The Making of a Dark Gamma - Book 1

A fleet of seven SUVs pulls up, and almost before they stop, people are piling out from the first five vehicles.

Shifting, a tracker from each car, searches around the bodies, picking up traces of scent, they call to the rest howling into the night they race off, twenty warriors following, howling in unison once the scent is confirmed, they announce the hunt is on, trying to psyche the newly hunted into making a mistake.

Once they leave, the pack doctor gets out of the sixth car, not wanting to break the scent trail earlier, along with two others, the last car has only a driver.

Doctor Patrick slowly checks each of the wounds on the young leaders, smiling he pronounces them all very dead, with clean professional kills.

The other men, marshals, bring out fresh clothes, watching as Lance and Gareth get up, peeling off the remaining blood bags while Charlie is carefully cut free from the trap.

“First time in three years more than one of you was caught” Patrick declares

“We were all stunned when each of you, broadcast the ‘Link terminated’ message”

“Yeah”

Charlie's voice precedes him as he saunters into the clearing, checking all the warriors have left, before adding

“It was a pup as well”

The shock is evident on the faces around him.

“What do you mean a pup?” Patrick queried

“Slight kid, no real muscles yet, or a really small adult.

I’d guess not much more than five foot two and no more than five foot six maximum (160 to 170cm) his trap failed so I was still ‘alive’, which allowed me to describe them to the warriors.

His mistake, coming close thinking I should be ‘dead’ but no blood pack had been triggered, well, not until he released the arrow.”

Charlie explained rubbing absently at the small bruise he had been left with.

“Let’s get back to the pack house I’m sure by now the rest of the hunters are back and a roll call of the tags returned, I’m curious who it is.

Plus, we need to work out where we went wrong.”

Lance moves towards the spare SUV.

“We’re going to get a beasting on the field tomorrow for all being caught.”

The words come out as a groan from Gareth making them all laugh.

I see you are out there watching my life unfold, feels almost like I am in some kind of zoo, but don’t try and pet me... Hell no, I will bite you, without a second thought.

Anyway, you are probably wondering what the hell is going on, so, let me enlighten you.

Each year, every wolf pack within this kingdom, runs this competition, it’s staggered over all the packs, but over nine months, each of the packs will have staged ‘the hunt’.

Don’t ask me about the other two wolf kingdoms, they are all overseas and not my concern, but here, in this place, this is the norm.

Three willing warriors or junior leaders get a ten-minute head start before the ‘hunters’ are released, each hunter has a weapon of choice, approved by the council.

The weapons are all made safe and unable to cause any real damage from the outfits the quarry wears, padded with lots of fake blood bags to register a hit, the better the hit, the bigger the ‘blood stain’, the downside, is it has to be completed in human form, clearly clothes that shift with you aren’t a thing, well not for us wolves, but think about it, a wolf in clothes just wouldn’t look right now would it, get real!

Each of the three people hunted has a different weighting on them, once they were ‘killed’, you need to take the ‘bounty’ from the victim and remain free for three hours, the hunter with the most points wins, and the top bounty is worth four points, in this case, Lance, the next is three points, Gareth and finally two points for the last quarry, Charlie, so you can never have a tie, any two kills will guarantee the win.

Prizes can differ by pack, but mostly, it allows you to choose your training path as long as it’s not a request for a ranked spot, those require an invitation from the Alpha or a formal challenge to the reigning holder.

Apart from that, you get a spot immediately within the training program. But any hunter that took down all three of the quarries also had the option to train with the Royal Pack for four years, taking your family if you were mated.

There were some restrictions, and roles with academic requirements, but you still needed to qualify academically.

However, if you wanted a role that held a minimum academic requirement, e.g. lawyer/doctor, instead the pack funded one year of private tutors and an internship to see if you could meet the requirements, only if you met the entry requirements would you be placed in training.

The reality is, that this is a hunter’s test so almost everyone who enters, is going for a tracker or warrior position, in most packs they are prized positions, giving a wolf status, without the hassle of a formal rank.

If you head off to the Royal Pack on a temporary transfer, the area you train in is no longer your choice, but given to you based on the skills you demonstrate when you get there, after a week of assessments, but whatever area you are assigned to, you came back exceptionally well trained.

Now, you’d think more would choose that option, but the desire to stay within their pack being a bigger fish in a smaller pond outweighs the tougher training and having no choice in your assignment.

But mostly the Royal pack was hard to fit into, or so I’ve heard, temporary transfers stayed on the outer edges, and spending four years that way is hard on any wolf, but those that did, by the Goddess, they were a force to be reckoned with when they came back.

To adjudicate and oversee the competition, each pack had a Royal Watcher who would escort the victor back if they chose that option and also ensure the competition standards were met.

Ok, now I have to concentrate for a while, but if you stick around, I may tell you a little more, but no promises!

But you...

Yes you, the one with the music blaring in the background.

Turn it down a notch or put headphones on, don’t make me get caught, if I am, I’ll be hunting you down later, I’ve already got your smell locked in my head, I may be young, but my teeth are still sharp, I’m an ace with a bow, oh and trust me, my wolf likes a hunt!

As Lance, Gareth and Charlie exit the car they are met by Alpha Matthews and the Royal watcher assigned to this year's games, Delta Alek, all three bowing their heads in respect.

“A single hunter got all of you?” Alpha Matthews voice queries

“Yes Alpha, the marshal confirmed that the arrows matched” Lance speaks up

“Just as we got to the rendezvous point, they also set traps”

“They had time to set a trap?” Delta Alek’s interest has been piqued

“Yes Delta, two to be precise, a warrior was deemed to have been injured by another that was set, they didn’t have blood bags, but it happened just after we left, he’s coming back with the marshals, he’s physically uninjured but had been ruled out of the chase.”

“And you didn’t tell anyone your RV point?” Delta Alek speaks up

“No Delta, it was the last RV point we’d decided to use, but it was discussed purely via mind link.”

“Interesting, very interesting.” Delta Alek nods

“Elder Morris”

Alpha Matthews voice calls one of the marshals over

“Do you know who it is yet?”

“Hunter twenty-three isn’t back yet, only one still out there, name of Tony, no surname.”

“It’s a pup” Charlie offers “Small for their age”

“Ok so we have a sixteen or seventeen-year-old teenager, or small adult named Tony who’s had weapon training, learnt traps and isn’t back yet, that shouldn’t be hard to identify.”

Alpha Matthews asks looking around his leadership team.

“So which pup in training took down our future leaders, surely someone knows?”

He asks incredulously as he takes in the blank faces of his leadership.

Each of his team members, plus Lance, Gareth and Charlie look back at the Alpha, shaking their heads.

“On it”

Beta Shaun motions to his son Gareth to follow him.

Delta Alek watches the interaction, it cannot truly be a pup, he muses, to take down three junior leaders who are almost ready to take over a pack, with a bow as quickly as they did, takes a lot of skill and practice, Charlie had to be confused about his assailant.

No matter, rarely do the winners manage to evade the tracking portion of the competition, it doesn’t change the prize, it’s just a final test for the pack, a tracking exercise, to hunt an unknown party a good indicator of a pack's ability to defend themselves.

Waking before the alarm she takes a long stretch, shaking out her fur, feeling re-energised and ready for the run back.

No stretch in human form can compare, and the final fur shake down, feeling each hair ripple along the body, it doesn’t matter how often she’s done it, but it’s such a good buzz, every nerve ending on the skin activated, hell it’s addictive and really wakes you up, she has a wolfy smile to her face, yes, she loves everything about being a wolf.

But for now, it’s time to shift back and dress, however cold and damp the clothes may be, risking the light she dresses quickly before checking the time and waiting by the edge of the tunnel out of here.

Ten minutes until the hunt the hunter part of the competition is over, then a further ten minutes to get back to the pack house and face the Alpha and he’s going to be annoyed, no probably more than pissed, females aren’t trained in this pack, a few of the Alpha’s hold old fashioned views, but that doesn’t make it against the rules to compete.

She should be looking forward to this, but in reality, there’s an unease at the Alpha’s reception when she gets there, but what’s done is done and it all rests on the adjudicator ruling in their favour.

'To the sole remaining hunter'

The pack link had been opened and Alpha Matthews's voice was clear, as he should be for all the pack.

'The terms of this challenge have been extended, you have, seventy minutes to make it back to the pack house, but the warriors hunting you, have not, and will not, be called off.

If you make it back and can land an arrow at the feet of either myself or Royal Delta Alek without being caught, then additional prizes will be offered to you.

IF you remain free for the next ten minutes but are captured within the final sixty minutes then the standard prizes are yours for the taking.

Good luck Hunter twenty-three.'

The pack link closes and Toni sits back on the floor, the weapons were safely stashed in a tree, for no other reason than, had he still been alive her father would have doled out punishment for not taking care of them.

Soaking a bow was never acceptable, protect your weapons and they will protect you was one of his many mantras.

Plus, swimming in a flooded tunnel with a small pack was one thing, trying to bring a recurve bow through would be dangerous if it got stuck, well, her breath only lasted for so long after all.

But the main confusion is, surely, they know who it is out here, the roll call will have been taken, if any update was expected, it was a demand for her to hand herself to any warrior, but again, if they knew who was still out, why the pack wide message?

Shaking her head, it’s time to work out how to get back, if, as Charlie stated, they assumed it was a “pup” someone who would be unable to take out a warrior hand to hand who had chosen a bow as their weapon of choice, then there should be a ring of warriors around the pack house at the maximum bow distance, the rest with trackers out hunting and driving the target, towards them.

The key question to answer in the next five minutes is, is there an additional prize or is it some form of trap; to land an arrow at the feet of either the Alpha or the Royal Delta, could be seen as treason, but it was a pack wide message, wasn’t it?

'James, you free?'

Toni mind links her closest friend in the pack

'Sure am Toni, what’s up, not enjoying your day off to watch the event?'

'I am, kinda, and I hope you enjoy the chocolate for taking my shift!

But did you hear the announcement?'

This is Toni's way of checking if it was an open message to the pack

'Well *duh*, of course, I did it was pack wide'

James' voice comes into her head full of sarcasm

'What do you think the prize is?'

'Honestly, no idea, but as I’m sure you’ve heard, the amendment was the Royal Delta’s idea, so maybe a trip to the palace to meet the King?'

James ventures

'True, will let you get on.'

As her watch goes off, they are, into the last sixty minutes, it’s time for her to go, lowering themself into the entrance of the tunnel, before taking some large fast lungs full of air they submerge once more, before pushing through the tunnel, emerging on the hidden side of the falls, coughing from the wet breaths, they get ready to emerge from behind the thundering water into the main pool.

Carefully watching for movement, it all appears quiet. Swimming down the river, painfully aware that the only people out will be the warrior groups and herself, everyone else will be confined to town.

She stops to one side of the stones she’d dived in from, grabbing mud from the edge of the river, plastering it over her clothes and any visible skin, call it field camouflage, it helps mask her scent a little as well; the downside, it’s a huge sign she was there and from the scent left a rough timescale, but she’s got to balance the good with the bad and she figures at this point most of the warriors will be closer to the centre of the pack, not out to the edges.

“Here goes nothing” she mutters to herself