The Delta's Daughter Chapter 51

ZANE

When we got the message that Kellen’s team had found evidence of Lamia being at the small farm they found as well as tire tracks, whether they had suggested it or not, I was going to them.

It was the first piece of evidence we had found in months, the first real lead we had come across. I was ready to leave immediately. My heart raced and my wolf was anxious. We needed her. I needed to get to her. To be able to hold her in my arms, to smell her, kiss her, fuck, just to lay eyes on her again.

She was our strength. These past weeks had been torture, not just from feeling her pain and violation, but just from being without her. ‘We will get her back and never let her go’ Dacia, my wolf sounded out through my head. I silently agreed with him.

We would find her and kill every fucker who dared to touch her. Kill every fucker who looks at her. We would hold her and never let go. The separation and afflictions had taken its toll on us, my wolf becoming feral at times, and our temper uncontrolled as we lashed out at people. Being away from our pack didn’t help either, but our priority was our Luna, our Queen, and I would not quit until she was by our side again, where she is meant to be. I would not stop until she was free, even if that meant death. I would die trying, as long as she was safe once more.

After much persuasion, I had agreed to wait until first light before we headed out to Kellen and his team's location. I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since she had been taken and didn’t think I would fucking find any sleep tonight either.

I reluctantly closed my eyes, only for the darkness to be filled by the bright emerald green of her eyes and pouty lips. In my mind she smiled, wide and jovial. I love you Zane. Her imaginary image said to me, I love you too Lamia. I replied knowing she wasn’t real. She was dancing around in a floral dress, her long smooth legs gliding through the tall grass; I chased her until we came to a lake where she dipped her toes in the water. She looked so care free, so happy.

I watched as she turned to me, her bright smile fading and her emerald orbs darkening. The once clear blue summer sky started turning dark, black clouds rolling in. Save me Zane! She called out save our pup Zane!

I jumped up, yelling out her name: “Lamia! Lamia!” wiping the moisture from my head, where beads of sweat pilled, I let out a deep sigh.

It felt so real. I could smell her scent. Even awake, I could smell her brown sugar and vanilla scent, with that hint of honey. I scrubbed my face with my hands and looked around; the warriors were already packing up, ready to head out. I grabbed my backpack, stripped and stuffed my clothes into it, then shifted. I didn’t wait for the others, we all had the co-ordinates and I didn’t want to wait anymore, time was wasting away and I needed to find Lamia.

Dream Lamia’s words resonated through me as my paws pounded through the hills. Save me Zane! Save our pup Zane!

***

It took us almost the whole day to get to the cottage and I was thankful when we met up with Kellen and Sam. “Show me”, I snarled and they took me into the cottage to the room they had found her necklace in. I clenched my fists and bit the inside of my cheek as I took in the dirty bed and silver-coated chains. There was no trace of her scent here, so they must have moved her fast.

“Alpha Zane, we are ready to head out, if your team is ready.” I turned to look at the future Beta Sam, he shuffled his feet, he was on edge, waiting for me to lose it again. “The trackers we sent ahead found a tunnel they think was used.” He was being cautious with his words.

“Well let’s get the fucking going then” I glared at him, anxious for this to be over with. I so hoped this would lead us to her, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I couldn’t take the disappointment. I was sure if we didn’t find her I would be lost and my wolf would become feral with heartbreak and misery from losing his mate. And I don’t think I could survive another night if they raped her again. The last time I came very close to ripping out my own heart. It took a royal fucking prince and two Alphas to hold me down.

The two teams scurried along the worn path, the tire tracks trailing off and then reappearing later down the road. I ran beside Kellen, while Sam and Derek followed closely behind and then the two teams of warriors fanned out behind us. It took us a few hours in wolf form to catch the three trackers Kellen had sent ahead. When we finally reached them, they were nestled off to the side hidden amongst the large rocks on the side of the mountain.

We are now in an old territory that was once part of the bear kingdom long ago, but since it has become another no man’s land.

“Has anyone made contact with team three yet?” Kellen asked, glancing around at all of us. It was to my understanding that Mike and Alpha Greg were to head this way and meet up with us with their team.

“Never fear Mikey is here!” we turned to see the fucker smiling as he emerged from the trees from around the side of the mountain. He immediately came up to me, embracing my hand and taking me into a hug. The fucker was too touchy. “How you doing man?” he asked, more somber with his words as he let go of me.

“How the fuck do you think? Asshole”, I growled.

He sighed and turned to Kellen, embracing him the same way “Do you have it?” he asked Kellen. Who nodded and put his hand in his pocket, pulling out the bear claw necklace and placing it in his palm. I watched as he clutched it in his fist, placing his hand over his heart and dropping his head in a melancholy way.

I may be wallowing in my own self-pity and sorrow, but I hadn’t forgotten, I was not the only one affected. Mike and Kellen, I wasn’t sure when I had stopped calling him prince prick.. But it didn’t seem right at the moment. I had to remember they were her best friends, her and Kellen shared a bond forged at birth, so strong that he also felt her pain. They were hurting too and wanted her back safe just as much as I did.

“Alpha,” one of the trackers who had been waiting for us came up to me. Paul, I think his name is. I nodded, acknowledging him to say what he needed to say. “It looks like the vehicle went through this tunnel, if I’m right and, according to the map, it leads into a valley on the other side of this mountain.” He paused.

“Go on” I said icily, “You have a plan? Let’s hear it?” I crossed my arms and stood waiting as Mike and Kellen approached, waiting to hear it also.

“Your highness, Alpha, Beta, I suggest we send a team through the tunnel and the rest of us head into the valley over the mountain. This way we are not all scented if they have men in there.” He suggested, pointing to the tunnel entrance.

“I agree.” Kellen said, drawing his lips into a tight line, he looked over his shoulder “Alpha Greg, contact your father, give him our co-ordinates, have him alert my father and have a group of 50 elite warriors sent to this location.”

“Yes your highness, I can also have around 30 of our warriors come out here,” he replied.

“Alpha, Have him contact my pack as well, and have them send as many warriors as they can spare.” I called over to Alpha Greg.

He nodded and gave a salute to us: “You got it.” And we watched his eyes glaze over for a few minutes before they cleared and he looked back at us. “It is done. My father will let me know when we should expect them as soon as he can.”

“Sam, Mike, you're with me” I said. They looked at me with questioning eyes. “ We're going over the mountain. Let’s go see what’s there.” I stated.

“Lead the way” Mike said before he shifted into his brown wolf. For a beta, he was big, almost as big as me, his wolf form wasn’t just big but powerful too. I followed suit as did Sam, shifting.

Taking the lead, I bounded up the side of the mountain, Mike and Sam on my heels.

*****

MIKE

My heart was racing as we ran up the mountain, through sparse trees and a conglomerate of rocks. The terrain was rough and steep. Duke weaved in and up, bounding over dead logs and sharp slate. I glanced to either side of me and was glad that I wasn’t the only one who was finding this climb taxing.

Duke was determined to make quick work of the mountain as we bounded up. He came to a sliding halt as we reached the top, flanked by Zane and Sam’s wolf. We took a crouching position by some boulders as we looked down into the valley below. The three of us, shifting back to our human form.

“What is this place?” I questioned.

Below were the remains of what seemed to be a village, long ago abandoned. A road ran through the middle of the small town and ended at a large castle-like structure. The stone structure was dark and old, medieval looking. I squinted my eyes at the crumbling castle. It looked like it had seen some battles long ago, one side of the building had scorch marks fanned up the side of the flag stones. Some of the houses in the village were but a pile of rubble. It was then that I noticed the smoke coming from a few chimneys and the movement of people.

“This is MacTire, it has to be.” Sam mumbled.

“MacTire?” Zane asked, his pierced eyebrow raised and icy eyes narrowing.

“Yah, the kingdom of MacTire. Legend has it this was from the original Kingdom of the four shifters, the kingdom of the wolves. This place was lost in history for so long, before humans died off and before the legend of the ‘shifter king’, we grew up on the fairytales of this place.” Sam informed us.

His body shivered and he shook it off like he had seen a ghost.

“The story goes…” Sam began again “…A long time ago a war of the shifters began when the Wolf king of MacTire was power hungry and wanted to rule over all the lands, believing himself superior to all shifters. His mate was a were-cat and had rejected him, hating the wolves and his tyrannical ways.

 The wolf king attacked the were-cats with the aid of the reptilian/jungle shifters and after conquering them he declared war on the bears, slaughtering cubs, women and children. The Lycans wanted nothing to do with the war the wolf king was creating and sided with the bears. Before they could find safety, it is said the wolf king massacred the Lycans to extinction.

 After many months, finally the bears retaliated, storming this very castle, killing all his followers and the Wolf King himself. The bear king swept through the kingdom with his men, offering peace between the kingdoms. He killed anyone who didn’t surrender, be it wolf, bear, cat, human or reptile or fox.

He became the king of shifters, taking the throne with his queen, who was said to hold the powers of a witch. Some say she was a blessed wolf, some say she held the blood of a first born, but no one really knows.

Anyway, there was peace for many years until his brother killed him in an effort to become the king. When he died, his mate ran away and gave birth to their daughter and cursed whoever sat upon the throne until her blood line came back to claim their rightful place.”

Sam finished the story with a huff; I looked at Zane who held the same déjà vu look as I was feeling.

“Story sound familiar?” I asked him, thinking back to the fairytale Tawny told us sitting in the gym that night.

“Yah it fucking does.” He replied, scratching the back of his neck, his forehead creasing as he thought about it.

“Right, I’m going down for a closer look.” I said and shifted.

I belly crawled further down the side of the mountain, watching for twigs or loose rocks, anything that would give me away, making sure not to bother them. I sensed Zane and Sam behind me as we crept closer. I stopped once I reached another cluster of large rocks and peered around.

‘She’s here, I feel here’ Duke reached out.

‘Are you sure, Duke? How do you know?’ I didn’t doubt him, I just didn’t want any false hope, I couldn’t take that and knew neither Zane nor Kellen could handle more disappointment.

‘I am sure, Inanna is weak, but I sense her presence’

‘ OK, I believe you, but we can’t go rushing in.’ I sternly replied, sensing he was ready to give our position away and leap in head first to rescue our girl. As hard it was, we needed to have patience.

Zane made to move forward and caught his tail between my teeth, shaking my head at him. His wolf huffed but sat back on his haunches anyway. He understood we would not stand a chance right now.

I peered over the rocks again, getting a good look at the compound. Now we are closer. There were rogue wolves as well as were-bears that I could see. I could also sense were-cats and humans. I lifted my nose to sniff, trying to get an estimate of how many men Silas had. This was definitely their base of operations. There was no doubt.

I could see some wolves pacing along an invisible perimeter. Further out I could smell a large clan of were-bears who must be camped behind the castle in a wooded area. I couldn’t, however, know how many were inside.

I pawed at Zane and Sam’s wolf, tilting my head to head back up the mountain. Once we got back to the original cluster of boulders we hid behind, I shifted and they followed suit.

I turned my attention to Zane first. “Did you sense her?” I asked, his body visibly tense and he nodded, the veins in his neck ready to pop “I know you want to go in, but we are outnumbered, it will do Lam’s no good if you get yourself killed. We will go back down the mountain, inform Kellen and wait for reinforcements. You know it’s the smart thing to do, the more tactical and logical thing to do.” I instructed and commanded.

As a royal Beta, I had the ability to command Alphas if needed and I needed to command Zane and his wolf before he fucked this all up.

We headed back down the mountain, a new sense of hope and resolve in each of us. We’re coming to Lam’s, we're coming. I said to myself.

For the first time in months, I felt confident and optimistic, we would not only get our friend back but we would eliminate Silas and his pack of rogues.

We had left the mountain, and headed back to Crescent Moon, keeping a team of 8 posted up there to keep an eye on the compound and watch for movement. We didn’t want to lose them if they moved.

24 hours later, we had 200 elite warriors from the royal pack arrive along with Delta Marcus. I should have known he would be here, his daughter was his life. 100 warriors from Crescent moon were going to aide us along with another 75 from Zane’s pack, Golden Circle. All in all, we had a little over 400 fighters. This included our three teams as well as the team Hunji and Tawny had headed. I just hope this was enough.

Tawny and Hunji were still out in the field, they had reported back to us that they had managed to follow Kira and the man accompanying her towards the same mountain range we found the compound, confirming that that was Silas’ base. They were going to camp nearby, along with the eight men we had left there, and wait on us.

It was reported back that there had been little movement inside the village and castle, but no one could get a clear lock on Silas. It didn’t help that we had only had an old picture of him from when he was in his teenage years, so none of us really knew what he looked like.

I was getting antsy, rearing to go; my wolf was ready for battle. Tensions were high as each of us was on edge. We were running on pure adrenaline at that point. I don’t think any of us have slept in goddess knows how long, not since they took our girl. My wolf was eager to kill and, since sensing Lamia, I had to rein him in often before he could take over and run to her.

If I was having this much of an issue controlling my wolf, I couldn’t imagine how Zane and Kel were dealing with theirs. Especially being Alpha’s. Their heightened feelings and stronger wolves were surly fighting for control with their human counterparts.