Grai's Game (First Wave) by Mikayla Lane

standing and moving silently towards the door, leaving without another word.
    “Let’s give it five minutes, and then you really need to go to your mate. She has to be worried.” Ivint said after Balduen had closed the door, giving Grai no further excuses not to go get properly treated.
    He held his smile when Grai just nodded. Under the circumstances, Ivint was sure he was worried about his family and wanted to make sure that they were well. He had already heard the rumblings among the ranks, the choosing of sides between Dare’s friends and those hybrids that had become friends with Banatar’s females but were loyal to Grai.
    If this situation was not handled delicately the place could easily erupt into in-fighting, and he would not allow that to happen. The first thing he needed to do was distinguish them as something other than Relian to his people… to himself. He was not above the petty thoughts that the others were also having and expressing, but he knew the futility of allowing those thoughts to continue to fester and grow.
    “What do you call your people?” He asked.

Chapter Six
    Grai looked blankly at the High Councilor not really sure that he understood the question. He turned to Traze to see if he understood, and he just shrugged, a curious look on his face as well. Ivint watched the exchange with equal puzzlement. It was a simple question.
    “I think what the High Councilor is trying to say is that you really aren’t Relian’s… you don’t act like them. Some of your teams are previous captives of the Relian’s, and you even have some of our girls. You’re like a ragtag group of resistance fighters from some cheesy romance novel. And they always have an equally cheesy name, so what do you call your group?” Jax explained with a cheeky grin at Ivint. 
    “Well, I don’t think I would have put it quite like that.” Ivint sputtered, his face turning pink from embarrassment at Jax’s attempt to explain for him.
    Traze and Grai continued to look at each other in puzzlement, which seemed to irritate Reven a little.
    “Do you call yourself Relian’s?” Reven asked a little gruffly.
    “NO!” The growling roar uttered by both Grai and Traze startled Reven into jumping back from tending the wound for a moment.
    “We do not have a name. We just… are.” Grai said, unsure why they would think his people had a name when they were a multitude of people.
    “You do not name yourselves something to reflect that you are not… like the others of your kind?” Risk asked, surprised that they hadn’t thought of it. He couldn’t fathom wanting to be associated with a name that basically said you were the ultimate parasite scum.
    It finally dawned on Grai what they were asking, and he had to wonder why he had not thought of it sooner. It would have been a good way to assist in bonding his people together, although he certainly hadn’t done too badly with that anyway.
    “No, I had not thought of that. Nor would I know what to call us since we are a ragtag group as you said.” Grai admitted with a slight frown. His people were highly trained , good people and being described as ragtag, no matter how true, was beneath them. However, it was still better than being called a Relian.
    “Then that sounds like something you need to speak to your people about. If we are to fight together in the future, then we need a way to distinguish your people from Dagog’s to prevent… accidents.” Ivint suggested, liking the idea the more he thought of it.
    “We are beast. We do not need to create new names for brethren. Our brothers the Zendarian’s have agreed to offer their name and sanctuary to Grai’s people. Apparently, they know you and your people well.” Dread interjected with curiosity heavy in his voice as he looked at Grai.
    The Zendarian’s were the most reclusive of the beast species and considered to be the wisest and peaceful. For them to have offered their name to Grai’s people, they must have