Chapter 438 Chapter 438
They were both in here hiding, he knew that, but it still had to be done. Blair was overwhelmed by the discovery of more nieces and an entire clan that was his and Noah just needed to distance himself from all those faces. He didn’t know any of them, none had ever been in a house he guarded, but they were all victims and he felt like they knew what he’d done when they looked at him.
Blair slammed a cupboard closed. “Once we’re done in here, they can come in and eat some real food.” He sounded disgusted and Noah didn’t blame him, they were half-starved and yet the cupboards and fridge were full in the cabin.
He opened one of the drawers of the cabinet on the far wall and pulled out a book. Noah didn’t read very well, but even he could tell this was important. “Blair.” He turned to him and held up the book.
Brows furrowed, Blair came over and took it from him, and opened it. He flipped a few pages skimming it quickly. Noah wished for a moment he could read that fast. Maybe once things settled down, he could talk to Beth about a bit of schooling.
“Holy shit, dates, names, locations.” Blair gave him a wide-eyed look, “jackpot.” he frowned and looked back at it. “This is a record of who Lindon moved, traded, picked up,” he glanced at him again, “I don’t know if him doing this is seriously stupid or,” he looked back at the book, “a brilliant way to cover his ass.” Holding the book out, he pointed to something, “he has names of who he contacted.”
Noah didn’t bother looking at it, knowing he wouldn’t be able to read the scribble, “we can find the people running these trades,” he waved his hand, “or whatever.”
Blair’s grin was slow. “Yeah.” Grasping the book in his hand, he turned back to the drawer, “let’s see if there’s more treasure in here.”
Noah gladly moved away from the unit to look elsewhere; Blair could read what he found. Going over he opened the closet door. Blair made a loud groan noise. “Are you okay?” He glanced over at him.
Blair stopped and looked at him, “no. I am not okay.” He waved a hand in the air, the pages flapping with the movement, “did you see how they were living? My brother did that.”
“He didn’t do it alone.” Noah thought of the Tomas family.
Blair snorted and yanked open the other drawer, “No, but he took over, and then he-he...”
“Are they coming home with us?” He needed to know that every one of them would be somewhere with people that wouldn’t abuse them anymore. He looked at the floor, he’d never had anywhere to reference as home before, and just realized it.
Blair stuffed some papers in a plastic bag, “of course they’re coming home with us. What the fuck am I doing with them?” He waved the arm around that bag was in, “winter is right on our ass and the house is already full.” He looked at the bag in his hand and then set it down in slow motion, so he wouldn’t jerk it around with movement again, “It was just me; you know and the guys,” he shrugged, “and Kelsey,” he rubbed his hand over his hair, “then I picked up nine females, whatever,” he shrugged, “nine seems like nothing right now,” the arms flew up from his body again, “then—fuck. There are twenty-seven of us now. Twenty. Seven. Ten are children or teens.” He blew out a breath, “now we find nineteen more...”
“Twenty.” He scowled at him, “I’m pretty sure Emersyn is staying with them,” Noah’s chest hurt just thinking about it, “they all understand what she’s been through.”
Blair nodded his head slowly, at least he had some understanding of what suffering clans felt like. Kobie’s had been through a lot.
“What the hell am I doing with forty-seven people, Noah?” His tone was filled with worry, “I mean, go, team tiger and all that. Our kind is strong now on the numbers side but—-I’m just—I have four nieces and who knows how many more relatives out there.”
Four? He thought of the light blondes he’d seen, it made sense. Noah closed the closet, “I get it. My parents had two more kids after Carlene and I were taken...” he didn’t know why he was bringing that up.
“That’s right. It’s ah, gotta be weird.”
Noah exhaled slowly, “yeah. I mean I get it, but it’s just a surprise...”
“That life went on without you.”
Noah could only nod to that. His words hit hard. His parents had just continued while he and Carlene...
“Shit.” Blair groaned and dropped to squat on the floor. He held his head between his hands. “What the hell am I doing with all those people?”
Noah watched Calum come into the cabin.
“Sorry to interrupt your breakdown...”
Blair’s head popped up and he glared at him, “Bite me, Bagheera.” He stood up and waved a hand at him, “why don’t you go find Baloo and eat him.”
Noah smirked, normally he didn’t get the movie references the guys made, but that one he understood.
Calum wiped his hand over his mouth, a smirk under it. “To clarify,” he gave Blair a blank look, “he was actually a leopard, not a jaguar, and,” he shook his head, “I didn’t eat the bear. I fought with a bear.”
Blair snorted, “asshole.” He smiled at him. “Really he was a leopard?”
Calum leveled him with an unamused look, “we have other problems right now.”
Blair looked narrowed, “what now?” it came out as a whine.
“Devin’s on route.”
Noah’s head snapped back to Calum.
“What?” Blair shook his head, “here? Now?”
“That’s generally what on route means,” Calum said, a scowl on his face.
“Why? We have no way to keep watch here, and he doesn’t exactly sneak in places in stealth mode...”
“He’s flying in.”
“See.” Blair turned and lifted the bag up.
“Rayne is sending enough warm jackets and clothes to support an army,” Calum said.
“Fuck me.” Blair whispered and then held up the bag, “Lindon kept records of everything he did. Names, places, clan...”
Calum came across the floor and took the bag, he looked in it. “Recent?”
Blair leaned back against the wall like he needed it to hold him up, “from when I was about,” he squeezed his eyes shut for a second, “five until a month ago.”
Calum reached into the bag and pulled out the book. Opening it, he skimmed it fast, as Blair had done. “Son of a bitch.” He whispered it, a note of disbelief in his voice. “Your brother was a sick asshole,” he glanced at him fleetingly, “but he just handed us the key to ending this shit.”
Blair nodded and looked over at him.
Noah sucked in a deep breath, and held it, almost afraid to ask. Blowing it out, he motioned to the book, “end all of it?”
Calum kept turning the pages slowly, “different contacts from different countries,” he said quietly and then looked at Noah, “I’d say it gives us a good shot of finding all the traitors out there peddling their own kind.”
Noah felt lightheaded, he put his hands on top of his head and stood there looking from one to the other. “Seriously?”
Calum nodded. “Yeah.” He held the book up, “I’m going to hold onto this and put it right into Devin’s hands.”
Noah dropped his hands; his whole body was vibrating. They could end it. For good.
“Hey.”
Noah looked back over to Blair, “don’t lose it right now, bud, I’m like—dangling by a very thin thread right now and I don’t think I could pry you off another asshole today.”
Noah snorted, “it’s just,” he shook his head, “I never thought there would be a way.”
“Don’t go celebrating yet.” Calum turned back to the door, “we have a long way to go to stop them.”
Noah sucked in a breath, reigning in his emotions, “yeah. Of course.”
“We’ll leave picking through here to the clean-up team, let’s get everyone in here where it’s warm.” Calum opened the door and went out.
Noah turned to Blair, momentarily both forgetting the past and uncertain future. Aiden Tomas and his empire were going to fall.