SWNOVELS Chapter Old Friend
Six days.
That’s all it had taken to show Toni a different life.
Those six days with Susan had given Toni a view of the life she knew she couldn’t have; a normal life, one that she now wanted, it had been fun, but with eighteen days left until the fight, and twenty-two, if she survived, before she was due back at the pack, it was a fantasy she couldn’t have.
She’d known driving away from the Royal Pack that the life Susan may show her was never going to be permanent, but she had selfishly hoped for it to last a week more, but she had no other regrets.
Susan had shown her a glimpse of the life she’d been denied and while it had shocked her, she honestly felt like she and Susan had clicked into a friendship that could have endured if circumstances had been different.
Still, it doubled the number of people she called friends, but at least she has memories to last her a lifetime, that thought makes her laugh, her life has always been finite, but recently it’s looking a lot shorter than she may have hoped.
Sending a prayer of thanks to the Moon Goddess for the priceless gift of the friendships she’d been blessed with in her life, there may not be many, but she felt deep down that they were true friends, both accepting things about her that others baulked at, and that makes them all the more precious, the simple act of prayer had clarified what Toni needed to do next.
After a long twenty hours of travelling by car she’s at the border of the Deadfalls pack, parking in the layby she gets out stretching her aching muscles, she’d taken the quickest route, straight through the Neutral Zone.
The irony is, that Toni both wanted and didn’t want to come here.
She had secretly thought James would be her mate, the guy she felt most comfortable with and had bonded with as a teenager seemed to be the most likely person who would be her mate, but if he was, she wasn’t sure she wanted to put him into the hell that is her life.
He had been a good, quiet, kind soul, while he probably wouldn’t cause issues in the pack, he may not understand the need for a solitary life, after all, he’d been the one who taught her to be more open with her thoughts and feelings as a child, to plan and dream of a future.
But also, she wanted to ask him to be her second in the fight something she couldn’t do if he was her mate, no one deserves to watch their mate fight for their life.
If he wasn’t, he’d hate the thought, but of all the people she trusted to fulfil her wishes, he was the one, but it wasn’t a conversation she was looking forward to either way.
She is pretty sure that the people in the Deadfalls pack would know she had been sent back to the Nightshade pack, so rather than turn up as Emma, she decided to go to the pack as Antonia, wig in place and a small backpack containing spare uniform, she locks the car and looks towards the forest.
She strides towards the main pack entry point, hoping her friendship, from six years ago, still stands with James, she may not have been able to stay in contact, to keep Alpha Vincent from knowing where she had hidden, but she hopes James will understand.
Stopping shy of the border by a meter, she waits, letting the guards scrutinise her from afar, her hood is up, but she smiles at a memory, it may, today, be recognisable as the outfit of the Gamma, but the cloak, well that all started here to hide she was a female for the hunter competition.
Eventually, a man she doesn’t recognise moves forward with two other wolves flanking him, he’s about six foot (185 cm), has auburn hair, and is muscled, to the extent she'd say he's larger than the average warrior, probably a Delta.
“Who are you and what do you want?”
He stands at the borderline looking her up and down.
“I am requesting permission to cross your border and see an old friend, James Alex Jones, assuming he is still part of the pack.
Who I am, well I used to be known in this pack as Toni, an Omega until I was taken away.”
“I’ve been here four years and don’t recognise you!” the larger guy at the front said gruffly
One of the smaller wolves leans forward and whispers something to him, there’s a brief shock of realisation.
“You’re Gamma Woodfield?”
“Yes. I am also known by that name” she sighs
“Wait here.
The Beta is on his way.”
There’s an uncomfortable silence as they wait for the Beta; Toni still a metre from the boundary hasn’t made a move to come closer, wary but relaxed, it wouldn’t be inconceivable for them to attack, the guards stood opposite her made no move to get closer which would mean stepping off pack land, but they remained alert and waiting.
Except, it’s not just the Beta who arrives.
“Alpha Matthews, Beta Harrison” she bows her head respectfully
“Is that really you Toni?” Lance asks
Both men have filled out, reaching their full maturity but still recognisable as the wolves she knew from her youth, pushing her hood back off her head she lets the briefest of smiles reach her lips as she speaks.
“Well hopefully, after six years you’ve all forgiven me for any beasting you received from your fathers for the competition loss.”
Gareth laughs
“That was some beasting we got, a fortnight of double exercise. The Alpha was livid, we were bested by a pup until a report came back from the Royal pack on your assessment and where you were being returned to.
But even my father wasn’t Beta Harrison, so don’t go weighing me down with that title, Beta or Beta Gareth is good enough.”
He grins at Toni
“But why are you here?” Alpha Lance asks
“I was seeking permission to cross your boundary, I just wanted to see James, James Jones.
I couldn’t contact him before, to ensure my Alpha didn’t know which pack I had hidden in”
“The Royal Alpha did explain to my father that you chose to protect this pack”
Alpha Lance scrutinises her
“Do you promise that this is the only reason you want to be on our pack land and that you will not cause any issues?
You know we try to be as peaceful as we can be.” He asks
Toni brings Tyra to the front so that Alpha Lance can see her answer is truthful
“It is Alpha, I will even agree to be checked for weapons.
If it will help alleviate any concerns, I would wear wolfsbane bracelets, to prove I am no threat.
Although, while I’m here, I’d prefer to just be Toni, with no rank or surname.
I am purely here to see my friend.”
Alpha Lance laughed loudly
“After seeing what you could do at fourteen, and knowing your reputation, I doubt the bracelets would stop you from doing anything but shifting.
I’m sure James will be pleased to see you again, come on in.”
“But Alpha, this is Gamma…” The large wolf jumps in
“Delta Eric, I am well aware of who she is, you did hear me address her right?”
His tone is sharp, a clear indication he doesn’t like being questioned that way.
“I am also aware she was a pack member and she was removed from this pack, against her wishes I will add, yet she still chose to protect us from retribution, from her Alpha, and for that she gets every courtesy extended."
He emphasises the last three words
"She has given her word and that is good enough for me.
I have decided that she is now a guest of this pack, and I will extend that invitation for up to three days, her identity stays with us.
Do you understand?” his annoyance and command aura are out.
“Yes Alpha”
The wolf she now knows as Delta Eric drops his head
“Let us walk you to the pack house, James will be in the kitchens creating tonight’s delights, your car will be safe here, I’ll make sure the patrols include it in the checks.
And like Gareth, it’s Alpha Lance, less formal than my father.” He smiles
Once they finish with the small talk and arrive at the pack house, Alpha Lance turns to Toni
“James is not the quiet chap you used to know, he’s kind of come out of his shell!” he chuckles
Alpha Lance signals Toni to wait just outside the kitchen, as he opens the door, using it to block her from view, he grins at her.
“Watch this,” he says quietly
“James.” He lets his voice carry over the noise in the kitchen
“Yes Alpha”
A male voice is heard replying respectfully
“I know it’s late notice, but we have a special guest for tonight’s meal, any chance you can pull something special out of the bag?”
Alpha Lance calls out, the corner of his mouth has a small smile showing
“three…two…one” he counts down so quietly that even Toni almost misses it
“Alpha, with the greatest of fucking respect, and by that, I mean none at all!
Why the fuck do you do this to me, every fucking time….”
A deep angry voice booms from deep inside the kitchen, along with a clatter of pans, put down with force.
“We are already three hours into prep ready to feed two hundred mouths and I told you last time, I’m not changing shit on a whim.
If it’s good enough for the pack to eat, it’s good enough for any high and mighty visitor that wants to bring their overprivileged ass to sit at our table, and if they don’t like it, they can talk to me!
twelve fucking hours.
That’s all the notice I ask for.
Not twenty-four, not forty-eight but definitely not three!”
The tirade of words comes spewing out of the kitchen
Toni’s mouth fell open with shock, that the quiet lad she knew was talking to his Alpha like that, even the disappointment she was feeling that she couldn’t scent anything that got her wolf excited, meaning James wasn’t her mate, was forgotten.
She can hear James striding to the open kitchen door, Toni hidden behind it.
“Who is tonight’s asshole visitor, Alpha” he growls out
Lance turns his head to the side to look at Toni.
“You probably remember her as Toni.
The person who got you this damned job, so I thought you may want to impress her with your skills, but if not….”
Lance grins pointing to Toni
“Toni?” he pulls the door out of Lance’s hand, to look behind it.
“Hi, James, who poked something sharp up your ass today?”
She asks giggling like her fourteen-year-old self did when she was with James.
James rushes to envelope Toni in a bear hug, he’s far taller and broader than she remembers, the scrawny sixteen-year-old had grown up.
While he didn’t have the warriors’ muscle and broadness of chest, the kitchens had treated him well, all the sacks of food he's had to carry have given him a toned physique, topped with the same messy light brown hair and green eyes.
Pulling back, he leaves his hands on her shoulders for a while to really look at her, before he pulls her in for another hug
“You’re an asshole Toni, grade one fucking asshole.
No phone call, no letter, no message in our hidden fucking spot.
You don’t even deserve some week-old bread from me!”
He grumbles into her hair
“Well, my job here is done.” Alpha Lance grins
“James if you can’t spare the space at your house let the Beta know and he will assign her a private cabin for her visit.
I’m sure the kitchens can cope without you for the next few days!”
Chuckling Alpha Lance walks off
“Thank you, Alpha and sorry for the outburst!”
James shouts to the Alpha’s retreating back.
“Marcus get your ass out here now!” James yells
A flustered-looking lad comes rushing out of the kitchen
“Yes, boss?”
“You are in charge for the next few days, don’t fuck up my kitchen or routine, and call me if there’s an issue.
The menu for the week is up on the board, Do not, I repeat DO NOT stray from the menu!”
“Yes boss”
“Come on Toni, let’s walk back to my house and if you can give me a good reason why you haven’t been in contact for the last six long fucking years, I’ll make you the best grilled cheese sandwich you’ll ever have!”
James puts his arm casually around her shoulder and walks her out of the pack house.
“My mate will be interested in meeting you.” James grins
“Do I know them?” Toni looks quizzically at James
“And should you have your arm around me like this?
Don’t want to start on a bad foot with your mate!”
“She’ll be fine, she saw us a lot together when we were younger, wanting to mix with us back then, but her dad wouldn’t allow it….
Said she had to be prepared to move packs so as not to become too attached!
Pfft, how wrong was he!”
He scoffs before releasing his arm from her shoulder to open the door they had walked up to.
“Cat, I’m home early, got a visitor”
He yells, grabbing a small blue blur as it runs at him.
“Meet Anthony, named in honour of a friend who fucked off without contact”
“James, language!”
An annoyed female voice follows, making James look sheepish, eventually bringing a gorgeous young woman into the room
It takes Toni a good minute or so to place the face, but it’s only the likeness to Alpha Lance that finally helps her.
“Catherine, the Alpha’s sister….. wow just wow.
No wonder you feel you can get all mouthy at the Alpha”
Toni grins at the two of them
“And look who we have here, the most feared Werewolf of our time, the Dark Gamma.”
Before Toni can take offence at being pre-judged Catherine laughs lightly.
“I’ve heard the stories from James of your time here plus I remember the two of you together as kids.
You were always polite to everyone, so if you don’t mind, I’ll ignore the rumours and judge on what I know of you from James and my memories!”
Catherine smiles at Toni
“Welcome to our home.
Lance linked me, there’s a room ready for you upstairs and apologies in advance Anthony is up early so the house is rarely peaceful!
James was right, he made the best-grilled cheese sandwich, although, as Toni pointed out, it wasn’t really a grilled sandwich more a pan-fried cheese sandwich, much to the amusement of Cat, that someone daring to challenge his food!
They sit chatting as if they’d never been apart, about nonsense, James’s life after she left and life with Cat.
“Lance has been good for the pack; he took over not too long after you left.”
Cat explains in a lull of the conversation
“He and my father had some big arguments over you.
Lance couldn’t understand how his dad couldn’t accept a female like you would have probably made a great warrior or Delta, and he had just let you go.
Although it did take my brother a month or so to stop being butt hurt at being beaten by you."
She laughs at the memory.
So now, females are allowed into warrior training, and everyone gets some form of self-defence training.
You may not realise it, but you changed the pack for the better.
You should re-join the pack, you’d enjoy it.” Cat smiles
Toni goes quiet and sighs
“I can’t as soon as people knew I was here, your pack would be, at worst, targeted, and at best, you’d be pariahs, no one would deal with you.
Plus, I am unable to leave the pack without my Alpha’s permission.”
“How can that be possible”
There’s confusion in Cat’s voice
“Probably best you don’t know all the details.”
Toni finally opens up, explaining her life, and the input of the Royal pack, her life in the Nightshade pack, she skips over most of the killings she’s was commanded to do, but James and Cat are bright enough to work it out from what she doesn’t say, as much as what she does.
It takes about a few hours but James and Cat listen without interrupting, as she finishes James utters just one sentence.
“Shit, that sucks so much Toni”
Toni shrugs
“It is what it is, the Moon Goddess has a plan for us all and I need to trust in her wisdom”
Her words are full of conviction
“What’s odd”
Cat’s face is crinkled as she thinks back
“All the Alpha’s know those trackers aren’t so great, they have a half-mile radius only.
You have to have repeaters every mile or so, even if you were tagged with one and even if your Alpha had the money to put up a grid of repeaters, it wouldn’t help him once you were more than half a mile away from the grid or manual device.
Something he’d have known by then; it was tested by our pack and a few others before you joined us.
The idea had been to tag rogues so we could see if they stayed in one area and know if they were breaching our borders.
All the Alphas were given the results, so are you sure that he didn’t have you followed as well?”
“Not that I was aware of” Toni answers honestly
“Anyway, it’s a depressing topic, but while we are on a downer, I have a request to make James, it’s not a good one.
But there’s not going to be a good time to say this…so best to get it out in the open.”
Toni takes a deep breath before continuing
“I have to face a fight to the death challenge, and I need a second.
Your safety is guaranteed, you are there only to follow through on my wishes if I don’t survive.
Feel free to decline and you don’t have to watch the actual fight, but, you were my first friend, so I wondered…”
James envelopes her in a big hug stopping her from saying anything more.
“I will repeat, you are such an asshole Toni, do you know that?”
His voice catches, breaking slightly
“You come back into my life to tell me you have to face a fight to the death just after I’ve found you again.
What is it with you dropping in and out of my life?
Tell me at least you have a chance?”
“It’s against an Alpha so……not as much as if I were fighting others, but there’s always a chance.” she shrugs
“But your safety is guaranteed.
You’d need to travel for a day to get to the fight point, which is done at midnight in seventeen days, so permission to be off pack land would be needed by Alpha Lance.
I can ask another if you’d prefer not to go, I understand.” Toni sounds a little defeated.
James looks to Cat, who gives a small nod, her eyes filled with sadness
“I’ll speak to the Alpha Tomorrow Toni, you won’t be alone, I’ll promise you that.
Just tell me where I need to go.”