Page 28 of Mysterious Mate

There was something different about Willow this morning, and it wasn’t just her use of his first name. She’d been switching back and forth between his first and last names since she’d been introduced to him. What seemed different was most of the fear had melted away. The mild self-loathing he’d observed from the first seemed to have gone. Willow seemed to have accepted who she was, but more importantly, she seemed to have decided who she wanted to be. That anyone had ever thought her vapid and shallow said more about them than it did about her, and he knew he’d been one of them.

His respect for her had been growing ever since Carlyle had sent a hit team to take them all out, but her, most especially. Jones had reported she’d been scared, but had followed his instructions to the letter and once inside the safe room her concern appeared to have been only for Cage and the others.

“I’m going to need to make a small change in your security routine today.” Expecting her to blow up, he watched her carefully.

“Okay. Do I need to do anything different?”

The calm tone and pleasant demeanor weren’t at all what he was expecting. “No. There are just a few things I need to do, and can’t be with you. I thought I’d have Jones provide close cover.”

“That’s fine. I like Jones. He’s easy to be around, very reassuring, and kind of hunky.”

She thought Jones was hunky? If he hadn’t already set the schedule, Jones would be the last guy he’d have assigned. Perhaps he and Jones needed to have a little talk about the dangers of making a play for a grizzly’s fated mate.

“I shouldn’t be too long, but I need to go over some things with Colby.”

“Is there a problem?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. We’re hearing more chatter about the League.”

“Cage, who is the Shadow League? For that matter, who is the Resistance?”

At this point, shallow and vapid might have been easier. There was no way he could tell her the whole truth, but he was tired of having to lie about everything.

“The Shadow League is kind of like a global cabal of really bad guys who want to take over the world.”

“That’s a bit melodramatic, don’t you think?”

“If I was hearing that for the first time and had no frame of reference, I’d think so, too,” said Cage, nodding.

“But you have that frame of reference?”

“I do. And calling them ‘bad guys’ is probably something of a misnomer. They’re evil. Pure, unadulterated evil.”

“And they want me dead. That’s a little daunting. Should I be afraid?”

“I think you should be cautious, but as bad as the Shadow League is, the Resistance is just as good. The League is also arrogant as hell, which is one of their greatest weaknesses.”

She sat for a moment, absorbing the information. “Thanks for telling me.”

“I don’t think keeping you in the dark is the best way for us to go forward. You can ask me anything you want. I may not be able to answer you, and if that’s the case, that’s what I’ll tell you.”

She nodded, and they ate the rest of their breakfast in a peaceful, companionable silence. When Jones joined them, he sat down in the chair next to her and engaged her in a lively conversation regarding some of the castle’s artwork. Willow seemed to have an interest in, and certain level of expertise regarding many of the pieces of art strewn throughout the castle. Jones came from money and so had at least a passing knowledge. Cage wouldn’t know the difference between a Picasso and a six-year old’s refrigerator art.

Excusing himself, he headed for his room, where he called Colby to give him a status report and to find out if any progress had been made on getting Willow divorced from her husband. If a final decree wasn’t imminent, Cage was considering taking matters into his own hands and taking care of the matter himself personally and permanently.

Cage booted up the protected computer he kept locked in the safe in his room and was able to establish a secure link to St. Piran’s and Colby.

“God, Weston, you look like shit.”

“Thanks, boss, love you, too.”

With their usual greetings exchanged, they went over their normal topics, including a detailed analysis of how Carlyle’s men had been able to get so close to the island before they’d shown up on the radar.

“Carlyle, or most likely the League, has been able to develop a new level of jamming or stealth capability that allowed them to slip under the wider net of the fortress. We’re working now on ensuring that doesn’t happen again. The information your tech guys…”

“My tech guys? I thought they were your tech guys.”

“If you haven’t figured out they went from being my guys to being your guys, you haven’t been paying attention. So, yeah, your tech guys have been able to provide us with invaluable information that has allowed us to get up-to-speed far more quickly than we would have on our own. And I don’t just mean raw data, I mean detailed and in-depth analysis. They were pretty pissed that it happened, and I have a sneaking suspicion they’ve been working on upgrading your technology.”

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