Page 61 of Rebel Fates

Activating the comms, I call, “Serrat, meet me in the control room.”

“Something wrong?” he asks.

I chuckle without humor. “Our lives are frexed. Of course, there’s something wrong.”

“Be right there.” His voice is tight. He hates it when I answer him like this, but he isn’t the only alpha in our group. And I am riled.

We meet at the same time and enter the control room. I briefly check the tracker.

Zeek glowers at me. “I know how to check a beacon!”

I snarl back. “I’m nervous. Let me have my compulsion.”

Zeek frowns and backs down. “I get it.”

“Well?” Serrat folds his arms across his chest as if that will block out my news.

“I should run a test on you both to confirm what I suspect. But something has considerably slowed my shift.”

“Because of Gemma?” Serrat asks.

“I think her absence has paused our cycle. Our bodies were all probably reacting to her presence and gearing up to claim her. When she left… our bodies stopped the process so we could find her again—our mate.”

Serrat grumbles with understanding. “I heard that happens with bonded groups that are separated.”

“That’s good news,right?” Zeek asks with more than a little worry in his voice.

“Yes, and no.” Taking a moment, I check the tracker readings again, not wanting to say the words out loud. “It will let us keep our minds centered for her rescue. However, if we don’t find her in the next few days…”

“We might lose our minds,” Serrat says when I can’t say it.

“How bad are we talking?” Zeek asks, eyes wide. “Panicking or full mental breakdown?”

“We were only around her for a short while.” I hedge. “I’m hoping since we haven’t claimed her, it won’t be bad. But I suspect she’s begun the bonding process to us as well, so she might go insane too… or die.”

“So when we find her, we’llneedto claim her, right? To keep her alive?” Zeek asks. “Whether or not Gemma wants it?” He looks stricken. “I don’t want to force her.”

“She seemed to be attracted to us and willing to be with us sexually,” Serrat says. “So I hope it won’t be too much more for her to accept our mating bite.”

“There is the other problem… Gemma’s a fragile human and might not survive completing our bond,” I explain. “Even full-blooded Hathorans don’t always survive our changes. What will happen to someone like her? With only a fraction of our genetic lineage?”

“That is my worry,” Serrat says. “And she might not want to bond with us permanently.” It pains him to even suggest it.

“I don’t feel right taking her without her permission.” Zeek clenches his fists like he is about to fight us. “But if it’s her life on the line? I don’t know if I could stop.”

“I don’t either, our animals have a mind of their own.” Serrat grits his teeth.

“There is a high probability that her omega nature will crave the bond too,” I offer. “As she has shown interest in us already, we wouldn’t beforcingher to do anything.”

“But her body might force her to do something she’ll regret. Omegas go into a kind of trance from what I have heard,” Zeek says.

“Just like us,” I counter. “I have a bigger question for us before we get to that point: do we all like her? Do we want to permanently bond with her?” I pause to contemplate my true feelings. “I found her… enticing.” I don’t want to admit, even to myself, how much I crave her touch again. To hear her voice. To gaze into her eyes that reflect my own hopes and fears—my shadows.

“Enticing?” Zeek scoffs. “I liked her right off. You hated her.”

“No. I hated what she represented. Trouble. I was correct, by the way.” I raise an eyebrow and wait for him to argue, but he doesn’t. Turning to Serrat, I ask, “How about you?”

“I’m attracted to her. I love her feisty energy. She would be a wonderful addition to our bond.”

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