The Making of a Dark Gamma - Book 1

“Royal Delta, I am required to show you around our borders, drive or run it?”

Toni is striding towards the Delta as she calls out to him.

“Can you drive?”

There’s surprise in his voice, not surprisingly as she’s not yet fifteen.

“I learnt in the last month, but not yet legal to drive on the roads outside the pack.”

She can feel his eyes boring into her own, she holds his stare and the silence easily

“Let’s run” he answers finally, “we can carry the clothes”

“Give me five minutes” she answers not moving.

Not long later a young lad appears with two packs from her personal store, handing them both to her, from memory, she adjusts one before handing it to Alek.

“These clips are for the human form, unclip them for your wolf form, it sits better than just extending the human straps.”

She can see he’s looking at it curiously

“I designed it myself, to make it easier, straps need to be different in wolf form”

Sighing at having to explain it

“Quite the clever system” he nods

He shifts a few times changing the clips, while she strips and shifts quickly waiting until he was ready, noting his wolf and Tyra are similar heights, his wolf is heavier set, but they’d be quite the match size-wise in a fight, at almost fifteen Tyra is a large wolf, larger now she’d taken the oath, giving her a power boost.

Once Axis gives the nod, she heads off, keeping to the border edge they run in silence, and after an hour, she stops and shifts, throwing on her clothes and equipping her cloak.

“The border your Beta wanted us to review is up ahead, we’ll walk this section until the cliffs, as I’ve been informed this is one of the key areas you wanted to see.”

She points in the distance to a rocky outcrop while putting up her cloak hood, obscuring her face, youth has its disadvantages.

He nods at her, shifting and dressing.

“Are you ready to be the Gamma, you are still so young?”

The curiosity seeps out in his voice, trying to see into her face beneath the hood.

“Was it a position you even wanted?”

“A bit late to ask, but the Alpha deemed it right for the pack.” she replies simply

“That’s not what I asked, how do you feel about it?”

She stops, glancing at him, does he really not understand or was he playing dumb?

“My feelings and choices are irrelevant.

The decision was made by the Alpha on what’s best for the pack, my life choices stopped the moment you all brought me back.

I had no choice but to take the oath, refusing to serve the pack in any offered job is classed as treason.

I’m sure you know the sentence for that.”

Delta Alek's face registers shock, not sure what he can reply to that.

They walk on a little more, she knows he’s watching her closely when she stops, there’s a fresh scent and it’s not from their pack. She faces the border and crosses her arms

“Come out pup, I can smell you're still here” she commands

A small kid hesitantly steps from behind the tree but sensibly stays on their side of the borders, and a young adult follows shortly after.

“Do not cross our pack lines again, or there will be consequences, do you understand?”

Her voice is firm but not overly harsh and the small blonde-haired child nods looking both guilty and scared at the same time

“Who are you to call him out, you are just a pup yourself!

The sneering voice of the adult grates, from the similar looks, it’s his older brother or maybe a cousin, probably late teens, maybe early 20s if he’s not big into training.

Letting her aura seep out she looks at them coldly, both take a step further back into their territory.

“The Gamma of this pack, that’s who.

Don’t let my age make you doubt my ability.”

Her voice has grown colder, harsher and quieter and she’s taken a step closer to the border

“That pup strayed onto our land, I can smell it unless he wants to join our pack, I would suggest you don’t let him wander the borders alone until he can recognise the boundary successfully.”

There’s a threat of danger to her young voice and she knows that their pack has heard dark tales of the Nightshade pack, especially of the Gamma and it’s reflected in the bowed heads

“My apologies”

The older one mumbles before grabbing the hand of the young pup and leaving.

“Toni”

Alek grabs her arm, spinning her to look at him.

She stares at his hand as if it’s offensive until he lets go.

“Why so cold, pups make mistakes or get curious”

His gaze is trying to read her as she steps towards him.

“That wasn’t cold for this pack, and this”

She pauses, sighing quietly releasing the tension from her body, her voice barely audible.

“This is what you brought me back to do.

This is who I have to be here otherwise I take punishment.

This is the life you all condemned me to.”

She inhales deeply to calm herself, feeling her emotions taking over

“Until I die or my child takes over.

Here I am Antonia, do not ever, call me by any other name, I get punished for allowing familiarity, even from you, it’s not a whim of mine, it’s the Alpha's decision.

And better I am harsh and he learns to never cross our border than he gets caught and is lost to his family, becoming an orphan in our pack, even if only for a month.

That’s the reality for any underage pup, the older they are, the longer they have to stay if caught, he may be lucky, he looked very young, so he may only get two weeks.

A lot can happen in this pack in two weeks though...

I have to be cruel, to be kind.”

She sees a hint of realisation in his face that not all her actions come from wanting people to fear her but for their safety.

Continuing along the boundary line in silence, she can sense there’s a growing number of people from the other pack now coming down to the border, she sighs inwardly knowing word has spread.

Informing the Alpha she’s about to break the boundary to deal with some issues, he grants permission, and she straightens her back and steps into no-mans-land.

Fully aware that if she ignores the growing mass, they will challenge her or one of the patrols the next time, the words of her father come back to her.

’Rule number Seven – Never appear weak by backing down and don’t seek approval, if you act in charge, people will automatically assume you are and back down.’

Always make them seem like they are trivial and beneath your notice, but don’t back away.

“What are you doing?” Alek asks

“The job I am expected to do”

Her answer is quiet and resigned, she stands, legs apart, arms crossed just into no-mans-land, silent, aura reigned in, patiently waiting to see who is their self-proclaimed leader.

“So, you are the big-mouthed pup that claims you are ranked” one of the lads sneers.

Toni looks him up and down assessing him, he’s probably around twenty-one, heavily built, very heavy on his feet, his tracks on the ground so obvious, little to no agility, living off muscle alone.

Saying nothing she holds his stare and feels his wolf back down, recognising something dark and powerful in her, no aura needed, he drops his gaze.

The shock on the lad’s face that’s just failed to stare her down is a good lesson to him, to not judge someone on appearances only.

“I will give one explanation and I won’t give this again, not to you, nor anyone else in your pack.

So listen closely, listen well and feel free to pass this information on.

To gain this position I had to know how to fight, in both wolf and human form, fighting eight pack warriors and one Delta back-to-back, beating them all.

If any of you choose to challenge me, thinking I am young”

She pauses

“weak”

pausing once more

“or female.

I will gladly toss your ass over our boundary and you know the consequences of that.

And trust me, I will personally enjoy breaking you into our pack rules, while your Alpha tries to negotiate your release.”

Her words are cold and calculating, menace clear in her words, the rules are simple, and they all know it as well.

In reality the Mountain Peak Pack members, especially pups are returned, to keep the peace between the Alphas and our packs, but they have to spend some time here and they will never want to repeat it.

“Gamma Antonia, I apologise for the disrespect of these pups”

She recognises their Gamma, Simon, striding down towards the boundary.

“Gamma Simon”

She nods her head slightly, showing respect but not deference.

“Your dad did a good job training you to be able to take the position so young.

Your grandfather would be proud and love to see you and how you’ve grown.” He says gently

She nods, getting the message

The retired Alpha of their pack is her maternal grandfather, but after her mum died, she hasn’t seen him, her mum used to bring her to this spot so Toni could see him over the boundary.

She steps to the middle of No-Mans-Land and he steps over to meet her, it’s custom, the middle shows no pack is favoured, and there is an uneasy peace between the packs.

“Ensure your pack does not stray over our lines, there have been four occurrences in the last week. It seems like it’s pup prank week.”

Her eyes are looking at each of the teenagers, it happens during the ‘I dare you’ periods, usually coinciding with the summer break, they take turns running onto Nightshade pack land, daring each other to go further.

If they are caught, they are marched to the centre of our pack, even if they are picked up eventually, it’s not something she wants them to experience, but she can’t tell them that, so she uses threats.

“I will be checking this boundary tomorrow, at this time, and I better not see any of those pups here, nor smell their presence on our land.”

Toni glances at Gamma Simon and he nods imperceptibly before she stares at each of the teenagers none able to hold her gaze, even without her command aura.

“I’d rather not be forced to visit your Alpha”

Her words appear laced with disgust, but Simon knows the meaning, she will get to see her grandfather tomorrow and he will ensure no one else is around.

He nods

“Out of respect for our pack treaty, I will ensure the message is relayed.”

Walking back she nods to Alek and continues to walk the border

“Antonia, stop.” Delta Alek commands

Crossing her arms she stares at him

“This isn’t you,” he says quietly.

You were aloof, but always polite, even when you were removed from the other pack.”

“You are concerned about how polite I am being?”

She can hear the incredulity in her voice, breaking the image of her having a cool, unruffled persona, something she needs to rein back.

Of all the things he may have concerns about, this is the one he’s asking about, her mind is reeling, she has an almost giddy feeling, wanting to laugh, months ago he saw her whipped, yesterday he saw her being forced to fight adults and today branded and he’s concerned about politeness, Goddess above she repeats to herself

“I’m concerned about how much you’ve changed for the worse in the time you’ve been back.”

He says gently and it hurts her to know he thinks worse of her, internally Tyra is blaming her for that, having forged a bond with him and his mate.

It hardens her resolve to push him away from her, it’s simpler that way, so she intends to make him feel guilty in return, again her father’s words come to her.

‘Rule number Ten – attachments breed weakness ’

She’d allowed herself to form an attachment making this conversation laden with guilt from the disappointment she could hear in his voice, she had to turn it around to remove that feeling.

“If my behaviour towards you has been in error, please forgive me Delta, I did not mean to offend a guest from the Royal Pack.

We can see the Alpha afterwards for any punishment you, or he, sees fit.”

She smiles inwardly as his eyes widen in shock at her words

“I was referring to your dealings with others, I have no grievance with your behaviour towards me.

It’s how you deal with others, inside and outside the pack.”

He’s moved closer and she can see him trying to see behind her impassive face, his wolf reaching out to Tyra, so she pushes her deep down in her mind.

“Politeness, pet or friendly names, caring nature or friendships? Is that what you expect to see?

None of those attributes are part of my job” she snaps before continuing

“All will, however, get me punished, you’ve seen one public punishment of mine, but I’ve had plenty more private ones.

My last one was the night before the assessment, caned and strung up for the night with a wolfsbane-infused rope, but I’d deny it if you mention it.

But worse than that, the people I was friendly to would get punished along with me for daring to get close unless approved by the Alpha, so it’s more merciful to keep everyone at a distance.

There’s no choice in how I act, it’s mandated by the Alpha unless I want to be turned into a broodmare at twenty with no choice of mate.

This is my life and role in this pack, maybe it’s time for you to understand that.

I do what I have to do to survive and to keep others safe, even if you don’t approve, because it seems harsh in your nice world, but I don't live there, I live here.”

Delta Alek’s face is filled with shock and sadness

“We need to move on unless you have further questions on the border Delta.”

She retreats into her cold dead-eye look, aware that too many emotions have been released.

Walking briskly on, she talks about the patrol schedules until they come to the river and the start of the cliffs.

“Time to shift again” her voice calm once more

By the time they are back at the starting point, it’s getting late giving her an excuse to leave him standing there.

“If you will excuse me, I have things I need to do.”

Not waiting for a reply, she walks off seething internally, those fuckers sent her to hell, she doesn’t need to play nicely with them, just be polite and respectful to avoid more punishments.

She doesn’t see the sadness in Delta Alek’s face as he watches her walk away, his concern over the damage done to her in just a few months.

He wishes he could go back in time and leave her at the Deadfalls pack, to give her a chance at life without this abuse, now, all he can do is appeal to his Alpha, to try and have her removed for her own safety.