“Yes?” she asked.
“Thank you for giving me this chance. I promise I’ll tell you everything.”
Epilogue
Jack sat at the formal dining table in his home, folders, notes, and papers scattered from one end of the table to the other.
The front door opened and Frenzy walked in.
“You look tired,” Frenzy said.
Jack looked up at him. “Right back at you.”
“I was up late, been helping Titus, checking out the manufacturing building, making friends — people love me. Why are you tired? You’ve been sitting here all day.”
Jack leaned his hands on the table and looked at Frenzy. “Because I’ve been on the phone calling every Alpha I can think of between here and fucking Canada. I’m tired of talking, but I still have more to call. Want to help?” Jack asked irritatedly.
“No! No, sir, I do not. That is all you.”
“Yeah, I thought so.”
“You wouldn’t let me anyway. Alphas initiate contact with Alphas, not their underlings,” Frenzy said.
“You’re not an underling. You’re more a… lieutenant. Like Rance, Niko, and Draven.”
Frenzy sat there for a minute, nodding ever so slightly, his head bobbing on his shoulders. “Lieutenant Frenzy. I like it!”
“Thought you might. But still, I wouldn’t ask you to do this. It comes with the responsibility of being Alpha.”
“How’s it going?”
“Most are shocked to learn what happened to the Gamieyon Pride. They’d not heard a single thing about it. And some are just as let down as we are by the Council in the last year to two years. Others are more guarded by their responses and it makes youkind of wonder if they already knew, but not nearly as many as those surprised to hear of the attack.”
“Have they heard of any other attacks?”
“They’ve heard rumors about what happened to my brother, but nothing else. Other than that, they seem to just want to keep their heads down and off the radar. There’s a sense that it’s dangerous to make yourself seen.”
“But they’re fucking shifters!” Frenzy said.
“With families, and entire Prides depending on them. They don’t want to attract any negative backlash.”
“Have you asked why they think they’d get negative backlash?”
“Not pointedly.”
Frenzy shrugged. “My attention would be on the Prides that think there would be negative backlash and are afraid of it. What do they know that makes them think that?”
Jack nodded as he looked at Frenzy. “Thanks. I needed another perspective.” He started reaching for papers and reorganizing them into new stacks.
“Once you get those organized, you might notice a pattern. If you do, call Law,” Frenzy said. “They’ve been interrogating the Variant males we found. Maybe you could share information.”
Jack sat back and looked at Frenzy who winked at him, grinned, then went out the back door. “Izzie! Bella! And who is that? Griffin? Uncle Frenzy is here!”
“Uncle Frenzy!” Three little voices screamed excitedly.
“Okay. Let’s look at this differently. First group,” Jack said, picking up a piece of paper and reading his notes. “Shocked. Had no idea, very worried,” he said, putting it down to his right. Jack picked up another piece of paper, read his notes, ‘Shocked, angry and did not know,’ then put it down in the first stack he’d started. He picked up another and read his notes. “Ahhh, claimed they were surprised, but were lying and quickly endedcall!” Jack said, putting it in its own pile. He picked up another piece of paper. “Afraid to even talk, wouldn’t admit they knew or not. Alright, you get your own pile.” It took him about twenty minutes, but when he finished, he had worked through all the notes he’d taken when reaching out to the other Lion Prides in North America he’d been able to contact so far. There were still some to speak to, but he’d managed to get ahold of most of them already. He looked at the piles he’d created, then grabbed a note pad and started writing.
“Had no idea, pissed off.”
