SWNOVELS Chapter Morning has broken
It’s two in the morning. when they finally decide to leave the club, technically it closes at four, but Toni and Susan were ready to go earlier, emotionally, Toni felt like she was wrung out, never having let go of the control she had over her emotions this long, she’d had fun, but all the new emotions and experiences had left her feeling shattered.
As they step outside the door, allowing the fresh air to wash over them, Cage walks up to them smiling.
“Calling it early ladies? the night is still young for some”
Nodding to the entry lines, he grins at them, letting his gaze rest longer on Toni.
“yeah, budee weee’ll be back ’nuzzer night, juzz gerinn shtarred ride Emsh??”
Susan staggers slightly bouncing off the wall giggling, winking exaggeratedly at Toni who rolls her eyes.
“Heeeyyy, how come yoo arr shober? Emsh”
Toni sighed and looked at Susan who was struggling to focus on her, sighing with a smile
“I can hold my liquor, you, cannot, the walk back will be…. Interesting!”
“No need”
Cage’s voice cuts through their conversation
“Leif told me to make the car available to you, and to let you know that you are welcome back anytime”
He’s waving a car up, as the Mercedes with the blacked-out windows draws up, Cage turns towards them.
“I don’t know what you did to Leif, but I doubt anyone in this town would dare cross you, he’s put out a blanket edict for the two of you to be left alone.
There’s a bucket in there in case your friend needs it”
He grins
“We don’t need his protection,” Toni growls lowly
“I know that, he knows that, and I’m pretty sure he also knows you’d be pissed at it” he chuckles
“Feel free to talk to him about it next time you see him, I’m just following orders!” Cage shrugs
Toni looks over at Susan…. then at the car and sighs in defeat
“I thing yoos toos cuds bee cutes togezzer!”
Susan lays her head on Toni’s shoulder causing her to tense slightly.
“In the car now”
She barks out a command watching Susan automatically sway towards the car, Cage’s eyes widen appreciatively
“Dang I do like a woman in authority”
His eyes dance with amusement as she turns and glares at him.
“Don’t worry Emma, I know she doesn’t speak for you, but just think of the fun tomorrow when she has a sore head, I always find that’s when payback is fun!”
His laugh is deep and honest, causing a small laugh to burst from her, lighting up Toni's eyes.
The bright early morning sunlight breaks through the window, slicing like a dagger to the top of the bed, piercing into Susan’s bloodshot and sleep-deprived eyes, as Toni pulls back the curtains in Susan’s room, even her groan is too loud for her ears.
“It's six, a fine morning, time to rise and shine.
Wakey, wakey Susan, we had training and a run planned remember
And you swore you’d be up for them today if I let you off yesterday!”
Toni’s voice has a hint of evil in it, but her eyes are alight with laughter.
She had to admit, from not laughing or smiling most of her life, these last few days with Susan, seem to have opened the floodgates of new feelings, she’s not sure how easily she will slip back into the Nightshades pack.
It feels good to be able to just relax for once, not guarding every emotion and feeling, although there’s a deep-seated fear that if Susan knew what she’d done, she would gradually distance herself from Toni, it was only two weeks to get through and she already knew her reputation, so maybe she’d be ok.
“Do you have to be so damned cheerful, we only went to bed a few hours ago…..
How in the Goddesses name can you be so energetic, we matched each other drink for drink”
Susan groans, hiding her head back under the Duvet
“Discipline…. And having a lot of experience, I started drinking from the age of fifteen, so much for the Royal pack keeping an eye on their ward huh” She winks
There’s a painful groan emanating from Susan as Toni whips the Duvet off her too fast for her befuddled, alcohol-infused brain to react.
“Food is being delivered in ten minutes, take a cold shower, have a sugary drink from the bar and I’ve ordered a cooked breakfast and strong coffee if that doesn’t solve your issues….
… then there’s always the fun of me hounding you in training to look forward to.”
Susan curses loudly as she all but crawls to the shower, watching Toni walk out of her room, holding the duvet hostage.
“By the way, nobody likes morning people …. “
She calls out lamely
“That’s ok, no one likes me anyway, so I’m used to it!”
Toni laughs back
“Shower is waiting…. I will not!” she warns jokingly
Seventy minutes later and partway through training Susan collapses on the floor panting in the middle of No-mans-land
“You are worse than any Delta I’ve trained with and I thought my brother was bad.”
Susan groans
“You get I’m a Gamma, not a Delta, right?” Toni cocks an eyebrow laughing
“Yea, but Gammas are Lawyers and Doctors in our pack and I need a medic as I feel like shit!”
“Can’t be that bad, you haven’t thrown up yet!”
Susan glares at Toni for that comment, smiling Toni holds out her hand to help Susan up, she is surprised at how well she’s doing considering she was sleep-deprived and still drunk when she was woken up
“Up you get, we aren’t stopping until you get that move, Susan, hangovers and lack of sleep are no excuse for sloppy moves.”
Susan flops backwards lying on the floor
“Fuck off Emma, I’m done”
No sooner than the words leave Susan’s mouth, her wolf, Lily, goes into a panic, instinctively submitting and baring her neck in Susan’s mind, unhappy and telling Susan to fix it.
For a brief moment, the smallest iota of time, she’d forgotten she was training with Gamma Woodfield and not just one of her friends, the aptly named ‘Dark Gamma’ wasn’t known for tolerating disrespect and in her peripheral vision, she saw Toni’s hand drop to her side, no longer offered to help her up.
“I am so so….”
A loud strangled choked cough interrupts Susan
Slowly looking up, Susan dares a glance at Toni, who has a hand clamped over her nose and mouth trying to stifle her laughter, finally, she can take no more, she bends over double openly crying with laughter, tears streaming down her face.
“You…. your face”
She wheezes out between laughs, tears clouding her vision
“Oh goddess”
She wraps her arms across her stomach.
“The panic on your face”
Toni bends over, holding her sides, gasping for air, trying to calm herself, but bursting into fits of laughter once more.
Susan sat calmly, trying to work out what just happened, she’d been expecting shouting and a verbal barrage at a minimum.
Calmer now, Toni looks at her.
“Sorry I shouldn’t have laughed, but you looked so panicked, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much.
I could tell your wolf was having a fit at how you addressed me.
Then…”
She starts laughing once more
“Then I realised if you go back to your pack…”
Toni breaks off trying to calm herself, laughing again at the image in her head, before finally controlling herself, face stained with tears from laughing so much.
“And tell them you told the Nightshades Gamma in a training session…to fuck off…
and got away with it…
No one would believe you!”
Toni bursts back into fits of giggles, and this time Susan joins in realising just how ridiculous the story would seem.
“oooo
I have never laughed so much in all my life, my sides hurt.
This is probably the best ab workout I’ve ever had!”
Toni finally manages to gasp out.
Susan looks up at Toni, wearing a cropped sports top and compression shorts, her six-pack and toned body on display.
“I’d love to know your actual ab workout; you have a killer body…
Oh god I didn’t mean”
She starts to blush
“I didn’t mean … maybe I just shouldn’t talk!”
Susan groans
“For Goddesses sake Susan, I told you, no commanded you, to treat me like an equal, so it was just plain funny, nothing to be worried about, it’s nice to be treated normally!
But promise me one thing.
If you are unlucky enough to find your mate in the Nightshade pack, unless he is the Alpha or Beta, get your brother to petition to keep you in the Royal pack.
Honestly, I couldn’t cope having to punish you and you are just too impulsive and honest to survive there.”
Toni changes the tone of her voice to be more authoritative but without any command present
“Now get your lazy ass up, we’re doing that move again until you get it right!”
Toni winks at Susan holding her hand out to help her get up.
Hours later, both Susan and Toni had finally finished training and gone for a run, in fur, hunting together as wolves, sharing the kill equally, before sleeping soundly, in wolf form for four hours, now, they were driving back to the hotel to shower and change.
Susan wants to go back to the club that night before they head out to visit the packs that have alliances with the Nightshade packs.
As Toni drives them back, she can sense an uneasiness in Susan.
“Out with it Susan.”
“What do you mean?” She asks sheepishly
“There’s obviously things on your mind ……”
“How do you know?”
“Your wolf is pacing.
There’s been some sort of connection between our wolves, so Tyra is complaining at me, because Lily is stressed, and my wolf is blaming me for making your wolf uncomfortable.
You are tenser than normal and less talkative… to name just a few reasons.”
“Why did that Vampire want your blood?” Susan finally asks.
“I don’t know”
She takes a deep breath before continuing.
“Any trade with a Vampire has a blood price, either your blood or that of an innocent.”
Toni sees Susan inwardly cringing at the idea
“They rarely want wolves’ blood, apparently it doesn’t taste good, instead they request a human offering, it’s why deals with Vampires are frowned upon in our world.
Honestly, I have no idea, the whole transaction was odd, the small amount, the offer without me asking, not even insisting it was a fresh transaction, none of that is normal for a vampire.”
Toni looks a little distant as she tries to fathom Leif’s motive
“But I would prefer you don’t tell anyone about the details, it’s so strange it would raise suspicions, I don’t need more negative attention in my life.” Toni finishes
“I won’t, I promise.
How come you knew about vampires and charms?”
The thing Toni likes most about Susan is she’s open and just treats her like she’s not someone to be feared.
“My father and I wore a charm, on one of his business trips, I was seven maybe eight at the time, it was my first and only time in a nest, which trust me, makes the club seem like a kindergarten.”
Toni sees the shock on Susan’s face
“Don’t forget who I was raised to be, I wasn’t allowed to be squeamish, so I was given a fast-track lesson in Vampires, types, everything.”
“Why are you taking Wolfsbane, you aren’t trying to kill yourself are you?”
Words come blurting out of Susan, but Toni can hear the real concern in her voice.
“No.
Taking it regularly builds the tolerance levels to how much I can ingest, makes it less potent, and there are risks associated with doing so, but it’s a calculated risk.
My role isn’t well-liked, attempts have already been made to weaken me and since I can’t leave the pack, I protect myself.
I’m just as much hated within the pack as I am outside of it.”
“Oh”
It may just be one word, but that sole word from Susan is filled with sadness.
“And the drinking?”
Toni sighs slowing the car, she brings it to a halt, resting her head on the headrest for a few moments, before finally speaking.
“Are you prepared for an answer you won’t like?”
Susan nods
“Sometimes, I drink so that I can forget the faces, just for a night so I can sleep.
I never want to truly forget because if I can do that, I’ll be a shell of a person, soulless and bereft of hope.
It used to help, but now, more often than not it leaves me numb, but not asleep, not even the justification that I am commanded to do it helps.
I don’t even like killing rogues, I always try and give them a chance to walk away.”
There is a lot of sadness and despair in Toni’s voice, finally allowing the emotions she feels to be released rather than hidden deep inside, waiting for the revulsion to hit Susan’s face when she realises, she’s been friendly with a killer, that the reputation is real.
“To forget wha… oh…”
Susan falls silent, a sudden understanding hitting her, she sits quietly for a while not speaking.
“I’m sorry”
“What are you sorry for” Toni’s confusion is clear
“I can’t imagine what it’s like to be you, and to be judged for what you have to do, it’s clear that you aren’t doing it willingly.
If you ever want to talk about it, I won’t judge, but I’ll be here to listen.”
Susan pauses, a look of realisation comes over her face
“Shit you started drinking at fifteen, does that mean...”
“Yes.
Alpha Vincent isn’t a patient man and once the Royal Pack allowed him to promote me to an adult role, I was fair game.”
“Toni, we could tell people about this, I’m sure there’s a way to…”
“Susan stop!
Ironically, the worse my reputation is, the less evil I have to commit.
If you try and change that reputation, someone will end up challenging me and then it’s all going to go wrong at that point.
Plus, it’s my word against his and my life would be forfeit as soon as I stepped back on pack land once he knew.
Treason against the Alpha comes in many forms in our pack, including declining rolls offered, but all have a single sentence, death.
Trust that I will resolve this one way or another, but if you would prefer not to be with me…”
This time it’s Susan’s time to interrupt
“Sod that, you aren’t getting rid of me that easily!”
A single silent tear rolls down Toni’s face, as she nods and restarts the car, a weight is finally lifted from her shoulders, that someone knows and accepts her for who she is
There is one serious question I have to ask though…..”
The seriousness in Susan’s voice causes Toni to do a secondary glance, almost dreading the question.
“Go for it, I’ll answer honestly.”
“Promise me we don’t have to train tomorrow…… I really want to go back to the club tonight, one last excursion with Emma, before you turn back into the Gamma for the pack visits!”
Toni expels her breath in a loud laugh.
“You trained well, we’ll hit the club but no Vamp floor this time and I will let you sleep in…. tomorrow!”