The Making of a Dark Gamma - Book 1

The following morning, she phoned the Blue River pack and waited for them to come and collect their errant pups, guiding them to the nearest road to wait for the cars to arrive, she stood silently.

She threw her partially eaten rabbit from the night before to the brothers, while it wouldn’t fill them up, they at least had something to eat, sharing the meagre portion between them.

Louise, her charge was eating all of her leftovers, with no sign of the dislike of rabbit she told Toni about yesterday, nor any desire to share with her brothers, sensible pup Toni thinks, she’s got a long day of running ahead of her.

“Gamma, why give us your food?”

It’s the youngest that’s speaking

“James, you talk too much”

Toni replies letting another sigh leave her lips

“How...” he stops himself.

Her face is impassive, he’d do well in any pack, learning quickly.

“I fed you for the same reason I didn’t let the rogues tear you to shreds.

As a ranked wolf, from a pack that isn’t at war with you, you’re my responsibility as you are technically lost pups, leaving your pack without permission, one of you is underage the other...”

She pauses to find the polite way of saying this

“.... undertrained.”

I didn’t need to feed you, you won’t perish in the short time I’m forced to wait for your pack to arrive, but I can’t abide whinging, so it was the lesser of two evils.”

Her tone is cold and factual and the first part of her words are a total lie.

She has no responsibility to look after them, nor see them safely back to their pack, but no matter her reputation, she isn’t a monster, well not by choice and they got lucky to get that far without being attacked, but luck only holds out for so long.

“Why are you taking our sister away” the oldest, Kade finally asks

Toni turns around so that she can face them all, she can tell that suddenly he thinks she’s not so bad, which isn’t the view they need to have.

“You’re pissed at me for taking your sister, I get it.

Here are the facts, your father was the one that wrote her into the contract, I’m just executing my orders to complete the said contract, think about who you should be annoyed at?

And if your answer is me, you are dumber than you look.

How do I know your name, James, that was what you were going to ask right?”

She turns to look directly at the youngest

James nods at her, eyes wide

“The same way as I know all your names, I do my research.

Every time I need to interact with someone, in this case, your father, I find the information needed.

Turning to face the girl she hasn’t even addressed by name yet

“She is Louise, sixteen years and two months old, she was above average in school, but not good enough to make the honour roll, never trained, and shifts rarely from what I can see

Her best friends are Kayleigh and Katie, the Beta’s twin daughters, not so much with his son Eric, who has, well had, a crush on her based on his social media posts.

She’s twenty-two months older than you James, and twenty-one months younger than you, Kade.

You and your brother Elijah, are eighteen in a little over a month.

I can list more facts about your family, your parents, siblings etc, but you know all the information already, so let’s skip to a few pertinent points.

Technically Elijah is the oldest twin, Kade is certainly the rash one attacking me so publicly in front of the Royal Beta.

Just assuming he’d killed me, his life would be forfeit to the Nightshade pack and it wouldn’t have changed the result of Louise being taken, because I was there on official business and you were the aggressor but may have meant you too were sent to the pack as payment for my death.

Because you attacked me, I had the right to defend myself or require a punishment that would have been applied in our pack, so I could have left you with broken bones, or asked to have you whipped.

I could even have legally killed you as you were the aggressor and technically under wolf law, an adult.

Oh yes, I goaded you, I could tell you were on the edge, but that gave me valuable information on one of your potential next Alphas.

It was a stupid move on your part because I’ve just seen the relative power difference between me as a Gamma at nineteen and you as an Alpha-born son at almost eighteen and trust me, it didn’t leave your pack looking good.”

She could see the shock on his face, on all their faces, in truth she goaded him to help him get over what was happening, giving him the right to say he’d tried, but she wouldn’t tell him that.

By painting herself as cold and calculating, she’s giving him a reason why it’s not his fault, another step towards getting over his guilt at failing to save his sister, she takes a deep breath before continuing to condemn herself in their eyes.

“Trust me, I’m no angel, I could have killed you in the clearing and left that one rogue alive to escape, changing my knife for yours, his tracks leaving the scene would have covered me, but I generally have a reason for everything I do.

Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking I care, I don’t, I do my job and that’s it.

In my pack, I’m known as the enforcer, I order and dish out punishments and I have done since I was appointed Gamma at fourteen.

I could just as easily be the one that whips your sister if she breaks the pack rules, rather than the one you saw yesterday, saving your asses from rogues.

So don’t think if I save your life now, that I will do so in the future.”

She sounds believable and that’s what they need, to think of her as cold and calculating, but she knows she does care, the only thing she doesn’t know is if she could have tried harder, to not risk the girl, it sickens her to the core that she has to take her to the Nightshade pack.

Toni has probably spoken more now than in a normal day and there’s an element of fear in their eyes after the last few parts of her speech and that’s a good thing, especially for Louise.

“If there’s a reason for everything, why are you making me run?”

Louise’s voice is quiet, but she’s starting to use her brain and Toni approves.

“Three reasons.

One, you need to toughen up, you and your wolf are soft, and that’s not something that’s accepted in our pack, not even by non-warriors.

Two, you need time to accept your fate, get your self-pity out of your system and mourn the loss of your old pack and life

Finally, three, you need to learn the rules of our pack, otherwise I guarantee you will be whipped within twelve hours of arriving.

Lesson one.

The answers to a ranked wolf are Yes, No, or Thank you and then their title and name for everyone but the Alpha, to him he’s just Alpha, you never add his first name unless he allows it.

Pack gets to use first names after the title for those below the Alpha, outside of the pack Surnames are expected, so for me that’s Antonia, you never drop the name unless invited to and you keep your head bowed.

Those two” she nods to Louise’s brothers

“should technically use Gamma Woodfield, but I can’t be bothered to try and teach them manners in the short time they are here

You don’t get to ask why, or ask any other questions, you only ever deviate from the answers I’ve explained if asked an open question.”

Lesson two.

The first time you see each ranked wolf that day, you should do a small bow, from the waist so that your shoulders drop in height, don’t exaggerate it, just enough to lower your shoulders, after that you need to drop your head to them every time.

Do you understand?”

“Yes Gamma Antonia” she bows her head.

“Better”

That speech seemed to kill the conversation and Toni could tell they all would rather she wasn’t in their presence, which is a far more preferable state to be in rather than believing she’s kind, which only leads to mistakes that will mean punishment when on pack land, better to not let the habit form than try to break it later.

As Kade and James were picked up, she could hear them recounting the events of the last night and her answer about why she protected them.

Beta Wilson looks over at her with a question in his eyes, knowing there is no such rule, Toni shakes her head just a little, regretting making that lie up, before turning away, but she doesn’t hear him correct them.

“We’ll be going now”

Toni says and watches while Louise turns back into the forest, with no protest and not waiting until they have left.

As they leave, the last words she hears are from James

“She’s fast and deadly, she seemed to kill all three rogues in two minutes, she's scary when she talks!”

That in itself is an issue, she thinks, no one generally knows how she fights, almost all of her training has been done privately with people commanded to keep it quiet, and rarely do others live to tell the tale, not outside of the pack.

What’s done is done, she decides she’ll put it down to over-excited pups and play it down, if and when needed.

Over the next two days, Louise doesn’t speak much, but Toni can tell she’s contemplating her future, the realisation that her dad had signed her away rather than Toni forcing him to hand her over was the worst moment in her life.

Toni left her to stew for a few days, with nothing more than a daily lesson in the pack rules, slowly teaching her how to survive in their pack.

She’d already informed the Alpha they would be delayed on their return and why, but internally Toni knew this was a good thing, Louise needed time to accept her life and they had four more days of running ahead of them based on current progress.

Yesterday Toni had taken down a deer and that meant no hunting today.

After cutting and prepping enough to carry with them and, gathering mushrooms and some wild herbs and berries today, Toni set about cooking.

“Gamma Antonia, may I ask some questions?” Louise finally decides she wants to talk

“Go” Toni nods as food is being prepared

“Will I be able to see my family again?”

“That’s up to the Alpha, no one leaves the pack ground without his permission.

But I wouldn’t hold out hope that the answer would be yes?”

“You get to leave though” she counters

“I get to leave on the orders of the Alpha, not on a whim.”

“Did my father really sign me over in the contract, he said he was being forced to do it.”

“The Royal Beta wouldn’t allow me to take you if it wasn’t part of a legal contract Louise.”

Toni looks at her and can see the sadness in her eyes.

“Why does your pack want me?”

“I have no idea; the Alpha doesn’t include me in those discussions.”

They sit silently for a moment and she looks at this innocent girl, at least when she was taken back to the pack, she knew what she was walking into.

“What I can tell you is you will be required to learn to fight, ranked wolves start no later than five, unranked start at eight, and no wolf is exempt, except for breeding she-wolves, after the three-month mark.

All this running will be building muscle and stamina, getting you ready.

Training in the fourteen to sixteen bracket is, well fairly brutal in our pack, you aren’t ready for that, I think even your older brothers would struggle.

Expect to get injured, but try not to show fear, you will be picked on for that.

Don’t ever answer a ranked wolf back, nor attack one, you will be whipped and it’s done publicly, minors aren’t exempt, it’s just downranked to a normal whip or cane.

The only exception is if a ranked wolf tells you to attack them, but trust me, be scared if that happens, it’s to teach you a lesson and it will be a painful one.

I can smell lies, I’m trained to do it, as are some of the others, so don’t even try lying to a ranked wolf, the punishment is whipping, publicly, the size of the lie doesn’t matter.

You will be required to attend any public punishment; the Alpha believes once you are of training age you are old enough to witness punishments.

Tomorrow we are going through your stuff, some aspects of it, would not meet with the Alpha’s approval and he will most probably review your bag.”

I can see her taking it all in and can see and smell the fear that’s present after that talk.

“I heard your pack use brands, is it true?”

Yes and no, Gamma born and above are branded at birth, then again when we pass our first and final assessments.

Delta’s are branded when they are appointed.

For the rest of the pack, when they get their wolf, they can choose between a brand or a tattoo, all pick the tattoo but they must receive it, you are an exception, the Royal Pack has forbidden it until the age of eighteen.”

She looked relieved at that information, as she handed her the meal,

“Just remember, it makes you more of an outsider in the pack”

Her face falls.

“Are people friendly?”

There’s a spark of hope in her words

“I wouldn’t know, my role doesn’t allow for friendships.”

She mulls over that information

“Can you teach me to hunt?”

Toni sighs

“Not easily until we can mind link, until then you have to eat what I catch.”

Toni looks at Louise critically

Has your wolf ever even eaten prey raw?”

“No”

Her face wrinkles at the idea

“And there’s the reason I won’t train you.

If you can’t face eating a raw but dead animal, how would you kill a live one?

You don’t connect with your wolf, that makes you both weak, using it as a tool but not embracing it as part of who you are.”

Toni shakes her head

“Have you ever given her full control?”

“No, that would be dangerous, you lose control that way”

A trembling in her voice makes Toni realise she truly fears that idea

“Have I ever appeared to be out of control to you?”

She glances briefly over to Toni then drops her eyes shaking her head, barely making out her next words

“But you become a rogue if you let your animal take control”

Toni clucks at the ridiculous not

“Rogues lose some or all of their humanity when the madness hits because they can’t find the pack link they need, that’s different to giving your wolf full control.

As long as you know your own emotions and don’t give them control when you have no emotional control yourself, then you are fine.

Wolves are generally calmer than our human selves, but strong emotions can carry over, I often give my wolf full control, that trust, that confidence in both sides of you is what makes you strong.”

Toni looks at Louise trying to contemplate the information, clearly, the teachings of her pack are inaccurate and it’s causing her turmoil, trying to decide which answer to believe, the one from someone she’s just met, or the pack that let her go.

Toni takes the opportunity to change the subject.

“We have four more days of running before we reach the pack, the Alpha already knows, I have kept him abreast of our progress.

For some reason, you are not yet picking up a rogue smell or traits

My wolf seems to think you have accepted my leadership, possibly because you are minor, which is strange but not unheard of.”

We are strong wolf, lone wolf

Tyra’s voice is in her head, she’s been repeating that fact for the last two days, Toni shakes her head slightly shushing her wolf before continuing.

“But the pack will be waiting on our arrival and you will need to take the oath immediately, the Alpha doesn’t want to risk you going rogue while on our pack land, rogues are dealt with ruthlessly.

So, you don’t have the luxury of waiting or settling in, just remember head bowed, eyes always down even if your head is raised to the Alpha and the answer to the oath is ‘I will, Alpha’ nothing more, nothing less.

Until then, I will be using my command on you daily, not that I think you need it, but it will keep your wolf linked to me if I have any real concerns, I will get a car to pick us up, but I think a little more time running will help you.”

Toni looks at her empty plate.

“Get some sleep and don’t forget the description of my job in the pack, you would be wise to be wary of me.”

She looks at Toni, sadness visible on her face and nods.