The Savage Grace

  The wolf finally flipped me off, and I went sailing over his head and slammed into the wood platform at the epicenter of the ring. I felt my right leg crack in at least three different places as it smacked against the edge.

  I heard a shout and saw Jude go running at Caleb. He’d found my broadsword and swung it at Caleb, only to be swatted away by one of Caleb’s clawed paws. Jude flew several yards and landed on his side.

  The tan-and-gray wolf charged at the platform. I heard running footsteps behind me. I glanced back and saw Daniel rushing at the back of the platform. The wolf lunged into the air, just as Daniel jumped at the edge of the platform and used it to launch himself right at the wolf. The two collided several feet above me, and Daniel sent several kicks and punches into the wolf, propelling him forward in the air. The wolf wrapped his paws around Daniel, and the two went crashing to the ground. The wolf let go on impact, and Daniel rolled away. He stood, his body in a stance to take another attack from the tan-and-gray wolf.

  I heard a scream of rage and saw Talbot run his sword into a large black wolf near the barn. He pulled the bloody blade from its body and came sailing in our direction, swinging his sword above him with a battle cry.

  The tan-and-gray wolf lunged at Daniel again. Daniel did an aerial side flip—like a cartwheel in midair—and as he twisted around, he caught the wolf’s neck between his feet. He flipped the wolf around in the air by his head. Daniel let go and miraculously landed on his feet as the wolf was sent spinning away. It slammed into the ground right in Talbot’s path.

  Talbot thrust his sword down at the wolf’s chest.

  “No!” Daniel shouted at Talbot. “Caleb is mine!”

  The tan-and-gray wolf rolled away and Talbot’s sword drove deep into the ground. “Caleb killed my parents!” Talbot shouted, wiping sweat from his forehead. “I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life.” He let go the sword and flung himself at the wolf, pummeling at it with his bare fists.

  I tried to push myself up to standing on the platform, but my leg wouldn’t have it. Suddenly, Slade and Lisa were at my sides, holding me up. I didn’t see where they had come from.

  The tan-and-gray wolf caught Talbot’s arm in his teeth and flung him away. The beast stood, ready to go after Talbot. Daniel sailed at the wolf with a great superpowered lunge. He caught the wolf by the shoulders, holding the wolf’s snapping snout from his face. The wolf’s claws shredded Daniel’s robes as he flailed.

  With a great burst of power, Daniel threw the wolf away from him. It sailed several feet and then slammed, back first, onto the ground. Talbot rushed up and grabbed the wolf around the neck before he could regain his footing. The beast yelped and wailed, flailing his clawed paws, unable to break Talbot’s mighty hold.

  “You die now, Caleb,” Talbot snarled into the beast’s face. He tightened his grasp on the wolf’s neck. I’d seen him snap a creature’s neck with his bare hands before.

  “No!” Daniel shouted. He grabbed the sword Talbot had discarded.

  “What do you mean no?” Talbot asked through clenched teeth.

  Daniel slammed his foot down on the wolf’s chest and thrust the knife at his face until the tip of the razor-sharp blade was only inches from the furry patch between the wolf’s eyes. “Change back,” he demanded, power ripping the air around his voice. “Where’s James? Change back so you can tell me!” He pulled the sword back slowly as if preparing to thrust it into the wolf’s head. “Change, now!”

  The wolf’s body shook as it shifted back into human. Daniel now stood with one foot pinning Caleb’s human body to the ground. Talbot still had his arms wrapped around Caleb’s neck.

  “Tell me where the boy is!” Daniel said. His voice had lowered, and I had to strain my superhearing to catch his words. The crowd—which had scattered out into the fields after the explosion—edged closer to the ring now, anticipating the end of the fight. Ryan had finally left his grieving place by the fire and come to stand on the platform with the others and me. Jude made his way toward us, holding his bloody side.

  Caleb laughed, the noise sounded choked and desperate instead of maniacally gleeful like earlier. “A few of my boys have the child. Their orders are to kill him if I die.”

  Talbot tightened his grip on Caleb’s neck. “Liar! That wasn’t part of the plan.”

  “The plan?” I asked.

  “I always have a fail-safe,” Caleb choked out. “You … kill me … and the last thing you will know … of the child … will be his screams.”

  “His screams,” I said, trying to step forward on my broken leg. It buckled under me. Slade caught me up in his arms. “If we could hear James’s screams,” I whispered to him, “that means he’s here. He’s somewhere on the property!”

  Slade sat me down on the platform. “We’ll find him for you.” He signaled to the others to follow him.

  Ryan handed me the rifle. “Just in case,” he said. “But there’re only two shots left.”

  Lisa sprinted toward the barn; Ryan took off around the still-burning wreckage of the farmhouse; Slade headed into the corn maze. Jude jogged slowly, still holding his side, toward the field of spectators.

  I snapped my attention back toward Daniel, Talbot, and Caleb.

  “You’ve got it backward,” Daniel said fiercely, with the sword still pointed at Caleb’s head. “If any harm comes to the boy, you’ll be begging me to end your screams. Now tell me where he is!”

  Caleb gave him a wicked smile. “Then I guess we’re at a stalemate, my son.”

  I concentrated hard on the idea of trying to send a telepathic message to Daniel that we were on James’s trail. I couldn’t just shout to him, for fear of tipping Caleb off—I didn’t want to give him any reason to try to fight back again, or worse, to send the signal for James’s death before we found him. We just need to keep Caleb at bay for a few more minutes, I thought, directing it toward Daniel. Hoping he’d sense what I needed him to know.

  “I don’t do stalemates,” Talbot said, and wrenched his arms with so much force, he snapped Caleb’s neck, practically tearing his head from his body. Caleb convulsed, and his body shifted back into that of a giant tan-and-gray wolf. Talbot let go and backed away, letting the dead wolf’s head loll onto the ground at an unnatural angle.

  My hands clapped over my mouth, holding in a scream. But I heard one anyway: the pitiful shrieking cry of a child echoed out from somewhere inside the corn maze beyond the challenging ring. At the same time, the walls of corn burst into flames.

  Jude, from the sidelines, turned in the direction of the cry. “James!”

  Daniel’s head snapped up, and he roared at Talbot: “What did you do? The boy—they’ve killed James because of you!”

  Talbot was kneeling in the straw still, next to Caleb’s body. “He was never going to tell us. The boy was as good as dead already.”

  My body shook with horrible cries. Daniel glanced back at me like he could feel my pain, then he reeled on Talbot, pointing his sword at him.

  I could feel Daniel’s pain now on top of mine as he grappled with the decision of whether or not the thrust the sword into Talbot’s chest. Submit or die, he seemed to be thinking.

  Both of our heads snapped up as we heard another shout from somewhere in the corn maze. “I found him!” came Slade’s voice. “I found James!”

  “Thank you, God.” I threw my hand over my mouth. I wanted to feel relief, but a maze of flaming cornstalks still stood between me and my toddler brother—and Slade was the one who had him.

  Jude took off running toward the entrance to the maze. I wished I could follow him.

  “You better hope that boy survives!” Daniel shouted at Talbot. “Now submit!” He bore down on him with all the radiating power of a true alpha.

  Talbot glared back at him, hard breaths ripping through his body. He shifted, so he knelt on one knee, and shoved one fist into the ground. Just as it looked like Talbot was about to bow his head toward Daniel, Slade burst out of the flaming
corn maze, clutching little James to his chest. His charred and tattered robes flapping behind him as he ran as far from the fire as he could.

  “James is safe!” I shouted.

  Daniel turned toward them.

  Talbot rocked forward on his knee. “I’ll never submit to you!” he shouted, and flew at Daniel. Before Daniel could react, Talbot swung his arm out and knocked the sword from his hand. Daniel grabbed him, and the two began to grapple.

  “Did you really think I’d ever submit to you?” Talbot asked as they fought. “Think I’d be your lapdog? Even when I was with Caleb, I pulled all the strings. And I still did after I left him. Do you really think he was smart enough to pull off that attack on the parish? Stage this here tonight? That was all me.”

  “I wouldn’t sound so proud,” Daniel said, striking a blow against Talbot’s shoulder. “Caleb failed.”

  “Because I wanted him to. I always knew I’d kill him in this ring, and then kill the prime challenger. Only I originally thought it would be Gabriel, not you. But I like this plan better.”

  What? Talbot had been against both Caleb and us at the same time? Playing us for fools against each other? Until it led to this very moment?

  It took me a minute to process, but I still wasn’t shocked. I’d always wondered why Talbot had worked for Caleb, despite knowing the man had been responsible for his parents’ death. And ever since it was revealed that he once had been a part of the Shadow Kings, I was never really able to trust him fully. But the part that didn’t ring true—the part that still confused me was the thought that Talbot had been against us the whole time. I guess, deep down, I’d believed that he thought he was in love with me. And even though I didn’t return his feelings in any way, I just couldn’t accept that the things he’d told me about the way he felt were lies.

  I’d believed his professing that he’d do anything to be a part of my life—even if it meant helping Daniel become his alpha.

  Talbot shifted fighting methods, and started using wing chun punches and blocks against Daniel—a style of fighting that kept your opponent at a very close range. Daniel returned the pummeling, block against hit, hit against block. Daniel was stronger and bigger than Talbot, but wing chun was designed especially for the small-sized fighter, and Talbot eventually landed an open palm blow against Daniel’s chest. But instead of hitting him backward, Talbot clutched at Daniel’s chest and screamed a great bloodcurdling roar of anger. His face angled up at the bloodred moon, and I watched as power visibly rippled through his body, into his arm, and through his hand into Daniel’s chest.

  Daniel’s mouth fell open like a scream of pain should have followed, but no sound came out. His arms looked rigid at his sides—like they’d been petrified. I could see fear and confusion in his eyes, and I could tell he was paralyzed. Talbot’s face bore the look of complete concentration as he squinted up at the moon and shoved his hand against Daniel’s chest with all his might.

  What was Talbot doing?

  I thought I heard Daniel cry out. But then I realized I’d felt his pain rather than heard it. A red stain suddenly erupted on his shoulder, soaking through the gold fabric of his robe. I realized it was blood, and it looked like it was bleeding from where he’d been shot by that hunter with a silver bullet. I felt another one of Daniel’s screams and watched as the newly healed ragged scars on his wrist—where he’d taken the blow of the chain whip in order to save Anton—burst open.

  I looked at Talbot’s face, twisted with rage. The way he extended it toward the red moon reminded me of how I’d channeled the power of the eclipse in order to break away from Caleb’s demons. I looked at his other hand, pressed firmly against Daniel’s chest. The way Daniel’s body quaked and shook like something was trying to rip him apart from inside.

  “He can’t be…” My breath caught in my chest so hard it hurt. I pushed myself up to standing, almost screaming at the sheer pain of my shattered leg. There was no time even to contemplate trying to heal it. I could feel Daniel calling for my help. I had to stop Talbot now.

  “Stop,” I screamed at him. “I know what you’re doing, Talbot! Stop it now!

  I lifted the hunting rifle Ryan had left for me.

  Talbot’s jaw clenched. He didn’t let go. My body shook as I felt Daniel’s screams of terrible agony. Talbot was channeling the power of the eclipsed full moon and using it to fuel the healing power—no, the opposite of the healing power—against Daniel. He was forcing his anger and rage into Daniel, attacking him with his inner wolf from the inside. Just like we’d discussed yesterday when Talbot convinced me to teach him about the power. When he’d claimed that he wanted to know only so he could save me if necessary. Using the claim of his feelings for me as a trick.

  A bloody gash gushed from Daniel’s face, another on his hand. Wounds he must have suffered and healed over during the fight. Blood soaked through the side of his shredded robe, where Caleb had clawed at him.

  “You still want me to submit to you now?” Talbot asked Daniel. “Or do I need to dig a little deeper? What other past wounds does your body hold? Weren’t you stabbed in the heart once—with a silver dagger? That’s what all the stories I keep hearing about you say.”

  “Don’t, Talbot!” I screamed. “Don’t you dare! Don’t do this!”

  “What’s the matter, Grace? You don’t want me to rip a hole through your Daniel’s heart? The same hole you caused?”

  I lifted the rifle. The flickering red beam of the laser scope danced against Talbot’s black shirt. It bounced up and down, betraying just how badly my hands trembled. I’d never pointed a gun at a person before. “This is loaded with silver bullets.” Two, anyway. “And I know how to shoot it.”

  Talbot laughed. It was an airy noise, and I knew he was trying not to break too much of his concentration.

  “Maybe that’s the point, Grace. Maybe I want you to shoot me. Or at least I want you to want to shoot me.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I’m good at getting Urbats to give in to their inner wolves. Didn’t Caleb tell you that once? I’ve got more style than him. I go after the heart of the matter.” He pressed his hand harder into Daniel’s chest, making his otherwise paralyzed body convulse.

  “Don’t! Stop, please. What do you want?”

  “For years, I thought all I wanted was Caleb dead, and revenge on Sirhan’s pack for not preventing the death of my parents. That’s all I used to want since I was child—but Caleb’s dead now, and I’m about to win alpha of Sirhan’s pack, like I always planned. The only problem is, you made me want more than that.” His face twisted, and I thought it almost looked like an expression of remorse. “With Daniel gone, I might actually get the thing I want most.”

  “So you’ve been pretending all this time? Ever since the warehouse, you’ve just been pretending to be on our side? What about all that crap you said about loving me, and how I made you want to be better?”

  “No,” he said. “You really did have an effect on me. You made me want to change for you.” He glanced at me, slightly. “All I wanted when we left that warehouse was you, Grace. We could have been perfect together. Fighting demons. Saving the night. You’re everything I want now, and I tried to be a better man for you. But you wouldn’t let me change. You wouldn’t forgive me…”

  My throat constricted and I knew Talbot was right. In all of this, I’d never quite forgiven him. Never really given him a second chance like Jude and the lost boys. I’d brought this upon us all.

  “What if I forgive you now?” I asked through gritted teeth. “You let Daniel go and I’ll give you another chance—”

  “It’s too late!” Talbot shook his head. “You already told me you’d always choose Daniel,” he said. “You made me want you, and then made it so I couldn’t have you.”

  “And that’s when you turned against us?” I asked. “You told the Shadow Kings we’d be at that party so you could rush in and save the day, didn’t you? So you could gain our trust back. Then
later you tipped off the SKs about our plan to prolong Sirhan’s life. They attacked the parish because of you, not Jude.”

  “It was easy,” he said. “Caleb didn’t even realize I was playing him, too. All I had to do was find one of Caleb’s Akhs and let him read my mind. Or at least the parts of it I wanted him to see. I fed him the plan to attack the parish, to take out Sirhan. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to harness the power of the eclipse, so I tricked the SKs into forcing the ceremony with Sirhan’s death. Caleb had no idea I planned on killing him when he came here tonight.”

  “And James? Was that part of your plan, too?” I steadied my hold on the gun so the red laser dot settled on his chest.

  “No, that one’s on Caleb. He took the baby on his own.”

  “But he wouldn’t have come that night if it hadn’t been for you.”

  James almost died because of Talbot. I’d been able to keep my inner wolf at bay since my encounter with Caleb, but now its voice ricocheted through me like a scream in an empty corridor. And now he’s going to kill Daniel if you don’t stop him.

  “The way I see it,” Talbot said, “you either lower that gun and let me kill Daniel. Or you can decide to kill me and turn into a werewolf like the rest of us. No more of this Divine One shit.”

  “What would that accomplish? Do you think if Daniel’s gone, I’ll suddenly love you instead? Or do you think if I turn into the wolf, I’ll suddenly like you better? Because then I’ll be evil, and I’ll want someone evil like you? You really think that would work?”

  “It’s worth a shot,” Talbot said. “I don’t exactly have anything to lose. I predict you’ll go wolf before you can even pull that trigger. I know how this works. Caleb always tried to rush it, but I get to know my victims. Know exactly how to make them give in.” Talbot slammed his hand against Daniel’s chest, sending another jolt of negative power into him. I experienced Daniel’s whimpers of pain and frustration as he was paralyzed by the power, unable to stop Talbot himself. Blood stained his shirt under Talbot’s hand.