Gamma No More - Book 3
Beginning of the End

In the early morning light, the allies meet up to discuss the final outstanding item. The only people invited were her council, plus Raine. It’s not that she didn’t want other suggestions, but aware that the more people that are involved, the longer it will take to arrive at a decision. More than that though, the longer they wait, the more time Tane will have to replace out about her and the outcome of the war, either of which could cause him to disappear forever.

They had two leads to track down, but more importantly, a human witch was being held somewhere and they all agreed that she had been missing far too long, so both she and Tane needed to be found soon.

There was also the heavy weight of trying to sort out their packs and lands, something Toni knew wouldn’t be easy going forward for any of them, although she no longer thought of it as a task only for her to complete after the council had agreed to continue helping her.

But more importantly, and this next thought made her involuntarily grin.

She had Dominic to help her, even if she hadn’t yet got it into her head that he wasn’t called Cage!

Toni takes centre stage and discusses all the information she had found out from the ranked wolves along with information from Killian, but mostly, she shared her concerns that some of the information came as a neatly tied-up package that led to Alpha Nate.

It could be a false lead or a beautifully executed double bluff on his part, he certainly had the intelligence to make that play as far as Toni was concerned, she wasn’t sure when she had made this person male in her head, and it could be a female, but with pointers towards Alpha Nate, this mystery figure was coalescing into a male.

Joseph carefully broached the subject that worried him; he wanted to tread carefully after her earlier admission that she was Killian’s daughter. Even if she didn’t recognise the bond, he didn’t want to upset her more, with the suggestion that Killian could be untrustworthy.

“What about this Killian? Could he be double-crossing you, sending you into an ambush?”

A sad smile crosses Toni’s face

“He may have been. He used to be a master deceiver, but that confession, well, it felt truthful.” She pauses, a part of her not wanting to admit the rest.

“While I had no intention of doing so, I threatened his family if he lied to me again as he had tried to once already.

He was the epitome of a broken wolf. I don’t think he doubted I was capable of that atrocity, which is sad in itself, that he thought so little of me.” She takes a steadying breath, unsure why she still cared about his opinion.

“But, because of that, I don’t think he would have tried to deceive me.”

They all nod slowly, but it’s Dimitri that speaks.

“Sometimes we have to play the part of a villain to do the right thing. I’m sure we’ve all done it to some extent, Toni.”

Toni nods slowly, but as she looks around the room, she doubts anyone has had to reach into the depths she had, but understands what they are telling her, without saying the actual words that she may deny directly, that her actions were okay, she wasn’t a monster.

The consensus among them all was to investigate the house first, their priority being Rowena’s release, but as the strongest pack within the Neutral Zone, Dimitri was sending his Beta Jackson and a group of ten warriors to the Still Water pack, to interview Alpha Nate.

That way, he wouldn’t have the chance to run, and as a single wolf, ten wolves was enough to arrest him, but not enough to declare war on the pack, leaving their existing Alpha, Niall Brown happy with the arrangement, although he had confirmed that Alpha Nate had entered their pack alone, so if he was to blame, Rowena wasn’t with him, which filled them all with concern.

During Raine’s final scrying for Rowena, which involved searching for her remains, Raine found nothing. This indicated that Rowena was most likely still inside the warded house. As a result, they solidified their plan to split their forces into a small group heading to Alpha Nate’s reported location and a larger group going to the location mentioned by Killian.

The rest of the wolves were returning to their packs.

For the Veiled pack, this comprised a very disgruntled Karl, but she required him to lead the new wolves back and get them settled, before she arrived, hopefully a day or two later.

Knowing that’s when the fun would begin, as she led the pack through all the changes that were occurring, as the Veiled pack became the new ruling pack.

Tane wanted to break something or more preferably someone as he stormed around his forest house, but unfortunately, all the people he’d like to take out his anger on, were not in reach, not yet at least, but there was a day of reckoning coming and this time, he would enforce face-to-face meetings.

All his work and effort and the fucking Alphas hadn’t been able to follow his orders and took it upon themselves to attack before he was ready.

Information had leaked out, and she, that bitch, had stuck her nose in his business once again, making him unsure if he had executed enough of his plan to make her seem like a vampire puppet.

Once again, she had slipped through his control. She would pay, and he would enjoy watching her do so, regardless of which role he took to do it. He always held the power, and now it was time for her to see that.

Everyone else was incompetent, that much was clear.

But the scrying Rowena had done, put her right in the middle of the war zone, the only good thing was, as instructed, Killian was safe within his home pack boundaries, so for now, that meant Tane was safe in any of the places he wanted to live in, but it had made him realise the risk he had taken in inviting Killian to his private home.

He had taken a while and made a significant investment to dig under his maternal grandmother’s private retreat. Not that it bothered him. When she died, technically, the estate was due to be split between him and some unimportant human relatives, but as it was on wolf territory, he ignored that part of her will.

When his grandfather died in a fight, his grandmother retreated into the forest, building a house in No-man’s-land. Unlike a wolf’s mate, she hadn’t faded away, living peacefully, not even rogues had harassed this area.

It wasn’t until many years later that he realised she had some small witch powers to shield the house, which had broken on her death. It was that realisation that had made him think about using witches to hide the house once more.

So now, he also had to rectify his error of bringing another wolf to his door, to protect the investment he had made and also retain the safety of his hideaway.

But the fact that Toni had known about the battlefield set his blood boiling once more. Grabbing his desk in two hands, he tips it over forcefully, hearing a satisfying crack, before he rampaged through his study, leaving very little untouched.

If anyone found out about this place, he would lose his refuge from the life where he had to be nice to everyone, but he knew what he had to do.

She and Killian would have to die.

Killian, dying, removed the risk of his hideaway being revealed and, the bane of his life, Antonia, who kept interfering in all his plans, like a bumbling idiot who falls across gold, would no longer undermine his plans.

He had opportunities before, but always he had let her live, planning when she would be useful to him, a boon if you will, but now he realises she’s been nothing but a bane.

Her usefulness had died with Alpha Vincent.

The worst bit was there was no news or word of what the outcome of the battle was, he’d like to take that as a good thing, but if his insurgents had won, then he would have expected a call from the irresponsible Alphas who had defied him, unless they wanted to take over in their own name. He mentally listed which of the Alpha’s he thought would have the balls to do that. There were two and either of them would fall to his hand.

But, he muses, that may also work for him, being seen as the saviour of the wolves from the rebels, but the more he thinks about it he would also have heard if the Royal Pack had won unless the King had died in the fight.

Now that was a happy thought.

Tane tapped his chin deep in thought; if the Royals had won, maybe the King was badly injured, dead or dying. Surprisingly, that event could actually go in his favour, unless there was a lone insurgent who had a different agenda altogether. He growled loudly, picking up his house phone from the floor and dialling; he needed to know what was happening.

“Jasper, I need the witch in her scrying cell…

I want the whereabouts of King Petrus, Alphas Bates. Actually fuck that, every Alpha on the list I gave you.

If she can’t replace them, then get her to scry for their corpses and know I wanted it five minutes ago.”

He slams the phone down, trying to calm himself; he needs to think and replace out how bad it is before he can decide on his next moves.

As long as Antonia isn’t in the Shadow pack, he is safe. Killian had been the only one to visit this place.

He thanked the fates for small mercies and proud Alphas who were always too busy to visit.

Sitting back down on a sofa that hadn’t suffered too badly in his wrath-induced rage of earlier, he finally smiles.

It’s entirely possible that his smoke screen would work, worst case, he would keep his existing job. Best case, either the King was dead or he could take out the rebel leaders and his plan could continue.

He watches the clock, counting the minutes until he gets the results of the scrying.

In the dungeons, Jasper opens the scrying cell, ready to transfer Rowena to it. Even down here, they had heard the loud thumps and sounds of cursing.

They looked at each other briefly. Over the last weeks, Rowena and Jasper had been growing closer.

“I need you to scry again. I’m so sorry Rowena,” He whispered, scared Tane may come down again.

“Come with me. I can get us out of the house, away from him.” Her hurried words pull on Jasper’s heart.

“We can’t. I’m blood-bonded, as long as he lives, he will replace me and therefore you.

But you go, I’ll claim you overpowered me, you shouldn’t have to face living in this place and my death will give me a release.

There’s a car outside, the keys are above the visor, keep to the roads and rogues won’t bother you.”

Rowena frowns at his words.

“Jasper, come with me. Once we are in the human zone, we will be safe.”

He shakes his head slowly.

“He threatened to hurt my family unless I joined him here to work off the debt I owed him.

I didn’t even owe the money to him. He brought my debt off Jim Edwards and then refused to let me set up a payment plan.

But worse, I overheard him last week. He’s going to take over the humans. Nowhere is safe from him.

But if you escape, maybe you can get the witches to help and stop him somehow.”

Rowena gazes at him slowly. She needs to see outside of this house if she can; it doesn’t need to be a large window, then she can port herself outside.

As she heads towards the stairs, she clutches at her stomach at the strange feeling coming over her. Jasper watches her worry etched on his face, but as she lifts her head, she smiles.

“Help is coming, I feel it,” she whispered.