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“Three. They’re stationed up above Windsong.”
“I’d like one down here, what else do we… oh lord,” Amelia said, “listen to me. That conversation can wait.”
“I brought you a list of what we have. I thought it might make your shopping list a bit easier.”
Mark laughed. “And here I thought we were just getting a head scientist.”
“Quite the contrary,” said Colby. “Amelia is a combat veteran in heavy aircraft and choppers. She has agreed to train our other pilots. We will have all kinds of air support.”
“Colby,” said Carson, “let’s get your men down to their new quarters. As she said, Amelia made enough to feed everyone.”
The two of them left as Amelia showed Mark and Nova to the cottage. When Colby and Carson returned, they had five very large men who were dressed in quasi-military garb. She was convinced she and Nova had been friends in another life. The beautiful arctic fox shifter moved in the kitchen alongside her, throwing the salad together while Amelia brought the pot pies out of the oven and put them on the island which they would use as a buffet. Nova added the salad, and they got out plates, cutlery, bread, and butter.
“This smells divine,” said Colby.
They sat down to eat, and Amelia felt as if they’d been a part of this group from the beginning. It was as if the group had been waiting for them to join so it could coalesce and begin to come together. When they were finished, they decided to light a bonfire and move outside for coffee and dessert.
It was a lovely evening and it might have felt like a group of regular friends just getting together if it weren’t for the enormous military helicopter and heavily-armed men. Amelia started to excuse herself to head back inside and start to clean up, when the pilot stopped her.
“No ma’am. Let us take care of that. You just sit here by the fire. I understand you and your mate have been put through a ringer. You’re one of us now, and we look after each other.”
The five men headed back to the cottage.
“I don’t mean to cast aspersions, but the pouch with the documentation is locked up,” said Carson.
“So where does this leave us?” asked Mark.
“If I may,” started Colby, who was not only an alpha but a natural born leader. “Amelia is going to look at the list I gave her with what we have and let me know what we need. I have some room up at Windsong, but I suspect she’s going to want most of the aircraft down here, which makes sense.”
Amelia nodded. “Carson and I have done a bit of exploring. There are some nice sea caves where we can put some of the choppers. We’ll have to retrofit them like they do on aircraft carriers, but there’s also a really nice stretch of land that would make a good, hidden landing strip where we could build hangers. Easy to get to from here. Given how many people Carson wants to bring here, we could easily house the pilots, your security personnel and the researchers.”
Mark agreed. “And we have people working on using the magnetic poles as a kind of offensive weapon.”
“It seems our ancestor shifters had that ability but it got lost,” explained Nova. “We’ve been wondering if there was some kind of genetic link, but honestly we’re just shooting in the dark.”
Carson nodded. “If so, and we can identify it, we might be able to scan for it to see which of your people might have the gene and if there’s some way to enhance it or help them develop the trait.”
“That’s what we were hoping.”
Carson turned to Amelia. “You’ve suddenly gone quiet.”
“Just thinking. If we could find a way to use that as a weapon in our choppers and planes, we could be virtually undefeatable.”
“If we fight a war in the air, aren’t the humans going to know?” asked Colby. “It’s the same, though, with any kind of open conflict.”
“Our best bet,” said Carson, “is beating them at their own game and never letting them get a foothold.”
“Again, I agree,” said Mark. “We need to take the Shadow League down and shut down their research facility or facilities.”
“My guess is most of the researchers have no clue what they’re really working on. I know NLGP keeps their teams isolated from one another. I want my teams to be able to collaborate.”
“Are all the members shifters?” asked Nova.
“Yes. When I first started there were a few humans, but little by little they got phased out. There are some teams and some individuals we’ll need to work around, but I’m working on a plan to get them out. Colby, you said you had a way…”
“Not so much a way, but a group—the Shadow Sisters. I’ve forged a good working relationship with them. I can almost guarantee they’ll want in. Deke will be inclined to help as his mate has worked closely with them in the past. We’ll want to stress that getting out is not dependent on helping us and regardless of what happens we’ll make sure they’re taken care of—either a place here or set up somewhere.”
“That’s awfully generous of you,” said Amelia.
