Chapter 1

Lee Walker's life is difficult but very rewarding. He is the Alpha of every Big Cat Shifter in North America, one of the richest men in the world and one of the last two surviving Original Shifters. Lee is six four and two hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle. His skin is just the right kind of tan, his hair is deep chestnut pushed back over his head to give him a handsome don't mess with me look, and his face is perfectly symmetrical with a smile that shows a dash of roguish bad boy. After all, Lee is a cat. But not just any cat, Lee is a Lion. He is the King of his kind and has the presence to match. 

His wife Alice is a Knockout, her skin is alabaster white and flawless. Her eyes are different colors, one blue and one bright green. She is tall for a woman, around five eleven/six foot with full lips and the most beautiful curly strawberry blonde hair you have ever seen. Alice is a stay at home executive mom, she does her share of the leading but stays home with their three children, Samantha, Alex and Jack. She is the only other Original Shifter alive…

Lee looked at himself in the mirror that morning and sighed. He said to himself, "Why can't we just go back to being one clan" He said this to himself with a bad feeling of unease as Alice walked into their beautiful canopy bathroom. As he shook off his unease Alice came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into him. Lee couldn't help but think of how they met and fell in love. In that instant his memory started to change and he saw it was as much an accident as it was fate.

It took three tries for Lee to answer Alice and come out of his memory of past events. For the fourth time Alice said "Babe it's the day of the gathering do you want me to come with you or can I take the kids to the Park!?" Lee decided in that instance it would be good for his family to have a day off and not worry about anything. As Lee turned around to embrace Alice with a kiss he said "go ahead and take them to the park, the gathering doesn't need both of us to attend." Stripping down and moving toward the shower Alice smiled and thanked her husband for the day off.

Lee, already pressed for time, yelled his goodbyes to the kids, jumped in his truck and drove to the office. (Lee overlooks hundreds of companies from his downtown headquarters in Aurora Colorado) He had parked his truck at the front of the building and the uneasy feeling he had that morning rushed back to set the hair on the back of his neck straight up. Being a cat Lee has very good senses but as he stepped towards the front doors he couldn't sense anything wrong in his area, he just felt like he was being watched and something was going to go wrong.

Hopping in the elevator he pushed the button for the top floor and swiftly ran through his day so far and what he was going to have to do. Nothing wrong or different than any other day came to his mind as he stepped off and moved towards his office. Since he was only going to be there for a moment he didn't have his secretary Jane Evans, a very athletic, extremely normal looking woman come in. He walked in, grabbed his briefcase for the gathering, sent out a few emails and headed back down the elevator. 

As Lee jumped back into his truck he still felt the unease that a sixth sense from his shifter blood gave him when something big was going to happen. Arriving at the gathering he was surprised to see he was the last one there, he was known for being punctual and on time. He mentally berated himself for acting weird, shook off his discomfort and walked in the building. 

Four different clans, 4 different gatherings yearly, every gathering location switched to a different place every time where no Alpha could have an advantage over another. Entering the conference room Lee noted that no spouses were present at this gathering and all the other Alphas were waiting impatiently. As he sat looking from one Alpha to another he sensed he wasn't the only one discomforted by a feeling of unease. 

Slade, noting that everyone was ready and not wanting them to know he was freaking out on the inside, glared at Lee, cleared his throat and said in a casual voice ruined by his sneer "It's nice of you to join us Lee, what's wrong? That wife of yours give you some trouble this morning?!?" Lee as ever ignored Slade and didn't rise to the bait. Slade sensing he wasn't going to be able to bait Lee this morning moved on, wanting to get on with his day and his problems. Slade asked why they had to meet for a gathering if there was nothing new to bring to the table. No accidents involving humans, no one that was turned going crazy, and no fights this quarter between the clans.

Barbie despised Slade, before either of them were Alphas of their respective clans they had a thing for each other, but Slade turned out to be a petty thug who thought because he was stronger physically he could abuse his partners. She started to say a very impolite response when Lee saw where this was going, cut her off and noted that Slade was right about no new information. But personally understood that the gathering every quarter was important to keep all the clans up to date and safe. He went on to say he noticed everyone was on edge and so no one got angry at his statement he looped himself in on the feeling.

Preston and Barbie both good friends looked at each other with concerned expressions and nodded to Lee saying they agreed. But Slade as ever said "I am never scared or frightened like you little animals, there is no reason for any of you to feel unease." Lee having grown up in school with all three Alphas sitting with him knew when one was lying. Lee's face showing his nonbelief towards Slade, turned to look at all three of the Alphas together and asked if anyone had reports on being followed or watched.

All three Alphas shook their heads no but Slade slowly looked up from where he was shaking his head and said "We actually might have a problem." Not liking any of the other Alphas one bit, Slade was hesitant to say something but once he put two and two together he knew he would have to tell them. In the resounding silence he said "for the last month my guys have been disappearing little by little, I thought they were just deserters heading for a different clan running overseas and hiding their tracks. Most of those ungrateful bastards end up jumping in a plane and flying over to Russia."

Lee not liking what he was hearing asked him to explicate. Slade not wanting to show weakness in numbers decided to only tell a half truth. "I don't completely know what's happening but one of my guys found his human brother beat to hell, burned and stabbed in an alley two blocks away from my restaurant, the rest have just vanished. He said everything was normal except for the knife wounds, whoever stabbed him used a silver knife like he was a shifter. Like they thought they knew what he was." Slade didn't tell them about the note he found saying: "We know what you are and we know who you are. None of you will escape us, we will wipe you out like we should have done at the beginning."

Slade not knowing what the note was talking about "at the beginning" expected it to be a dumb attempt to make him uneasy from a rival Alpha. Personally he thought it was Barbie, he knew she still hated him. Preston, not having spoken up yet squeaked a little then cleared his throat and asked the group what does this mean and why is this only happening to the wolves. Barbie knowing it would piss off Slade and possibly answer the question said "We all know Slade doesn't hide the fact that his men are stronger than humans. He uses that fact to beat the money out of his clients if they try not to pay. He is the one putting us all in danger, they probably don't know about the rest of us."

Not liking where this was headed knowing what was happening to Slade's guys could be causing his discomfort, Lee made himself tell the others about his feelings that morning at home and then also at his office before the gathering. They all agreed that they had been feeling something for a while now but put it off to the stress of looking after large communities of people. After hearing the other Alphas readily agree, even Slade pushed any hesitation away that something was truly wrong.