Gamma No More - Book 3
An Unexpected Exchange

Toni sighed with relief, the meeting had gone smoother than she had expected, only the ‘how’ of future meetings was an unknown that she had no plan for, but no matter what, he knew of their pups’ existence and that she was not a rogue, that was enough for now.

Those two bits of information would show how trustworthy Andy and his pack would be over a wolf with an arrest warrant hanging over them.

She wasn’t naïve enough to think that Alpha Kieron wouldn’t replace out as Andy’s mate deserved to know. So it was a reasonable conclusion that once more than Andy knew, it would be likely to get back to the Alpha, gossip after all, is the fastest travelling element, and no matter if people wanted to keep it secret, if Andy took her advice to heal the breach between him and his brother, then her secret would follow soon after.

What she was betting on were the rumours that Dimitri had heard that Alpha Kieron wanted to get his family back together, and to do that, he would have to honour the secret Andy held.

It was a risk and one in which Karl would express his concerns loudly, both over her desire to let him meet the pups regularly and to see the Alpha as his brother once again.

Maybe she will leave those snippets of information for a month before she mentions it to Karl and the leadership, there’s only so much stress Karl can take when his mate is heavily pregnant, and when he saw his pup he’d understand that deep pull of a parent!

Wisdom is a rare thing; she thinks as she chuckled to herself.

They were making good time, when she felt the convoy slowing, the lead car rolling to a stop, in total there were five cars, Karl had insisted that she and each pup travel in a different car each, with the first and last cars being a full warrior detail.

While it pained Toni to be split from her pups, she could see the wisdom of the move in case of attack, Toni would become the rabbit, letting them get the pups to safety, but for now, she watched as a Thrall spoke to Delta Brendan in the lead car.

‘Alpha, Lord Leif, is requesting a meeting but suggests we don’t hold the whole convoy. What do you want to do?’

Toni drops her head back on the headrest and groans, thinking it’s typical that he left it until she was on the way back to want to talk to her, knowing she had a reason to decline on the outward journey.

He had to know that she had been avoiding his calls, so she knew at some point, she had to face him and he had decided it was no time like the present, although he would probably, as always be the gracious one if she declined.

‘Get the Twins back, along with the main escort. I’ll stay and talk to him with the warriors in my car.’

‘Katie, look after the pups until I get back.’

She heard the acknowledgements from her pack to her requests as they continued off with the main Thrall escort, thankful for now, that she hadn’t shared her concerns over the vampires with others, giving them no reason to fight her decision.

A smaller contingent of two Thralls followed her car to Leif’s castle.

There wasn’t much else she could call it. It was an ancient-looking castle structure, exceptionally large, imposing and made from dark stone. It seemed to come from a different age, but then again, so did Leif.

She had always assumed a vampire’s home would be colder, but whether for the benefit of the Thralls or because they liked the memory of home comforts as much as any other person, it was far warmer and more welcoming than she had ever imagined, well apart from the cells, she thought to herself.

But running under that, was Toni’s concern about what they wanted from her in the longer term, the control people wanted over her and her pack, and the impact of their land coming under vampire control, for now, she had to act like she had no concerns, not wanting to accuse Leif without proof of his or the Prince’s intentions.

In truth, doubting them still went against Tyra’s view of them, her wolf still had faith in them and didn’t like the fact that Toni was harbouring doubts, this was the first time she and Tyra had been at odds and she didn’t like it.

Her wolf had a point. She was fully aware of that; the Vampires didn’t need to have helped the whole pack, they could have just taken Toni all those months ago, but now she had a pack to protect and she had walked blindly into trusting Leif and before she knew it, she was now doing the bidding of Witches.

Trying to shake it off, she got out of the car, leaving the warriors behind for now and followed the lead Thrall to Leif’s living quarters.

“Toni, welcome,

Sorry for the short notice invite, we seem to keep missing each other by phone.

Was your business in the Neutral zone completed successfully?”

There’s a touch of irony in his voice, making it clear to Toni that he knows.

Keeping her face calm, she smiled

“It was successful. Thank you for the escort and scouting your Thralls provided. It was much appreciated, and we encountered no issues during this visit.

And apologies, just with the search for Rowena, official packs becoming less stable and…”

She stops herself from adding some banal untrue reason

“Well, I should have returned your calls.”

Leif stares at her quietly before speaking, as if contemplating what he would said next, although Toni is pretty sure he already had it planned from the moment he extended his invitation.

“I’m old and have lived for many centuries. I can tell when someone is avoiding me. While I am not sure what happened, know I’ll be available when you want to talk about it.

So, however difficult it may seem, please, just tell me directly you don’t want to talk rather than the ignominy of being handled by one of your pack,

I thought we had more respect for each other than that."

Leif let a sadness tinge his words. He paused before continuing.

Hopefully, at some point, you will feel you can talk to me about it.”

She nods, wanting to get back on the road, but part of her wonders what his reaction would be to their investigation, whether it would give her an insight into his motives.

“That’s a fair request, Leif, and I apologise if that’s how it made you feel.

The information from the hackers came to a dead end on who had been paying Vincent for each of the kills I had to make.

They tracked it back to a group of companies, but they all led to a dead end, so who was paying Vincent to kill others is still a mystery.

But we’re compiling a list of who had access to the level of money that was in the accounts to fund it, regardless of species.

I have to narrow down my options in order to replace the person responsible. This may be personal, but they are accountable for multiple deaths at my hand and that needs to be addressed.”

Toni leaves out the fact they have found a link to the unrest within the packs for now, watching for a reaction on his face, but all she sees is Leif nodding deep in thought.

“You may also want to correlate who knew you existed as a cross reference, but I can provide a list of all the vampires with money to spare, but it will be a long list.

All Exalted down to at least the third, no probably fourth generation vampires that have been alive for a few centuries, across the two main sire lines on this continent as a starter, plus a few lower ones that were already rich when they became Vampires.

I’ll get the list to you in a few days.”

He sits in silence for a moment.

“When we met, you were already aware of the differences between Vampires, so I am guessing you had met some previously. If so, they may have sensed the Lycan in you before I did, so include anyone that seemed to take an interest in you, on your list.

Include me on that list, albeit you were already twenty when we met, but I had a reason to be interested in the idea of Lycans returning.

I can’t say what I would have done if I’d known you when you were nine.

It wouldn’t be to use you as a killer. Too much risk of you dying young and this world needs Lycan’s back, but I probably would have tried to remove you from your pack.

Teach you about what it meant to be a Lycan so that you would have grown up knowing your future and training you to fight. Because once you finally matured and got your third form, it’s likely you would need it, but that would have isolated you from wolves, probably just as heinous a crime.”

He shrugs with a wry smile on his face, and Toni feels herself softening slightly.

“You are right about having met Vampires before.

I went to a nest when I was about eight; we wore charm necklaces, but my father had business there.

He decided I needed to learn about your species. I don’t remember any of them taking any specific notice of me, though.”

Leif looks horrified.

“There was only one nest on this continent, and Prince Einar and I destroyed it eight years ago. I cannot believe any parent would choose to take a child there, wolf or not. It wouldn’t have been safe.

Only Lord Ivo would have had the age to know what you were, but if you were that young, he may not have paid much attention to you.

But he and his followers are no more. What happened there was a travesty, humans used as cattle and… well, it was a dark moment in modern vampire history. They tried to bring back the old ways.”

Toni can read a real distaste in Leif’s countenance as he continues quietly, almost to himself.

“No wonder you showed some barely hidden dislike when we first met. I’m a little surprised knowing that fact, that you even came back at all.”

Toni mulled over everything they had talked about, and all her interactions with Leif in the past. In her head, Tyra berated her for still doubting Leif, but she still had doubts she couldn’t completely ignore.

Leif’s timely reminder that he didn’t know about her until she was twenty. Either it was a very cunning ploy to distract her or something to exonerate him from being the mystery man.

But she still felt like she was being controlled a little and that’s something she can’t justify.

“Look…”

Toni finally begins, deciding to give him a brief explanation, but focussing on only the feeling of being controlled after the meeting and not about her concerns over the annexation of their area, but her next line gets interrupted by a knock at the door as Iris enters the room bearing an envelope.

“Lord Leif,”

Iris enters with a bowed head

“Apologies for the interruption My Lord, I have a message for you from Raine. I was told it was urgent.”

Leif signals her over as Toni watches the interaction between them, noting how Iris no longer addressed Leif as Master.

Toni assumed she passed her trials and let a small smile hit her lips, but more than that, she was pleased to see how Iris had grown in confidence from when she had first met her in the club, a newly made Novitius after just two weeks as a Thrall.

Leif reads the note, shaking his head before sighing.

“If you will excuse me for a short while, I have something that needs my attention. Can you spare me about ten minutes, then we can continue our conversation?”

Toni nods. It will give her time to plan her next conversation.

“Iris, please head to my private study and bring the green file from my desk, then keep Toni company until my return.”

Iris smiles and leaves the room, following Leif, leaving Toni to her thoughts.