The Making of a Dark Gamma - Book 1
Running free

Toni walks to the treeline, stripping and putting everything into her pack, she loosens the straps to allow her to carry it in wolf form, then making sure the band is on she starts to run as a human, jumping forward and shifting mid-stride, unaware that the Beta and Delta are staring at her in shock

To shift in mid-run without losing your stride isn’t something everyone can master, every bone breaking and reforming in time with your stride, normally takes years of practice, but to Toni and Tyra, it has always felt natural, Toni gives her wolf full control, not realising she is under scrutiny.

She runs fast and to the edge of her given perimeter, enjoying the feel of the cool moss-covered ground under her paws, the sounds of the forest going quiet as she passes, a predator not hiding their path.

The wind rippling through her dark fur, she blends into the shadows the deeper she moves into the forest, weaving in and out of the trees for the joy of being alive, not breaking her stride or slowing her pace.

Following her nose, she leads herself to a stream where she takes her fill of water, Tyra is happy, it’s the first time she’s been allowed to be fully free, even in the Deadfalls pack they had to be careful, as they were breaking the curfew and hiding the fact she had a wolf form.

Here, she can do what she wants, as long as she stays in the area she’s been assigned, she lets out a howl of happiness.

After forty mins of following different scents, letting her nose get accustomed to the new smells out here, she sees it’s getting close to dusk, time to hunt and have fun!

It takes a further ten minutes to find a recent scent that’s suitable, leading to two young bucks, Tyra watches both closely.

One is stronger, so that’s the one Tyra wants, in reality, the strongest will be better for the population, protecting the next generation means food sources don’t run short or weak Toni reminds her wolf.

Tyra just huffs quietly but accepts the logic.

Retreating quietly, she shifts and drops the pack, Tyra is keen to hunt, and once she’s back in fur, she takes over tracking the bucks slowly, eventually, they split, leaving about fifteen feet (five meters)between them.

Making sure she’s closest to the weaker buck, keeping downwind, the muscles in her body move with precise slow movements, she moves ever closer.

Seconds before Tyra leaps, there’s a loud crack as a branch breaks behind her, startling the deer, making it plunge sideways, breaking into a run, inwardly Toni curses the sloppy trackers.

Tyra flattened her body, stretching out with her paws, lengthening her stride with ease, pushing herself as the deer spun away, trying to move its neck out of reach, knowing the danger it was in.

Predator meets prey in the most primal of dances, it excites Tyra, and adrenaline pours into her body, giving her the sweet rush of power.

Only the speed she can muster doesn’t ruin the hunt, it takes her three or four strides to hit her top speed, she launches at the deer, catching it high on the underside of its neck near its head.

Clamping her jaws shut, the deer scrambles to break her hold, wildly shaking its head side to side, pulled lower by her weight, Tyra’s body takes hits from its front legs as it tries to flee.

Squeezing her jaws as tightly as she could, choking it, she could almost feel the slow drain of her prey’s life as the beating of its heart changed pace with her increasing choke hold, the buck’s breath ragged and panicked, its heart beating wildly, she can taste the sweet smell of fear in the air, sending her adrenaline pumping higher.

Slowing, the buck is still in flight mode, and even though its body is slowly failing it, his mind is pushing him on in the most basic desire for life, before finally falling to its knees, Tyra brings it down.

Toni is aware that she’s over the boundary by a meter or two, but Tyra won’t give up the kill or control until sure the deer is dead.

Both trackers are close now, she finds it funny they still don’t trust her, or help her.

The deer stills, hearing the heartbeat its last erratic beat, she lets go, grabbing it by the back legs in her teeth, she pulls it back over to the side Toni is allowed to be on.

She sits in wolf form looking at her kill, before digging a shallow hole and trotting back to where she left her pack, she grabs it in her teeth, not bothering to shift, before returning to her kill.

Shifting back and throwing her clothes on, she places a hand on its chest and the other on its head below the antlers she lifts her head to the moon before she starts her prayer, a tradition passed down from her family, spoken in the old tongue.

“Minal Cthale

Eip oken eipar hul ali yiar gedazje aln mutsemelk.

Tecokise drial mamekyl buk aln dre honiaratse filt il kut uk,

Ma dre kurit fier drial gelkle tutore sepa elracil anali yia ali tir etirnanyl shiel yiar gerfen,

Ma iler laliryl shiel dre filt aln iler detirminaan ali lile sepacome laba kert fier eipar linte,

Tser drial girm fier mut yia hale krolidil fir drial kan,

Iler satifice an firgonen win helk fad aln krenddren odriral,

Dre memiryl fier iler lak da firelir sepa laba kert fier eipa ali honiar iler linte,

Eip kromise ali retorn kert fier ile ali dre firek ali tute dre curkre fier linte,

Tsalk eipa dre dreathk ali fil kin lat eipal win ut,

Dre rekern ali nelir kilk fir klusore alond,

Aln dre tsace ali drie len an ali kin

(Moon Goddess,

I open my heart to your guidance and judgement.

Recognise this majestic beast and the honourable fight he put up

May the spirit of this gentle creature be embraced by you, to run eternally in your garden.

Let his bravery in the fight and determination to live, become a part of my life

Bless the gift of meat you have provided for this pack.

His sacrifice, not forgotten, will help feed and strengthen others.

The memory of his last day, forever be a part of me, to honour his life.

I promise to return part of him to the forest, to create the circle of life and death

Grant me the wisdom to only kill what we will eat.

The respect to never hunt for pleasure alone,

and the grace to know when not to kill.)

She steps back taking out a knife, one she brought from the Deadfalls pack, she’s not sure she should have it with her, but no one removed it from her pack and she’s pretty sure they searched her bag; she guts the deer, putting the entrails in the hole she dug, before covering it over with soil.

Grabbing the rope from her bag, tying one end to the back legs of the deer, she throws the other end over a branch and slowly hauls the deer up before tying it off, cutting the neck artery and letting the blood drain out, staining the forest floor brown.

“So are you going to report I went over the boundary line?”

She calls out waiting for some kind of response.

“I know you are there; you get that right?

After all, you almost cost me my kill, but never fear, I’ll inform Delta Alek myself once I get the buck back.”

There was no response from either of them, sure they were trackers but she guessed not used to being stealthy, just following a scent, they were too clumsy and obvious, maybe they were using her as a training aid, either way, they were annoyingly noisy.

She waits until the blood has stopped running, she throws on her backpack and walks under the carcass, its stomach bloody from being gutted.

Tying bands around the legs, useful for holding it in place over her shoulders, she unties the rope that holds it in the tree taking the full weight on her shoulders, she grunts slightly, it’s heavier than she expects.

Looking at her rope, she slowly pulls it up in coils around the legs.

“Don’t suppose one of you wants to help me carry this back?”

She asks hopefully and gets silence as an answer

“Assholes”

She mutters loud enough for them to hear and starts the long walk back to the pack house

The looks she gets from those she passes are a mixture of curiosity and surprise, as she finally gets to the back door of the main pack house, people have clearly called ahead and the Delta is there to meet her, along with a small curious crowd.

“You said it had to come back to the pack house.

Oh, and I’m officially signing back in.”

Toni grins at his face, he’s wearing a look of surprise and slight shock.

“Normally we send a truck for the kill”

He explains gently casting his eyes over her, she stands, slightly bowed from the weight, but importantly bloodied and proud.

“Any of that blood yours?”

“No Delta.

I don’t have a phone nor direct communication to know that’s how you bring them back and the trackers, well even when I spoke to them, they didn’t answer, so, here I am, with my kill”

She knows she must look a real wild sight, Buck still carried on her shoulders.

“Where do you want it, it’s been gutted and drained.

Oh, and for info, I got dragged about three feet (a meter) over the perimeter you gave me by the stag during the killing process.

I could have brought it down within the border if your trackers hadn’t startled it, I’d appreciate quieter ones if I go hunting in future”

Toni’s face is plastered with a grin, Delta Alek has never seen her show so much happiness, her eyes alight with a fire, and he can’t help the smile that hits his face.

The looks of shock from the slowly growing group that is standing outside the pack house are fun to see.

Tyra is bubbling over, this is the largest kill they’ve made together, and her enthusiasm is seeping out of her.

Ideally, offloading the stag would be good, it’s cumbersome and getting heavy now, but there’s no way that information is going to be given to them freely, because, during the pain tolerance training, the key lesson had been never show weakness.

The Delta shakes his head, he hadn’t expected her to bring down a deer and not a large one, he’d be having a word with the trackers for not calling for a truck if she knew they were there.

“Try not to get blood all over the packhouse when you go in” he arches a brow at her

Coming out of the pack house, the head chef looks at Toni standing there with the deer.

“Follow me”

He leads her off to the hanging cool room, but she can’t help the grin on her face, today has been a great day all in all and she’s looking forward to sleeping well tonight.

She’s hoping she’s proved herself useful to the Royal Pack, both as a fighter and a hunter, trying to be given the chance to stay.

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