BEFORE THE MASKS. BEFORE THE WOMEN. BEFORE THEY BECAME THE GRAY COUNCIL. THIS IS HOW BROTHERHOOD DIES AND VENGEANCE IS BORN.

Ten years ago, the Covenant ruled Seattle’s underworld—twelve men bound by blood and brutality, led by Roman Huntington and David Kross. They were untouchable until Portland changed everything.

When David proposed expanding into territory Roman considered untouchable, lines were drawn. Brothers became enemies.

The war that followed painted Portland’s rivers red. The Covenant tore itself apart—seven following David, five standing with Roman, their soldiers dying in the crossfire. When the smoke cleared, both sides walked away from the ashes, the Covenant becoming nothing but legend.

Now Roman is rebuilding. Not the Covenant—something better. Something with rules. Something with principles the old organization never had.

Cole Barrett, the prosecutor turned killer. Sebastian Walker, the chef who knows a hundred ways to make someone disappear. Dom Wilson, the surgeon who harvests more than healing. Abel Darke, the youngest survivor who watched his mentors tear each other apart.

Five men who survived the Covenant’s destruction. Five men who learned that brotherhood forged in blood can drown in it just as easily.

But David’s Syndicate—built from his seven—has been hunting them ever since. As the Gray Council rises from the Covenant’s corpse, they must face the ghosts of who they used to be—and the monsters they’re choosing to become.

BEHIND THE COUNCIL is the prequel to the Gray Council series, revealing how the Covenant’s war created the Council’s purpose. This dark origin story features brotherhood destroyed and rebuilt, the evolution from crime to twisted justice, and the moment each man chose vengeance over virtue.

A complete novella that can be read before or after the main series—though reading after Book 1 reveals delicious hidden connections.

The Gray Council Series: Where the villain always gets the girl. Some monsters are made. Others are forged in the ashes of what they used to be.