence and Duke let the light breeze of the winter's afternoon brush through his fur, making the strands ripple. He breathed in deep, and I remained silent, giving him time.

Finally, he spoke to me, and I could sense his regret through our connection. I was eager to know what his regret was. 'Astaroth is my given name. A name I haven't been known by in a very long time.'

I let him take his time, I could tell whatever he was going to say was going to be important. 'I should have told you, but she asked me not to.'

'Who asked you, Ashe?'

Duke snorts and paws at the ground. 'No. The mother of us all, the Moon Goddess.' I waited for him to elaborate, my curiosity was highly peaked, and I wanted answers. 'For centuries I led the armies of Aodh. I was his best. The Duke of the demon army. The moon goddess sent me here to protect our Queen. Inanna and the chosen one. It was her last act before Aodh sealed her away.'

'Help me understand Duke, what do you mean her last act?' I was trying hard not to demand too much from my wolf, even though I had every right to. 'What are you, Duke?'

'I was the demon she gave a second chance to. The demon she released from the underworld with the promise that I would protect her most precious. She used the last of her magic to release me from the underworld. I was never meant to have a mate.' I felt the pang of hurt inside him, then quickly replaced with elation and a mental image of Jonda and Lyric filled our minds.

I felt his love for Jonda, how she made him feel, and understood why he was so ready to claim her as our chosen. Why he never minded or put up a fight. Then, as an image of Lyric formed behind our eyes, I felt what he did, how much he craved not just the idea of a mate, but his confusion over the two females. He, like me, had fallen in love with Jonda. He had been ready to claim her like his peers claimed their mates. Because he didn't think he would be gifted one. Because he wasn't worthy of a mate.

Then Lyric happened, confusing him more. But I could see and feel how much he wanted her. How he didn't want to neglect the gift that was given to him. He was falling in love with his mate, and my fighting the bond was tearing him in two.

I felt pure guilt because my wolf had been hiding these feelings from me, but I also felt disappointment, that he had been hiding who and what he truly was, covering up these feelings he had been harboring. No wonder I was so confused myself.

'Are you saying the Moon Goddess is dead?' It was what I could decipher from everything he was saying.

'I'm saying: The day you fell from the tree, your wolf died. You died. Lamia brought you back to life by biting you. I was released and given the gift of new life as one of her children. I was sent to be your spirit animal. The Moon Goddess is trapped in the underworld, held prisoner by Aodh himself. His revenge for having his promised bride taken from him.'

I knew I wasn't going to like the answer and I was already sure I knew what it was going to be, but I had to ask, I had to know for sure. 'Who was his promised bride?' The words were whispered, and I felt a ripple of fear pass over Duke before he answered.

'The goddess Inanna.'

Words left me, feelings punctured my mind and a tidal wave of thoughts rushed through me.

'As death has touched you, death has also touched the Blood Alchemist. I can smell the decay of something impure. He has been touched by the hand of Aodh. I know the scent well. He holds dark magic, ancient magic, a gift from another realm.'

Duke shrunk back, lowering his head in shame. I could feel he was tired from communicating for so long.

'Let me show you.' He suddenly says and my mind which was full of images and thoughts went blank, dark. Dark as the void we had been in, but then like a film, images began to appear in my mind's eye.

A baron realm, with sky bright orange and purple hues. A desert beneath my feet and thousands upon thousands of men on black horses with red eyes and fire huffing from their nostrils. I watched as they charged an army that was led by a man with the face of a dog. Ten feet tall, his skin as black as night, and ears of a wolf.

The image changed and a female, with beautiful, caramel-colored skin and hair a golden blonde so bright that light reflected from it. Her eyes were like the stars and her lips parted. She mouthed words, but I couldn't hear her. She was dragged away by men whose faces were blurred. I could see her chanting something, her hand reaching out and touching the leg of one of the males. I see his face. He looks like me.

The scene changes again. This time I'm looking down on my fourteen-year-old self. It was when I fell from the tree. Lamia and Kellen had already shifted, my wolf wouldn't wake up for another two years. I saw the blood, the hole in my chest. And I saw Lamia leaning over me crying. Then I witnessed her biting my wrist, giving me her blood, and watching my body heal.

I had died that day and I never knew.

I had been given another wolf when mine had died. I was gifted another. A demon from the underworld. Duke was a demon who served the god Aodh.

On one hand, this was unbelievable, on the other, I had seen so much that could be considered fabricated in the past few years that, I didn't feel as phased by the revelations as I think I should be. An outsider would call our lives the story of the century.

Wolves and other shifter races were always at war, it wasn't unusual to find two packs or races creating war when it wasn't warranted, just because of their egos. But for us for the past three to four years, it was becoming the norm.

'She set me free before her magic was bound. Her last act before Aodh locked her away.' Duke retreated to the back of my mind with those last words.

Shame and guilt rushed through me. But it wasn't mine, It was his.

If what Duke said was true - that the Moon Goddess had given Duke new life and sent him as my spirit animal. Then who the fuck was granting fated mates? Or did it just happen, planned years ahead?

Some of it didn't make sense. Duke said a long time ago, centuries, is what he made it seem. Yet he was given to me only six almost seven years ago.

For fucks sake. Now I was starting to doubt my wolf. Not just myself.

I sat there silently for hours in wolf form. Duke remained quiet despite we were in wolf form. We watched the light fade and darkness settle over the sky. It wasn't until the temperature dropped dramatically that Duke stood and walked us back to the pack house.

We shifted back into our skin form once by the pack house doors, grabbing a pair of shorts from the clothing box left out. I shoved them on and made my way inside.

The pack was relatively quiet, most members fast asleep by now. Or at least they were in their own rooms contemplating what the next few hours would bring us.

I imagined those who were mated were taking the opportunity to be with their mates. Because they might not come back tomorrow. Some, more than likely, were reflecting on their skills and wondering whether they would be lucky enough to survive.

I too didn't want to be alone tonight. And it wasn't Tobias I wanted to spend my last few hours with if that was the case.