Gamma No More - Book 3
Embracing the Darkness

Her voice comes out far more authoritatively than she expected, as if the release of her dark side had filled her with more power.

“Where is this ‘Simon’ who thought it was okay to allow the beating of my pack members?”

Shock ripples out, people looking at Delta Ezra and then back towards her, unsure of the change in the power dynamic.

“I need an answer now…” the harshness of her voice causes the pack to flinch. No one answers her directly, but their eyes flick to one person.

“Name?”

She stops in front of the man they are looking towards, turning her aura onto him alone.

“Simon,”

Dragging him forward, she throws him onto the floor before calling out some orders to her team.

“Take the wolf from before. I want the rest of the prisoners they are holding brought out, every one of them.”

She can see the wolf Ezra chose earlier, flinching and trying to make himself smaller.

“Then take him to the warriors and identify which of them is this ‘Linden’ he needs to be here to answer for his crimes. Felix can help with the database records if needed..”

Her voice holds the threat of barely controlled anger. Every word seems to cut into the silence of the room, making the assembled wolves flinch at her words.

She turns directly to the wolf that had to go with her wolves as an escort before. He’s looking terrified.

Her voice softens slightly, wanting to put him at ease.

“As long as you do as you are told, no harm will come to you, I promise.

I apologised you are an unwitting go-between, but I don’t trust your leadership if they allow a pup to be beaten that badly.”

He nods slowly before walking off with a few of her veiled ones as she relays her orders to Felix via mind link, who has been keeping the warriors in lockdown and will need to help release Linden.

One other prisoner was in the cells. She walked in, but Toni can tell from her body language, she didn’t trust anyone; she confirmed with her quietly that she was called Diane, and Toni doesn’t need to look hard to see she was in a worse state than Yennifer was.

“I need you to look at me,”

She gently lifts Diane’s head, she can see traces of beatings of different ages, the bruises that mottle her face ranging from black to a paler yellow, tracing the pain inflicted on her over some time.

“I’m sorry to ask this, but were you forcibly marked?”

Diane closes her eyes and nods briefly, as if admitting it makes it real.

“Do you want to stay within this pack, or come with us where we can offer you a place in our pack?

We will support you in any decision you make regarding your future, and help in any way we can.

Alternatively, since you have no reason to trust me, I can have an escort take you to the neutral zone to give you a chance to make some of your own choices alone.”

Tyra is telling her that this wolf is worthy to join their pack, but one so abused may not want the company of wolves and she will not force this she-wolf into a decision.

Diane looks torn, her eyes moving to some members of the main pack before she hangs her head, not able to voice or her decision.

“Let her family step forward. ”

Toni’s voice was gentler now, trying to not scare the she-wolf in front of her; three people stood and moved a margin closer to them. Toni guessed they were her parents and brother. None of them looked healthy, but after a few minutes, Tyra agreed they weren’t dangerous.

“I’m offering your daughter a place in our pack, you are welcome to join as well, or I can escort you all to the neutral zone, there are good packs out there, you do not need to remain in a pack like this.”

Toni’s voice is clear and kindly and after a few glances between them, it’s the father that speaks up.

“We have little to offer you and your pack. We aren’t strong, rich, nor fighters, but if you’ll take us knowing that, we’ll join.”

“Nothing could be worse than this pack,” his mate added.

“Go pack as much of your belongings as you can carry. You have ten minutes, clothes, we can provide.”

She turns her attention to the wolf coming towards them, guarded by Liam.

“Is that the one?”

She wraps her arm around Diane, feeling her flinch under his gaze. She nodded before burying her head into Toni.

“You don’t need to look at him, but if you want to reject him, now is the moment. I will ensure he accepts your words before he has to pay for his crimes.”

Diane mutters her rejection of Linden, hardly audible, but Toni catches her as she completes the words, breaking a bad mating bond hurts just as much as a good one.

Linden’s body tenses at the mere sight of Toni’s icy glare, his muscles coiling back with an instinct to submit to her dominance. Without a word spoken, he hangs his head in defeat and accepts Diane’s rejection without a fight.

Carefully, she has one of her pack escort Diane, who is now supported by her mother, to collect their belongings, with three of her Veiled Ones taken out, one in the control room; she’s aware of the increasing risks.

“You have no right to interfere with our pack,”

Alpha Randall’s confidence is coming back to him, or he feels he has to take a stand. She isn’t sure which one, but it doesn’t matter to her.

Toni walks up to him, letting Tyra come to the front, but her eyes are flashing between Amber and Cobalt Blue, watching as Alpha Randall takes a step back from her. This time, her Alpha aura is only on his leadership team.

“If you weren’t such a weak Alpha, I would never have had to interfere in your pack, but when you allow your pack to kidnap members of mine.

When you allow beatings to happen because one of your precious leadership wants what he can’t have, then I will right those wrongs.”

She saw realisation hit his face as she stepped closer to him.

“I know who you are. You are the Nightshades Gamma,”

Alpha Randall looks up almost challengingly until Toni laughs with a cold, calculated laugh

“The Nightshades stripped me of the title and banished me some time ago. Try to keep up, otherwise you end up looking foolish.”

Her voice drops to a chilling whisper, piercing through the Alpha’s defences like a knife. Each word enunciated with slow, deliberate precision, dripping with menace and coldness.

As she traces a finger along his throat, her tone becomes even more sinister.

“I am your worst nightmare,” she declared, her words laced with dark power.

“Lurking in the shadows, unseen and deadly. I will strike without warning, delivering retribution.”

A twisted smirk crosses her lips as she continues, her eyes gleaming with malice.

“And when you least expect it, when you’re most vulnerable, within the safety of your pack… just like today… don’t forget to keep looking over your shoulder.”

She leans in closer, her voice dropping to a menacing growl.

“Because I will always be there, waiting to strike.

I am not to be trifled with, even by my own Alpha who people thought was untouchable, paid the ultimate price when I invoked pack law on him, and he was far stronger than you could ever dream to be.”

She holds up a partially shifted, clawed hand in front of his face.

“So trust me when I tell you, I could rip this pack from your grasp in seconds if I challenged you.

Be thankful I don’t feel that way… yet.

And never forget, you didn’t feel me bringing my pack across your boundaries today…” She lets the silence hang heavily between them.

“So, interrupt me at your peril, ‘Alpha’”

She spat out his title before calling out so his pack can hear her

“Or grow some balls and challenge me like a real Alpha would!”

She holds his gaze, until he drops his head, she knew about Alphas like him, weak, relying on bullying to control the pack, so she hoped he felt just a portion of that today.

“Linden,

Your options are now limited, and your decision, once made, is irreversible.

Option one: accompany us and face punishment according to our laws.

Option two: receive the traditional pack punishment of lashes and banishment; you may plead with your weak Alpha to spare you the latter, but I will bear witness to the lashes before I leave here today.

Option three: stay here with your pack and avoid the lashes.”

She paused, noticing the hint of relief in his expression. A bitter smile graced her face at his reaction as she grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her.

“Don’t mistake this as mercy.” She grinned.

“Because before I depart, if you haven’t chosen one of the earlier punishments, I will personally… ensure your castration so that you cannot harm another she-wolf.”

She drops her hand from his face, standing in front of him, arms crossed, waiting, watching as his face pales

“I’ll take the lashes,” His voice trembled as he spoke, his fear tangible in the tense silence that hung between them.

She turned to Simon before she spoke again.

“Gamma, what’s your poison?

Will you face our pack’s justice or choose lashes for ordering an inappropriate punishment?

I will spare you the third option, only because you didn’t force yourself on Yennifer.”

The Gamma’s heart races as he realises there is no escape from his punishment. His breathing comes in short, shallow gasps as he tries to avoid the two punishments laid out before him.

“You have no right” Gamma Simon tried to assert himself before Toni cuts him off.

“The Royals set pack law out; every registered wolf has a right to enforce it, and unluckily for you, to be a rogue, means I had to be registered.

Your pack kidnapped two wolves from another pack. That is an act of war, so your choice is to accept your punishments or go to war.”

She signals the five archers on the second floor, who all step forward.

“I would say I was more than generous,”

“I doubt you are officially a pack, though; the Royal pack wouldn’t recognise your claim.” Simon answered.

Toni lets a hint of a smile reach the corner of her mouth

“Oh, I assume not, but hell, if we go to war right now, just what do you think we could do to you before you could think about trying to contact the Royal Pack?”

She turns her head to Alpha Randall, who looks down, avoiding both hers and his own pack’s eyes, knowing he didn’t want to fight for his title, not against her.

“Give me your decision, Gamma, or I will make it for you?”

“Lashes” he almost whispered.

Toni walks to where the two of them are cowering, she bends close to them to deliver her last line.

“Foolish wolves, we don’t allow the use of a whip for punishments, but you both brought this on yourselves. Never forget, this was your own decision.”

Turning to the Alpha, she has a single comment to make

“If you fail in carrying out their punishments, I will challenge you for this pack.”

Toni watches Alpha Randall hurry to dish out the lashes to the two wolves. He doesn’t use powerful strikes but they are enough to ensure the pain they will feel is still real, quantity making up for the quality.

She feels a little disgusted with herself; she had truly believed she had moved past the point of metering out punishments that involved whipping.

Granted, she had given each a chance to serve the sentence on her lands and under her pack rules, so technically they chose their fate, but she had to face up to the fact there was a bit inside her that was pleased with their choices.

They will feel genuine pain for the mental and physical pain they have inflicted on others.

Toni had ushered away most of her wolves by this time. Eleanor and Mike had taken Yennifer and Samuel back earlier, and she watched Diane and her family escorted back with Liam.

Gradually, her wolves had dispersed, moving quietly back into the shadows, before they faded into the background and had left with barely a sound, taking cars back to the pack until she and Ezra were all that had stood on this pack’s land.

As the last strike came down on Gamma Simon, Toni was confident the rest of her pack had left the pack grounds. She silently commanded Ezra to go to the remaining car, moving forward so that the focus was on her.

“I accept justice has been served and no longer hold the threat of war over your pack, Alpha Randall.

Retaliate at your own risk.”

She turns and leaves, shutting the door behind her, before shifting and running to where Ezra was waiting for her, feeling she’d let her pack down the moment she had delivered the wolves’ judgement.

But to take the two wolves unwillingly would have been a crime the pack would have been responsible for, not just her.

For now, it was time to get back to their pack and start mending the lives that this pack had damaged.