The Delta's Daughter Chapter 65

Lamia

There was a good chill in

the air and snow had already begun to settle on the mountain tops. Soon, our lands would be subject to the harsh winter once more, covering the lush greenery with white powder. I could already smell it in the air; a fresh scent that would wash away the crops and freeze the ground, making way for spring and new beginnings.

I shifted into my wolf and stalked to where the tree line was, as soon as I was under the cover of the trees I let Inanna take over.

‘Let’s run in beast mode’ her excitement coming through. I agreed and she stood up on our hind legs and we morphed into my beast, a form that was more Lycan but still wolf. In this form, we can run faster, jump higher and see farther.

I took off at high speed through the trees, bounding over fallen logs and sporadic rocks. The thrill of running in this form gave me a renewed energy. I didn’t often get to let loose as my beast and it was riveting to say the least. Pack members had often seen me in wolf form and the sheer size of me still scared most shifters, very few had seen my beast form, and as I have been told, it is enough to make a king wet his pants.

I stood as tall as a bear and if it wasn’t for the longer snout and ears, I would look like a slimmer version of a black bear, except my body resembled a Lycan still having a figure even if it was covered in fur. Personally, I preferred my wolf form, it made me feel more natural, less like a freak.

I caught sight of a small orange glow towards the top of a westward mountain and then it was gone in the blink of an eye, we had an outpost in that area. There it was again, the orange glow, and then it was gone again. I started running at top speed towards the area the light came from, curiosity getting the better of me. It was a strange sight to see and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it could be. I was also on high alert after the massacre of the Clan not too far from our territory. So anything that seemed out of the ordinary needed to be investigated.

Inanna sensed no danger, but I still pressed forward, not wanting to ever be caught off guard again, and I certainly didn’t want to ignore something that might be a threat to my pack.

I easily sprung up the terrain, bounding upwards and forward, the orange glow intermittently appearing as I kept my eyes focused on that spot. I drew closer soundlessly and when I was still a mile away from my destination goal, I caught the faint whiff of a scent. A scent I had come to know well in the past year, along with the very dry and woody scent of a cigarette. Rhett.

I slowed my pace now I knew who it was and what it was. What was Rhett doing all the way out here? He wasn’t due to arrive back in MacTire until tomorrow with his sister Ria.

Rhett and Ria had become a huge part of my growing empire since I had met them and I had made Rhett the head of my council and my official liaison with the mixed packs and cities we controlled. Seeing as he wasn’t a shifter, he wasn’t quite human either, he was able to bond with non-shifter members easily and they felt more comfortable with him when talking about treaties and trade.

He had the speed and strength of a werewolf, but without the wolf. Rhett and his sister didn’t even know they were hunters until Hunji and I had filled them in. Something this realm had thought to have been long eradicated, along with most of the human population almost 250 years ago. And because he and his sister didn’t have a counterpart, they were free to choose who to love.

Something I was a little envious of. No mates, no fated bond, no heart ache, no forced commitment.

As I came up behind him, still a good 30 feet away, I shifted back into my human form and immediately felt the chill in the air, creating goose bumps across my naked body. I wasn’t concerned with my nakedness, all shifters shredded their clothes when transforming. A huge inconvenience but something you get used to, and eventually I got over my shyness of baring my body to males. Now I couldn’t care less about their wandering eyes. I have to say though, I am still really thankful for the suit my Aunt Olivia gave me and wished I had worn it for my run tonight, except I wasn’t planning on running into Rhett up here at the outpost.

“Rhett” I spoke softly, my eyes wandering over him. He looked shaken up slightly, an uneasy expression settled over his face and his blue-green eyes held a hint of fear. He took another long and slow drag of his cigarette before stubbing it out. He still hadn’t said anything to me. He sat there staring out over the blackness of the horizon.

“Rhett, what are you doing up here? I didn’t think you and Ria would be back until tomorrow. Where is Ria?” I asked, trying to get a response again.

He huffed and ruffled his blond hair with one of his hands. I laid a hand on his shoulder and sat down on the icy cold rock he was also sitting on.

“I came back ahead of the rest.” He finally replied with an unsteady voice.

“Rhett, what’s going on, where’s Ria?” I was worried for a couple of reasons. One, Rhett never left Ria. Two, he seemed unsettled, which was not like him. And three, if there had been a problem, I would have thought he would have called me. See, because he had no counterpart (animal spirit), he couldn’t mind link like shifters, so we relied on phones as a form of communication.

He turned to me, and noticing I was naked, took off his coat and draped it around my shoulders. I offered a small smile in thanks. “I don’t even know where to begin” He sighed, dropping his head down to stare between his heavy booted feet.

“Rhett, what’s going on?” I asked with a little more authority in my voice now.

“I didn’t call you because I didn’t even know how to explain what I saw…” His words trailed off and I was starting to get annoyed. I truly am not a patient person and his lack of forthcoming, right now, was seriously starting to make my skin itch, but before I could voice any of my growing annoyance, he pulled the pack of smokes out of his shirt pocket and lit it, taking another deep drag before he began talking.

“I didn’t call you because I don’t even know what it was that I saw, or even how to explain it…”

“Try” I said, gritting my teeth. Wanting him to get to the point because, whatever it was, had obviously shaken him up and was serious. He took another drag and bowed his head down again and started picking at his nails.

“When we were on our way back home, we crossed into no man’s land and ended up staying the night in one of the borough’s…” A borough is like an unaffiliated pack, usually mixed with outcasts and a few humans. So it was not unusual for him to cross or stay in a borough. “…That night they… there was an attack, but it wasn’t a shifter, or at least not one I have ever seen before. This… This thing tore at anything and everyone. It was fast Lamia, so darn fast. We tried to help protect the people but this thing just kept slashing its way through them. Men, women, children, it didn’t care.” It was dark, but under the star-lit sky I could just make out a glaze over his eyes.

I furrowed my brows together and poised my lips to ask a question, thinking he was done, but his head shot up and his blue-green eyes met my emeralds and held my gaze. There was fury and anguish in them. “I killed it, Lamia, and it just disintegrated. Poof, gone just like that” He snapped his fingers as an indication. “The next day when we headed out, I thought it would be a good idea to stop at another borough, to see if they had had any similar attacks, if they had seen this creature before. But we were too late, the place was torn apart, bodies mangled and disfigured beyond recognition. And… and the kids… Dear God Lamia…” He stifled what sounded like a pained sob before drawing on his cigarette again.

My mind was going a million miles a minute at his admission of information, the way he described the residents of the borough didn’t settle well with me and it sounded too familiar. Like the Clan we found. Images of the decimated village flashed behind my eyes. Could the two incidents be related? They had to be, even if the boroughs were a few days away from here, Rhett’s description and what we found across the river were very similar.

“I came up here to think. I didn’t want to come to you with only part of the information, and to be honest I… I don’t know… It’s really freaked me out”, he admitted. Which I know was really hard for him to say. He never wanted to be seen as weak in front of any shifter, especially me, Hunji or Travis.

“It’s late. I think we need to do a debriefing in the morning with Hunji and Travis. Right now though, let’s get back to the castle, you can sleep on it and we can tackle the particulars in the morning. Besides, there are a few things that have happened here that you need to be clued in on.” I didn’t want to tell him about the Clan tonight, I knew he wouldn’t be getting much sleep as it was and I didn’t want to overload him with anything else. We could tackle it tomorrow, with fresh minds.

I stood up and handed his coat back to him, he quickly averted his eyes from me and I appreciated his gentlemanly gesture. “Come on Rhett, I will give you a ride back to the castle.” I playfully nudged his shoulder with mine and then shifted into my wolf form and crouched down so he could climb on my back. He was fast but I was faster and it would take him quite a while to get back down the mountain. By riding my wolf we would be back at the castle within twenty to thirty minutes, tops.

Climbing on to my back, he held onto my fur tightly, linking his arms around my neck. Once securely seated, like he was riding a horse bare back, I began the decent down the slopes, gaining speed until we reached the castle grounds.

I said goodnight to Rhett as I left him at the hallway that led to his room and ascended the stairs to my floor that I shared with Travis and Hunji. I was just about to turn down the hallway that led to my chambers when I heard a sorrowful and pained moan coming from the opposite way. I turned on my heel and went towards the noises that were coming from Travis’ room. The closer I got, the louder his sobs and I could hear the sound of thrashing. He was having one of his nightmares, something I could relate to.

I opened his door, quietly peeping my head in but as soon as I saw his body twisting and squirming, his claw protruding from his knuckles, I rushed in and knelt by the side of the bed.

“Travis… Travis” I shook his shoulders in an attempt to wake him from his horror-filled dream. On the third attempt, he shot up from the bed, a loud growl vibrating from his chest and I felt his claws dig deep into my arm. I winced a little.

His eyes opened wide and dark, staring at me before he came to his senses and the black pools slowly turned back to his soft brown eyes once he recognized me and his claws retracted. He hadn’t even noticed he had pierced my arm yet. My arm would heal in a few minutes. I wasn’t concerned.

I cupped his cheek, feeling the coarse beard beneath my fingers, and stroked it tenderly. “Hey, there you are” I spoke softly as his eyes gained focus on me and then trailed them down to my lips.

“Lamia…” He husked, his breathing evening out. His hands came up, palms resting on my cheeks pulling my face towards his, crushing his lips against mine in a desperate kiss.

This was wrong. I knew it was wrong to keep using each other like this, but still my mouth opened and welcomed his tongue as it invaded my mouth and twirled with mine.

“Help me to forget”, he breathed between kisses.

I opened my mouth to say something but was met with the onslaught of his warm mouth on mine again. There was no love, just need and lust and I found myself moaning into the kiss, allowing myself to feel the pleasure of his intense caressing as our tongues twined together. My body betrayed me, when I leaned into him, when I felt his strong hands begin to roam and knead my perky breasts.

He needed control and I let him have it.

He broke the kiss and trailed his tongue down my neck to the collar bone, peppering it with kisses as he did. He bit the swell of my breast before taking the mound into his mouth and sucking the erect bud, nipping it hard. I threw my head back, letting the little pain elicit the pleasure it gave me.

“Goddess moon, you are so beautiful", His gruff voice whispered “Are you wet Lamia, because I need to be inside you. I need to feel you, I need to fuck you” he said in between his nips and licks.

“Yes Travis” I barely got the words out before he had flipped me over onto his bed and was hovering above me and positioning himself in between my legs.

He dipped his head into my neck, lightly trailing his mouth up and down, I felt his erection press against my opening, I wrapped my arms around his neck. Pulling him closer and I closed my eyes, trying to imagine that it was Zane I was with.

Pathetic and wrong, I know. But when I conjured up the fading memory of Zane and imagined it was his icy blue eyes I would be staring into, I felt the heat and wetness pool between my legs and lifted my hips on autopilot.

In one fell swoop, Travis’ hard member entered me and I gasped at the invasion, closing my eyes even tighter. He felt good, filling me up and fulfilling the need my body wanted. His thrusts were hard and desperate and he grunted out his pleasure with each stroke while holding onto me and burying his face in the crook of my neck.

I tried to conjure those pale blues again but I was met with steely grey piercing ones. Whose eyes were they? I should have been deterred, but I wasn’t. Instead, I found myself being lured into the mesmerizing and haunting eyes that reminded me of the cold steel of my blades.

I tried to shake the image of those eyes but I felt them pulling me in deeper. They were alluring and as Travis began quickening his pace, his thrusts becoming urgent with each grind of his pelvis, I began to pant, letting the arousal of the steel grey eyes I envisioned behind closed eyes take over. I arched my back and tilted my hips, wanting him to be deeper.

“You feel so fucking good, what is it about you?” he rasped, but it wasn’t his voice I heard.

My toes began to curl and my walls tightened around his hard shaft as he pounded into me. “Fuck Lamia, I’m going to come” He gritted.

That was all it took for the tingles to envelope me, sending me over the edge and I cried out as I climaxed, digging my nails into his back as a wave of relief pulsed through my body. He stills inside me and I feel the throbbing of his cock, his cum coating my walls as he lets out a satisfied growl and collapses on top of me.

I let a single tear fall as I opened my eyes and took in Travis’ muscular form, beads of sweat coating him, and the guilt washed over me. Guilt that I had bed another, and guilt that it wasn’t the thought of Travis or Zane that brought me to my orgasm. It was the thought of those sexy steel orbs that wouldn’t vacate my fantasies.

I swiped the tear quickly before Travis could notice and lightly shoved his shoulder. He took the hint and rolled off me, lying flat on his back next to me still trying to catch his breath.

“Well, that was impromptu” he chuckled. “Thank you”, He said sincerely, his fingers grabbing mine and linking our hands together. I said nothing, the guilt eating away at me.

It wasn’t long before his breathing evened out and his body went lax, his soft snores sounding out in the empty room. I took this as my cue to escape and cautiously scooted to the side of the bed, not wanting to wake him. I gave him one quick glance over my shoulder as I exited through the door, closing it quietly and made my way to my chambers.

Once in my room, I went to the closet and pulled out a box that held various items of clothing, things I had taken from the Golden Circle pack, mostly Zane’s t-shirts. I held one of his black shirts up to my nose and inhaled deeply. His scent was fading from them. Once thick with his oak and maple scent, it was now just a faded smell, a remembrance of what once was. I walked over to my bed and flopped down, still clutching the shirt.

The feeling of loneliness crept in again as I clenched my eyes shut and held the shirt tightly and tried to breathe what remained of Zane in again, gulping in what lingered of his scent. I missed him dearly and the hole in my heart from his absence grew daily and images of his death started to fill my thoughts. The guilt came in full force as I began to weep. Even after two plus years, the emptiness hadn’t dissipated, not one bit. I may not die from the loss of my mate and I may not feel like my heart is being torn apart, but it didn’t lessen my remorse and shame any.

Guilt is a nasty thing, a feeling that encompasses you wholly. It breaks you down and leaves darkness in its path and the more you try to push it away, the more another equally cheapening feeling takes its place. Like hate or revenge. It gives you the impression that you are alone and no one could possibly know how you feel, whether that is true or not. It’s deep seated and rooted, making it impossible to move on. I had cried a thousand rivers over the past few years, wallowing in my own self-pity, that I had no more to shed.

Except tonight.

Tonight I was experiencing a whole different set of emotions, ones that were inspired by silver eyes. Eyes that seemed so familiar but I know I have never met before. They weren’t grey like some people had, they were a steel, bright and silvery, like nothing I had ever seen, God like. 

I should have been thinking of Travis when we had sex, not trying to think of my dead mate, yet I couldn’t even do that right. Instead I let the arousal from the mysterious eyes guide my body and help bring me to my release.

Why? I questioned myself. Why would I conjure that image up and why did it make me feel things that I knew I shouldn’t.

The truth is; I did feel alone. And as much as I miss Kellen and Mike, I knew this was the path I had chosen for myself. Almost every day I feel like I should quit and go back to the Royal Palace with my family and friends. Maybe then I would smile more. But each day I look across my territory and see a thriving community, I am reminded of why I am still here and what my purpose was meant to be.

I leaned over and grabbed my phone from the bedside table, finding Kellen's number and sent him a quick message. I knew he would be asleep by now, so I didn’t want to send him a mind link and make him panic. I just needed to tell him how much I missed him.

‘I love you’ Was all I sent him.

I buried my head in my pillow and let a few tears fall while I clutched the shirt and fell asleep to dreams of a deep caressing voice and two moons as eyes on a faceless man. The feeling of comfort and safety settled over me and again, and I found myself back in that library.