The Gamma's Birthright - Book 2

In her car, all she carries with her is a backpack with the items she carried when she left, and the book, which is hidden deep within her car.

Some light reading for her evening entertainment, something Leif had insisted she needed to read to understand, not trusting the history books the wolves used.

Everything else, the clothes she had purchased, was safely stored with Cage and Leif.

She was heading back to the Nightshades pack with more questions than answers and probably more confused than when she’d left, at that point she had a spark of hope for a normal life, now, well now the definition of what she thought was a normal life had been shattered and she had glimpses of what else may be possible.

Cage now knew who she was, the Dark Gamma and hadn’t backed away from her, instead, he’d looked more aggrieved at the fact she was being hunted by others, he was a strange wolf, but one she had realised she liked and trusted.

She wouldn’t call either he, or Leif, friends, having little interaction with them, but as allies, she was happy and hoped in time she could come to call them friends.

It’s late afternoon when Toni heads towards the familiar border of the Nightshades pack, with Tyra still buried deep, the pull of her crossing the border will be small as if she were one of the pack, her wig firmly attached.

She gets acknowledged by the guards at the border respectfully, she knows they will inform the Alpha of her return, so she drives straight to the packhouse to present herself back to him.

Unlike when he sends her off on ‘missions’, she’s aware that she had left under a cloud, although it seemed like a lifetime ago, it was only twenty-nine days, after so long out of the pack, he would expect to question her, so she will go along with that.

Rule number one of her father's ruleset applies here, always appear weaker than the one in charge

She has to make this believable and part of that, is her wolf is still buried deep, and won’t react for now, but she’s not sure how long that will be, she’s felt her wolf stirring a few times and her wounds are almost fully healed now.

Knocking on his door she waits

“Enter”

“Alpha”

She enters the door with her head bowed.

“Good to see you back Gamma.”

“Good to be back Alpha.”

“You smell differently Gamma, anything to tell me?”

His eyes harden as he looks at her, cold and austere, she can feel his command aura out, so she acts more submissively, she needs him to believe he’s still in control

“I was marked by my mate, a Beta, without consent.

As he wasn’t prepared to leave his pack, I rejected him Alpha, as you commanded.

He didn’t immediately accept my rejection, I got into a fight, during which he accepted the rejection, so it’s done”

She’s stretching the truth, but it’s not an outright lie, just requires a little stretching of the truth and abstaining from telling him all the details, like the fight was with someone else.

“Show me.”

He gets up to stand in front of her.

Toni opens her uniform shirt and bares her neck and shoulder to show the effect of the mark.

It’s clear that it is rotting off; it looks red and sore, not a healthy look, making the Alpha smile as he moves her chin to get a better look.

“That’s a large mark, what happened to the Beta?”

“He’s gone, out of the picture Alpha.”

While she implies he's dead, and he's not, it's a stretch of the truth, she finds with the power shift, she’s able to lie easily to the Alpha, especially with Tyra buried so deep in her consciousness still, he will have no reason to question it.

It’s not her fault that he’s taken the small facts she’s given him and come to the wrong conclusion.

He smiles at her statement

“Well done Gamma, I’m impressed, you grow more ruthless with age, I have hope for you to really achieve your potential yet.

I’ve picked some pack members that I would approve of as your choice of mate, they are prepared to accept you so I will arrange for you to meet them tonight, and I expect you to have made your choice by no later than tomorrow.

Your mating ceremony will be arranged for two days time.”

Toni takes a deep breath, she’s going to have to play her Ace card, hoping it’s enough so that she has time to arrange things in her timescale.

“Thank you, Alpha, I will happily meet your candidates and select from them, but I would ask to delay the mating ceremony for two reasons.

My old mating mark needs to rot off completely otherwise the new mark will not hold and the rejection was only a few days ago.

But most importantly, I am pregnant.

About two weeks into it, so I would ask for your blessing to delay the ceremony until the pups are born, or at least for a few months until the pregnancy is fully established.

It’s not unheard of for a new mating mark to cause the loss of pups and as I am pregnant by my fated mate, a strong Beta bloodline, any pup born from that mating should be stronger for the pack.”

Alpha Vincent sits back down and looks at her closely, trying to ascertain if she is lying.

“You will make your choice tonight and present yourself to the pack hospital tomorrow.

If the Pack doctor confirms you are pregnant, then your ceremony will be the day after your pup is born, do you understand?”

“Yes, Alpha and thank you.”

“Eight tonight, in the ballroom, to make your choice and I expect you to move them into your house once Louise is seventeen, it wouldn’t be appropriate before then if you are not mated”

“Yes Alpha”

“You have a lot of paperwork to catch up on, I expect you to resolve it within two days.

Dismissed!”

Later that evening Toni is stood as the Gamma in a room filled with what she can only assume is almost every male in the pack in the seventeen to thirty-five age range, with a few exceptions, Trainee Alpha Robert and Beta Michael aren’t there, nor is her one-handed cousin Pete and a few others, but apart from that, there are very few exceptions.

Her face is cold, stern looking and she’s dressed all in black, she has taken her cloak off, but that’s the one concession she’s completed for this farce called 'How to Pick a Mate', she has no intention of being around long enough to see this through.

But if the Alpha wants to believe he's still in charge and setting the tune, then she will dance for a little while longer, the result will be all the sweeter that way.

There had been a murmur of conversation until she had walked in, the Alpha had announced what was happening and that the ‘lucky’ couple had to present themselves to him by tomorrow morning, but Toni, intends to do that tonight.

Not a word had been spoken after that, stunned silence from the hundred-odd men gathered in this room, she briefly wondered if he really thought she’d pick someone who was already mated.

She can see Delta Rufus among the group and knows he is happily mated, so this is as good a way as any, to start the ‘selection’ process.

“Everyone who is already mated to a Fated or Chosen mate, or who has committed already to be mated at the next full moon ceremony, please step to the left of the room.”

She watches as seventy per cent of the men move that way.

“Anyone under Twenty or over Thirty, please also step to the left."

She’s left with Twenty single men on the right.

She turns to the masse of men standing to her left and addresses them.

“Thank you for your ‘offer’ to be my chosen mate, but I think you all have places, you would prefer to be, you may leave.”

The relief on most of the men’s faces was palpable, maybe not on a few of the single over thirties but she aimed to not hurt anyone, nor give them false hope.

She intended to pick one of the Alpha's cronies, someone that he would approve of, knowing it wouldn’t hurt an innocent that way.

The remaining wolves, she spoke to for five minutes a piece, one-on-one in a different room.

Her questions were simple, what did they want out of the mating, how would they feel if she were to already have pups and did they actually want to be mated to her, and answered any questions they may have.

The last question, almost everyone said yes to, but only three of them meant it, the rest lied to try and protect themselves, turning down the Gamma was a ballsy move after all.

The three that were not against it were all single warriors, all ‘in’ with Alpha Vincent in one way or another and she sensed thought they would gain status by being her mate.

One was a close friend of the late Delta Cole, so that was a no-go for her, if she picked him, the Alpha would know that it wasn’t a serious selection and that she had no intention of going through with it.

This one was also vicious and evil and she could sense the resentment off him.

One was a distant cousin of the Alpha, at twenty-nine he’d just got through the age criteria cut-off, but he claimed to want four pups, that wasn’t something the Alpha would approve of anyway as it would mean too much time away from her work, so it gave her a legitimate reason to decline him, even though he was part of the Alpha bloodline.

The final one was another warrior, who never caused issues, but was a strong wolf and she couldn’t find any reason to decline him.

“Thank you, gentlemen, for your time tonight, John Dalton, if you are prepared to be my chosen mate, then I choose you."

He smiles like he's got exactly what he wanted

"The honour would be mine Gamma Antonia"

Toni hides an inner sigh before speaking again

"Then let us go and see the Alpha for his approval."