Gamma No More - Book 3
By the Pricking of My Thumbs…

Sitting in his office, the Benefactor stares at his diminished list of names he has control over, the ones that remain are essentially those he had bought, without the Gamma as a threat over the others, his control had faded, and he didn’t yet have any backup for her.

Six months on from when the bitch made the werewolf world the focus of the continent by her broadcast, and she’d disappeared once again, if he didn’t want to get hold of her, he may have admired the way she slipped away from sight. But with every pack checked, and double-checked and the Neutral zone swept, albeit subtly, and no trace of her, it was not something he intended to think about yet.

Worse, the broadcast was not just to the wolves, but people in the neutral zone had got hold of it, so now the entire continent knew of the wolves’ dirty laundry.

The only upside of that was her image was so well known now. Someone must have seen her and knew where she was hiding. He just had to replace that person if he couldn’t replace her.

The active search had been called off two months after the broadcast, which should have worked in his favour allowing him to catch her, but four months later, there was still no trace of her anywhere.

Tane growled at this thought.

If a pack officially caught her, then it would be more difficult for him to snatch her away. Erasing details of an official capture would be difficult, but he had a plan. With an arrest warrant still active for her, all he had to do was bide his time. Once caught, he would exploit her and use her as his weapon, even if he had to break her a little to start.

He still needed time to work out how she’d been able to defy her Alphas command, Vincent had been a powerful Alpha, and even if she had won a challenge fight giving her a power boost, the Alpha she beat would need to be stronger than her own, to bend Vincent so easily to her will.

The reports stated she made him kneel before his pack, something Tane was sure he could have done to Vincent, but he grudgingly acknowledged very few in their world could, unless, of course, she’d drugged him.

Maybe, he thinks, that was how she did it, at least that explanation made far more sense to him.

After all, there had been no unexpected change in Alphas. He also knew that the challenge fight she’d been supposed to face hadn’t happened since Alpha Joseph had remained an Alpha. All he’d said about it was that he’d realised that he had no justifiable grounds to kill her and didn’t want to invoke the Goddess’ wrath.

Not that it mattered, the benefactor was confident that his natural authority would be enough to control her and if not, well he’d use magical backup via a charmed necklace, but first, she had to be found.

But, unless she had been camping out in human or vampire territory, which was unlikely, no one had found any trace of her, which led some to believe she wasn’t on the mainland.

Tane knew better, humans tracked all supernatural’s and didn’t allow long-term visits and Vampires, well there was no love lost between Wolves and Vampires, so he couldn’t accept that she was being sheltered by them.

He’d been in touch with the ex-crown Prince several times, keeping up the façade of wanting to help him and would continue to do so, until he knew he would be no more use to him, at which point he would remove the idiot from his life, permanently if needed.

Darius had admitted in one of his calls to that he’d planned to use the Gamma to assassinate his father before it had all gone wrong, the imbecile didn’t think through the consequences of his actions, why, on this Goddess-given land they lived on, would the Gamma, or Alpha Vincent, have had reason to attack the King.

Suspicion would have fallen, well and truly on the Royal pack, and specifically the Crown Prince, as he was the one person with the most to gain from the King’s Death, and his younger siblings were too young to be a threat.

If he knows one thing, it’s that you can’t give people a reason to be a suspect. You needed to be a person without a motive, and the Prince had far too much of a motive to have got away with it.

Not that he couldn’t have benefitted from the Prince’s intended action, using it as a reason to oust the Crown Prince at the time and even now, his current backup plan if he needed to remove the King, would be to blame Darius as revenge for his exile; the difficulty was simply replaceing the person good enough to carry out the hit now that the Antonia was unaccounted for and it galled him to even mention her name at this point.

The ex-prince had an unranked position in the equivalent of the other kingdom’s Royal pack, which the benefactor found more than amusing that he’d fallen so far, but more than that, he’d been useful in being able to confirm that no one fitting Antonia Woodfield’s description had transferred to their kingdom.

He hadn’t even needed to ask the Prince to replace that out; he had bitched about his father, the King, who had been in contact with the Alpha of his new pack, to see if she had turned up there but hadn’t been in touch with Darius. By the Goddess, that wolf could whine.

However, if no new wolves were joining any pack there, and they were the nearest Wolf Kingdom, then he could safely assume it would be unlikely that she had reached the furthest continent without being spotted.

Every plane and boat had undergone a review after the broadcast, but it hadn’t been hard to believe that some private transport had gone undetected on shorter trips. Longer ones would need far more coordination, so he was sure that she hadn’t gone further afield.

The King still hadn’t named his successor and didn’t intend to for a few years, which, the Benefactor had decided, would benefit him nicely and this new plan would cost him less initially. Unfortunately, someone had plundered two of his accounts, so keeping the cost down was far more important to him now. At least in the interim, once he was in power, cash wouldn’t be an issue.

Still, he smiled, it’s easier to fill a void than depose a reigning monarch, and if the King were to have an accident, or became unpopular, then with no heir named, he could legally claim a right under the old laws, one small thing to thank the Antonia for when he caught up with her, and he’s confident that he will, she’d made him look over old uncontested laws, after she used one to depose Alpha Vincent.

The uncertainty within the packs would be how he took over, the King was a weak ruler, if he wasn’t then he wouldn’t have let the ex-gamma slip through his fingers, nor dropped her treason charge, but not naming an heir, that was going to be his biggest mistake, the benefactor’s way in.

Packs weren’t content without knowing there was a successor for their pack becoming restless if it went on too long, but when it was the ruling pack, the Royals, that had a knock-on effect across all the packs.

The reduced list of packs he controls no longer worried him too much. With his change of direction, he still had enough that he could get to rally behind him when he takes power, all good leaders have more than one backup plan after all.

He’s broken from his thoughts by one of his servants entering.

“Sir, your evening appointment is here,”

His forest house appears small by comparison to his main home, not big enough to justify housemaids from the outside, but in reality, most of it is underground, either way, he had no intention of cooking or cleaning himself, if he came across as eccentric, then so be it, people would learn.

He chooses not to have time for menial tasks, after all, he intended to be the future leader of Werewolves and eventually the Humans, and once he ruled the humans, he would, by default, control the vampires and from that perspective, he felt he deserves certain luxuries to be afforded to him now.

“Send him in.”

He’s dismissive to the maids, never bothering to remember their names, most of them are blood-bonded to him to repay debts, not always their own, but he prefers to think they are working off a debt, making them maids, not slaves, at least for now.

“Killian, thank you for coming,” He offered his hand.

Killian takes it, shaking hands briefly.

“My Alpha gave me the address, but that was it, so you have me at a disadvantage.”

There is a fixed smile on Killian’s face, more forced than natural, but showing respect; it makes Tane happy, a man who understood he wasn’t in charge, but all his previous conversations had been by phone. He had never had to give a name; he knows now that he’s doing face-to-face meetings, he has to. It would raise too many suspicions if he didn’t.

“I’m Tane, Tane Badeil,”

He smiled slightly while introducing himself, he’s not worried, his phone distorts his voice and the house has a ward on it, ensuring anyone who visits this house, won’t have a clear memory of his face or voice once they leave, even if he accidentally runs into them.

Which reminded him. He needed to visit the witch in his cells to see if she’s ready to cooperate once more.

She’d failed him on her last assignment, so she was currently paying the price. She’d get another chance, he was, after all, a fair leader.

But failing to scry successfully for Antonia had to be punished, plus, it gave him a reason not to release her, which was always an upside, having a bound witch would be helpful, but for now, he needed to focus on the wolf in front of him.

“Alpha Lee has spoken highly of you. Please take a seat.” He signalled to the armchair.

The housemaid comes in with coffee and biscuits before Tane waved her away.

“He tells me you are good at delivering messages. Is that true?”

Killian shuffles in his seat slightly. He can feel the dominance of the man in front of him, even without his command aura being used, and it makes him a little uncomfortable. He’s used to feeling in control, even with his own Alpha.

“Yes Sir, when the pack has issues, I am often part of the group sent to resolve them, if that’s what you mean.

But I’m a warrior, not a diplomat. If he wants to negotiate, he doesn’t send me.”

He sits back and looks at Killian, happy he had to buy Alpha Lee’s compliance, but he’s decided that doing so makes people far more compliant. They have something to gain after all and even better, if they are unmasked, they have a lot to lose.

Plus, since his two of his accounts were gone, he kept excellent paper records of monetary transactions, but it also makes Alpha Lee a little more useful when he offered trained help, for a price, that is something he can respect, buying loyalty saves tedious time spent in gaining information to blackmail them with.

He sits back, taking a sip of his coffee, savouring the rich deep bitterness before continuing.

“I believe you knew the Nightshades Gamma?” he asked, watching for any reaction.

“The old one, yes, before he died, but he kept his daughter away from others on the whole. But I saw enough.” Killian’s words have an air of boredom to them.

“Did you observe his training system?”

Tane kept his eyes on Killian, reading his body language. Letting him feel a little uncomfortable under his scrutiny is all part of his plan. It makes people easier to read.

“A little. Mostly he kept her segregated, persuading the Alpha to give her a private tutor, so she didn’t have to keep school hours, but I know the training was intense, like she was a means to an end.”

“And his training?”

“Tough, he trained before and after training his daughter while she was being schooled.

He was always pushing, never satisfied with his daughter’s performance, but of course, I don’t know what went in their family home, out of pack sight.” Killian shrugs before continuing.

“I guess his death was a little unexpected, but I heard she excelled anyway, he said he was trying to get her ready to be made Gamma early, she had been that good, he would then act as her guide until she was an adult.”

“What do you mean a means to an end?” Tane’s curiosity piqued.

“I just assumed he had a plan, maybe to retire. What other reason would he have to keep pushing her from an early age?” Killian shrugs nonchalantly.

“You must have been close to him back then to know this?”

Sitting forward, Tane looks at him, scrutinising the wolf before him, looking for lies within his answers or body language.

“Before our banishment, we were, but the Alpha didn’t approve of us being close to the Gamma Family without permission.”

Tane had already done his background checks on Killian, and everything he’d told him so far seemed true, not perfectly aligned with his records.

He’d missed out that he’d answered the Alpha back, earning himself a whipping; but he forgave him for leaving out a few points. Tane learnt early on, that if the story was too perfect, too identical, then something fishy was going on, after all, everyone had something to hide, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t accept bribes, nor be a suitable person to carry out his orders.

“Alpha Vincent was a hard Alpha, don’t you think?”

He sat back, more relaxed now, curious about how Killian felt about his old Alpha.

“I describe the old Alpha as an equal opportunity bastard if you will excuse my frankness.

He even put his own mate up for public punishment at least once, so he was consistent, and for that, there is some respect.

But he was a vicious, sadistic wolf who relished in the punishment side of pack life far too much. He seemed to feed off of the pack fearing him.”

Killian can talk about his old Alpha easily. There was no love lost for him and he had no qualms about speaking ill of the dead.

“What do you know of his son, Alpha Robert?” Tane pushed.

“Not a lot. He was still a pup when I was there and not involved in the pack, always trained privately, only the Beta Family mixed with them.

I guess he has a lot of shit to clear up in that pack now.”

Shrugging, Killian started relaxing in Tane’s company. He felt he had the same cool aloofness that he used to cultivate, and if he’s going to be paid as his Alpha hinted, he can respect that.

“Interesting. It’s a shame you were banished. I’ll have to use someone else to deliver messages there. I doubt your Alpha would want to risk your life.”

He sat back taking Killian in, he’s older than most pack warriors but his muscle definition is outstanding, his Alpha had the right idea, wolves could remain fit to fight for a good sixty years from when they reach adulthood, after all, they lived long lives.

But as much as he respects Alpha Lee, he also has to watch him, if he kept all the male warriors in this kind of fighting form, they would make a formidable force to fight on his side, but it wouldn’t be good if they turned against him.

The more he thought about it, in the dark days after Antonia had set their world alight, the more he saw a path towards the outcome he wanted.

Nightshades were too busy trying to make peace with the other packs in their area, to notice anything out of the ordinary, but when the time came, he’d implicate them if they opposed him, as well as the ex-Gamma if she raised her head again, unless he had control over her.

The Iron Claw had alleged issues between the brothers, some family falling out that was being kept quiet, and worse, since the recording, they were no longer hunting the Gamma, knowing she was not responsible for their missing pack.

That was a big disappointment for him, he’d almost had to spoon-feed Darius into how to get the Iron Claw pack hunting her and while they had been close, they’d called off the search before it was successful, he may have to involve them again, no other pack had got so close to replaceing her.

Deadfalls were too peaceful to be a pack to worry about. Their pack, although large, was only strategic for easy access to the Human territory and because they were peaceful, Tane could ignore them until after the coup.

They had a well-trained leadership but, they didn’t have the warrior numbers to be a risk as far as Tane knew, the old Alpha had always kept the bare minimum number of warriors, stupid wolf, and he assumed his son had been the same, and he could ignore them until he needed to involve them.

Once he controlled the masses, they wouldn’t be able to refuse his demands. Yes, they were famous for being independent, but that would go against them in the end, not enough allies on their side.

Tane had already had an ‘innocent’ wolf transfer in to check what contact they had with Antonia, and so far, it had been futile. There was no obvious contact occurring, or at least, no one spoke of it.

The Royal pack was too busy rebuilding its reputation and trying to make peace with the rest of the packs, understanding whichever way they fell with the Gamma’s review, they would leave some packs unhappy; plus, their own unrest at having no heir apparent meant they would be easy to manipulate when the time came for him to take over.

Alpha Lee Bates of the Shadow Pack was easy to buy off, Killian sat before him was proof of that, as was Alpha Knight of the Blue River Pack, Alpha Randall from Shadow Stalkers was weak and also swayed by money, the real power in that pack was his Beta and Gammas.

Iron Claw would probably rally to the King, so he wouldn’t waste money there, especially if he could control the Royal pack. By default, he’d get them after the dust had settled.

He had eight other smaller packs of less importance that he controlled, he just needed to work out what the Lowlands, Stone Hearts and Mountain Peak packs would do, he could ignore the Freedom pack along with the two small packs in the Neutral zone, they would only get involved if he invaded the Neutral Zone and until he can control the Human’s that’s not in his plans, by which time it would be too late for them.

“I need you to go talk to the Stone Heart pack and replace out if they are for or against the Royal Pack.

Also, if they think there’s a good choice for the King to name as heir, no violence needed, not this time.

But mostly, I want you to tell them you are looking for the Gamma at the request of the Royal Pack since you knew their family; they have pictures from the broadcast but it’s not as good as having seen her, albeit as a child.

I’ll ensure you have paperwork that will pass their inspection if their Alpha wants to check, but if you replace evidence of her, then I’ll pay you a healthy bonus. Your Alpha need never know.

After all, you are the one putting in the legwork.

Come back after your trip, I will have a few more packs I need you to visit.

Oh, and take a break in the Neutral Zone, one of my contacts has gone silent, Jim Edwards owns the Nags head… tell him he owes me a reply, and I have been patient; that contact doesn’t need to be subtle.”

Killian is driven by money, once he’d offered the bonus, he could almost see the fire in his eyes.

He grins, his goal is getting closer, and in a judicial light, this new plan may be easier to implement, granted it will be a longer-term project because taking over the human territory and maybe even overseeing the Neutral zone would take more effort and time, but it would feel far more satisfying.

Ultimately, he’d like to run off the Vampires to another continent, but he was realistic to know that wouldn’t happen. However, if he controlled the blood supply, he ruled them anyway.

There’s more than one way to skin your prey after all, but for now, it’s time for him to visit his prisoner.