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Carson wondered when they’d exchanged personalities. Growing up, Mason had been the jokester, the one with an easy laugh, while Carson had been the serious, studious one. Somewhere along the line they’d flipped. Mason had become guarded, distrustful, bordering on paranoid. Carson, on the other hand, had learned to lighten up and had found the girls flocked to him. More than one tutoring session in high school had ended in a heavy make-out session.
Even as they’d grown apart in their career paths, where they lived, and what they wanted, they had remained close, always getting together at least two to three times a year—always in some place new neither of them had ever been. He wanted to take Amelia to all those places. Somehow, he knew she would understand.
“Carson?”
He turned to see Colby standing not three feet behind him. The lynx-shifter gave a new definition to the word ‘stealthy.’
“I don’t want to bother you or intrude, but I thought you might have a few questions that I could answer.”
Carson turned back to watch the ocean and dorsal fins of the orcas as they glided through the water. “A ‘few?’ Oh, I have a lot more than a ‘few.’ How did Mason get involved in all of this? Last time I checked, my brother was a lumberjack, not some kind of espionage operative. What was he doing for you, specifically? Why did the Shadow League want him dead? Was it him they were after? Why did you and the Phantom Fire involve my mate, who, at the time, didn’t know anything about shifters? For the record, Colby, Tevryn is a fucking dragon; why the hell didn’t he just fly those papers up here himself?”
“We were trying to keep a low profile.”
“You failed.”
“Yes, I’m afraid that is my assessment as well. The Phantom Fire has never involved itself in squabbles amongst shifters, not unless they were being paid to. We thought keeping their involvement as low profile as possible was the way to go. We were wrong. We put Amelia in the line of fire with no protection, no backup, and not a clue. Mason chose to get involved because of you.”
“Oh, no, you don’t get to put his death on me.”
Colby waved his hand. “No. You misunderstand. Mason never trusted that the people you worked for were on the up and up. The more he learned, the more concerned he got. He came to me, and I kind of fobbed him off, but once we started hearing rumors about genetic research, trying to breed super soldiers, weaponizing what they were doing and the like, I realized we had a unique opportunity with Mason being your twin. We sent him in here and there to do some light sleuthing and planting electronic recording devices. But then he got seen some place he shouldn’t have been. We had planned to get you out, but then you heard a little something about the EnGen Project having gone wrong in Seattle, and he knew you’d bolt. I was worried perhaps you were actually working for them. He broke my nose.”
Carson laughed.
“He was working to set that up—to get you and most likely your entire team out of there. He knew they were all shifters and that we’d have to sort out their loyalties, but he also knew you’d never leave without them.”
“So, they were after both of us.”
Colby nodded. “Yes, and then you saved Amelia, and they realized you would most likely have those papers. Please tell me you can make out what those notes and symbols mean.”
“I only caught a glimpse of them, but I believe I can. And there’s an animal geneticist, specializing in extinct and very old animals…”
“Like dragons?”
“Just like. Her name is Emery Smoak. She lost a fellowship at Oxford over a theory she had that dragons once walked the earth. She’s been on the EnGen Project from the beginning. Alexandra Neal. My guess is that she is clueless as to what is going on. NLGP keeps things very compartmentalized. She could be invaluable to the team.”
“Start making a list.”
“I want my brother’s death to count for something.”
Colby reached out, laying his hand on Carson’s shoulder. “It did. Long before you and Amelia, his contributions mattered. He got us into places we would never have dared to go. The more we learned, the more he knew we had to stop them. Saving you and your mate? The Mason Payne I know would have considered that a good and honorable death. So if the only reason you want to do this is to make his death count, that was done long before you got involved. But if you want revenge…”
Carson swung around to face Colby. “You know I do.”
“Then fight with us. If you say Amelia’s out, and you don’t want her flying, I will honor that, although if she could at least train our other pilots, I’d be grateful. Do you know she is an Air Force Cross and Silver Star recipient?”
Carson was stunned. “I had no idea.”
Colby nodded. “She was nominated for the Medal of Honor but got passed over because she was female. The bastards. Three of my people know who she is, as does the sheriff of Mystic River and the head of the Park Rangers here in Alaska.”
“I’m okay at least with the training stuff. Part of me wants to keep her out of danger, and part of me doubts I can do it.”
Colby laughed ruefully. “Trust me when I say, I feel your pain.”
“I didn’t know you had a mate.”
“Nor does anyone else. I’d appreciate if you kept that little bit of information to yourself.”
“I see,” said Carson with a wry grin. “Doessheknow?”
