Gamma No More - Book 3
Dealing with the Rest

After an evening talking with James, who had berated her repeatedly for not being let in on her secret, that he, her best friend, had to hear she was a Lycan after every wolf on the battlefield was, in his view, shameful.

He had even threatened to withhold food, but with him, she could relax and talk to a friend about normal things, someone who hadn’t been on the battlefield, was, somehow re-energising and she had slipped peacefully and most importantly solidly to sleep until she heard the sounds of their makeshift camp moving around her at seven the next day.

She almost felt bad for sleeping in, apart from how refreshed she now felt.

Stepping outside her tent, she noted Brand and Danny from her pack were waiting for her as her escorts, Karl being true to his word that she would have a permanent guard in this place for security.

“Lycan Antonia,” they said in unison

Rolling her eyes, she looked between both of them

“Who told you to refer to me that way?”

“Beta Karl met with the Alpha council early this morning, then about an hour ago, they circulated to everyone. That’s how we were to address you in public.”

Brand had the decency to look a little sheepish as he told her

“Oh, really, and where do I find those four?”

“Alpha Dimitri’s tent, they are currently having breakfast together. ”

Toni stalked her way across the clearing towards Dimitri’s tent. Every wolf she saw addressed her with her new title. She entered the tent without announcing her presence.

“Told you it would get her attention,”

Karl laughed as she scowled around the tent, taking another bite of his omelette as he sat back.

“Before you bite off any of our heads, we talked about it as your council, albeit in your absence.

Lycans have a fearsome reputation, so once it goes beyond the camp, and it will, if it hasn’t already, it will make people think twice about taking advantage of the civil unrest we are experiencing.

There are wolf packs that aren’t represented here, that may try to take more land than they have the rights to. Humans and a few vampires that aren’t under Prince Einar’s sire line could also take a punt at us.

It protects us and you far more than if people think you are just a wolf. Plus, it establishes a new order without having to specify it.”

Karl sits back, looking satisfied.

“And when did you promote yourself to the council, Karl?” Her voice, colder than intended, doesn’t faze Karl at all.

“The moment you won the war, that’s why you were sending people my way all day yesterday, wasn’t it?” He grins wickedly.

“Plus, you need an uneven number, including yourself. Otherwise, councils can easily become deadlocked, and you need decisions, not blocks.” He winks at Toni smugly.

She flops into a chair waving her hand in a ‘whatever’ motion, Karl grinning more, knowing that in that one action, she had accepted the logic and decided not to fight it.

“We spoke to Gamma Henry last night. Both he and a few others from his pack have had their mates imprisoned to keep them loyal to their Alpha after they raised concerns about going against the King.

The Lowlands pack dispatched squads late last night and released their mates under orders of the council of wolves. They seemed to think that meant their pack had won, and the squads didn’t disabuse them of that idea.

We have given refuge to most of them in the Freedom pack for now, but one of them, Gamma Susan Anderson, insisted on being brought here and is currently under guard with Gamma Henry. However, we have placed them in a private tent instead of with his pack.

We all hold the same view, that he wasn’t involved in the plot by choice but coerced, along with two other Deltas from the same pack.”

Dimitri explains, and it’s all Toni has to hear to get her moving. She needs to see Susan and ensure that she is okay.

Just before she leaves the tent, she turns back to the assembled wolves

“Thank you.

They may not realise or appreciate what you are doing for them yet, but I do.”

She looks at Karl, the hint of a smile touching the sides of her lips

“Even if I don’t always show it,”

Twenty minutes later, Toni was embracing Susan and Henry as she said her goodbyes to them.

The news of Susan imprisonment, purely because she was a ‘friend of the rogue Antonia’, horrified her.

For security reasons, their Alpha insisted on it, and although Henry objected to the action, his only option was to comply with his Alpha’s demands or face a treason charge with his mate. Not wanting Susan to die, he’d stopped fighting the Alpha’s orders.

As others in their pack raised concerns about the action, their Alpha had one by one imprisoned their mates. Tyra had approved of Henry’s wolf Kylo, so when she offered them an unranked place with her, they both agreed readily.

They planned to travel back with Toni when they finally vacated this temporary home, only delaying their initiation so the pack could witness the event.

During the next thirteen hours, she worked her way through the interviews with the ranked wolves on the rebellion side.

There were three pack leaders she had concerns about Alpha Knight from the Blue River pack and both Alpha Randall and his Beta, Miles Harper from the Shadow Stalkers that the council would need to rule on.

After she executed Alpha Bates, his son was the next in line to take over the Shadow pack; she didn’t know if he could turn things around, but she was prepared to give him a chance. He was of age, and Tyra didn’t totally disapprove of his wolf.

He had strangely held no animosity towards her, accepting his father’s execution reflected his actions, he was sad Tyra could feel it through his wolf, but he had no evil intent in him, so giving him the benefit of the doubt seemed the kindest thing to do.

He had even offered up the fact that Tane Badeil had been paying his father to cause issues within the packs, and he had been using Killian Parker to do his bidding.

Toni smiled. It was clear he had no idea that she had already been on his pack land when he offered her and her pack free access to check up on them at any time.

What she hadn’t known, was that Killian Parker had visited Tane’s house, which gave them a lead to follow and she intended to do that as soon as she was free to leave this place, after all, she still owed him a follow-up visit.

It may have taken all day, but she had finally covered all those in the ‘insurgent group’ but it had left her with an unpleasant taste in her mouth.

Dealing with the Blood Moon Alpha had taken all her effort to keep calm, he was a prideful money-driven Alpha, but his crimes were not as bad as the others, so she would leave him in place, at least for now, but she intended to make sure that he would be personally, sanctioned.

So many Alphas appeared drawn to money and power, leaving her feeling like something was wrong with wolves. The rest of the ranked members from the packs that she had interviewed were mostly misguided and genuinely remorseful.

The only thing they had in common was they had all expected Tane to be on the battlefield, although no one could actively identify him

Seven packs, six Alphas, four sons of Alphas, Six Betas, Twelve Gammas and thirty-nine Deltas and she hadn’t yet got to the wolf packs that supported the king.

She had arranged for Karl to move off assessing the non-ranked wolves tomorrow, with so many packs that she had links to she needed another pair of eyes to ensure she was fair in the assessments.

Toni sank gratefully into her bed, not looking forward to tomorrow's interviews, before she would meet again with the Alphas and Karl to decide and pass judgment on those wolves they didn’t feel could, or should, return to their packs.

But the part she was dreading most was tomorrow, the day when she not only sealed the fate of some of the Alphas she had been interviewing, but would also decide her future. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Would she disappear back into obscurity, or stand up and become the leader that the other Alphas, Dimitri, Lance and Joseph seemed to expect she would?

Everyone assumed she was going to step up and lead. All she and Tyra wanted was to see and be close to her Erasthai and her pack.

The following morning Toni had been up early, having slept badly. She had breakfast and taken a brief run, before starting at six, not wanting to delay this any more than needed.

Every day’s delay increased the rumours and each wolf here probably had a family elsewhere that would be worried for their loved ones, but her heart was heavy at having to judge those she knows.

“Are you ready?”

Karl waits for Toni, who gives a curt nod before he instructs them to bring in each of the wolves. Just like yesterday, she started with the lowest ranked wolves; interviewing them one by one.

Toni finds it odd to be sitting in front of people she knows, but it starts with Delta Rufus from the Nightshades pack, and once the initial awkwardness is over, Toni settled into the routine.

Once she had dealt with their surprise. After all, in the middle of a battle, you don’t register the shifting of wolves. They were all open and honest with her.

This group was far easier to judge. They had been there to support the ruling pack, their actions honourable, and none of them knew anything about a person called Tane. She worked through the smaller pack first and of the larger packs; she had cleared Nightshades pack, Silver Dawn, Mountain Peak and Westmoor packs so far, with Iron Claw partially completed.

She was down to the last ten wolves to go including the Royal Pack, despite that, in her heart, she could not say that she wanted to be thrust into the limelight of leading the wolves, but at least today’s group had left her more upbeat at the future of wolves, for every greedy wolf she had spoken to yesterday, there were at least two good wolves in today’s group.

They weren’t all strong Alphas, Eventide had banished Karl, but the Alpha had at least had the guts to apologise to him for his actions, rescinding the banishment of him and Leah and offering him a place back in the pack.

She thought that Karl was going to laugh, but he respectfully declined, explaining he was Beta to Lycan Antonia and would not willingly leave her service, which had caused the Alpha to pale substantially, it did mean he and Leah could visit family in the future and for that, Toni was pleased.

Toni looked down at her remaining list and let out an audible sigh. She knew it was going to happen.

“You want me to direct this one to the other Alphas?”

Toni looks up at Karl

“No, let’s bring him in. You can be the balancing voice as ever.”

“Lycan Antonia,”

A familiar voice calls out as she looks up. He has his head bowed, aware that someone is instructing each prisoner on how to address her on the way into the tent.

“Sit please Beta Andy.” She smiled warmly.

“Bloody hell, Antonia, why didn’t you tell me?”

He blurted out quickly, she can hear a growl from Karl, but she stops it, raising her hand to silence him

“Beta Karl, I will give him more leeway in how he addresses me. He is, after all, the father of Theo and Thea, but if you feel I am being too biased in my questions, then please let me know.”

He nods, not entirely happy about it, but accepting her decision as she turns to address Andy.

“Because I wasn’t ready to tell people I was a Lycan, but our pups are half Lycan, so will, even without the Alpha gene, be dominant wolves who don’t want to bend the knee easily to others.”

He nods, looking at Karl briefly

“Hence why you told me they wouldn’t want the Beta position.”

Toni just nods.

“Shit, I barely know how to be a father, let alone one to two Lycan born wolves.”

“That’s something we can work through later. For now, I need to work out what your part in all this was.”

“Of course, Lycan Antonia,” Andy answered respectfully, sensing the shift.

It took Toni and Karl less than five minutes to clear Andy before he left them. Toni had confirmed that she would be in touch to sort out his next visit once they had resolved this mess.

She rested her head back on the chair.

“He’s not as bad as I thought he would be,” Karl said simply

“Honestly, we were in the wrong place at the wrong time of our lives when we met. He’s an honourable man, though Karl.”

He pauses to look at her closely, looking for any symptom that she still has feelings for him, but finding just calm acceptance, he continued.

“I can see that, but it probably will be easier for the visits now if you are taking over leading the werewolves.”

She made a humming noise

“You haven’t decided yet, have you?”

Toni looks over and decides he needs an honest answer.

“I haven’t. After all, I am still the Dark Gamma to most people, something that people will rally against, but everyone else seems to see it as a foregone conclusion.”

Karl just nods, not letting his views on the matter come to the fore, aware this has to be a decision that only she makes.

“You know if I do, then our pack, it won’t be the same?”

She hears him laugh a deep belly laugh

“By the Goddess Toni, as soon as you popped onto two legs, it was never going to be the same.

But the best thing is, we aren’t a traditional pack, which means we just go with the flow.

Look how well they took the news of you being a Lycan. Our pack will do just fine with you at the head, whether that’s just the pack you are head of, or leading the wolf kingdom as well.”

Karl’s words make Antonia smile

“Right, let us get in Alpha Kieron before we have to deal with the Royal Pack….

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