The Gamma's Birthright - Book 2
Negotiating terms

Leif sits back and sips his glass of blood

“We’re going to need two new Thralls soon, Iris is too good, Alaric will make her his Novitius and begin her training to be a vampire.

This blood is at a perfect temperature, she’s learnt each of our preferences so quickly.”

He sits pensively for a while.

“She is young though, I will counsel him to wait a year or two before her transformation, give her a chance to choose life.”

He drinks the rest of the glass, letting his tongue run along his lips, savouring the taste and pausing for a while before he turns back to Toni

"So did I hear correctly that you didn't feel safe in the Neutral zone?

Has someone gone against the edict?"

She sighs

"This is the Neutral zone, there are many species and many people, Vampires, however powerful, cannot rule over all in this place.

The point of the Neutral zone is it isn't ruled by any one species.

Every person desires to be free, not bound by constraints, and I have nothing but unfounded suspicions, so it's okay, it's done."

Leif's mouth tightens, his lips thinner, his eyes harder.

"I am the ranking Vampire in the neutral zone, we rotate that privilege every three hundred years or so.

My compatriots, Jenna, head of the humans, Raine, Head of the Witches and Cage's Alpha, Dimitri, all agreed on the Edict.

Each of us has the right to offer 'protection' to one person, I hadn't used mine until that night.

Anyone who goes against that, and it doesn't matter what species they are, is liable for action to be taken against them.

So now, you need to explain why you felt unsafe."

Toni sighed inwardly, she didn't want to do this, but the old saying is the truth will set you free.

"I'm not who you think I am.

Emma Marshall doesn't exist, so your Edict is protecting a ghost.

I am Antonia Emma Woodfield, also known as the Dark Gamma.

My alter ego is pretty much about to be blown, so you see, your edict protects something that doesn't exist."

Cage chuckles

"I knew there was something special about you.

And I'm still waiting for you to get to know me, so I can tell you the story of my name."

He winks at her

"Oh yes, I haven’t forgotten and I don’t care who you are, in fact, I’m even more intrigued!”

Cage watches as a slight blush reaches her cheeks.

"But an Edict protects a person, not a name, everyone who lives here, knows that.

It was your picture, not your name that was circulated.

You think you are the first to use a false name in this zone?"

Cage sits back as Leif takes over, Toni feels like she is being tag-teamed here.

"So young wolf, if there's a chance someone has disrespected me, I need to know, tell me of your concerns and let me decide the rest."

He holds her stare

"I'm waiting, wolf"

"Toni or Antonia, I have a name."

"Ahh, so you too dislike disrespect..."

He leaves the words hanging and watches as a resigned look passes across her face.

"I was dealing with some... personal yet highly emotional issues, so after having a drink, I left the Neutral zone and went up to the Giants Cragg.

The next morning, a group of pack wolves tried to apprehend me, for them to have found me in such a remote, unvisited area they had to have tracked me from the Neutral zone.

To come across my scent, with the one person who could have tracked me, my, at that time, mate, well, I don't believe in coincidences, that was all."

"Where did you drink?"

Leif is sitting forward peering into her eyes.

"The Nags head".

He sits back and picks up the phone, Toni not trying to listen to the other side of the conversation.

"Jenna, how are you?....

Good to hear...

Slight problem, I think a human went against my Edict, or he knows who did...

Edwards, Nags Head...

It will probably be wolves that I know, don't want him running before nightfall...

Thank you, Jenna, appreciate your help."

He puts the phone down.

"Cage, could I ask..."

"Done Leif, want him brought here or the warehouse?"

Cage is smiling, he has a desire to protect this she-wolf, they may not be mates, but there's something about her that draws him in.

"Warehouse, definitely the warehouse."

Cage heads off.

Leif sits back, his mouth bears a smile, but his eyes are more analytical, and calculating, trying to look into her heart to see what she wants.

“So you want to renegotiate terms, was my offer not generous enough?”

Toni sits back smiling

“Your offer was too generous, it left me questioning why.

I doubt even a newly turned vampire would make such a generous, or some may say foolish offer,

For one such as you to make that offer, a planner, strategist, a General, one of the Exalted whatever you prefer to be called.

You wouldn’t make such a foolish, nor generous offer unless it was to your advantage.”

A broad smile hits his face

“The wolf pup is not such a pup I see.”

“Hardly a pup, it’s been three long years since anyone dared call me a pup.”

“True, but in some eyes, you would still be a pup”

He grins as if he knows something she doesn't.

“I guess when you are as old as you are, anything less than one hundred is a child.”

She takes a deep breath as he chuckles at her comments.

“Tell me I am wrong, tell me that this offer was nothing more than a generous gift, with no subtext or guile.

But for such an experienced vampire to put no limit on the information for such a little reward I don’t buy it.”

She challenges him, watching a grin light up his face.

“I will repeat once more, you are a century too late, what a challenge you would have given me as an adversary back in the day.”

He shakes his head ruefully

“But maybe this way is better.

Toni, I believe the offer is reasonable, the power is always with he who holds the better hand, don’t you agree?”

His eyes twinkle with delight as he watches her.

“I don’t see that either of us holds that much of a better hand.” She muses

“I would normally say that you showed your hand too early, but I think you did it to gain my attention.

For me to be here, means it worked.

So by that logic, it’s clear to both of us that I must want something you can give.

But you also didn’t dismiss my comment about renegotiating terms, which means it wasn’t your lowest acceptable offer.

And for you to make such an offer means you want my blood, so far that makes us seem equal in power”

She sits back

“I can live without your help and you can live without my blood” she shrugs

“Neither HAS to have what the other holds, again, we are equal in my eyes, so I question if you hold the powerful hand, or just think you hold it”

She sits back smiling waiting for his comment, she doesn't have to wait long.

“They say knowledge is power, if I hold the knowledge, then by extension, I hold the power.

However, since you openly admitted your real name to me, I’ll tell you why I want your blood.

That way, you can decide what terms you want to propose.

Occasionally, we’ll take the blood of a wolf, with their agreement of course, like a strong Alpha in a trade, because their power can be tasted in their blood.

There’s a sweetness to that kind of blood, it's like a strong wine to a human and gives you a rush, the rush can sometimes be enough to ignore the sourness of wolf blood.

You, you are different, I don’t think your blood will be sour at all, let's just call it past experience, but you hold power, and I think, probably more than when you were last here.

I believe that would make your blood so sweet, a rush so pure, that is why I want your blood, like drinking a good wine.

With that information, what trade do you offer now?”

Toni sits back, looking at Leif, she knows to be wary of him, he's a vampire and a strong one and she has pups to protect.

Where there is mutual benefit, there has to be mutual trust, sometimes you have to give to receive.

“The same as before, but on a repeat basis.

I have a feeling I’ll have more questions down the line that I’ll want answered or contacts I’d like to make.

Someone who's been around for some time, like you, may be able to help with those contacts and all of that is worth more than a single donation of blood.

So while I could cram all my questions into a day and claim that under your terms offered, it’s worth only fifty millilitres.

Or argue you down to thirty or forty, I’d prefer mutual respect and trust over striking the hardest bargains, which would leave one of us unsatisfied.

Fifty is not a lot, even now, not fully healed, my wolf isn’t opposing the idea, but I’d prefer to think that we may be able to have a longer-term relationship where neither is taken advantage of.”

Leif nods, he has a deeply satisfied look on his face.

“You are going to become all that I expected you to be.

I look forward to working with you for years to come, who knows, in time maybe forming a friendship.”

He goes silent for a while before changing the subject.

"Tell me how you were injured?"

"It was a challenge fight, one to the death, so it was relatively brutal, but within wolf territory."

"Who did you kill?"

"No one.

I won, but when it came to it, I realised he was nothing more than a figurehead for everyone who had ever judged or hurt me.

He didn't deserve to die, so I gave him the chance to submit and he took it.

Oddly, I gained a silent ally from it, sometimes all it takes small steps to change the course of a life."

She falls silent.

"I'm impressed, it took me ten years and over two hundred deaths before I came to a similar acceptance and I was older than you at the time."

He looks at Toni carefully, she's far more relaxed around him, maybe now is the time to broach the next subject.

"My sire would very much like to meet you.

When you are ready of course.

If you agree I will escort you and you have my word and that of my sire, you will be untouched.”

Toni looks confused, unconsciously her hand has gone to protect her stomach.

“Why would your Sire want to meet me?”

Leif pauses

“My Sire, Prince Einar Falkenberg, is intrigued by my account of you.

Someone that I could not compel, more importantly, one that could break that desire of another to obey.”

He glances down at her her hand on her stomach, concentrating.

“Am I right in believing you are in pup?”

Toni looks slightly shocked but nods

“There are two faint heartbeats I hear, strong but not long formed I'd guess.

Fear not, I will not harm you or your offspring, this world needs more like you.

So let me reframe that, it would be my honour to take you to meet my Sire, once you have birthed your pups.

While I know no harm would come to you, I understand you would not take the risk of walking into a Vampire's home carrying your offspring.

You are free to decline, it’s nothing more than a request, but he believes that you could do a lot for relations between the species.”

Toni sits quietly and thinks, that she and her inner wolf have trust in this vampire before her, Leif is at least open about what he wants and gives her choices.

Oddly it’s the way he works alongside the other species that impresses her most, maybe the Neutral zone, where they are all forced to get on, is a better way than the isolationist way of the packs, where distrust is rife of other species.

“Given time to make sure my pups are safe.

And if at that time your Sire hasn’t changed his mind, even knowing who I am, then yes, I will meet him.”

For the next few hours, Toni and Leif spend their time talking, Toni asking and Leif answering questions.

The questions that she has, the depth of which leaves Leif all the surer that this wolf before him, is special.

When she is done, she slices her hand, but fills twice the vials he had requested, believing she'd got more than her trade's worth of information.

The smell in the room leaves Leif almost salivating, the scent of her blood, giving him a hint of the flavours to come.

"So, do you know what you are?" he asks

"Since that was the question I first asked you?"

Toni smiles

"I'm a Lone Wolf, my wolf has already told me this"

He grins

"While you could be a Lone Wolf, that is a possible option for you, I won't deny that, I believe that's not your destiny.

So let me ask a different question: What makes a Lone Wolf?"

He sits back interested in her reply

"They are a rogue, that doesn't go mad.

A wolf that can live without a pack link, so understandably, our world, which runs on hierarchy, isn't too fond of them."

She's confident in her answer, although she wonders if Leif ever met any of them, he's old enough to have done so.

Leif laughs

"Is that what your history books teach you, dear God, it's like you've been pushed back into the dark ages.

But I guess, that's what happens when the victors write the history, they skim over things they want forgotten."

He stops looking deep in thought for a while before he continues

"Fifteen hundred years ago, I spat on the Gods and Goddesses.

I chose to believe they had forsaken this world after I saw my village ransacked and its people slaughtered, man, women and child alike.

Accepting the offer of being turned into a vampire to save my life, when I had felt abandoned by the Deities we had prayed to.

Sitting here, in front of me, is proof that at least one of those Deities still watches over this world.

A friend I contacted described you to me as an improbable probability.

Like the chance of the sea drying up, it’s always possible, but just not at all likely."

He pauses deep in thought.

"You said you speak the old tongue?"

She nods and he goes over to a wall of books, picking one out carefully.

"Take this book but know it was written before the great war.

So treat it with due care, it's not as old as me, but it's irreplaceable”

Toni looked at the book he’d placed in front of her, reading the title

‘Dre wa fier dre draa firm Prithiant’

“And you are sure?” she queries

“I am."

He nods

“I'm not sure I understand, but for now, I need to be an ordinary pack wolf.

No one can know about me, at least, not yet”

She speaks quietly, almost lost in thought

“Agreed, no one will hear it from me, nor my Sire.” Leif confirms

“I know it’s a lot to take in and accept.

I can give you a room here for the night if you’d prefer, in case you have more questions.

It will be somewhere secluded and quiet to think, the sleeping quarters are all well insulated from the sound.

But this is your birthright, Toni, there is no way you can walk away from this."

Toni ponders the offer for a while before answering.

“Thank you, but the neutral zone isn’t safe for me anymore.”

“That’s something that’s about to change, I promise you that.

No one crosses one of the council, Edwards, if it was him, will pay, and if not, he will let me know who it was.

If you ever feel unsafe, just come here, to this club, even a horde of wolves, would not risk breaching the Neutral zone rules."

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