The Delta's Daughter Chapter 74

Mathias

Of course, I had no sleep last night. Instead I found myself nursing a bottle of the finest rum I could find, then looking through our kitchen for a bag of brown sugar and vanilla extract, mixing them together, trying to recreate her scent. Not even close. When that didn’t work, I stood at the window looking in the direction of the dungeons.

I was hoping to catch a look at her, just a small glimpse, but that was a stupid fucking thought. She – my mate, was locked up and bound in silver. Déjà vu of when I had Annalise locked up in there, except she was a bear shifter, not a sexy ass little wolf. I had to stop myself several times from going down there just to scent her, my beast wanting to be near her. I admit I did too.

“Lamia.” Her name rolled off my tongue like the sweet nectar of the gods. A vision of her in our cells, filling my mind.

I paced back and forth in the hallway, her challenge was a rejection, and it was a blow to my ego. Truth was. It fucking hurt. I didn’t think I would ever be granted a second chance mate, not after having to execute my first mate, and I did that in the most brutal way. She deserved her head to be ripped off. 

Shifters who kill their destined mates would never be granted a second chance. So I thought.

Now I have been given another mate, a werewolf. Not, that it hasn’t been heard of, two different shifter races being fated. But it still baffled me. Why would the goddess give me her as a mate, a wolf? A beautiful sexy woman, with piercing eyes, and long legs that stretched for days. I imagined those legs wrapping around me and driving into her hard. Now I had a face and body to go with those hypnotic green orbs. And the whole package was just so much more.

I needed to take care of myself, again. So I wasted no time stepping under a cool stream of water and took my hard as rock cock in my palm. Gently stroking at first, as I imagined those plump lips and sassy mouth wrapped around my cock. My jerking became quicker and rougher the more I envisioned her on her knees in front of me, and when I came, I came hard with her name a whisper on my lips.

Fuck this mate bond. It was already driving me insane.

*****

6 days until the full moon

“I have no idea what to do.” I snarkily replied to Tobias’ question of ‘what are you going to do?’

He was asking about the Delta and the Delta’s daughter, Lamia. We, the three of us, had been sitting in my office since dawns early light. I had woken them up because of my lack of sleep, and ordered them in here. I was being an ass and I knew it. I just didn’t care.

“We have a royal delta wolf, looking for Odeia, who you promised to execute on the 2nd full moon, which is only six days away. Now his daughter turns up and issues you a challenge, let’s not mention she happens to be your second chance mate! Oh and we have half a tribe wiped out by rogue wolves, and another small tribe that was wiped out!” Tobias ranted, his voice rising with each sentence and his eyes darkening in annoyance.

“Don’t tell me you have no idea what to do! Cuz we… sure as fuck don’t if our king doesn’t!” He pointed between him and Xander. It was a good job that he was my best friend, and I wasn’t in the mood to argue. I was getting a headache and was already having a hard time controlling my rising anger and my beast was being pushy trying to get me to go see the little wolf.   

I sat on the deep red couch across from the window that faced the north side of our territory, the white-washed scenic horizon, seeming so pure and so simple. The mountain peaks blending with the grey sky. It was going to snow again.

I scratched the day's old scruff, then dropped my hand into my lap and lent back, stretching my other arm across the back of the couch. I puffed out the breath I had held for a moment.

“Fuck.” I said, and sat up in my restless state. I needed to expel some energy; I was pent up, agitated, annoyed, horny and hungry and needed sleep. “I don’t know where to start, so if either of you two knuckle heads want to contribute an idea, I’m all ears! So stop telling me what I know and tell me what I don’t know!”

“Look the way I see it brother, is you got choices…” My brother, Xander, slid onto the couch opposite me, obstructing my view, and it earned him a scowl. “One: you could just let the delta go, and his daughter…” my beast growled at the thought of the little wolf leaving. Xander paid no mind as he carried on listing the choices. “…Two: you could accept the girl's challenge, and if she wins, let the delta go. Of course your mate could be dead then…Yikes, not good.”

“Enough Xander, I’m warning you, you are testing my beast”, I warned threateningly.

“Hear me out, Three: You could make a deal with her. You let her father go if she stays in his place. It’s a win, win.” He smiled smugly to himself.

Tobias chuckled from the other end of the room. I looked towards him, see his head shaking left and right. “No, no, no, you seem to be missing some details… like logical choices.” He smirked.

“They were logical! Come on then, what are your ideas, Tobias?” Xander waited for a beat. “That’s right, you don’t have any. So get off my fucking case!”

“Whoa, whoa, don’t take it personally…”

“Would you two shut the fuck up, my head is pounding enough without having to listen to you two go at it like a couple of old cows and I am not letting anyone go! I don’t trust any fucking wolf right now, especially my mate!” I really needed to get out of here, I was going to explode, literally jump right out of my skin, just combust! I rubbed my eyes hard, trying to ease the throbbing banging behind them.

“Tobias, call Abner Brooks, let’s bring him in, his opinion and knowledge might prove to be valuable. Xander, make sure the surviving members of the tribe we relocated yesterday, are settled and being taken care of” I stood up, itching to get out of here, my blood boiling like lava in a dormant volcano, ready to erupt. I made it to the door and turned back over my shoulder, “Tobias, get me a number to the werewolf king. I don’t want to talk to anyone before we speak with Abner, but I want that number anyway.”

My office was on the first floor and I flew past a few Clan members on my way to the exit leading out back. I didn’t stop to greet anyone, just pushed past them. My skin felt it was on fire, and I wanted to claw it off. I finally reached outside, the cold blast of icy air relieving some of the heat.

My claws grew, and fur began to sprout thickly over my body. My bones began to reshape, in a fluid manner, not cracking or breaking like most shifters.

I was shifting. For the first time in over a year.

My legs and arms stretched and my muscles bulked out. A thick glossy covering of fur coated my body, My nose became a snout and my incisors protracted. I roared out, standing at 12 feet tall, when fully shifted. The loud roar startled the birds, causing them to scatter from the trees.

Arcas puffed out his chest, before dropping to all fours and taking off at high speed for the dense forest. The feeling - freeing, and the tensions of the last couple of months seemed to ease. The ever present temper and need for violence, shelved in this moment as my beast and I were one, once again.

*****

Lamia  

Five days until the full moon

It was mid-afternoon. I could see the grey sky through a small barred window, in between cells in the middle of the corridor wall opposite me. The temperature had been dropping all day and these cells held no warmth. I feared for my father’s heart condition. He was shot with a poisoned arrow in an attack a little over two and half years ago. The arrow tip grazed his heart and although he survived and healed, the poison had already done its damage before his wolf could heal him.

I had tried linking him, but they must have him in silver and maybe dosed him with wolfsbane. I didn’t want to shout out to him and let the guards hear our conversation. I had only been here two days now, and I wasn’t going to do anything rash until I was certain I could get my father out of here.

Plus, everything was up shits creek, with the King turning out to be my fated mate. Surely the goddess had made a mistake with this one, this cannot be who Ashe, the demi-god was talking about either. If this was the second chance she said I had been given, then it was a cruel joke after the things I endured at the hands of bear shifters.

I heard the main door open and seconds later felt the icy blast of the outside cold air that slipped in before the door closed. I lifted my nose and scented the one I called Honey.  I heard him stop a little way down, then the shuffling of feet before the footfalls led closer to my cell. He stopped outside my cell door, a tray in one hand and a blanket in the other. He bent down and slid the tray along the floor through the opening at the bottom of the barred door and hung the blanket over the cross section.

“It’s going to get cold tonight, you will need an extra blanket. Eat up, it will help to have a full stomach.” He said, pointing to the items. I got up from my sitting position on the cot and bent down to take the plastic lid off the tray.

“Ooh! Steak, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, wow, what’s the occasion?” I asked mockingly. “What did you give my father?” I asked. My voice lower, hoping he was getting the same treatment.

“The same, and no, the food is not laced. The king wants you alive, at least until the full moon.” A hint of sadness was in his voice.

“What’s your name?” I didn’t want to call him Honey anymore, even if it was the exact color of his eyes.

His shoulders slumped, and a melancholy look took place on his face, “Xander.” He replied.

A small gasp left my mouth, and a lump in my throat formed. My eyes glazed with the threat of tears, but I held them back. I would not show any weakness. I wanted to tell him that was what I named my son.

“I like that name. Thank you…Xander” I said instead.

“If I ask you a question, will you answer me? The king is stubborn and sometimes he just can’t get out of his own way.” He smirked at the last sentence.

I picked up the plastic spoon, a forky-looking tool, holding it up and cocking an eyebrow at Xander. “You can try, ask your question and we will see where it leads. And what is up with this thing? How am I supposed to cut meat with it?” I waved the sporky useless tool around, exaggerating my movements.

He laughed at my actions, the bright smile lightening up his handsome face. For a bear shifter, he seemed to have a softer side. “Why are you here?” he finally asked.

“I’m here for my father. I told the king this.” I was nonchalant with my answer, shrugging my shoulders.

“ OK, well why, is your father here then?” He persisted.

“Honestly, Xander, I have no idea. Nobody has let me talk to him or even see how he is in the last two days. As for what he is doing here, I doubt King Alexander even knows and I defiantly don’t know why. I was told he was on a mission.” I dropped the plastic piece of crap onto the tray and looked back up at Xander who was now leaning with his shoulder against the concrete divider wall, arms and legs crossed.

“Look, I came here to find my father and take him home. I don’t know why he came here, but it wasn’t under the king’s orders. He is no threat to you or your king. On the full moon, I plan to reject your king as my mate and if my second in command hasn’t heard from me in twelve days, my army will come for me and so will the werewolf kingdoms warriors.” I took a bite of my potatoes, at some point picking sporky backup. “You go tell your king what I said, tell him dead or alive my army will come for me. Unlike him, I care for my packs and take care of my own shit. I don’t abandon them or their memories.”

He looked at me confused, opening his mouth like he wanted to ask another question. “No, no more questions. Now go run along and tell your king what I said.” I let my aura out, pushing a little of its power into my words, making it a command.

I was surprised when he pushed off the wall and left, cocking my head to the side and studying him as he began to walk away from the cell, “Mathias won’t let you leave Lamia.” He threw over his shoulder before he was out of sight.

“Mathias,” I whispered to myself. I heard them say the name Matt before, but Mathias was the king's name. “Mathias” I repeated to myself again. A masculine and strong name, a godly name, and I liked the sound of it.

And as the bleak afternoon rolled by outside, just before nightfall, it began to snow. I fell asleep on the cot, watching the thick white flakes fall heavily, the temperature dropping to a near freezing.