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CHAPTER 1
COLBY
Windsong Manor
Mystic River, Alaska
Three Years Ago
“You must be daft,” said Mason Payne to the alpha of the lynx-shifters at Windsong.
Colby Reynolds leaned back in his chair, regarding the man he knew he needed to recruit if they were going to find out what the hell was going on at the Northern Lights Genome Project in Reykjavik. “I assure you, I am not.”
“Then you must think I am. Seriously? You want me to believe that the boogeymen from our collective childhoods actually exist, and they’re being controlled by some kind of evil genius playing puppet master?”
“I told you when I sent for you, Mason…”
Mason’s reflexes were far quicker than Colby had anticipated. The snow leopard-shifter who sat across from him was up, out of the chair, across the desk, and smashing his fist into Colby’s face before the latter was even aware he was moving. The force of the blow not only knocked him back into his seat but sent the chair flying backwards into the French doors that led out onto a patio and expansive lawn.
“About that,” snarled Mason. “If you ever send goons after me again, when I’m done with them, I’ll be coming for you.”
Colby held up his hand to stop his men from trying to take on the snow leopard. He was stronger, bigger, and faster than they were. That didn’t mean that Colby doubted his men’s ability to handle Mason, but he also believed Mason had every right to be angry. In his instructions to his men to invite Mason to a meeting here at Windsong, he had not been as clear as he might have been. When his men had encountered resistance, they had decided it was a summons and not an invitation. They had been a bit over-zealous in their enthusiasm to bring Mason to him. That enthusiasm had resulted in a number of broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a broken jaw, and one head injury—with nary a scratch on Mason.
Colby opened his arms, resting them on the chair with his palms up. “Message received, and again my apologies to all involved. I should have made it clear that I just wanted a message delivered and for them to offer to give you a ride back. While I appreciate your position, this is your one and only freebie—attack or harm my people again, and you and I will tangle. I don’t think you’ll like the outcome of that confrontation.”
Mason searched Colby’s face. The lynx-shifter was certain the snow leopard was trying to verify the truth behind his words. Colby would guess he was a far better poker player than Mason would ever be, which meant Mason trying to guess what went on behind Colby’s serene mask would be an exercise in futility.
Still disgruntled, but mollified for the moment, Mason grumbled and took his seat. “Let’s say for even a minute I believe the bullshit you’re spouting…”
Colby shook his head. “We both know the Shadow League exists. We both know you’ve run afoul of them more than once. Your association with the Finder and the Hellhound has put you on their radar.”
“Deke and Hayden are men I served with in my unit—nothing more, nothing less.”
“Yet you spend more time with them than you do with your twin brother—why is that?”
“None of your business, and how the hell do you know?”
“I make it my business to know as much as I can about a person before I try to recruit them to my cause,” said Colby levelly.
“And just what is your cause?”
“Not to put too fine a point on it—and not to add to the belief that I am just a small-town mafia boss with delusions of grandeur—I’m trying to save the world.”
Mason snorted. “You really are certifiable, you know that?”
Colby leaned forward, locking eyes with the snow leopard. “Maybe. But I am also deadly serious.” That seemed to get through to him.
“How?”
“Let’s just say that I am not what people believe me to be. I came across information about ten years ago that indicated there was something going on deep within the shifter community. I’d grown up hearing tales about the Shadow League?—”
Mason cracked a smile. “I’ll bet you wanted to be one of them.”
“Didn’t you?” Colby chuckled. “So much more fun to be the evil, sexy bad guy.”
“Yes, heroes don’t seem to have nearly as much fun as the evil villains, but then I grew out of that phase of my life.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Mason; so did I. I began establishing an intelligence network that could reveal information that the Ruling Council didn’t want anyone to have, and when I found the Shadow League was no myth, I began setting up a network of informants, spies, smugglers, and the like so that if and when we needed it, we would have the foundation already laid.”
