Nalini Singh: Shield of Winter

In Alphabetical Order by First Name

Key: SD = SnowDancer Wolves; DR = DarkRiver Leopards

AbbotArrow, teleport-capable telekinetic (Tk)

AdenArrow, telepath (Tp)

Alice EldridgeHuman scientist, placed in forced cryonic suspension for over a century, now living with SD

Amara AleinePsy member of DR, former Council scientist, twin of Ashaya, mentally unstable

Anthony KyriakusMember of the Ruling Coalition, former Psy Councilor, father of Faith

Ashaya AleinePsy member of DR, former Council scientist, mated to Dorian, mother of Keenan, twin of Amara

BenSD pup

BrigitteEmpath (E), home base: Amsterdam

Carter HirschFather of Ivy

ChangCardinal empath (E), home base: research station in Kenya

ConcettaEmpath (E), home base: Paraguay

Council (or Psy Council)The former ruling Council of the Psy race, no longer extant

Cristabel RodriguezArrow, sharpshooter

DarkMindNeosentient psychic entity and dark twin of NetMind

DechenEmpath, home base: Tibet

Devraj SantosLeader of the Forgotten (Psy who defected from the PsyNet at the dawn of Silence and intermingled with the human and changeling populations), married to Katya Haas

Dorian ChristensenDR Sentinel, mated to Ashaya

Faith NightStarPsy member of DR, gift of Foresight (F), mated to Vaughn, daughter of Anthony, cousin to Sahara

Gwen JaneMother of Ivy

Hawke SnowSD Alpha, mated to Sienna

Indigo RiviereSD Lieutenant

IsaiahEmpath (E), home base: Niue

Ivy JaneEmpath (E), daughter of Gwen Jane and Carter Hirsch

JayaEmpath (E), home base: Maldives

Judd LaurenPsy member of SD, Lieutenant, mated to Brenna, uncle of Sienna, Toby, and Marlee

Julian/JulesDR cub, son of Tamsyn, twin of Roman

Kaleb KrychekCardinal Tk, leader of the Ruling Coalition, former Psy Councilor, psychically bonded to Sahara Kyriakus

Keenan AleinePsy member of DR, child, son of Ashaya

KitDR Soldier

LianneEmpath (E), home base: Kuala Lumpur

Lucas HunterDR Alpha, mated to Sascha, father of Naya

Marlee LaurenPsy member of SD, child, daughter of Walker Lauren, niece of Judd Lauren

Mercy SmithDR Sentinel, mated to Riley

Ming LeBonFormer Psy Councilor, military mastermind, cardinal telepath (Tp)

Naya HunterDR cub, daughter of Sascha and Lucas

NetMindNeosentient psychic entity said to be the guardian and librarian of the PsyNet, twin of the DarkMind

Nikita DuncanFormer Psy Councilor, part of Ruling Coalition, mother of Sascha

Patton(deceased), Arrow, teleporter (Tk-V), trained Vasic

PennEmpath (E), home base: Scotland

Pure PsyFanatical and violent pro-Silence group

Riley KincaidSD Lieutenant, mated to Mercy

Roman/RomeDR cub, son of Tamsyn, twin of Julian

Ruling CoalitionFormed after the fall of Silence and of the Psy Council. Composed of Kaleb Krychek, Nikita Duncan, Anthony Kyriakus, and the Arrow Squad

Sahara KyriakusUnclassified designation, psychically bonded to Kaleb Krychek, niece of Anthony Kyriakus, cousin to Faith

Sascha DuncanPsy member of DR, cardinal empath (E), mated to Lucas, mother of Naya, daughter of Nikita

Sienna LaurenPsy member of SD, possesses lethal psychic abilities (X), mated to Hawke, niece of Judd

TamsynSD Healer

Tatiana Rika-SmytheFormer Psy Councilor

TeriEmpath (E), home base: Houston

VasicArrow, teleporter (Tk-V)

Walker LaurenPsy member of SD, telepath (Tp), father of Marlee, brother of Judd

ZairaArrow, in charge of the covert Arrow compound in Venice

Zie ZenPsy elder, telepath (Tp)

THE SILENCE PROTOCOLhas been the defining aspect of the Psy race for over a hundred years. Conditioned not to feel emotion from childhood, they are known for their icy practicality, acute mental abilities, and adherence to strict codes of behavior. It is all they know and all they’ve been since the inception of the Protocol . . . until now.

The twilight of 2081 will be forever remembered as the time when Silence fell in a crash of violence brutally leashed by the furious abilities of the most powerful Psy in the Net. With the fall comes a hush across the world, as the Psy race seeks to understand who they are in this new reality where emotion isn’t a crime punishable by a vicious psychic brainwipe, and the heart is no longer an organ simply used to pump blood. For though Silence was a deeply flawed construct, it existed for a reason.

Insanity, blood-soaked death, murderous aggression, this is who the Psy were before Silence. No other race, it is said, bred more vicious, more intelligent, or more sadistic serial killers. But worse was the clawing madness that destroyed so many of them, saints and sinners alike, until it became known as the flip side to their incredible psychic gifts.

Is the past their future?

Will the Psy race once more devolve into endless nightmare?

No one can answer that question. Not yet.

To be an Arrow is to be an island, devoid of attachments that create vulnerability.

First Code of Arrows

THERE WAS NOTHINGleft of the man he’d been.

Vasic stared through the glass wall in front of him as the computronic gauntlet biologically fused to his left forearm hummed near silently in the diagnostic mode he’d initiated. Sleek black, the new invention remained relatively unstable, despite the constant and ongoing refinement by the medics and techs, but Vasic wasn’t concerned about his life.

He hadn’t been concerned about anything for a long time. At first it had been his conditioning under Silence that kept him cold, his emotions on ice. Now, as the world navigated the first days of a new year, he was beyond Silence and into a numbness so vast, it was an endless grayness.

The only reason he kept waking up in the morning was for the others, the ones in the squad who still had some hope of a normal life. It was far too late for him, his hands permanently stained with blood from the countless lives he’d taken in pursuit of a mandate that had proven false in a very ugly way.

“What is it?” he said to the man clad in a black combat uniform who’d just entered the common area of Arrow Central Command. None of them were sociable, yet they maintained this space, having learned through bitter experience that even an Arrow couldn’t always walk alone.

Today the room was empty except for the two of them.

“Krychek has a theory.” Aden came to stand beside Vasic, his dark eyes on the vista beyond the glass. It wasn’t of the outside world—the Arrows were creatures of shadow, and so they lived in the shadows, their headquarters buried deep underground in a location inaccessible to anyone who didn’t know the correct routes and codes.