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BRIE
She leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and biting her fist to keep from crying. Why couldn’t she just love him and build a life with him? Why did it have to be so difficult? She sat forward, opening her eyes and shaking off her reverie and the last remnants of her dream. She knew the answer all too well: because at the end of the day, Colby Reynolds was an alpha male in a society that gave them all the power and condoned anything they did, regardless of how it affected those around them.
Brie knew firsthand what it was to see an alpha go into a rut or succumb to the mating fever. She was the product of such a union. Her father, Thane, had been the ruthless alpha at Windsong before Colby. Thane had encountered Brie’s mother, Gaia, at a gathering of lynx shifters and had claimed that she was his fated mate. He had lied. Gaia’s father had refused Thane’s offer to take her to mate even when Thane had offered him an enormous amount of money to do so. Gaia had been promised to another. Not one to be denied, Thane had kidnapped Gaia and returned with her to Windsong and had forced a pair bond with her.
Brie smiled when she remembered her mother. It was not from her alpha male father that Brie had inherited her strength and cunning, but rather her mother. Unbeknownst to Thane, Gaia could trace her female line back thousands of years, back to the dark days when the Shadow Sisters had been formed. Female shifters of all kinds had pledged their lives and their fortunes to one another and to those who needed their help.
Gaia might have been forced to remain at Windsong, but while the Shadow Sisters had existed for millennia, Gaia had been among the first to forge the beginning strands of a vast intelligence network of women and information that would electronically weave together a web of safety for those in need. More than once, Brie’s father had taken out his wrath on her mother when the Shadow Sisters were successful in spiriting off another female to safety. At first, he’d beaten Gaia. When that hadn’t proven to be a deterrent, Thane had tried to humiliate her by taking other females into his bed and making her watch. That too had proved ineffective.
It was only when he’d turned his rage on her beloved daughter that Gaia challenged him in front of the entire clowder, knowing he could not ignore her in public. Thane had laughed and backhanded her, but Gaia knew she had him cornered. She called for a champion to press her claim for freedom. None had been so foolish as to take on the battle-hardened warrior.
None, that is, except Colby Reynolds, who had just returned from a stint in Naval Intelligence. As Colby and Thane squared off in a battle to the death, Gaia had taken her daughter and stolen away into the night, using the very network of intelligence, safe houses and money she had helped to establish to secure their future.
Before his return to Windsong, Colby had cautioned Gaia against the recklessness in challenging Thane. He’d pleaded with her to wait for his return to Alaska so that he could confront Thane himself. But Gaia had feared for her and her daughter’s safety and so had issued her challenge the moment Colby had landed on the beach at Windsong. They heard later that Colby had been the victor, but Gaia had sworn never to trust any male ever again and had made her daughter promise to do the same.
Leaving had been difficult for Brie. Windsong was the only home she’d ever known. She’d spent the best part of her childhood there with her best friend, Kyra, and Kyra’s older brother, Colby. Brie had known since childhood that Colby was her fated mate. Colby’s vision for the stronghold had always been a place where those who needed it could find refuge. He had held true to his word.
With his intelligence sources, he had shored up the weaknesses in the Shadow Sister’s network and then reached out to Brie when she assumed the mantle of leadership, offering his assistance to further their cause.
“Why?” she’d asked.
“Because the world is becoming a more dangerous place each day. Because there are those who would use the Shadow Sisters and their work as a rallying point for some who would oppress female shifters of all kinds and see us fall back into a feudal system where they have no rights.”
“But why now? Why you? Don’t bullshit me, Colby, not if you really want to help. I cannot and will not endanger the sisterhood by trusting a male, and an alpha male at that without good reason to do so.”
For a moment, Colby had let the mask he showed to the world drop. “Because until you know your sisters are safe and can be helped without the need for extreme secrecy, I will never have you at my side.”
“Don’t, Colby. My mother left you to stand against my father…”
“No. She did what she needed to do to secure her daughter’s future and that of the rest of those in need of saving.”
“He could have killed you.”
Colby had nodded. “But he didn’t. I prevailed, and I remade Windsong into what I promised you and Kyra I would.”
And he had. It had been Colby’s fortune and his vast intelligence network that had strengthened and supported the Shadow Sisters. But it wasn’t just the money or the intel he was able to provide. He offered Windsong as a safe haven and didn’t much care what anyone thought of it. He kept most of his activities secret, allowing those he’d considered to be his closest friends to think the worst of him.
She looked back at the email and sighed again. Brie trusted Colby more than any other man in her life, and more than most women, but she’d seen one too many men in the grip of the fever that came over them to possess the woman they deemed their fated mate. In her opinion no man could be trusted at that point. She sure as hell didn’t trust a system that allowed them to do what they wanted regardless of the woman’s feelings on the matter.
So, she held herself separate—even from Colby—living up in her cave alone where she could mourn the life she might have had if only things had been different. Most times, she could convince herself it was for the best. Other times, she grieved the life that might have been.
Colby,
Christmas Eve. Send me an address. As always, privacy and security are my first concerns. If I have doubts about either, I won’t show.
Brie
Her finger hovered over the send button for a moment before she convinced herself she would do what was needed for the Shadow Sisters and sent the message.
Pulling up an email from Caye that had come in while she’d been lost in her own memories, she scanned it quickly. It seemed one of their most recent rescues was in need of additional support. Massaging her temples, Brie reviewed Caye’s missive. It seemed the woman had bolted from the temporary safe house in which they had stashed her.
Brie,
It seems you were right. Gemma has had a change of heart. She spoke to her handlers in Toronto. They thought she had settled, but the following morning she was gone. She left a note thanking us for our trouble.
What do you want to do?
Caye
