The Delta's Daughter Chapter 389

MIKE

I ran in my wolf's form, letting Duke take charge and lead the way through the kingdom's forest. We knew these woods like the back of our hands or paws. Could probably navigate the terrain with our eyes closed because we had run through them so much.

Duke speeds up when catches Lyric's scent. We were spending as much time together as we could. Kellen and I were leaving in a couple of days with three teams of elite warriors heading to the border of Lewe to look for the compound.

Rogue would join us, and Tyron would stay back to protect the kingdom with my father. Usually, it Would be the Delta going but for unknown reasons he wanted Tyron to stay back and man the palace. Lyric was also staying behind.

On one hand, I was happy for Lyric to not be in the thick of a fight, on the other I didn't like the idea of being away from her. It was making me apprehensive just the thought of leaving her.

Duke catches up with Note and nips at her hind legs playfully. We had been out here for hours just playing around and running. Zane was out here with us earlier before it was time for bed. Dacia had been much calmer since we had started taking him on regular runs.

Note suddenly switches directions, leaving Duke to ground to a halt so he can turn and chase her. Eventually, once the cold starts creeping in and dampening our fur, we head back to the palace. Finding our clothes, shifting, and quickly dressing.

Once back in our suite, we shower and get ready for bed. "I'm coming with you, Mike." Lyric springs the decision on me out of nowhere.

"I thought we had talked about this," I say frowning. We had. It had been decided that she would stay here where she was safe.

"And I changed my mind." Lyric climbs into bed, her silky shorts riding high and the matching top clinging to her like a second skin. I have no idea why she insists on still wearing clothes to bed because they are going to be peeled off like every night.

"Your safe here." I shake my head and drag her small frame against my chest and begin to kiss her neck, paying special attention to my mark. Immediately I feel and smell her arousal, but she pulls away and turns to face me.

"I need to see this through. Zane will be safe with Lizzy and your mom and dad."

"What about Tala?"

"Tala can take care of herself; besides she has your mother and Lizzy too. The only reason Tala will not be joining the fight is because of Prince Connor."

"And Kellen," I add knowing full well, there was no chance in hell he would let his mate be put in any kind of danger ever again. Just like I don't want Lyric on the front lines of this battle.

"True. But I'm not Tala, Mike. Shadow hurt my family. I need to fight for my son, for all the others who have been damaged in some way or another by Shadow. I need to see this through for me and Zane." She tells me.

"Are those the only reasons, sweetheart?" I ask when I see those big brown eyes filled with an emotion that clenches my heart.

"No. For you too." She tells me seriously. "We are mated now. My place is by your side. Even if that place is on the battlefield. It's where I belong Mike."

She's not wrong. She belongs by my side. Always. I just didn't want her where she could get hurt. "The decision is already made. You will stay here."

Her eyes narrow, and her brows slant in. Her lush lips purse with a pout and Lyric huffs. "Fine." She finally concedes and I smile at my small victory.

"Good. Now come here and let me show you much it makes me happy that you will be safe with Zane in the palace." I pull her back to me, peeling her shorts down her smooth legs, climbing between them, and nestling the head of my cock at her entrance.

She gasps when I enter her with force, yet I thread our fingers together and begin to thrust slowly in and out. "I love you Lyri." I pant as I take my time making love to her.

Her moans of pleasure fill the room and I rock harder into her. "Forever." She gasps between thrusts.

Picking up my pace, she comes on an explosion and I'm not far behind her.

*****

By the time we arrived a few miles outside the compound, the scouts had informed us there was no sign of any thing or anyone. The place had been abandoned. As if they had left in a hurry. The trackers were unable to pick up any scents. There were many tire tracks, but we couldn't tell how old they were. The cold has frozen the ground and it has begun to snow again.

It was April, it shouldn't be snowing, never mind we were further south, and it rarely got cold enough for long sleeves. Yet this unusual winter had thrown everyone for a loop.

I stood alongside Kellen, Lamia, and Mathias. We looked down over the ridge that gave way to a view of Lewe and the compound Senko had supposedly been occupying. According to history, during the Lycan wars, the water systems had been poisoned. Mass amounts, millions of humans had died, causing them to become almost extinct except for a few hundred or so. Their bodies were brought to Lewe and dumped into large pits. Shifters didn't know what to do with the bodies. Back then we were few and the shifter raced saved what history they could. Kept what technology they could.

The unfortunate circumstance our realm found itself in was that there were so few shifters compared to humans that there were not enough of us to maintain the realm or the economy humans held together.

The compound was a desolate-looking place and held an air of death around it. Quite fitting when you think about it. Considering what Senko was doing down there.

A puff of smoke left my mouth when I spoke, my warm breath meeting the icy air. "I think Petra gave us the right information but if he isn't here, where would he be?" I question no one in particular. The four of us stared down like Senko would magically appear.

"Cambiador," Lamia whispers. "If he only needs one last stone, he will go to Cambiador."

Kellen rubs his lip thoughtfully, his blue eyes sparkling against the coldness. "Why would he risk going himself this time? When he had minions acquire the other stones?"

"Because he is planning on opening the veil between realms once he has the other stone. If was me, I wouldn't want to wait another minute." Mathias tells us.

Except he was missing a key ingredient. "He doesn't have me." I swallow down the words.

Since that night in Kellen's office, I hadn't gone nuclear as I was calling it. My emotions had been in check, and the only spark of light that came out of me was when I was Lyric. That hadn't lessened one bit.

"I say we go in and take out whoever we find." I want this over with, I don't want to wait. I want to live in peace with my mate and newly bonded son. I want to enjoy the days and bask in the warm summer sun that I know is on its way.

I feel a smack at the back of my head and look at Lamia who scowls at me but it's Kellen who chastises me "Don't be stupid Mike. If you're the key, then I don't want you anywhere near the front of this fight."

"I don't even know how to control the energy in me. So how the fuck would Senko know?" I say defensively. If they thought I was a risk being here, then why wouldn't Kellen command me to stay back in New Moon?

"We know he wants you, Mike, you are the bait." Mathias deadpans.

I look at Lamia and then Kellen, "Seriously? I'm bait?"

"Pretty much," Lamia confirms, a small smile playing on her face at my expense.

I groan and tip my head back. "So now what, we just wait to see if there is any movement down there?" I point to the compound below us.

"No." Mathias shakes his head. "He needs the fourth stone first. No point in having you if he doesn't have all the pieces."

At that moment Rogue and Lyric came walking up to us. I pull Lyric into my arms and nuzzle my face in her neck, breathing in her scent and letting it calm me and my wolf. "This is not the time Beta." Lyric squirms and I hold her tighter.

"This is the perfect time. Your presence grounds me, calms Duke." I tell her, not letting go. She gives up but I feel her skin heat with embarrassment.

"Any word?" Kellen asks Rogue, who shakes his head.

Rogue and Lyric were keeping open communication with New Moon while Damon tried to track any movement from the compound by using Lyric's program she had connected to the satellite. The only problem was it had limited capabilities as to where we could have eyes in the sky and there was no chatter over radio or telecommunications.

"We will camp here again tonight. Come sunrise I will send a scouting party down to assess the compound." Lamia tells and walks away with Mathias.

Things were never as easy as we had hoped. It would have made everyone happy if Senko and his army had been here. If he was, we would be on our way home, the threat to our realm would be over.

Evening rolled in, Lyric, Rogue Kellen and I headed back to our makeshift camp on top of the ridge. Tents had been erected to keep out the cold that lingered unusually.

Hunji and Morgan sat in front of their tent, a small fire had been started and Morgan desperately was trying to warm her hands. As a non-shifter, she would feel the cold more. I watched as Hunji pulled a blanket from the tent behind him and wrapped his mate up in it. She shivered and leaned into him, stealing any warmth he could give her.

I follow Lyric into our tent unable to avoid reaching out and smacking her ass playfully seeing as it was right in front of me. "Mike!" She gasps and whirls around with a warning look on her face.

"I was thinking I could warm you up," I waggled my brows at her suggestively.

Her brown eyes widen and Lyric points her finger at me, "No! Absolutely not," Her voice lowers to a whisper "Everyone will hear." She hisses.

"Let them hear how good I make you feel," I chuckle, making a grab for her.

She steps from my grasp, "Mike," She warns again. "Behave. This is not the time or the place."

Her stern words only fueled the fire inside me and it only egged Duke on. He didn't like to be denied, it only made him more determined.

"Awe sweetheart," I began when a screeching cry sounded out from our camp.

Lyric and I shared a look and with inhuman speed we exited our tent only to see a worried Hunji, stroking the hair of Morgan as she cried out in pain and squirmed across the cold ground.

"Hunji?" I call out ready to make my way over to her when a hand halts me in place. "Leave her. She is having a vision. A very powerful one by the looks of it." I recognized the voice without having to scent or see who it was.

Still, I turned to look at Finnegan Artos. Just as imposing as his half-brother Mathias. Just as tall and big. Whereas Mathias was dark and looming with silver eyes. Finn was pale with almost white hair and violet eyes just like his sister Morgan.

"When did you get here?" I asked the giant werebear.

"Now." He says with narrowed eyes still on his sister.

Finn was not a favorite among us, yet Lamia saw something in him. And to my knowledge, Finn was not a fan of his own sister right now. Not after she killed his mate. Though she had no idea, and they were under attack.

He wasn't a fan of me either after I almost killed him at the battle for Riocht. He was lucky Lamia stopped me. "Alpha Xander here?"

"Nope." Finn replies popping the P. "Came with Tobias and a handful of Kodiak warriors." He informed me.

Morgan stops squirming and Finn drops his hand. We make our way over to them, Lamia and Mathias already there with Kellen close behind. Warriors from the three kingdoms look at the scene wondering what the witch saw and if she would be okay.

"What did you see little one?" Mathias asks his sister, who is still breathing heavily but now sitting up with the aid of Hunji.

"East," She says with a shaky breath. "We need to move east. Senko will attack the werecat kingdom on the second morning." She swallows her words giving Hunji a worried look.

Lamia crouches in front of her, "What else did you see?" She asks gently but you can hear the distinct command in her voice from Inanna."

"I saw death. A field of blood. A child cries in the night. An army of darkness. Snow falls thickly and lightning crashes." Then she looks at me "Your light will shine brightly; it was always your destiny." I take in her words only half understanding what she was saying. "Ascena she is there." She now tells Hunji.

"Ascena is in Mint," He looks at Morgan with confusion who shakes her head.

"She is here. She will fight." Morgan rubs her temples as if in pain. Then her head snaps up, eyes glowing brightly, and she speaks with an unheard voice.

"Only when an immortal is born will the darkness be defeated. Once every three thousand years when the bloodlines align can she be conceived only then will the realm be saved in the death of the immortal."

Morgan collapses into Hunji's arms, the light in her eyes dimming and closing as exhaustion takes over her. "The sky has been hatched." She mumbles before she passes out.

"Is she okay?" Lyric asks with concern next to me.

"She will be." Hunji husks out lifting his mate into his arms.

Morgan's words made little sense to me, by the look on Hunji's face he knew what they meant. Even Lamia seemed to understand her cryptic vision.

The ringing of a phone cuts through the eerie atmosphere. Isold, one of Lamia's Lycan warriors answers the satellite phone she held. She nods and mumbles "I understand. I will let her Highness know."

"Isold?" Lamia questions her.

"That was King Crimson. They have movement on their western border."

"That's east of us," I state the obvious cutting myself off when I feel a forced mental connection.

Rhett's voice fills my head and I immediately know he has reached out to Lamia, Kellen, and Hunji too. *A large convoy with soldiers on foot are marching toward the border of Cambiador.*

Lamia shares a look with Kellen, "We move out tonight!" She roars the command. Warriors and soldiers alike begin to scramble to break down tents and pack up gear. Loading the cars quickly.

Agitation and worry are etched into Lamia's movements as she helps with packing up our makeshift camp.

"Lam's," I grab her arm. "We will get there. We won't let anything happen to Tawny." I know this is her thought. Tawny is just as close of a friend as we are.

"I just want this over with Mike. I won't be happy until I'm holding his head in my hand." I can't help chuckling. Lamia was never a very violent person, despite what she was and the strength she carried. Mathias's savage and thuggish traits were rubbing off on her.

"Let's go get the bastard," I tell my best friend and wrap her in what I hope was a reassuring hug.

The deep and warning growl of Mathias has me dropping my arms, "You have your own mate." He grunts. "Keep your hands off mine."