No, he’s supposed to run away! I watched in horror as he fell toward me, but instead of crashing to the ground, Daniel did a twisting flip in the air and began to … transform.
Shift.
Change.
His clothes burst from his body.
I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, instead of Daniel, a large white wolf had landed on all fours only a few feet from where I lay.
The wolves who had been about to attack me turned their growls on the white wolf, warning him away from their prey. The white wolf seemed to stare at me. I noticed a diamond patch of black fur across his sternum as he crouched. His lips pulled back in a snarl, and he pounced in my direction.
I closed my eyes and prepared to die.
A rush of movement exploded around me. I heard snapping and snarling and whining, and when I opened my eyes again, the white wolf was on top of me—standing over me in a protective stance.
The white wolf threw his head back and let out the most ear-piercing howl I’d ever heard. It echoed off the walls of the warehouse, shattering glass in the windows above. Shaking my body down to my broken bones.
When the noise died, there was nothing but silence.
Nothing but the white wolf standing over me, glaring out beyond us, as if daring anyone to make a move in our direction.
I could barely keep my eyes open as I tilted my head to see what had happened. Two of the wolves lay bleeding on the ground, one had retreated to the garage door, but the other three looked as if they were bowing, heads lowered in supplication, to the white wolf.
“No! No! Kill him!” Caleb shrieked at his wolves. “Kill them both!”
But the three wolves lay on their bellies and refused to move.
“Then I’ll kill you myself!” Caleb started to climb over the balcony railing.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” another voice shouted, and someone hit Caleb across the back of the head with a metal bar. It may have been my vision failing, but I could have sworn it was Gabriel.
Caleb crumpled in a heap behind the railing, and there was a rush of chaos as one of Caleb’s Gelals lunged at Gabriel, and another one went running in their direction. I heard Talbot scream something. He jumped on the Gelal’s back and threw his bound arms over the Gelal’s head and around its neck. The two went falling over the balcony and landed hard.
Talbot pushed back on his knees and pulled the Gelal up with him. He jerked his bound arms, which were hooked around the Gelal’s throat, and snapped its neck. The Gelal crumpled and Talbot pulled his arms over its lolling head. Before he could move, an Akh flew at Talbot, and the two fell into a grappling match.
But where was Jude? Why couldn’t I see him anywhere?
The entire warehouse erupted in an all-out brawl as I scanned it for any sign of my brother. Two more werewolves came charging in our direction, ready to attack the white wolf. But the wolf didn’t move from his protective stance over me. I must have slipped out of consciousness for a moment, because the next thing I knew, the two wolves were bowing in front of the great white wolf. One of them was smaller than all the other wolves
—Ryan? I couldn’t help wondering.
I coughed and tasted blood. The white wolf leaned down and nuzzled the side of my face. I stared into his deep, dark, mud-pie eyes—Daniel’s eyes.
But how?
And why, if Daniel had been a black wolf before he was cured, was he a white wolf now?
I heard a great howl and used all my energy to turn my head and watched as Gabriel crumpled against the railing of the balcony, his arm hanging over the side in an unnatural way. Caleb, looking fully recovered from the blow to the head, roared and launched himself over the railing. He landed on his feet on the warehouse floor.
“Watch out,” I whispered to Daniel.
The white wolf’s head snapped up, and he crouched back and growled at Caleb, who came charging at us with a vicious snarl. “You die now!” he shouted.
The Daniel wolf barked, and the five wolves who bowed in front of us jumped up and turned, snarling at Caleb. They reared back, ready to attack him.
Caleb slowed his charge, sizing up the pack in front of him. Six against one, I could almost see him thinking. Calculating his odds behind those yellow eyes.
Then Talbot stood beside us. The cording around his wrists dripped with Gelal acid. He yanked hard, and the corroded binding fell from his hands. He clenched his fists in front of him and glared at Caleb. Three dead Gelals littered the ground in his wake.
Seven against one.
“Looks like we’ve got you surrounded,” Gabriel shouted from the balcony. He held his injured arm against his chest, but he brandished the metal bar in his other hand. Two Akh teens lay moaning at his feet.
Caleb took a step back.
Eight against one.
But where were the rest of Caleb’s boys?
And where was Jude?!
“Here!” I heard my brother shout. At first, I didn’t know where his voice came from, but then I tilted my head back as far as I could and saw him standing by the open freight-elevator gate. The elevator was packed with Caleb’s remaining boys. They must have fled from the upper level through the shaft. “Here, Father! Hurry. This way.” Jude waved at Caleb, offering him a way to escape.
“No,” Caleb said. “We finish this.” He glanced back at what remained of his Shadow Kings. “Come!” he shouted at them, like they were a bunch of his lapdogs.
Not a single one of his boys moved from the safety of the elevator.
“Come!”
“No, Father,” Jude said. “We’re leaving. Now.”
Caleb furrowed his brows. A snarl marred his face. Had Jude ever dared to speak to his master this way before?
“Come now, Father,” Jude said.
Caleb glared at the white wolf for a moment longer. His gaze flicked to Talbot and then Gabriel up above. I wasn’t sure which of the three he wanted to kill the most.
He turned and bolted toward the elevator.
The white wolf made a motion as if to go after Caleb, but then hesitated, staring down at me as if he was afraid to leave his protective stance over my body.
“Go,” I said. “You have to stop them.”
The white wolf grunted, and he and the five other wolves bounded after Caleb, leaving me alone in a pool of my own blood on the cold concrete floor. I didn’t have the energy to keep my head tilted back to watch them in their pursuit.
I felt warm arms scoop me up, and someone cradled me against his chest. “Talbot?” I asked, recognizing his scent.