“Gobsmacked… now there’s a word I haven’t heard in a long time.”
“Sorry. Only child, older parents, not a lot of social life. I find myself saying things they used to.”
“Gobsmacked,” Maeve said. “It does explain his behavior very clearly.”
“It really does. And don’t be surprised if he shows up later wanting to be let in again. He was not happy that I sent him away for you.”
“He’s persistent, I’ll give him that.”
Alison nodded as she rolled the blanket and the throw pillow covers up in her arms, in preparation of washing them. “You may not know it now, but you’re lucky. At least you have a male that can’t stop thinking of you, and is begging for more time with you, and your son. Some females would pay for that kind of devotion.”
“I’m sorry, Alison. I didn’t mean to seem ungrateful. It’s just that I find Niko’s behavior very contradictory. I’m not honestly sure he even knows if it’s devotion he’s feeling, or if he’s just trying to figure out how to make peace with his instincts so he can make a clean getaway as soon as possible. I can’t have him bonding with Griffin and then disappearing. I won’t let him be rejected by a male he looks up to so obviously.”
“Niko is a lot of things, and I’m not defending his life choices or his past, but he’s not a careless male. He’s not cold, or callous. He’s just… Niko. And this is new for him, too.”
“I’ll try to remember that, if you try to remember that just because Feral isn’t here at the moment, doesn’t mean anything he said is false. He could turn up any day, you never know.”
Alison smiled and nodded. “Deal.” She walked away, making her way into the washer and dryer that were in the mudroom. She put everything in the washer, added more detergent than was necessary and turned it on. She leanedagainst the washer as it began to fill and thought about what Maeve had said. There was a vast difference between Niko and Feral. Niko was terrified. But Feral had seemed interested in her, and perfectly at ease with it. And therein lay all Alison needed to know. No one ever showed more than a passing interest in her — why should it change now? Her own Pride didn’t take much notice of her. She sighed and headed back into the house. It was all out of her control. All she could do now, was put it out of her mind and hope that no one else had noticed her preoccupation with him. It would be embarrassing to admit to anyone other than herself that she’d fallen for his sweet words.
She stepped inside as the memory of Niko trying to beat her door down after he saw her and Feral because he thought it was Feral and Maeve popped into her head. “Crap. Niko knows. Now I’m going to have to talk to Niko to ask him to keep it to himself.”
Chapter 24
“This is some crazy shit. How the hell did the three of them manage to be the males chosen to escort Gwen on her way here?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know for sure, but I remember Steve saying that Grail told him to pick some males to accompany him to get Gwen and as many others as he could save here safely. Maybe they were the first ones he came across.”
“Because they were trying to stay out of sight and not have to fight the same damn people they’d sold out their own Pride to,” Frenzy said.
“Makes sense. It would be a good explanation of why they weren’t out fighting despite the fact that the Pride had already been overrun,” Rance said. “We can certainly ask him, though. And we can talk to Dean separately and see how he came to be included in the trip here.”
Jack sat back in his chair and looked at both Rance and Frenzy. “How do we know that Steve wasn’t in on it. Maybe that’s how he just happened to choose those three males.”
Rance thought about it. “I don’t know. I saw him there. He was tore up. He identified everyone we located. He even showed us the safe space under the kids’ playground. It had been torched, like someone opened it and tossed in a Molotov cocktail or something. He said only a few knew about that shelter. That in itself shows that someone was complicit. I’m really not feeling like he’s in on it, but never say never, you know?”
“And Dean?” Jack asked.
“Dean is a powder keg. He’s about to blow. He’s keeping himself on a short leash, but he’s full of rage. You don’t fake that. He’s outraged that his entire way of life was decimated. Ifind it hard to believe he was involved in anything except the responsibility to get Gwen here. And he’s beating himself up because had he been able to remain, he might have been able to save some of his friends and family. There was no lie there. I could scent the anguish as he spoke,” Rance said.
“So, we know Dean is out of it,” Frenzy said.
“Agreed,” Jack said.
“And you believe Steve is innocent as well?” Jack asked.
“I do. He seems a little calmer about the whole thing, but still genuinely upset,” Rance said.
“Should have let Savage and his crew take the fuckers back to Alliance,” Jack said.
“I thought about it, but room was tight with the three Variant males we recovered. Besides, I thought it would be fun to turn them over to Dean and Steve if we find out we’re right,” Frenzy said.
Rance looked at Frenzy, then held up a hand for Frenzy to slap his against.
Jack shook his head and chuckled. “Already gotta watch out for the two of you.”
“He’s my buddy,” Frenzy whispered with a grin.
“So, you said there was one of your teams going in today to locate the place the Variant males came from, and to rescue the others before they could be killed?” Jack said.
