SWNOVELS Chapter Unsettling events
“The Bitch fought back, that’s why”
The whining nasal tones of her third cousin, Pete, cut through the forest sounds, annoyingly loud and grating as if it were a drill in her head
“Please don’t”
She can hear the panic in Louise’s voice
“Why not, if you and the Gamma aren’t together as you claim what’s the problem?”
Pete’s voice is grating at the best of times, worse when he’s adding sarcasm
“I mean, unless there’s a different reason you are staying with her?” he continues
“I stay at her house, as the Alpha ordered it, mostly she ignores me” Louise’s voice is upset
“The Gamma hasn’t shown any interest in any male in this pack and yet she’s moved you in, do you think I’m that naïve?
Plus your private fighting lessons….. no other new entrant to our pack gets that, regardless of background.” Cole's voice is cold
“No Delta Cole, but it isn’t like…”
The sound of a harsh slap rings through the trees there’s laughter from three men, and a whimper from Louise.
“I didn’t ask you to explain, do you need some additional incentive to remember the pack rules?”
“No Delta Cole” her voice trembles
“You will place this into her coffee jar and give it a firm shake, otherwise there will be consequences”
The threat in his words is clear but also full of command
“and tell no one about this.”
Toni waits for a few minutes until she hears Delta Cole’s voice again
“Whatever you were doing, make sure you finish it quickly, I expect you all to be back in town shortly”
Toni can almost hear the smirk in his voice.
Toni shifts as she walks into the clearing pulling the cords so her cloak immediately falls around her, she doesn’t hide her approach, making sure she’s noisier than normal.
“Gamma Antonia”
Delta Cole bows his head, the others following suit quickly.
“What brings you out here Delta, I don’t remember seeing you assigned to border patrol today?”
“No, I was just out doing a random check, when I stumbled over these a few moments ago.”
“Setting a good example Delta, impressive and shows good initiative.”
Toni nods at him as if she believes his words, forcing a small smile out.
There’s a lot of tension in the area, you can tell by the eye movements, and furtive glances from all of them, all bar Louise who has her eyes downcast and it's easy to see that she has been crying, her clothes ripped at the neck.
“As you are also here, I’ll be going now”
His words are filled with respect as he bows his head, Toni glances away from him as if dismissing him, letting him think he can walk away, she counts slowly to five in her head.
“Wait Delta.
I’m curious how you would deal with these all being so far out of town.
Not that there’s anything specifically wrong with them being here, but they are an unlikely group don’t you think?
So go ahead”
Toni’s voice is calm and almost encouraging
“Gamma Antonia, with respect that’s not within my role, I would always defer to you.”
His voice is filled with fake deference, after five years in the role, Toni can tell the difference, he isn’t concerned for himself.
“Go ahead Delta, I’ll step in if needed, but you never know when you may need to step up, for example when I am off pack land, the initiative should be rewarded, and you clearly have that to spare.”
She leans back against the tree and crosses her arms, she may have a cloak covering her, but her stance is clear, expecting his compliance.
Watching Delta Cole, it’s clear from his eyes he’s squirming, regardless of how calm he looks on the outside, she’s sure he hasn’t yet worked out what he’s going to use as his excuse, although, from the look in his eye and the glances of the people in front of him, he’s mind linking his story to them at the moment.
“What were you all doing out here, so close to the border?”
His question lacks any command, or authoritative tone which is a big giveaway that he doesn’t want to know the truth.
“Delta Cole”
Pete bows his head respectfully
“Chris and I were running the border, getting ready to request that we be considered for patrol duty.”
Pete’s voice is calm but a lie, she can smell the increased sweat and hear his heart rate rise, catching his eyes, she can see his wolf pacing in his head, just from having to face the Delta who has given him the story.
“Louise has a crush on me, so she’d followed, we were discussing the fact she should go back when you came upon us.”
Delta Cole nods.
“You are not yet at the standard for patrols, so while I applaud your sentiment, being near the border is far too dangerous, I can arrange additional training for you both if you would like, to help you meet the standard required.
Keep to the inner pack lands for now.
Louise, you are a minor, you need to control your puppy love, you will be confined to the town as this is your first offence.
Do you all understand?”
“Yes Delta,” they all say, but Toni can tell it’s a reticent reply from Louise
“Get back to the town all of you” He commands
The Delta gives Toni a respectful nod and turns to go, signalling the three of them to move ahead of him. Waiting until they have gone a good thirty paces.
“Stop”
The command in Toni’s voice freezes them all in their tracks
“Delta, you believed what the pups said?” she asks
Chief Rupert should be almost there, with the four guards she’d requested when she first overheard Cole, taking jeeps to get here faster.
“I do Gamma Antonia”
“Aren’t you curious about how one of the pups has some torn clothes or a red mark on one cheek?”
His face pales at her question, swallowing nervously he turns to answer her
“I assumed the clothes were from her following them and the red mark is where I slapped her, to remind her of pack rules, she answered me back, but as it was her first offence, I didn’t choose to report it.”
“Louise step forward”
Toni watches her take some faltering steps forward, she may live in the same house, but she’s seen Toni dish out punishment in the last few months for minor infractions.
After the last training session together, she may not have felt safe on that front, aware of how ruthless she can be.
Silently walking around her, Toni takes subtle sniffs, stopping in front of her arms crossed.
“Louise, did you answer Delta Cole back?”
“Yes Gamma Antonia”
Toni nods, pleased Louise didn’t try and lie about it or justify it, answering only the question asked.
“Pete, Chris, Step forward.”
“What happened here?”
“It was as I told the Delta, we were doing the patrol run, see if we could get experience.”
Pete answers, far more comfortable with his lie now.
“and how did Louise get here with damaged clothes?”
There’s a bored tone to her voice
If her half-wit relative, had any intelligence, he’d know that if she was questioning him in a conversational tone, he was in deep shit.
Toni has learned if it wasn’t harsh questioning people tended to dig themselves into the shit and he thinks she believes the story concocted by the Delta.
“I don’t know, but assume it was in her rush to get to us.”
“Look at me Pete.” she says calmly
Meeting her eyes only briefly before his head drops, he’s being respectful but he stinks of lies and his wolf is trying to hide from her gaze, tail rammed between its legs.
“Chris is that the truth?”
She keeps her tone neutral and not accusatory but fixes her eyes on him
Chief Rupert has turned up and as requested, he is stood by Delta Cole, the warriors behind them, it’s a clear show of force and relaxes Cole as they are stood together as a group.
He falters briefly, ten seconds and he hasn’t answered her, she can see his indecision written over his face and eyes.
He risks the briefest of glances up and sees something that unsettles him or realised the fact that backup had to have been called earlier to have got there already, she doesn’t know nor does she care, all she wants is the truth.
“No Gamma”
Self-survival is kicking in for him and he’s decided honesty is the better option after all lying to a ranked wolf equates to lashes.
“Explain” She steps closer to both men
“I… I…”
Watching he takes a deep breath and swallows hard
“We followed her and got into a fight before the Delta turned up.”
She knows he’s keeping the information to the minimum he can, being truthful and conservative is the best way to survive in this pack.
She needs to speed this along and while gentle coaxing can work, so can outright threats, in this pack the latter is expected of her, and there are too many watching to be soft on him.
“For every question you make me ask, your punishment will increase, do you wish to expand on your explanation or face the consequences?”
Toni growls out her displeasure and she can see his inner wolf baring his neck, haunches low to the ground fully submissive and compliant.
“Pete believed Louise was your mate, but he wanted her for himself, so we followed her out here and he was going to claim her Gamma, I was here to stop her running and be a lookout.
He was trying to get to her neck to mark her before he fully claimed her, said she’d fight less that way, she fought back and had pushed him off once before the Delta arrived, which is how her clothes got torn.” He hangs his head
“Is that a true representation of what happened?” she turns to Louise
“Yes Gamma Antonia”
She’s almost crying, that was an ordeal for any she-wolf, one Toni never had to worry about, and as a female, minor or not, it doesn’t bear thinking about.
“Did they both lay their hands on you?”
Toni’s eyes don’t leave the men in front of her.
“No Gamma Antonia, only Pete did”
Toni nods.
“And that’s how you do it, Delta Cole”
She watches him visibly relax; he thinks he’s got away with this one.
“Both the males will be going to the Cells.
Chris level two cells for fourteen days minimum rations.
For aiding someone trying to force mark a minor female ten lashes.
For being immediately truthful and for not laying a hand on the victim, they are held over for one year.”
She pauses as Chief Rupert sends one of the guards over to Chris, handcuffing him, she’s purposefully referring to Louise as the victim.
“Pete level three cells for twenty-one days.
For lying to a ranked wolf standard ten lashes,
For touching a minor inappropriately and trying to force a mark, ten lashes and he loses his hand."
She tilts her head as if she's about to be lenient
"He may choose which one he prefers to lose.
Lashes will be halved if he does it untied.”
Her words are cold and flat.
Louise is shocked, Toni can hear her gasp as the punishments are listed out.
An inhumane wail comes out of Pete, he has become a drivelling mess on the floor, begging for mercy at Toni’s feet, his grating whining voice is bad at the best of times and at the moment, it’s bordering on unbearable.
Losing a hand or foot is carried over to your wolf form, it’s one of the harshest punishments you can give, most prefer being banished, giving them a chance to find another pack before the madness hits.
“At the end of the twenty-one days, I will be recommending to the Alpha he is banished, to appease the Royal Pack.”
Pete’s face pales.
“Oh yes, Louise stays at my house only because she’s a minor female who is a ward of the Royal Pack”
Letting the information sink in, the fear hitting his face, two warriors are dragging him to his fate and handcuffing him as she speaks.
“As the only ranked female in the pack, since both the Alpha and Beta have no mates, being placed under my guardianship as the highest ranked she-wolf is deemed appropriate, to maintain her safety until she’s seventeen when she moves to the packhouse with the other of age wolves.”
The realisation hits Pete and Chris’s faces that they attacked a Royal Ward, a treasonable offence.
Standing in front of Louise Toni holds out her hand, she looks at her hand nervously not sure what she should do.
“Gamma Antonia?”
Her words are heavy with a question.
“Give me the item Delta Cole gave to you.”
Her voice filled with command to break Coles, it was good to see him pale, she can feel a pot being placed in her hand.
“What did he command you to do?”
Using her command on Louise to break Delta Cole’s earlier command, she could see Louise was ready to spill the beans if she could.
“To put it in your coffee jar and shake it up”
“Were you going to?”
“I didn’t want to, but it was a command” she stammers
Toni sniffs the container she’d given before passing it to Delta Rupert who sniffs it as well.
“Wolfsbane and something else…” he says as he looks at it carefully as she nods
“Take him to level three cells, strip and collar him to make sure he’s not carrying anything else I will deal with him later.
Once it’s been tested, to find what other substances it’s mixed with, pass the item to the Alpha.”
The collar delivers a controlled level of wolfsbane to the one wearing it, keeping them subdued and controlled, no shifting wearing that, not unless they were there for months.
It takes a long time to build a tolerance to the drug and people were rarely there that long, but there’s a part of her that is adding the stripped and collared as part of the payback, from all those years ago, Toni doesn’t forget.
She’s well aware that she hasn’t even touched on why Louise was there, and for the moment, she has no intention of doing so, referring to her as a victim earlier has hopefully distracted any questions as to why she was there.
“Have one of the guards take Louise to my house, but get them to swap in a female warrior at the house, she is not to be left alone with any male.
Her guard is to remain with her at all times until I arrive, no electrical items, do not let her out of their sight.
I'm concerned for her state of mind, so she sits quietly and waits until I get back.”
Once all three males are cuffed, Chief Rupert and one guard control Delta Cole, one each on Pete and Chris, but mostly dragging the sniffling wreck that Pete has become towards the SUVs, Chris is compliant accepting his punishment, knowing he got off lightly and if he causes the slightest trouble the lashes will be imposed, the last guard leads a very quiet and subdued Louise away.
Stepping into her house hours later, Toni dismisses the guard to wait outside the house and stands looking at Louise.
“Gamma Antonia I’m…”
She holds up her hand to stop her, if she’s wise she’ll be quiet, Toni is just back from dealing with Delta Cole and the Alpha, tomorrow will be messy.
“Give me your phone.” Toni’s hand is outstretched
“I … I”
Toni stares at her and she stops talking dropping her head as Toni cuts her off, her voice cold.
“Don’t you dare even think of lying to me, or you will be hauled in front of the pack tomorrow and given lashes like any other pack member.”
Seeing her words sink in, Tyra doesn’t like what she’s saying, she’s been through an ordeal today and Toni isn’t exactly being supportive at this moment, but she can’t afford to be.
Tyra wants to reach out to Aspen to comfort her, something about how she’d bonded to her all those months ago has Tyra being defensive over her.
Goddess, Toni thinks she’s three years older than her and Tyra wants to act like a bloody mother, she shakes her head.
“It’s upstairs” she mumbles quietly
“Let’s go.”
Toni follows her upstairs and takes the offered phone.
“Unlock it”
Toni scrolls through her messages, face impassive, before removing the lock and typing one out of her own, pocketing the phone for now.
“You are confined to the house for the rest of the day, there will be female guards outside for your protection and to enforce my decision.
The Alpha wants you to learn to hunt, so, tonight you will head out with me, be ready at eight, don’t bother eating before we go, you need your wolf to be hungry.”
Confusion is written across her face but she knows better than to ask questions, but it was clear she was expecting some form of punishment.
“We’ll be out most of the night, get some sleep.”
She takes a deep breath
“Tomorrow there’ll be an all-pack meeting for today’s punishments to be completed, you will be expected to be there.
You need to get through it however you can.”
Heading out, she notes the guards on the house already
“No one in or out, not even Marla, let her know she has a day off” She snaps out and they just nod.