The Delta's Daughter Chapter 97

KELLEN

Time seemed to stretch on throughout the day, the aftermath of the attack looming over the kingdom, the death of the King creating a somber and stifling atmosphere.

I said goodbye to my mother, not staying long. I had ordered the bodies to be burned and now I stood watching as body after body was placed on the pyre. A mass vigilance, would be held at a later date to honor our fallen.

After the bodies had been burned, we returned to the palace and gathered in the Kings, now mine, office. Councilman Smalls met us there, along with another elder who was responsible for conducting ceremonies, including inducting me as king.

I walked in with a no shit attitude, I was done playing games and didn’t waste any time. “Who wants to tell me how the fuck rogues and crawlers almost brought our kingdom down?” I looked from Uncle Michael to Uncle Marcus.

“We have no idea how they got past border patrol, or how they managed to miss our sensors. It was planned and unexpected. The crawlers came in first, then the rogues followed.” Uncle Michael started, then shifted awkwardly, hesitating his next words “Oliver was seen, he gave the order for the needles to be released. I was standing by your dad when it happened. We were winning up until that point.”

Without warning, my wolf pushed forward, eyes glowing and canines bared. A deep and fierce growl was cast from my mouth. “Oliver! He killed my mother?”

“Son, “ Uncle Marcus tried to calm me. “They caught us off guard, during the middle of a pack party. Your father had to kill your mother, she was hit with needles, it… it instantly affected her”

That simple sentence put my wolf back in check. My father had to take my mother’s life, like I had to take his.

“This shit ends now! I want trackers out there looking for Oliver and the rogues. I want no stone unturned. I want his fucking HEAD!” I bellowed, the anger getting the better of me “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes your highness” was the collective reply.

I had had enough, this Oliver, Silas’ right-hand man, had been a bane to our lives for too long. For three years he had been overlooked. We had hoped he was dead, but seemingly his face turns up when the shit hits the fan, again.

“I want that fucker, found yesterday! Dead or alive, I don’t care. Xander, can you have your trackers start a trace on him also? The more ground we cover, the sooner we find him.”

“Yes, of course, I will contact Mat and Abner. Consider it done your highness.” He gave a quick bow of the head, before his eyes glazed over and I knew he was reaching out. I didn’t know his mind link could reach his king from here.  Hmm.

Instead of holding a coronation or crowning ceremony, we decided to do it privately here in the office, not wanting to waste time.

Using the same dagger I had plunged into my father’s chest, the elder held it in front of me, I, in turn, held out my palm. He cut it deep; the dark red liquid ran into the gold bowl that held binding herbs.

“Prince Kellen, by spilling your blood into the cup of the king's, you take an oath to protect, serve and care for your kingdom and all its subjects. How do you honor your pledge?”

“With my blood, love and strength,” I replied.

He poured an oily liquid into the bowl, mixing it with the blood and herbs with the dagger's tip. Then held it up to me, “By drinking this potion you pledge to be an honorable king, to do right by your people, to serve as a just and fair king during your reign.”

I took the bowl, bringing it to my lips.

“Drink from the bowl, and receive the strength from our past kings, drink from the bowl and receive the knowledge of our god’s, drink from this bowl and you shall be known as King Kellen the first.”

I drank from the bowl, the thick concoction slipping down my throat. The taste metallic yet sweet.

“Kneel Prince Kellen,” The elder instructed, and I bent my knees in compliance. The Elder took the bowl and dipped his finger in it, then drew a symbol on my forehead, muttering words in an old language. “You kneel as a Prince, now rise as a King.”

I stood and felt a flow of power pass through me, my mind-link opening up as the packs voices rang out in my head.

“Hail King Kellen” They said.

One by one, the men in the room took a knee “Hail king Kellen.” They repeated.

I was not expecting Xander to take a knee. “The Bear King pledges his allegiance with you, King Kellen.” He said, surprising me even more.

I opened my mind-link to address the whole pack, and anyone I could reach in the kingdom. Knowing I could at least reach the Alphas of each pack. I had to concentrate hard in order to achieve this. My father always said it got easier with time.

*Loyal subjects and packs of the wolf kingdom. Hear me now.

We have suffered a great deal. Many have died at the hands of our enemy. For this you have my sympathy; you do not grieve alone.

Mark my words, the enemy will be found and they will be brought to justice, whether it is in front of a court or by death. We will have justice!

We face war against this enemy who threatens our way of life, an enemy that is a threat to all shifters. As my first act of King, I name Royal Beta Michael Pike and Royal Delta Marcus Langley, temporarily in charge in my absence.

Your king will fight on the front lines to defeat this enemy and, mark my words, we WILL prevail!* I closed the link, opening my eyes to see a shocked look on the faces of the men who surrounded me.

“King Kellen, will you not be swearing in your Beta and Delta?” Councilman Smalls asked.

I shook my head. “Not today, my Delta is needed in his position here and my Beta,” I turned to face Mike. “My Beta is needed by my side and the queen's side.” Mike nodded in understanding.

“Always my King, I will always be by your side,” Mike confirmed with determination. A hint of a smirk adorned his face. I think he knew I was on a mission.

“Now, if you will excuse us, I need to make a few calls.” They all started filtering out the room, heading to do what needed to be done. “Not you Mike,” I called out to him. “I need you to be here with me.”

After the door closed, Mike took a seat in one of the leather chairs opposite the large wooden desk. It felt surreal to be in here as a king. And at the same time I also felt a deep despondency. Not from lack of courage, or hope so much, more from the loss of losing so much in one night.

I shook the feeling from my head. There would be time to grieve and let self-pity take over another time. Right now, I am a man on a mission.

“So what’s the plan, King Kellen?” I detected a slight hint of jest underneath the serious tone in Mike’s voice.

It was good that he could still keep his playful side in times like these. I knew he was suffering too. We were family. My parents were the only Aunt and Uncle, aside from Lamia’s, that he had. And I knew it was taking everything he had to hold it together just like me.

This was his way of dealing with things and I appreciated my best friend for all his worth.

“I want three sets of trackers to pick up Oliver’s trace as soon as possible. I want him found. I know I did not swear you in Mike, but we will be going to Riocht with Lamia. This is our fight too.” He bobbed his head in understanding

“You hold as much power and command as your father, you are my Beta, my second in command, but I think keeping your father and Uncle Marcus in charge is a sound option right now. It will allow us, you, freedom to move about while the kingdom is still in safe hands and under a sturdy command.” The people needed stability right now, and I needed their guidance and wisdom.

“The game has changed and I’m taking charge. Oliver and this… Orion will go down.” I said, my words full of venom and hate as I spoke their names.

Just thinking of the evil they brought upon my kingdom made me want to vomit or beat the shit out of something. Maybe both.

When Lamia and Mathias got on the phone, we talked about strategy and bringing fractions of our armies together. Putting a solid plan in place, the only thing missing was the location of Riocht.

I had Tyron, my future royal Delta, right now, Gamma of the pack, and Xander begin to comb the library for any information about the kingdom, and King Mathias was going to have Abner Brooks start looking in their library. Unfortunately, any books that had been in MacTire had either been destroyed or moved a long time ago.

Lamia was going to contact Tawny and ask them to research their books too. Remembering it was Tawny who first alerted us to the fairy tale about this shifter prophecy in the first place.

It seemed such a long time ago, not quite three years, that we had all sat in the indoor gym and she had told us of the story about the queen who hid her child, a child born of first blood, the story that had fast become Lamia’s own prophecy, the story Tawny’s mother would tell her, when she was alive.

“I want to know exactly what Rhett finds when he investigates the co-ordinates.” I told Lamia on the phone.

“I will do you one even better. We will live stream it and you can watch from there. His teams are equipped with cameras so we can observe for ourselves. We have four locations out of the five covered. Mathias has a team ready and waiting at the location below Lonely City. He sent Tobias back there yesterday to head up the team. The fifth is in Andora. We have no way of checking that location out.” She concluded.

“You take care of our girl King,” I said to Mathias.

I knew he would. He hadn’t left her side from the moment they met, even if they had both been stubborn for the first few days.

If we succeeded in defeating Orion, no, when we succeeded, and Lamia took the throne, Mathias would become King. I would have to accept him as the king of all shifters. When I thought about Zane filling that roll, I had laughed, but Mathias, I was ready to accept it. He was powerful and he was more than just a king or a shifter. Both he and Lamia were something else. And she loved him; that was good enough for me, as long as he treated her right.

“You have no worries there, King, yourself. I am truly sorry for your loss, Kellen, and know that the Kodiak Kingdom stands with the Wolf kingdom. Should your people need anything, do not hesitate to ask. We are all in this together.” Mathias told me with sincerity.

I didn’t know if he actually liked me, or if it was because of how close Lamia and I were, but I appreciated the gesture anyway.

“Thank you.” I replied in routine.

*****

Two days later

KELLEN

Mike, Uncle Marcus, Uncle Michael, Xander, Tyron and I sat in the ops room. Five monitors were on display and Damon was at the helm working the keyboards. Mike and I sat front and centre as four of the screens displayed a team each, waiting at Lamia’s command to enter their targeted buildings. The locations we had been sent via an anonymous email.

The fifth screen was split into four views of; Lamia’s office, where Hunji, Travis and Mathias waited patiently, then split to show Tawny and Crimson and split twice more for Abner Brooks and then for my office. We were all together on this, even far apart we found a way to be there with each other.

The silence in the room was thick with anticipation as we all held our breaths.

“Ready, on your command, Queen Lamia.” Rhett’s voice sounded over the monitors.

“On three, two, one… Go! All teams move in!” Lamia instructed and we all let out a shaky breath as we watched the four teams, each enter a different building.

We had no idea what the teams would find. We had had each location under surveillance for the past two days, with only the Lewe warehouse and the one under Lonely City showing any movement.

I watched each screen, my eyes flitting between the teams as they infiltrated the buildings. So far, all locations seemed empty. As team one moved further on, they came to what looked like a makeshift laboratory. Metal beds and machines, along with traces of IV bags and medical tools, the place had been abandoned, whoever or whatever had been there was long gone by now.

The same with team two, Rhett’s team, who were in a much larger building in Mir. They swept through the desolated warehouse, more abandoned medical rooms were found.

“We got movement” came team three's captain over the com’s.

“Team one and two, move out after a full sweep. Team three, proceed with caution.” Mathias ordered.

“Goddess damn! King, we have bodies.” I heard Tobias’ voice ring out, who was heading up team four.

 I watched the screen. It was the same thing except the metal tables had rotten bodies still lying on them. Their arms and feet, bound to the table with a thick strap across the torso. The bodies were so decomposed you couldn’t even identify if they were male or female.

“We're under attack, we're under attack, fall back!” The captain of team three’s panicked voice rang out “There’s too many, abort! Abort!” He yelled as the screams filled the room. Crawlers were on them and in no time they had demolished team three. Taking them down as we heard their screams as the monsters ripped into them. The narrow corridor had left them no room to fight back and the speed of these things had given the warriors no time to shift.

The room was silent as we listened to the screams die down and the monitor for team three became quiet and still.

“Team three report…” Lamia said. “Team three, report.” She called again. “Team three do you read us?” There was silence.

“Team three is down. Team four report and watch your six.” Mathias’ deep voice instructed Tobias and his men.

“Gotch ya King.” All eyes were on his team as they moved through the building, coming to a set of stairs, Tobias entered down them first, cautiously. Incase crawlers were lying in wait. We heard a few whimpers and cries.

“Holy shit King, we got about 30 kids down here.” He moved so the camera could show us what he was talking about.

Low and behold, there were around thirty kids, all huddled into a corner, whimpering and crying. From the screen I could just make out their dirty faces, some of them were no older than about twelve. The rest were younger.

What the fuck was this evil bastard doing with these kids?