Grace shook her head back and forth. "That was the spell working. Josiah raised him that way to rub my nose in the fact that Kellen's father couldn’t protect us. Josiah made sure I remembered that every single day. Even if he didn't hit me or turn me over to his omegas for their version of fun, I could never forget Kellen's father. Josiah tried to turn Kellen against me, but Kellen was strong enough to resist. As long as I kept him close to Josiah, the less likely Josiah would figure out he was protected by a spell and find a way to kill him."
A choke in Grace's voice made Samara turn her head. A small tear formed at the edge of Grace's eye, but it pooled there and didn't fall.
"When Kellen decided to walk away from the pack, he snuck back and begged me to go with him. It broke my heart all over again to push him out of my life, but I had to make it appear that I had stopped fighting Josiah and became a devoted and unquestioning follower. Kellen didn't understand at the time, but staying with Josiah was one of the few things I could do to keep protecting Kellen."
"Why would you think that?"
"The protection spell wasn't strong or perfect. If I had tried to run with Kellen when he was a child, we'd have been hunted down. As a widow with a child in the 19th century...there weren't any resources I could access to get us far enough away. If the pack caught us, they would have made me watch them as they ripped apart my son, spell or no spell.”
Samara’s heart broke for Grace. As a mother, she’d sacrificed everything she had to keep her son out of harm’s way. How horrible to think that not following her son into the wider world was the only option Grace had to ensure Kellen’s safety.
"When Kellen tried to get me out, I let him go in hopes he could create a life for himself outside the pack. I did everything I could to distract Josiah in the meantime. I couldn't stop his order to kill my son, but I could slow down the process and make sure he kept looking north and east when he should have been looking south and west."
That damn buzzing filled Samara's ears again and she had to shake her head to dispel it. "You need to tell him this."
"I will, but not today." Grace wiped her eyes dry, then sat up. "He's still getting used to the idea that I finally broke away from the pack after all these decades."
Damn it, she missed the last few words Grace had spoken. Not that it mattered. She got the gist of what she had said.
“It'll be okay." Was she trying to reassure Grace or herself? "Kellen and the others were planning to leave anyway. They have to find a new home because that's what they do every thirty years just to keep the townsfolk from realizing they’re different."
"They really are a family?" Grace turned to look at Samara, grasping at much needed confirmation. "The three of them, are they happy together?"
Everything she'd experienced in Winterbourne flashed through her mind, but she also thought of Kellen's heartbreak at losing all of his wives. "They are happy. They have their own businesses, their own friends, their own lives. I know that they shift every night and hunt together. They wouldn't do that unless they had a rock-solid bond. They are brothers in every way except blood."
At the word blood, her own blood started to churn. "Crap, I think I'm going to puke..." She pushed back on her elbows to sit up. That was when she saw the fur on her fingers. "Oh, no. I'm shifting. Help. I can't stop it."
Grace leapt off the bed. In a second she was tugging off Samara’s shirt. "Lay back, unzip your pants."
As she did, Grace opened the bedroom door. "Kellen. Strip. Samara is shifting." Then she was back again, whipping off Samara's shoes and tugging off her pants.
Samara looked down to see her thighs already changing, more fur everywhere. Her eyesight changed, the light in the room brightened then darkened and suddenly all the colors had layers her human eyes could never see. The sounds around her amplified, her own heartbeat mixed with the television creating a cacophony.
Then she rolled off the bed onto all fours, her throat opened, and she let loose a howl that reached for the stars. Both her wolf shadows had returned with vengeance and self-protection competing for dominance.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Everything broke all at once when Samara shook her whole body. Her tail knocked over the lamp standing in the corner, her claws dug into the carpet and the bed had her trapped against the door to the bathroom. Every second she remained a wolf she became the uncontrollable menace she imagined she would be. She couldn't even scream for help because her wolf shadows destroyed her voice. Instead, an instinct took over and she threw her head back in another long anguished howl of fear and pain.
The urge to flee overwhelmed her, but she had gotten turned around. Where was the damned door to this nightmare? She needed to get out, her urge to run making her panic. In desperation, she resorted to what she'd done in the cage before Josiah let her out. Churning her hind legs, she leapt over the bed and slammed her body into the window.
Smash it, she silently commanded herself. Break the glass. This weak human construction couldn't hold her. Shatter it and get free.
She saw images from memories that were about her, but not her. Her grandfather's point of view showed her playing in the park, getting onto a school bus, sitting in the driver's seat of a firetruck with her dad holding her, and her mom picking her up at the hospital's day care. Then she saw the freshly dug graves of her parents, the funeral attended by their friends and co-workers. Through the whole service her grandfather kept his arm around her shoulder.
His firm grip made the whole day so much worse, but how could she tell him when all he wanted on that day was to be a good guardian? She wanted to cry and kick until she stopped hurting. Instead, she forced all those emotions into a small box where they remained because hysteria at a funeral wouldn't help anyone else. That's why she was put on this planet. To help others above all else.
Another howl froze her in place. Whirling around, she saw another wolf standing on the bed, the scent familiar but her thoughts were still jumbled. She bared her teeth. How dare anyone try to stop her from getting out. This other wolf, however, didn't try to stop her. Instead of fighting, the pewter-colored wolf lay on the bed with its head upright so it could stare at her with its beautiful dark brown eyes.
Confusion pierced Samara's panic, but she couldn't look away. The eyes pierced her soul but still had a soft touch of sympathy. What was she supposed to do with a wolf that wouldn't fight?
The other wolf broke eye contact and tapped the bed with its nose. Samara couldn't respond, still suspicious. With a low growl, the wolf repeated the gesture. Now she understood. This wolf wanted her in bed with him. He asked her instead of commanding her because this was Kellen's wolf and Kellen would never force her to do anything.
The king-sized bed could barely fit two full-grown wolves, but somehow they made it work. Pressed together and curled around each other, Samara felt as if she'd found what she'd been seeking all along. Kellen stroked her neck with the underside of his jaw which bled her panic and boosted a more languid feeling.
She was safe here with him. He would never hurt her, and he would protect her. She'd do the same for him, but at that moment, her nerves were still raw. It didn't matter if she was a super alpha and Kellen an omega. Together they stayed wrapped around each other until they both fell asleep.
