The Delta's Daughter Chapter 98

OLIVER

The attack on the wolf kingdom had been a success in King Orion’s eyes. But not mine.

The king and queen may be dead, but the prince had not been there. It was a small victory, but I didn’t think Orion realized how strong the prince was, either that or he over looked the fact that the prince, now King Kellen, was closely tied with Lamia.

Our sources at the time had neglected to tell us that the prince and his Beta had not been at the palace the night we attacked them. Not that it mattered the attack was happening either way.  

Jack and I had led the group of rogues and Finnegan had stood by to make sure the Crawlers did their job, and us, ours.

We are currently holed up in another of Orion’s off-site compounds. We were headed back to one of the warehouses just inside the bear kingdom, close to Lonely City.

The trucks were packed with the remaining crawlers, who were quiet now that daylight had come. They were not fond of the bright light and sun’s rays. It seemed to irritate their skin.

One of their flaws was their reaction to bright lights. If it was overcast, then they had no problem moving through the day, but if it was a cloudless day, they seemed to shrink back into the shadows. Another flaw was how easily it was to kill them. They may be fast and their scratches or teeth deadly, but it took nothing to kill them. There was no special metal or weapon needed. One stab in the right place or a decapitation would have their bodies disintegrating into dust.

I shivered at the thought. It truly was creepy to watch them move and target their prey.

Hungry for blood and death, they killed without motivation or cause. They killed on command. The only two people who could command them were Orion and Finnegan. Even then, Finnegan had limited control over them. And I think the only reason he had somewhat of a control over them was because Orion was his father.

“Yes Sir, “ I heard Finnegan on the phone, “Copy that. I will let you know when we are there.” He said and then hung up.

“Change of plans” he called out while striding towards us. “Four of our locations were breached, including the one we were heading to. King Orion is sending co-ordinates now for our new location. He will meet us there in a week.”

“Where we heading, Finn?” Jack asked, his usual cocky smirk on his face.

Just then Finnegan’s phone dinged “Apparently we are going to Clia.” He huffed.

Clia was territory on the border of the Bear Kingdom, unclaimed land, full of rogues and strange tales. Its other border sat on Maplepeak Lake and on the other side of that sat the forest of Morngord.

“What about the second wave King Orion wanted to send into the Wolf Kingdom?” I would rather fight and send out another attack than be anywhere near Mongord forest. The tales I had heard were enough to make a grown man piss his pants.

“He said it wasn’t necessary at the moment, enough damage had been done. He has a new location he wants to attack first, MacTire.” I felt the color drain from my face and my hands became shaky.

MacTire, Lamia, the Dire Wolf. After seeing her in action, I didn’t want to be anywhere near her or her Bear King.

“It’s all right Ollie, we took her down once. We can do it again. Besides, we know MacTire better than she does.” Jack winked at me and clapped me on the shoulder.

Finnegan turned towards one of the cars and Jack took his phone out and sent a message, before stuffing it back in his pocket, curiously wondering who he was messaging.

Jack was hinting at the tunnels, the same way we had left the castle undetected. Tunnels ran under the castle for miles leading to different locations. Silas had found an old map years ago when he first took over the desolate territory, strong arming the sparse packs and rouge packs that were in the area, giving them promises of a new era if they joined his ranks and threatening them if they didn’t.

My throat tasted like sandpaper and it felt like that too when I tried to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat. Unlike Jack, I had my doubts that she would be as easy to disparage or render immobile this time around.

***

FINNEGAN

I watched the two lacky’s joke around as they shoved the remaining monsters into the large covered trucks. Monsters that were once people.

I hated my father. King Orion. He was no king in my eyes. He was the true monster, a cruel and murderous man.

It was true, Mathias and I were conceived on the same night and born the same night too. The night we broke into Mathias’ penthouse, he told them he had killed my mother. He had, but not on the day he had said. No, he had kept my mother locked up for years, using her for her gifts, which was how he was able to create these… things, these abominations of nature, with her and the knowledge of his female toy, Shayna. A daughter of an Alpha wolf in Bashenstan, a country across the other side of the realm.

My mother was one of the last of her kind, a witch, a seer with the ability to manipulate herbs into potions, and my father’s fated mate. But he never loved her; he only had love for Amitola, Mathias’ mother.

Even that was a fucked up kind of love. He had raped her then killed his twin brother in an attempt for what, the throne to the Kodiak kingdom? I found that hard to believe, seeing as he ran and hid all these years across the ocean.

He did kill my mother eventually. When my sister turned fifteen and her gifts became apparent, my father had no use for my mother anymore and savagely ripped her heart out in front of me and my sister, locking my little sister away deep in the heart of Andora, with the corpse of my mother.

His words played over and over in my mind every day. “You can hold nothing over my head now witch.” he had spat at my mother, grasping her white hair tightly in his fist as he punched hard, drawing blood from her face. “You are no longer the last of your kind, and your bitch of a child will serve me well.”

“Please, she begged, I will give you whatever you want, Orion, just please don’t hurt our child!” Her sobs and begging echoed in my ears long after he laughed at her and punched a hole, right through her chest, pulling her still beating heart from her chest and biting into it.

My sister’s screams have haunted me every night since.

That day I didn’t shed a tear. I showed no emotion, because I knew if I did he would take it out on her. Instead, I became the dutiful son, the prodigy, the enforcer. It was the best way I knew how to protect her. She was my weakness and by obeying him I could protect her from the beatings.

My mother was smart. Before the night she died, she told my father, that my sister's gift would remain intact as long as she stayed a virgin. I didn’t know if this was true or not, but she said she had foreseen it and my father needed her gift of sight, so he wasn’t going to take the chance of her virginity being taken.

There were some nights he had taken me to her cell with him and he told me how he wanted me to mate my sister, or how she looked so much like my mother that it was hard for him not to take her.

Despite how sick he made me feel and the horror in my little sister's eyes at his confessions, I played along and jeered but reminded him how she would lose her ability if her virtue was not intact.

He would spit at her through the bars and call her a worthless whore, a good for nothing witch. Sometimes he would piss through the bars trying to get it on her. She would crawl to the corner and sob. I could only hang my head.

By the time I was 14 and had received my spirit animal, my father had stuck an implant in the back of my neck, one that could control my beast, another invention by the bitch wolf Shayna.

I was ashamed I could do nothing for my sister and knew if she lost her gift, he would kill her. Or worse, she would be used and abused and or sold to the highest bidder. Just her blood alone would be worth a fortune to the right person. And if they didn’t care about her gift, she would be used as a breeder.

She may not have a spirit animal, like me, but we were the last in the blood line of long forgotten witches.

No, witches couldn’t manipulate the elements, or create bursts of flames like humans romanced about long ago, but we could manipulate herbs and create potions. Powerful witches were the ones who had abilities like my sister, the gift of sight, or they could read a person’s aura.

My mother once told me about our great great grandfather who was able to speak with the spirits of our animals and another witch who was said that she could communicate with the dead.

I could manipulate herbs, but other than that, I had nothing from my mother’s bloodline, instead I received a spirit animal.

When my father told me all four locations had been breached and were now compromised, I had to hide my head, because I couldn’t contain the smile that crept over my lips.

Lamia had received my email.

I reached in my pocket and took out the other phone I had and switched it on, sending another message, this time to my brother:

‘His next attack will be on MacTire when the god’s lights dance across the sky. Careful the king doesn’t take your queen.’

I switched the phone off and placed it back in my pocket. “Let’s, move out” I yelled, flicking my hand at the trucks “The king has a schedule to keep.”

I puffed out a deep breath of air and ran my hand through my white hair and put on a pair of sunglasses, hiding my violet eyes. The color of my hair and eyes matched my mother’s, otherwise I was the spitting image of my father and my brother.

I closed my eyes, squeezing them tight. I hated that man and hoped that when the time came it was my father’s defeat I would witness. And my sister would be free.

If I could kill him myself, I would have done so a long time ago. Unfortunately, a blood pact and the implant would not allow me too. If I did, not only would I die, which I didn’t care about, but my sister would also die.

For now, I would help where I could.

I took a deep breath while my eyes were still shut and recalled the memory of holding Lamia against me, feeling her soft skin on my finger tips, her perky and full breast in the palm of my hand.

My brother was lucky, she was beautiful and her scent was mouth watering, even mixed with his. I could see how easy it was to fall for her, I had thought of no one else since I had held her against me.

I wanted her, but she was not mine and I would not let history repeat itself.

My father planned to take Lamia and reach Riocht first, then bleed her dry on the throne to unlock the curse and then he would be able to claim the title of king of all shifters. He would only need her alive long enough for her blood to be spilt at the right time and the curse to be broken.

After that? I didn’t know what came after that.

I didn’t know what that meant for me, or my sister, or for the millions of shifters and humans in the realm. If my father gets his way, the realm will fall into darkness and law and order will be cast out the window. Thousands upon thousands would be slaughtered, on this continent and the next. All for the sake of glory and becoming the king of shifters.

I pray my brother and his mate are strong enough to defeat him.