The Making of a Dark Gamma - Book 1

“Fight” Alpha Vincent’s words call out

Cole explodes forward launching himself at her, swinging a right hook, she ducks dodging him, kicking his feet out of from under him, she drives her shoulder into his ribs as he falls, cracking a few, hearing him grunt, she jerks upwards pushing with her hands, tossing him onto his back as she straightens up.

Cole scrambles to his feet, shifting as he does, jumping as she shifts in the air to meet him, raking her claws into his back as she pushes herself off him, drawing first blood, he growls loudly.

Landing behind him, she spins, her jaws clamping on his tail as it whips past her, thrashing her head sideways rapidly, she manages to swing him sideways.

Turning he snaps at her head, causing her to jerk backwards violently avoiding his teeth, the tip of his tail breaks off in her mouth, causing a spray of blood across part of the pack as he whips it away.

Cole turns to face her, drool dripping from his jaws, anger evident in his eyes.

Snarling they circle each other warily, a brief break from the fight.

Blood still dripping from his tail, he comes at her, always the aggressor, they collide in a blur of fur, contrasting colours fawn meets chocolate, blending, bloodied, the sound of teeth clashing violently as they both snap at air, targets gone, echoes across the clearing.

Grabbing his scruff as he runs at her again, she unbalances him, pulling out of her hold, his skin tears.

His teeth clamp on her left hip in retaliation, tearing flesh.

She spins grabbing his ear, viciously shaking her head, it’s a pain point, nothing fatal, and his yelp fills the arena as his ear is partially torn, blood running down his face, distorting his vision.

She’s hit him twice in areas that bleed profusely, it’s going to hurt his pride more than anything else, time to get serious she thinks.

Darting to his side biting deep and ripping, a chunk of flesh tears from around his ribs as a howl leaves his lips.

She dodges away from him, his teeth snapping in the air, Toni has ceded total control to her wolf, their hatred for him united, they want him to pay first, and then they want him dead.

The fight goes on for another ten minutes, Tyra tearing into his flesh at every opportunity, Cole getting more and more bloodied and tired as time passes, since his first bite, she’s ensured that he’s not been able to damage her again.

Toni knows she could have finished this fight earlier, she’s sure everyone in the pack knows, she has become like a cat playing with its prey, but she is making a point.

Cole launches himself trying to damage her leg, darting out of his way, he overshoots.

Her teeth lock onto the achilles tendon on his back leg, tearing into it, she feels the snap as it splits in two, his leg immediately drops under him, unable to bear weight, and he falters.

Tyra leaps onto him, pushing him onto the floor, his good leg, pinned beneath him, desperate to get back to his feet, he snaps wildly at her chest, getting nothing but fur for his effort.

She rakes his stomach, her claws digging in deeply, intestines poking out from the deepest cut, he whimpers and scrambles to his feet.

Bloodied on three legs he drags himself away from her, Tyra’s head and body drop as she stalks towards her prey, getting ready to inflict the final blow.

She can smell the sour scent of fear emanating from his wolf, as she goes for his stomach, he bites deep into her haunches once again, drawing more blood and cutting deeply, before they pull away.

His light brown, almost fawn wolf is painted a deep red, panting heavily, he eyes her up warily.

Tyra circles him, before launching at his neck, the weight unbalancing him, his damaged leg going under him, they roll together, her claws raking across his body, flaying the flesh from his side, panting and in pain, he finally bares his neck in submission.

Locking onto his throat she rips it out, she never agreed to accept his submission, he was accused of treason and his sentence had been carried out, brutally, but successfully.

Ceding control back to Toni, she stands in front of what was once Delta Cole, still in fur, the evidence of his slaughter is in front of her, and that’s what it was, not an execution, not a challenge won, but a bloody slaughter.

His body had morphed back to its human form in death making the images of the fight even more horrifying without fur to hide the damage, he lies there, gaping wounds open for all the pack to see, his stomach mercilessly lacerated by her claws looks almost non-existent.

She could have accepted his submission, but then the Alpha may have overridden the sentence, deciding the fight was brutal enough, she made sure he couldn’t.

The only thing she’s sorry for is that the pups had to witness the fight.

There’s a part of her that looks at the state of Cole’s body and wonders why she didn’t just kill him quickly and cleanly, had she become what she’d claimed was the myth of her role, the sadistic, evil person that enjoyed inflicting pain.

There’s an overriding sense of satisfaction in her that justice has been served, for all the foul things he chose to do, not only to her, but all the others in the pack, they are safe now from him, if not from her.

The coppery iron smell of his blood over her fur assaults her nose; the dark stains on the floor show evidence of how violent this was; the pack shocked into silence.

Toni takes this all in and is relieved to find that she is sickened by her actions, she wanted him to pay and he did, but, this is more than was needed.

Recognising that there’s a part of her that did this as a warning, but who to, the more she thinks about it the more it seems to have been towards the Alpha, clearly sick of being pushed around and made to be someone she’s not, this was Tyra and her fighting back, taking charge of their life.

Her eyes, still the glowing amber of Tyra start to look around the pack, heads dropping as her gaze travels slowly around, they will all think she lost control, but she knows differently, there was no loss of control, however sick that makes her as she admits it to herself, she was calm and in control during that slaughter.

Tyra wanted to stare down the Alpha, but doing so now, slightly injured and tired, was almost a guaranteed death warrant, she needed to be smart about this.

She looks once again at Cole, sending up the same prayer to the Moon Goddess for a fallen wolf, she does for all her kills.

This time not only is she reviled at what she’d done, the other side of her cheers that he got what he deserved, but in the silence of the pack, she realises not even the Alpha has spoken yet.

A movement to the side has her turning quickly, automatically growling defensively, it’s Robert, he’s picked up her cloak, and his eyes are calmly looking at her, but not in a challenging way, ignoring the body of Cole.

“Gamma Antonia, just bringing your cloak.”

His words are quiet and as unthreatening as you can get, clearly concerned that she may be in a bloodlust state

Her stance relaxes, feeling some of the tenseness drop from her body, as the cloak is placed over her wolf’s back.

“Shift” she hears the Alpha’s voice commanding her.

Tyra's still pissed at the Alpha for agreeing to the conditions for the challenge, Toni can feel her desire to fight his command, minutes pass but it seems like a lifetime.

'Shift back, he’s readying the warriors'

Robert’s voice is calm and clear in her head, his words of warning gently spoken pushing her to shift back into a human form, rather than the Alpha’s command, she can see the warriors tense and ready even when she is in human form.

She stands with bowed head and turns to Alpha Vincent

“Look at me Gamma” He commands

She knows this is a test, raising her head, she holds his gaze for a count of one dropping her eyes immediately, pushing Tyra into a submissive stance in her head, trying to make the Alpha believe it was nothing more than an adrenaline hit.

“Chief Delta, organise the clean up.

All pack members back here in twenty minutes, unless told otherwise.”

The command is clear in his voice

He’s already decided she is to be punished, if he’s dismissed the pack for a short while, the only question left is will she lose her life or not, does she even want to live?

After that fight the answer is yes, she wants to live, so now she has to make the Alpha believe he is so much stronger than she is, rule number one of her father’s rule of ten applies here.

’Rule number One - The most important rule, Always appear weaker than the one in charge… even if you aren’t’

The only issue is she doesn’t know which offence he’s most annoyed at, is it because she was close to challenging him, openly opposed his decision and held his gaze, killed his favourite Delta or failed to shift on command?

Maybe it was a combination of all of them but the only way to survive now is to be a meek wolf in his presence and take a beating if needed.

Tyra has at least agreed to not fight her and is dropping down in her consciousness, hiding and promising not to rise to the challenge, not today at least, obeying the first rule she was ever taught by her father.

He waits for the clearing to empty, the anger and fury are evident in his clenched fists, she sees his arm moving and relaxes her body, Tyra withdraws all of her strength before she is punched in the stomach and then backhanded, letting the force send her body to the floor, he needs to see her as weaker than him.

She can swallow her pride if it means surviving.

“You dare challenge me?”

His voice is angry and full of fury

“No Alpha, never.”

She answers breathlessly, without her wolf’s strength the punch has left her in pain and gasping for breath, her head bowed to the floor as a weak opponent may do.

“Explain or Cole won’t be the only death today”

She’s had the time while everyone left to come up with a good enough reason and she was pushing Tyra to act like she believed it and be submissive, she doesn’t like sitting back, but for once she’s agreeing because she wants to deceive the Alpha, she doesn’t know what’s got into her wolf.

“I wanted the pack to fear me Alpha, I couldn’t have any member of the pack thinking that threatening any one of us was acceptable.

I never meant to make it seem like a challenge, just that I had no fear for my own life, which would make the pack wary of the potential repercussions.”

Still on the floor from where she landed, head down, she can still feel the Alpha’s aura rippling out in anger, her voice has been quiet and submissive, designed to appease.

“You need a mate, if I declare someone is your mate, you will accept it.”

“Yes Alpha”

No fucking way Tyra is shouting in her head.

“When do you need to see the Royal Pack?”

“In one month, Alpha”

She clears her throat a little keeping her head firmly bowed and voice meek to him

“You will never leave this pack” his voice is warning her

“I have never once tried since I came back, every time you sent me on a task, I came back willingly, only spending enough time off pack land to complete the tasks you set me.

I took the blood oath to this pack and you as my Alpha, holding true to that.

I come and go only at your command Alpha”

Her voice is calm and quiet and the Alpha’s aura doesn’t feel as angry, and she figures if he’s telling her he may pick a mate for her, then she’s avoided execution today.

“You still have my permission to travel for a month, but only as a stronger pup is better for the pack, make sure Louise is safely placed for that time away.

If any ill comes to her due to your neglect, you will personally pay”

“Yes Alpha”

“But for your insolence in answering me back, you will take ten lashes go take your place at the post.”