The Gamma's Birthright - Book 2

“Okay guys, two hours to run and clear your heads then we are back to business, focussing on our task, we’ve got two more weeks and the Alpha is expecting results.

Try and keep within mind link range, and keep an ear out for rogues, don’t forget to stay sharp, we are in the neutral zone.

Not every lone wolf is a rogue here, so keep all your senses alert and remember different rules apply here, don't attack unless they attack first.”

He looks around at the guys in front of him, knowing his warnings aren’t needed, they are a good team and great warriors, he trusts every one of them with his life, but after a full week of travelling and searching, trying to complete the task set by their Alpha, they needed some downtime.

“Yes Beta”

Andy turns and strips along with his pack mates, before they all shift to their wolves, initially running as a pack, they gradually split off following the scents and tracks of animals in the forest.

An hour later, Andy’s wolf, Remus stops, sniffing the air, there’s a mixture of smells, deer, and blood, he needs to be careful some animal has a recent kill so will be defensive over it, but also there’s a sweet smell of Sandalwood and Vanilla, his wolf rumbles happily and starts to edge forward towards the scent

Mate is close

Remus’s voice clear

As he breaks into the clearing, he can see a she-wolf standing over its kill, a large deer, blood around her muzzle, chest and paws from feeding, growling him off, teeth bared.

She’s magnificent, he thinks to himself, her chocolate brown coat glistens in the dappled sun at the edge of the clearing opposite him.

A solo wolf out here is unheard of, a female even less so unless they are a rogue, but she doesn’t give off the smell of one, and her eyes are a clear brilliant amber, no hint of red in them, staring at him, daring him to step closer to her kill.

Tyra and Toni stare at their mate, enjoying the mixed smell of hazelnut, smoky charcoal and cedarwood, a rich earthy, wholesome smell.

My kill

Tyra growls to Toni

He’s our mate, Tyra, let's not kill him without reason!

Toni grins, she can feel how conflicted Tyra is wanting her mate but also not wanting to share her kill.

Today was, after all, a feast day.

She stands over the deer, marking it as hers as she watches him still, his eyes never leaving hers.

Her growling quietens as he takes a few steps back she does the same, resuming eating again, eyes still locked on her mate, admiring his silver-grey coat, which is slightly longer than most, giving him an almost Regal look as he stands there, more in shade than in the light, he still manages to stand out.

Andy assumes more of her pack are around, so he needs to take this carefully, not wanting to unsettle his mate or get into a fight with her pack if they are close.

Remus was happy to take a few steps back to calm her until she was used to his presence.

Standing stock still, he takes the time to scent the area for other wolves, but there’s no trace of any wolf in the air, bar his mate, by the goddess if she’d taken that deer down alone, it was an impressive feat, Remus rumbles happily at such an accomplished mate.

If it was any other wolf, he would back off, letting it have the kill, but he won’t back away from his mate, surely, she feels the pull as he does.

After five minutes he notices she seems to be picking at her kill, no longer tearing into it, Andy and Remus decide to step forward slowly, he’s a dominant male and his mate will need to learn this, it’s not his role to back down, he’s let her have time to get used to his presence and scent, only because in this place, in wolf form, it could get volatile.

She hadn’t shifted, and he found that curious, a first meeting in wolf form is rare and slightly riskier, less logical, and more animalistic working off body language and instinct, but Remus is happy to take charge.

He hasn’t been able to scent a pack smell on her that he recognises, but she also doesn’t smell like a rogue, he’s beginning to think she’s a recent runaway.

Tyra stops eating, she’s had enough to sate her, but her mate is coming closer to her kill once again, she steps over the carcass, keeping him from it, stalking towards him, defensive but also curious, enough to limit the feast for today, in case she needs to react to him, an extended belly wouldn’t make that easy.

Mate is a large strong wolf

There’s an appreciative rumble in Tyra’s words to Toni, making her both happy and sad, he’s giving off an aura of power, which means she will have to reject him but there was no order for her to do it straight away, so she’ll take advantage of that for some fun.

The two wolves slowly size each other up, getting closer slowly and carefully; Tyra is keeping herself between her mate and her kill until they are stood head-to-head, Remus rubs his head along the side of Tyra’s, licking her muzzle cleaning the blood as he does, Toni can feel Tyra relaxing into her mate’s scent and enjoying the attention.

As weird as it was, she hadn’t expected to meet her mate at all, but to meet first in wolf form seemed almost more intimate and sensual as his tongue caressed her face, chest and legs, cleaning her.

Wolves don’t need to talk, it’s all in actions and Toni knows Tyra appreciated him giving her space initially, but Toni is sitting low in the consciousness, letting Tyra take the lead.

Remus is rumbling happily, their mate is a strong she-wolf, he can feel how toned her body is, lean, built for combat, she’s got definition even in wolf form that would make some male warriors jealous and the size of her wolf, he's never met such a large she-wolf.

She had to be Alpha born in his eyes, but even then, she was bigger than any she-wolf he’d encountered and if she was, why did she not smell a discernible pack smell, nor emanate power?

After cleaning the blood from her kill off her muzzle and chest, he starts scenting the sides of her face and neck to make his claim on her known before his pack mates arrive.

Remus moves his head to rub it over the top of hers, showing his dominance, when there’s an angry growl that comes from deep within her, snapping at him, he moves away from her teeth with less than a second to spare.

Answering her challenge with a deep growl of his own, he goes to nip her shoulder, demanding her compliance, expecting her submission.

She turns too quickly for him, the snap of his teeth echoing in the clearing as he misses her

She bites his side, not enough to hurt him, just showing her refusal to accept his authority, Remus isn’t happy, no she-wolf, save his Luna, has the right to challenge or dominate him and even then, his Luna was a quiet gentle wolf, who would never need to assert her authority that way.

Growling, their bodies clashing leaves dull thuds in the forest, teeth snapping loudly, silencing the nearby forest, animals knowing to steer clear of two predators fighting, neither wolf looking to submit, they meet time and time again in the air shoulder to shoulder neither able to ground the other.

As the battle goes on, neither wolf does serious damage, testing, in the way of the wolf, their potential mate, small bites that will heal in under an hour, the ferocious growls and barks of the fight concealing the lack of damage.

Andy and Remus were caught by surprise when the she-wolf went for him initially but quickly worked out her attacks were training bites, controlled, and restrained.

She’d not taken one obvious entry when he made a mistake, that would have left him badly injured had she meant to harm him, instead leaving him with a nip under his neck instead.

Remus was beginning to enjoy the challenge the she-wolf gave him, both testing each other, he had the size and weight; she the agility and speed, normally found in smaller wolves than her, but with the strength of a warrior which surprised him.

Mate fights well

Remus’s voice is prideful in his head, Andy agrees, it’s a very balanced fight in overall power, so focussed in their fight, he doesn’t realise the passing of the time, nor that he’s been ignoring the pack link, concentrating on the fight before him, refusing to lose to his mate.

His amber eyes are filled with pride as he fights, watching his mate easily hold her own against him, could she be an Alpha, not just Alpha born, the only wolf that he's fought that can beat him is his brother, the Alpha of his pack and even that's a fairly hard fight.

He ponders the thought, but he can’t think of any female Alphas, nor those that have trained to be an Alpha, ready to take over, but his mate is not slowing down on the attacks and while he was distracted by his thoughts, she had landed a bite on his back leg, in a real fight, he’d be out, she’d gone for his achillies.

Andy is impressed, she’s fighting strategically, hitting him where she would incapacitate or weaken him, allowing her to escape or dominate the fight if she needed to, albeit these bites did little damage, bar to his pride.

Toni could feel Tyra getting ready to back down, but not submit, satisfied with her mate, ready to accept him, knowing he was worthy, strong enough to be her mate when the sound of growling wolves reached her ears.

She’d let her guard down enjoying the fight far too much and at the edge of the clearing, six wolves all sharing the same pack smell as her mate, were creeping out of the forest around her.

Remus sees her freeze a little in front of him, taking two steps back, her eyes darting to the growling wolves that are emerging from the forest, he relaxes.

He realised a moment too late that all his pack saw was a strange wolf attacking their Beta.

Stand down

His voice echoes with force through the mind link, but it’s seconds too late, Ryan’s wolf Gunnar had launched himself at his mate, intent on defending his packmate

As the sable and white wolf is in the air, teeth bared ready to lock onto the attacker, she jumps to meet it, aiming to control but not damage, colliding with the wolf’s shoulder, knocking it out of the air.

Gunnar lands on his side, rolling from the momentum, Tyra grabs his scruff of the neck, shaking him to disorient, before turning and racing off.

Jasper, stay with Gunnar and make sure he’s okay then, catch us up.

Do not attack her, that’s my mate.

Remus races after his mate with the others from his pack joining him.

Andy now in control, races after the scent of his mate

You were fighting your mate?

Delta Jeff’s voice is asking the question the rest wondered.

Not now, I need to stop her

On it boss, we’ll help you catch her.