56

As Tavi and I offered our support to the parents, Gladys walked up to me.

“What will happen to them now?” Gladys asked, silent tears tracking down her cheeks. “Can they be saved?”

I reached for her face before I could think better of it. But she didn’t flinch away as I wiped the tears from her soft cheeks that were withered with age.

“Looking through Samuel’s memories seemed to help him a great deal, and I’m hopeful that doing the same for these kids will help. But I can’t promise the impossible. All I can do is assure you that I will do what I can as a descendant of the pack mothers.”

She nodded, sniffed, then hugged me. I embraced her as tightly as I could.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t bring you anything more concrete,” I said.

“No, we should all be thanking you,” Gladys said. “You followed through on your promise.”

“My promise?”

“To find our babies. Most of us had already given up, but you’ve given us something to hope for. Before you and Alpha Night, hope was in very short supply.”

I smi