Gamma No More - Book 3

Killian saunters up to the guard point of the Stone Heart pack.

“State your name, pack and business,”

The guard’s voice is clear and confident, they are a strong established pack that others come to for protection, so Killian is aware they have every right to feel that way. Because of that, he ensures he is respectful when he answers them.

“Killian Parker, Shadow Pack, I have an appointment with the Alpha,”

He stands quietly but holds no fear as he sees them communicating via mind link. Eventually, the guard signals to one of the younger wolves.

“He’ll take you to the Alpha,”

It doesn’t take long until Killian is at the pack house, it’s an unpretentious place, designed more for utility rather than elegance, something that Killian can approve of, money spent on making a building look nice, rather than defence isn’t worthwhile.

He wouldn’t call himself egalitarian, he’s more than happy for extra wealth to be distributed in his direction, but why make something pretty when functional works just as well? Wasting money isn’t the point.

But standing on the building steps is an annoyed looking Alpha, Mack Wright.

“Alpha Wright, thank you for making time to see me.”

Killian’s voice is all amiable, not giving the Alpha a reason to throw him out, not that he could if the paperwork was good enough, but while he had been told that it will pass a detailed review, he’s not sure he wants to push the matter too much.

“Since when does the Royal pack send warriors from other packs as their emissaries… is it their way to insult me?”

The growling tone to his voice is clear, but Killian isn’t happy, having this discussion in the open reflects badly on him, he could have borne it better, had it been taking part in the Alpha’s office and not showing him disrespect within hearing of the whole pack. And the way he had said ‘other packs’, he may as well have used the word ‘lesser’ or ‘filthy’. The Alpha had uttered the words with distaste.

He knows he has to tread carefully, but not back down.

“That is something you will need to take up with the Royal Pack.

Like you, I am bound by their rules, although in truth, I do not think that receiving an emissary in this way is entirely respectful, something I hope no one will ask me about.”

The Alpha huffs at the veiled threat Killian made and turns away.

“Follow me,”

Killian allows a small smile to grace his face before following.

“Sit,”

The Alpha’s voice is curt and to the point, as he stared at the wolf in front of him, he is sure that he’s seen him before. His features are vaguely familiar, but he cannot remember why.

Finally, the Alpha breaks the silence.

“Have we met before?”

Killian’s answer is quick with no hesitation.

“I don’t believe so, Alpha Wright, not unless you have visited the Shadow pack. I rarely get off pack land and have no memory of coming here as part of the Alpha’s guard.”

Mack Wright stared at the wolf in front of him. He’s positive he recognised this wolf from a while ago, but then, he acknowledged, it could have been when he made the rounds to look for his mate.

“So, why did they send you?”

Abrupt and to the point, Killian wanted to smile, Alpha’s are all the same.

“I had the misfortune to cross paths with the rogue Antonia, so as someone that would recognise her, they have asked me to review the packs one last time.

Part of my remit is to see all she-wolves between the ages of sixteen to thirty, without exception. ”

The Alpha rolls his eyes.

“Why such a wide range?”

“She looked young on the broadcast, probably passed for a young teenager, not almost twenty-one, but conversely, it is also possible to make yourself look older.” He shrugs.

“I will also need access to the computer records.”

The Alpha waves his hand dismissively.

“A Gamma is outside; he will deal with your queries,”

Alpha Wright has already moved on from that topic, looking at his next bit of work as Killian thanked him for his help and walked out.

Killian had spent the last three hours reviewing the system records of the Stone Heart pack, but no matter what he did, the numbers just didn’t add up.

From this pack of six hundred and forty-nine wolves, there were three hundred and thirty-five females of various ages and three hundred and fourteen males, but when he did a breakdown of pack members by assigned roles including non-working wolves, he had an extra female.

Knowing he has to investigate it further, he had let out a curse. Paperwork has never been his forte, but for such an organized pack, the error is unexpected. Stretching, he started breaking the numbers down by age bracket, assuming it would be a wolf that had recently retired, or one that had passed recently and the record was just not updated.

He starts with the wolves in the ninety-plus age bracket and manipulates the data by decades born.

It’s taken him three hours, but finally, he had got to this point; the anomaly was in the twenty to thirty age range, which at least cut his search down.

Now it was just a matter of going through the records, by role and seeing where he hit the error. It didn’t take him long to find the entry and when he did, all he could do was sit back, eyes widening.

He was staring at a picture of a protector designate, one who attained the role at the tender age of sixteen, even if she looked younger.

In fact, he had to acknowledge she looked almost identical between this photo and the one from the broadcast.

But the picture was clear enough, this person could not be mistaken for anyone else bar Antonia Woodfield.

Even if he hadn’t seen the broadcast, he knows he would have recognised her from his time in the Nightshade pack. There was something about the eyes that never really changed.

But here she was, on the system under an assumed name and had been, if the records were correct, since sixteen, technically drawing a salary until banished from the Nightshades pack.

He gets out his phone and takes a screenshot of the payment details, then prints off the record, evidence he would need not only for Tane but to confront Alpha Wright.

Outside, the females were gathering for his review, but as Killian contemplated the record before him, he was almost positive he wouldn’t find her in the assembled group.

Either Alpha Wright was hiding her from the real records in which case she wouldn’t be outside, or he had been up to some other illegal activities having her on the payroll, siphoning off her salary until Alpha Vincent died and she’d never been an actual pack member.

He would go through the motions of reviewing all the females, but then he had an appointment with the Alpha once more, he’s sure they hadn’t assumed he would cross-check the records in that level of detail, but now he had, he’d hit gold.

Even if he denied it, it would give Tane leverage over this pack.

A mischievous grin spread across Killian’s face as he passed the borders of the Stone Heart pack. Tane had promised a handsome sum of money for any trace of her, and if he didn’t follow through, Killian would be beyond furious. He hated the tedious task of sifting through papers and documents, even if it was computerised, but the thrill of potentially uncovering something no one else had been irresistible to him.

Surely even the esteemed Royal Pack hadn’t found this information yet, or else they would have made it known by now.

The pack hadn’t been pleased to see him, but true to Tane’s word, the paperwork, which had been, if you believe it, authorised by the Acting Alpha of the Royal Pack had been good enough to get him not only on their pack land but to review all their records, much to Alpha Wright’s chagrin once he had confronted him with the evidence.

As he was, allegedly, acting as a temporary agent of the Royal Pack, he doubted the paperwork was real, but as long as it got him on and off the pack land safely, he didn’t care how Tane had done it.

Granted, it had taken threats from Killian to get the truth out of the Stoneheart Alpha, Mack Wright in their second meeting, but when he did, boy was it worth it.

Emma Marshall, protector designate, he clutches a copy of her record. He may not have found her, but getting dirt on the squeaky clean Stoneheart pack was right up there.

He travelled for another few miles, making sure he wasn’t being followed before he pulled over, taking out his phone.

“Tane, it’s Killian,”

“Any problems?”

The gruff voice answers.

“Your paperwork worked like a dream.

The Alpha was pretty pissed, but submitted to the questions and, more importantly, gave me access to his systems.

He doesn’t care about who rules, he sees rulers as unimportant, in his words just a figurehead, so he’s happy to take anyone.” Killian goes quiet for a while.

“How likely is it, that I can buy his loyalty?” Tane asked.

“Normally I’d say not at all, but I’ve got something for you that will make it a lot easier. ”

Killian can’t help the dramatic pause as he added to the conversation. Waiting for Tane to break first was easy.

“And what did you find? What pressure can we put on this Alpha?”

Killian smiles. It doesn’t matter that Tane can’t see him as he looks down at the paperwork he had printed out.

“Antonia Woodfield had been in their pack under an assumed name.

Been there since she was sixteen, as a Protector Designate under the name of Emma Marshall.

He had an arrangement with the old Nightshades Alpha to keep her on the system in case she needed it, to move around the packs, giving her a name to hide behind, but Alpha Vincent was sending him a ‘salary’ monthly until she killed him.

She was on the equivalent of a Delta’s salary, but it’s been going into the Alpha’s account.”

There’s a happy ‘hmm’ sound from Tane’s end of the call, before he can speak, Killian continued.

“The interesting thing, she’s only done two jobs, and she requested and completed one of those using both her persona.”

Tane easily heard the smile in Killian’s voice

“Who was the protected she assigned herself?”

“One Susan Claymore from the Royal Pack subsequently mated to a Gamma Henry Anderson in the Blood Moon Pack.”

Tane smiles, Killian had found what others hadn’t been able to do, some small trace of her. Granted, it was technically her past, but if her registration was still valid, then it could have been a pseudonym she still used.

This proves how slack the Royal Pack warriors had been in their searches, all that effort and they had come up with nothing.

Here, a single wolf had got information that gave him both leverage on an Alpha, and something more to track her with.

“And you are sure, beyond a doubt, that the image you saw was Antonia Woodfield?”

“I am,”

“Killian, you’ve done well and earned yourself a bonus payment.

When does your Alpha expect you back?”

Killian smirked at the question in Tane’s words, hearing in his unspoken words that he had been useful.

“According to Alpha Lee, I am assigned to your tasks for as long as you need me to be, although I do have a young family I’d like to see regularly.”

“Take a few days, then I want you to visit the Lowland Pack and Westmoor packs.”

Tane’s voice is back to its normal, formal and clipped tone, task-focused and emotionless.

“And the Blood Moon Pack?”

Killian is curious about the wolf that the ex-Dark Gamma had wanted to protect and why she had needed to use her pseudonym to do so, paying the Stone Heart Alpha a significant amount of what he assumed was her own money for the pleasure of doing so.

“No need. I have other contacts that will pursue that line. The paperwork for the new packs will be in place in a week.”

Tane abruptly cuts off the call, but Killian smiled, being a pack warrior was okay, but getting into the ‘persuasion’ side, well that’s far more his forte.

It’s been a long time since he felt so alive and energised, he would enjoy this assignment and maybe Tane would have some sort of use for him in the future, it may even mean a step up for him and his family, one that was long overdue.