"Whatever he's trying to accomplish can't happen if he's dead." Grace picked up the receipts again.
"Damn coward," Stephen muttered before taking another sip of his coffee.
Grace returned to examining the receipts as if she had just announced the weather and not a slaughter of innocents. After a minute she realized that all of them were still staring at her. "If it makes you feel better, I heard rumors that a few of the females and their pups escaped, making their way to the Moonclaw pack, and were given shelter."
"My pack," Stephen said.
Grace shrugged. "I can't confirm it, so unless you heard something I didn't, don't assume anything."
All of them returned to their assigned examination of Josiah's papers, but Samara found her focus shattered. Josiah's use of silver against the Shadowstalkers pack sounded too much like how she disabled Riverstone long enough to burn them to death in their own home.
This is different. There were no pups in the Riverstone Pack.
"Why weren't there any pups in the Riverstone Pack?" Samara asked no one in particular. "I didn't see anyone younger than I was, and I wasn't exactly careful about who I killed." At the last part, her voice dropped to a whisper.
Kellen looked up from the papers he was examining, questioning her without asking, as promised.
"I mean," she fumbled for her words, "they were all mean and nasty and had no conscience, just like Josiah. I didn't care that I killed them. I still don't. If there had been any pups, though, I might not have done what I did. Or at least I would have made sure the pups were outside before I set the fire."
"Josiah can't abide having pups around." Grace said, not looking at her as she flipped through the receipts. "Pups are loud, messy, and needy. If any of the pack wanted to have a relationship, they needed Josiah’s permission and had to show proof that the female was sterilized."
"Of course, it's the female who has to give up her ability to have children." Then it hit her. “Grace, you too?”
Grace glanced up from the receipts, then bowed her head again. “No. Josiah wanted me to remember every month of what I could have but would never be allowed to have again.”
Forcibly separated from her only child and only hope of having children under the control of a madman. That would make any woman angry enough to wait over a century for retribution. Grace might appear awkward in the world outside of Riverstone, but Josiah hadn’t broken her.
Samara looked at Kellen, and she knew they were both thinking the same thing.
"Grace, did you blow up the two railcars killing those wolf shifters?" he asked.
"Yes, I blew up the two railcars before I escaped."
"I'm not sure if I'm proud of you or horrified." Kellen stood up and moved to sit next to his mother. They looked at each other for a long moment. "Please tell me you're not putting yourself in jeopardy over me. Not after all of this time."
Grace reached up and with absolute tenderness, she lay a hand on her son's cheek. "I meant what I said about giving up everything to keep you safe. That doesn't mean I was going to passively sit by and wait for Josiah to find you. I've done everything I could to distract and deflect any evidence he might discover about your location."
Kellen removed her hand and looked at Stephen and Leo. "I thought we were pretty clever and untraceable."
"And you are," Grace insisted. "Josiah has no idea where you currently live, and neither do I. He doesn't even know what names you're using. The only reason I returned to Riverstone was because I had a gut feeling—or a premonition—that you would be there. Turns out I was right and.... Oh, Kirian, I'm so happy to see you again."
It took Samara a second to realize that Grace was using Kellen’s real name—his birth name. Like their location, the brotherhood must have changed their names every time they moved.
And were those tears in Grace's eyes? Samara turned her gaze away from the mother and son as they embraced. The more she heard about Grace's story, the sacrifices she made, the more Samara could understand why she didn’t help. They might never be best friends, but Samara couldn't say she wouldn't do the same for her own child. For Kellen.
Digging back into the box to give the two at least the semblance of privacy, Samara pulled out a booklet. Looking inside, she saw what appeared to be a family tree. Bleh. She wasn't sure she wanted to know if Josiah was raised to be a heartless asshole, or if he came by it all on his own.
There were thirty or so pages, each page spanning approximately sixty to seventy years. The last few pages looked newer, with modern paper taped into the back. Flipping through, Samara looked for any names that might explain why she’d been abducted.
One did. Each page had a first name that stayed the same at the top: Samuel, but with different surnames. The last page read: Samuel Davis—her grandfather.
Chapter
Seventeen
She must have said Kellen's name, because he left his mother's side to look over her shoulder. "I don't understand. This is my grandfather, but why is his name at the top of the family tree on the last page? And look at these dates." She flipped back to the beginning. "The first page is over a thousand years ago, and there are huge gaps in between, but I don't know who these people are. Why would Josiah have this?"
"Let everyone take a look." Kellen gently removed the book from Samara's hands and brought it to the center of the room. He lay it on the floor and soon all of them sat in a circle with the book in the middle. He flipped the pages slowly, allowing everyone time to examine each tree. The names were written large enough so they could be read easily, but that was because the trees were short, no more than three generations, all of them starting with a man with the first name of Samuel at the top, his wife's name next to his. Underneath, the names of their children were neatly written, followed by their spouses and their children if there were any.
