Page 61 of My Fugitive Wolf
“Okay. I’ll wait for those details.” The last thing she wanted was to distract him with questions he didn’t have answers to.
"Good," Kellen said. "Let's go."
Chapter
Twenty-Three
In less than two minutes, they all had grabbed their backpacks and didn't bother waiting for the elevator. Running down the emergency stairs took less time, with the guys jumping over the railings to get to the lower levels. Grace must have seen the look on Samara's face and grabbed Samara by the elbow.
"If you've never done it before, now is not the time to start."
Samara pulled her elbow away, but nodded in agreement, not stopping her descent for a second. Once they got to Winterbourne, all bets were off.
By the time Samara and Grace reached the garage, Leo had pulled the van out of its parking space. He screeched to a halt in front of the stairwell door. Grace yanked open the door and shoved herself in the back seat, leaving Samara sitting next to Kellen.
Stephen was fiddling with his phone.
"What are you doing?" Samara demanded.
"I'm trying to figure out how Josiah found out that we lived in Winterbourne."
Samara didn't look at Grace. If Josiah had tracked her, that would make this situation even worse. Unless she could prove it, it was best if she said nothing.
"Son of a bitch!" Stephen slammed his hand against the dashboard.
"What?" They all echoed at the same time.
Stephen showed the screen of his phone to Leo, who took his eyes off the road for a second. "Damn him. I'll kill that kid. I should have stomped on his phone instead of throwing it."
While Leo ranted, Stephen handed Kellen his phone. She leaned close to see what Stephen had found.
There it was, her picture taken by the kid Ritchie, with her face as large as the day was long. She lay on the ground with Kellen's hand trying to hold the blood from seeping out of her neck. He'd posted where everyone online could see it.
"Great." Kellen handed it back to Stephen. "Not only is Riverstone going to know where we are, but so will Firebrand and Moonclaw."
"They're all going to converge on Winterbourne after this. What will Firebrand and Moonclaw do?" Samara asked.
"Nothing good," Leo muttered, swinging the van wide to hit Route 69. He sped through back-to-back yellow lights.
"After a century, maybe they’ve forgotten about us," Stephen said, slipping the phone back into his pocket.
Samara could see Grace listening, her face tight as she absorbed their words. Maybe it was because Kellen knew she was listening that he continued. "We recently figured out that Josiah instigated a civil war between the Firebrand and Moonclaw packs by killing Firebrand females and pups. What he didn't know was that the Firebrand and Moonclaw alphas had ordered targeted retaliation strikes instead of a full-on battle to the death. They sent Leo to kill Moonclaw wolf shifters and Stephen to kill more Firebrand wolf shifters. Once Josiah realized how he'd screwed up, he sent me to kill both Stephen and Leo so both the Firebrand and Moonclaw alphas would have to keep sending more and more omegas to finish the job. The fewer Firebrand and Moonclaw omegas that are around, the better chance of Josiah grabbing their territory for himself."
"Why?" Grace had leaned forward as Kellen talked.
"We're still working on that part."
"So, you three hunted each other and then what happened?"
"We were so good at what we did, we could never get the jump on each other. After a decade of failing, I was tired."
"And lonely," Leo said.
"Then we all walked into that church, ready for yet another battle," Stephen continued. "Before we could begin?—"
Kellen picked up the story. "I threw down my guns, my traps, and my pride."
Grace's hand snuck between Samara and her son and rested on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Kellen took his mother's hand in his.
