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“Your mate is trying to tell you that’s a touchy subject. Kyra and I have had a tumultuous and fragile relationship for some time. I don’t even know how to get in touch with her. She and her mate are on the run from the League as it wants him dead.”
Sean nodded. “Aye. Scott Hardaway. You do know that isn’t his real name, right? He’s the younger brother of Graeme MacLean, alpha of the Clan MacLean. My guess is Graeme knows how to reach him. I know the MacLeans. I’d be willing to bet we can count on their support, as well. If you like I can ask Hamish to reach out to Graeme. Scott can’t keep running. If there’s a fight coming, we’re going to need for Winter to have trained and skilled operatives.”
“You’re not going to fight me about remaining with Colby?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but for now, I know we need your expertise and experience. I think we should actually give Winter a seat at the table,” said Sean.
“Go on,” said Colby, “I’m intrigued.”
“The way I see it, you’re setting up Windsong and Vulpecula—godawful name for an estate, if you ask me—as well as Mystic River and Otter Cove as the focus and target of the Shadow League. You’re going to need someone to follow them in, so we catch them between a rock and a hard place. If Hamish can get Graeme to throw in with us, you’ll have two of the most powerful shifter clans in Scotland.”
“You think Winter ought to have her own intelligence division,” said Colby nodding.
“I do. She’s managed to set up an impressive web of operatives for you without anyone knowing, and she’s done it while avoiding me. I have to tell you I’ve spent a small fortune trying to hunt her down, and it was only recently I tracked her to you. Even then I didn’t know she was your beta.”
“You and I may come to blows when this is over as to where Winter will be.”
Sean shook his head. “No; we won’t. I won’t give her up. She is my mate and belongs at Curaidh with me.” He held up his hands. “And before the two of you go looking to put my head on a spike, I think I have a plan that might suit all of us, but can we put that aside for now and focus on the more pressing issue, which is stopping the Shadow League?”
“I’m good with that,” said Winter.
“You are?” Sean said incredulously.
She nodded. “You’ve changed; so have I. I trust you. We’ll find a way to make it work for all of us.”
“If your lady believes in you and your ability to make this all work out, who am I to disagree with her?” said Colby. “And I don’t disagree with you about putting Winter in charge of intelligence and, as you said, giving her a seat at the table. If anyone has earned it, she has, which brings me back to this evening. I think she needs to be at The Workshop. Winter and I both believe that may be a hub for the Shadow League.”
“As do I,” said Sean. “There’s no need for her to go alone…”
“We can send one or more of our people, but she’s far less conspicuous without you. She’ll be able to hang back and observe if people aren’t watching her, trying to figure out who the hell you are and how you fit in to all of this. I’d like to get the VIN numbers off the snowplows that were left behind by whoever wanted to frame Windsong. Once we have those, we can start trying to figure out who is behind this.”
“I’ll be fine, Sean. Mystic River is a small town, and for the most part, pretty peaceful. I’ll go in and get a drink. I’ll let it be known I’m brooding—thinking about what to do about you.”
Sean nodded. “I don’t like it, but we need to find that mole, and we need to start giving the League the information we want them to have.”
“Agreed,” said Colby. “See, Winter, that didn’t go badly at all.”
“No, but then, when the two of you check your alpha egos at the door, you’re both reasonably intelligent.” Taking Sean’s face in her hands, she kissed him deeply. “I promise I won’t be gone long. I haven’t had a chance to talk with Colby about my most likely suspects. Can you fill him in for me?”
“Aye, lass. I will. I’ll also call Hamish and have him reach out to MacLean.” He turned to Colby, “I’ll see if he can’t get word to your sister and her mate.”
“I would be most profoundly in your debt,” said Colby.
Winter left the two men discussing various ways that the Campbells and the MacLeans could come in behind the Shadow League. She wasn’t convinced it was going to be that kind of battle. She believed the League would be more subtle than that. She’d have to talk to Sean and Colby about her concerns. It was good to have a contingency that foresaw an all-out battle, but she believed they also needed a plan for a war fought on a much smaller, but deeper scale. If the League could break-up towns like Mystic River and Otter Cove and keep the various shifter clans separate, they’d be better able to control them, playing one clan off another and manipulating things to their advantage.
Winter entered The Workshop and was hailed by several people she knew. She waved them off and ordered a double shot of Macallan’s neat. Fading into the shadows at the end of the bar, she had the perfect vantage point to observe everything going on.
“Hey, Winter,” said Derek Grayson. “You okay?”
She smiled. Derek was a good friend. “I’m good. Why do you ask?”
“Everyone is talking about that Campbell guy. First, he’s at Trudy’s; then he’s up at Windsong saying he’s your fated mate, and you’re already bonded to him…”
“My father tried to pay a debt to him by forcing me into a pair bond. He said vows. I didn’t, and there was no claiming, but he’s kind of a hunk, and I’m finding him not to be the odious company I thought he was.”
“I don’t know if you know, but the guy who was with him and Trudy left together…”
Best to head off anybody getting wild ideas; she hoped to hell Sean was right about Hamish and Trudy. “Hamish needed to go back to Scotland. He invited Trudy to go along with him.”
