The Delta's Daughter Chapter 380

PETRA

I watched from around the corner as Alpha Travis emerged from the dungeons below the castle. Hidden by the shadows disguised as an eleven-year-old girl.

I hated this body. I was a woman now and had been living in this form for over a year. Pretending to be a child again was frustrating.

I bite my lips as I watch Alpha Travis wearily climb the stairs to his floor. Almost every night he goes down to the dungeons stays a few hours, or sometimes not even that, and returns looking tired and worn and always with a deep scowl on his face.

He's changed, Alpha Travis has. When I first came here, he was all smiles, strong, intimidating when he needed to be, and not cruel like some Alphas.

Though in the past six or so months he had become broody, never smiling, and short tempered. Queen Lamia was here last week with Hunji and it was so good to see them. Even if they thought I was a helpless little girl, they treated me like family.

I wanted that. Family. My mother had been killed, I could blame the Beta all I liked but in truth, it was Orion that got her killed. He and his greed to become the King of shifters. Greedy to rule and control just like my father.

When I was younger my father was doting, loving, and caring. Now? I don't know what he was, but he wasn't the same man I remember. When he found me, his eyes were no longer kind. His patience was no longer there. He trained me to become something I could never be.

I saw the disappointment on his face every time I stood before him. I wasn't a killer. I didn't have it in me. I wasn't even a good spy according to him.

Which is why it was so important to find the stone. Maybe then he would look at me with love again instead of annoyance.

I have come to believe he only wants me for my shifting abilities and my blood. I was always told that my blood needed to be drained or I would become sick. I'm starting to think that was all a lie. That maybe he was using my blood for something else.

As Alpha Travis' footsteps fade, I hurriedly creep towards the door that leads down to the dungeons. I had searched down there several times to no avail Just as I had searched the rest of the castle. But my father insists the stone is hidden within these walls.

I close the door behind me slowly and as quietly as I can, the door creeks lowly and I wince hoping the shifters with their heightened hearing don't hear it.

It's dark, the lone light on the stone stairs doesn't illuminate the space enough. I let my hand feel the wall, helping to guide me down. I reach the bottom and begin my search.

When I was a child, these dungeons were all rough and jagged stones. When Queen Lamia took over this place, she had the dungeons modified. Now they were painted white and soft green with fluorescent lights that I wasn't going to switch on.

There were no guards down here, as I threaded my way down the corridors of cells. Everything looked different and if memory served me correctly, the secret passage I had escaped out of the night Orion and Silas tried to kill my father. Had been boarded up because nothing looked familiar.

I had once spent a few hours in one of the new cells. I shudder thinking about how things could have gone very differently. I thank the gods every day that Queen Lamia took pity on me and believed my lies. That and that none of them saw through my ruse of a ten-year-old girl at that time.

Two cells held prisoners and I wondered what they were in for. They didn't even glance at me as I silently tiptoed past them. How was I ever to find the stone when so much renovating had been done? It was possible Queen Lamia, Hunji, and even Travis had already found the stone and it was no longer in MacTire's castle.

I sigh as I come to the last corridor. Empty. And no sign of a hidden passageway or anything to indicate a hidden item would be stored down here. This is as far as I had always gone. The end of the line.

For whatever reason I felt pulled to walk all the way to the end, to the far back wall. My steps were haphazard, still unsure why I was indulging the urge to walk to the end. There was nothing there.

Except, as I reached the back wall, only five feet from touching it, I cocked my head, taken back by the additional corridor that lay to my right.

From the other end, you couldn't see the offshoot of the dungeons and I had never bothered to walk all the way down. How interesting.

I turn down the dark corridor. I let my eyes adjust and put my hands out once again, feeling the rough stone beneath my fingertips. This part of the dungeons had not been modified. I feel giddy excitement well up inside me. I had no idea there were still parts beneath the castle that had been left untainted.

I walk further into the darkness, to find another offshoot corridor. One plain yellow bulb barely lights the way and like a moth, I'm drawn to that light. Things begin to feel and look familiar. It had been so long though, I wasn't sure.

It felt right, my gut churning with anticipation as I prayed that I could find what my father had been after for years. It was only in the past few years that he really became obsessed with these four stones. Only to mention that they held a great power that would change the course of the realm.

I didn't think anything needed changing since Orion and Silas were out of the picture. Queen Lamia had been doing a brilliant job of bringing the realm together. Not just for shifters but for the few remaining humans and hybrids that existed.

"A bit late for an evening stroll little girl." Though the voice was smooth and even, I still jumped out of my skin.

Literally jumped out of my skin, morphing into my natural form by accident.

"I know you." The voice says.

My hand still over my heart at the fright, I turn to see who is speaking although I should have been able to guess. "You're not dead?" I question stunned as I stare at a pair of orange glowing eyes.

The man chuckles. "And you are not Petra. Or are you?" He questions me, raising one brow and coming closer to the bars.

What the heck was he doing down here? How long had Oliver been down here? I thought he had died at Riocht. I shudder at the man, knowing what he is capable of. Now fearing that he could tell Alpha Travis I'm not who I pretend to be.

Then it dawns on me. That's why the Alpha had been coming down here. That's why Queen Lamia and King Mathias visited along with Hunji and Morgan.

I had made myself scarce around the witch just in case she could see through me or pick up on what I was. A Skinwalker. A rare form of shifter without a spirit animal.

I watch as Oliver's eyes scan me from head to toe. I had luckily never had anything to do with him, but I knew what he was. What he was capable of. The awful things he had done. My memories of Oliver as a child are vague, unlike the memories of Finnegan Artos.

Finn was always by Orion's side, and Oliver was always by Silas's side. My mother and father had spent more time at one of Orion's compounds or labs, therefore I remember seeing Finn a lot more. It's how my parents met and fell in love. It's how Orion had controlled my mother; by keeping her by his side. Even when my mother and father fell in love, Orion wouldn't give up my mother.

"Little Petrina all grown up." He shakes his head and chuckles. "I should have known."

I look over the late Rogue Kings Beta, no longer the intimidating creature I remember him to be. Now he just looked sad, worn, and skinny. A shadow of the fearful being I remember he was.

I put my hands to my lips, making a shushing motion and he laughed again. "There's no one to hear us down here little girl."

"Are you going to tell on me, Oliver?"

"So, you do remember me." He arches his brows with surprise.

"How do you recognize me?" I asked curiously narrowing my eyes, even if I wish I hadn't come across him I was very curious.

There was no way for him to hurt me. His cell was painted in silver apart from one thin strip that he stood on. Even the bars were coated in silver. I look around now recognizing the corridor I stood in. It was this part of the cell they had held Travis in and Queen Lamia not too far away.

I push the awful memory away of having to cut the queen open and remove her dead child. Bagging it and taking it to my father under his orders. I had disguised myself as a rogue guard that night and had cried at what the rogue bears had done to her.

I knew what Silas was doing, but that evil bitch Kira had let drunken werebears in here and paid them to brutalize her. As much as it disgusted me. I was not one to talk after what I had done. I was still to take the child she held in her womb, whether it was dead or alive.

I disgusted myself. I felt shame for that act every day and knew I would for the rest of my life. However short it might be now that Oliver had discovered me. I could only hope that he would side with me, after all, they were holding him prisoner, and by the looks of it, Alpha Travis had been torturing him.

How long had he been down here? I understand why the Alpha came down here so much now.

"It's your eyes. You have your father's eyes." Oliver finally fills the silence.

I shake my head, "No one has eyes like mine." I tell him knowing the yellow of my eyes is unique. Not even my father's Changelings eyes were like mine.

"Not the color but the shape. They are his. So is your dark hair." He tells me, his beady eyes looking me over with curiosity. "You are a Skinwalker." He points out the obvious and I roll my eyes.

"And your brother is a Grimalkin, so a little birdy told me."

I gasped. "My brother? I don't have a brother." I sternly say, brushing a strand of my dark hair from my eyes.

"If you say so." Oliver sarcastically quips sucking on his teeth. Then steps to his cot and lays down no longer entertaining my presence as if he was bored of me already.

I huff. The wolf is a liar. This much I know. A dangerous, conniving, and scheming fox.

"I remember the night you escaped when they killed Senko. You were younger. Not so much anymore." He doesn't bother to look at me and I turn my back not wanting to play catch up.

I had a task. One that needed to be resolved tonight. Before Oliver outed me. There was no way I could stay in MacTire now that I had been discovered. I couldn't trust this wolf. No matter what.

"At the end of the corridor is the entrance to your escape tunnel." He tells me in a nonchalant way.

I have no idea why he would help me, or if I could trust his words. For all I know it could be a trap. But why would he do that, he was the one locked up at the mercy of Alpha Travis.

I didn't waste any time and ushered my feet to move. I reached the end of the corridor to find red bricks on one side. The color and shape of the stone are out of place from the rest. They had definitely been used to block or cover something up.

I look around for something to break the bricks with or to at least dig them out. I find nothing. I stand there, hands on my hips thinking hard about what I could use.

Frustrated, I walked back down the corridor towards Oliver's cell and stood in front of it. If I was a real shifter with an animal spirit, I could use my fists or claws. "Give me the leg off your cot," I order the rogue prisoner.

Oliver slowly lifts his head and looks at me with amusement. His now hazel eyes dance with amusement. "And why would I do that?"

"Because…" I had nothing. "Because they hate you just as much as they will hate me." I decided it's a good enough explanation and lift my chin determined not to show weakness and hopefully convey how serious I am.

"Alright." He nods slowly and picks up the cot one-handed. With his other hand, he bends the metal leg, twists it, and snaps it off.

I hold in the sigh of relief as he walks forward on the thin strip that isn't painted silver. I reach a hand out for the metal leg and quicker than I thought he could move he snatches my hand, pulling it through the open bars until my face is smushed against them.

"On one condition will I aid you." He slyly smiles, showing teeth that had seen better days.

I squeeze my eyes shut, before opening them and meeting his. At another time he would be considered handsome. Oliver had always been the dangerous older boy with devastating looks. If you liked that sort of thing. "What condition."

"You owe me a favor to be determined when I ask for it." He coolly says not breaking eye contact with me.

At least he didn't ask me to break him out of the cell. That would have just been suicide. I wouldn't have done it if he had asked. I would have found another way. But this I could agree to as I didn't see him getting out of his silver prison any time soon. And by the time he had ratted me out, I would be long gone with my father.

After thinking for a moment, I finally say, "I agree."

"Good girl." Oliver lets go of me and I snatch the leg from his hand, drawing it and myself back from the bars quickly. At least I wasn't affected by silver like shifters with spirit animals.

I turn my back and walk back to the bricked-up area. Once there I begin to dig a section of the bricks out, using the leg to knock out the mortar.

I tried to be as quiet as possible, but knocking bricks out of a wall isn't exactly a quiet feat. The leg isn't as strong as I thought, strong enough to hold a grown werewolf and just strong enough to allow me to dig out four large bricks. I was then able to use the metal leg to knock out the surrounding bricks giving way to enough space that I could fit my small body through the hole.

If I couldn't, I would be able to morph into my raven and hop through.

Once on the other side, I had to let my eyes adjust again. I may not be a wereshifter, yet I was a Skinwalker and could use my shifting and morphing abilities to my advantage. I still hadn't mastered too many forms but, this I could do.

Halfway down the hidden tunnel, I found some rocks that blocked a small hole, my beady eyes homing in on the out-of-place pile. I moved them aside to find an old worn cloth that covered a box.

My gut twisted in anxiousness, as my fingers brushed the old burnt writing on the box. I had no idea what the flowing cursive script said but it was beautiful.

Upon opening the box, I gasped with glee. There sat, with a gold and silver etched dagger, was a stone. Not large and not big but just the perfect size to sit in my palm. I thought I was looking for the earth stone but this one was a white silverish. It seemed to shine as I held it in my palm inspecting it. The center swirled and I sensed a powerful magic within.

I almost shouted with glee as my hand curved around the polished stone. I looked from one end to the other. I couldn't explain, nor did I have anyone I could tell how happy I was.

I imagined the look on my father's face once I brought him the stone. He would be so happy and praise me!

I ran down the tunnel, remembering the way I went five years ago, knowing this would lead me out to the shores of the ocean. From there I would fly to my father's compound.

An ache grew in my heart, and I became sad. Although my desire to please my father was great and I no longer wanted to live as a child. I would miss MacTire and Alpha Travis. I knew I would no longer be able to hug Queen Lamia and that they would all see me as the enemy.

Even Finn would hate me now.

It was the price I paid for loyalty to my father and hopefully his acceptance and love once more.