“I’ll look into it. I’ll let you know what I find.”
“No, Frenzy, you don’t understand. This female, the Reigna, the one who is leading her people alone now because her mate probably fell… she’s my mate. She loved this male with all she was. We looked at each other and knew what we were meant to be, but I walked away and never spoke a word because I couldn’t destroy her life and all she’d built with this male. These motherfuckers took her happiness. Slaughtered her mate, her people, and sent her on the run begging for sanctuary. I want these fuckers to hurt. I want to be responsible for their pain.”
“I hear you, Rance. Give me a little time to look into the situation. It won’t be long. I’ll be in touch and I’ll tell you every single thing I find. If you’re right and Variant are involved, I’m standing beside you as we do a little hunting. Hell, who am I kidding? I’m coming hunting anyway. Tell Jack and the boys Haaayyayyyyyy!”
The call disconnected and Rance tossed his phone onto the console beside Jack’s. “He says to tell you hey.”
No one said anything.
Rance took a second to glance at Jack, who was staring at him with his mouth hanging open, then into the rear view at Niko and Zev, who were pretty much mimicking Jack’s expression.
“What the actual fuck?!” Jack demanded. “Gwen’s your mate?!”
“No, she was Grail’s mate.”
“Oh my God! I’m shocked! I had no idea!” Niko shouted exaggeratedly.
“How long have you known she was your mate?” Jack asked.
“Since I met them at their compound.”
“And she knows?”
“I’m pretty sure she does. Grail knew, too.”
“Wait, what?” Jack asked.
“He knew. I knew. We kind of had an unspoken understanding. He knew I could have caused trouble, but I didn’t. He knew I wouldn’t because I didn’t want to hurt her and she clearly loved him. We shook hands, respected each other and walked away.”
“I didn’t know. Not a single hint did I pick up on. But you have to admit the fact that y’all had a private conversation and were all like, I respect you, and I respect you, and you’re a good male, thank you, shit like that shows some integrity on both your parts. I’m just guessing though, because if it was meant to be private I didn’t hear it, or see it. I didn’t know a damn thing,” Niko said.
“Niko! Will you shut up, please?!” Rance demanded.
“Maybe now you won’t be a cold-hearted sonofabitch that snarls at everybody,” Niko yelled.
“I was hurting. I’m still not feeling the greatest, and you’re pushing my buttons,” Rance said low and threateningly.
“But she’s available now,” Zev pointed out.
“And she’s devastated. I haven’t even thought beyond protecting her and her babies, and giving her satisfaction in the way of justice for her mate.”
“You’re her mate,” Niko said.
“Her mate is gone. I’m just someone she met once. Anything else is not even on the charts at this point.”
“You could have told me,” Jack said, having just managed to digest the information that Rance had flopped out there into the universe without warning.
“I couldn’t make myself say the words. It wasn’t real as long as I didn’t address it.”
They rode along in silence for a couple of miles more before Jack turned to Rance again. “I think calling Frenzy is the right move. Who else could be moving with a Pride of shifters that isn’t a shifter?”
“That was my thought,” Rance said. “I should have asked you, though.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re not thinking straight at the moment, and it was the right call, so not a problem.”
“You think that’s why the Falwell Pride wanted to keep us distracted? So they could attack the Gamieyon Pride? It makes no sense, though. We couldn’t be there to assist in a matter of minutes,” Zev said.
“No, but we have connections to the Variant, and we spent time with the Gamieyon Pride recently. Maybe they thought if the Gamieyon Pride was able to reach out to us, we could have sent the Variant down in the middle of their attack. And if we’re sending the teams the Variant have, they’re a lot more deadly than just a few rogue,” Jack said.
