“Ma’am,” Savage and his team said, inclining their heads at her.
“Hello, everyone. I think some of you may know Brinnley, who’s sitting right over there, and you met Findley, too,” Bonnie said.
“There’s my girl! Findley, hey, girl, hey! Heeeyyyyeeeeyyyy!” Frenzy said.
Findley laughed and waved back as she got up and ran over to hug Frenzy. “Hey, Frenzy.”
“For those of you who might not be aware, Findley is Three’s mate,” Frenzy said, giving his friends a knowing look.
All eyes moved to Three and a couple of pairs of sunglasses came off as they looked questioningly at him.
“Real mate, not chosen. It’s an instinct thing,” Frenzy clarified.
Savage focused his entire being on Three. “Did you know immediately?”
“Yes. And so did she.”
“So it’s not just females who’ve been at our facilities or someone we choose and pursue in the hopes of her accepting us that we can mate?” Savage said.
“No, it’s not. Do you know what these people are?” Three asked.
“We’ve been briefed,” Savage said.
“We think it has to do with the DNA that was spliced with ours. It gives us the ability to sense mates. It doesn’t guarantee that they’re out there, but it gives us the same ability to sense them as does any shifter — though we don’t shift, we have some predator’s DNA strands mixed with ours. And despite the factthat a female might recognize us as her mate, she still has the ability to walk away. It’s not a promise.”
Savage looked at his team and Rage and Harsh were already speaking excitedly between themselves about the possibility of finding mates outside Alliance. “It’s good to know there are options,” Savage finally said.
“So, to what do we owe the pleasure?” Jack asked.
“We are here to do some investigating of the attack on the Gamieyon Pride. We are here to invite you to accompany us,” Frenzy said.
“This is about the call Rance made to you,” Jack said.
“It is indeed,” Frenzy answered.
The sliding glass door opened, drawing their attention as Gwen stepped out onto the patio, her hands still gripping the door frame. “Bonnie?” she said, her voice weak.
“Gwen! Are you alright?” Bonnie asked, rushing toward her.
Gwen shook her head as she reached for Bonnie, her eyes rolled back in her head and she went down.
Bonnie managed to lunge toward her and keep her head from bouncing on the patio pavement, while Rance made a dive from where he stood and was able to get beneath her so she landed on him rather than the pavement altogether.
“Gwen! Gwen, can you hear me?!” Bonnie said urgently, gently tapping Gwen’s face.
“Fuck! Bonnie!” Rance said, holding up one of his hands, covered in blood.
“Somebody get one of our Medibags!” Frenzy barked out.
“Storm already went for it,” Feral said, kneeling beside Rance who growled at him.
“It’s alright, my man, I’m not interested in her in any way other than helping save her life,” Feral said.
“Rance! Rance, my buddy! You hear me?” Frenzy asked, his own hands doing a quick cursory blind search of her body.
Rance shifted his attention to Frenzy.
“She yours?” Frenzy asked. “This the Reigna you told me about?”
