“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.
He turned me toward the commotion just in time to see Caleb lunge for the elevator, the six wolves close on his heels—but not close enough. Caleb slipped through the narrowly opened gate into the elevator with his boys. The white wolf pounced after him, but Jude threw himself between Caleb and the white Daniel wolf, blocking the opening of the elevator.
The white wolf pulled up short, skidding to a stop in front of Jude. The other five wolves halted behind the white wolf, snapping and howling. The white Daniel wolf growled at Jude, but my brother didn’t move—only glared at Daniel, as if daring him to tear through him in order to get to Caleb.
Daniel took a step back with a frustrated whine. Jude had just done the one thing that would stop Daniel from catching his father. Daniel wouldn’t willingly harm my brother again.
Caleb slammed the elevator gate shut, leaving Jude on the outside. Caleb rammed his fists against the gate, rattling the cage and roaring with anger. “When Sirhan dies, so will the rest of you,” he shouted as the elevator started to lower.
Jude shouted at Caleb not to leave him behind.
“You’re on your own, boy,” Caleb snarled. He and the rest of his lost boys disappeared into the basement of the warehouse.
The Daniel wolf howled.
Caleb and his pack would be gone, out the corridor and through The Depot, before anyone could stop him.
Talbot hitched me up in his arms and started to carry me away, his shoulder blocking the scene by the elevator from my view. And blocking me from their view. Talbot could run off with me at this very moment, and no one else would even notice.
“Put me down,” I tried to shout, but it came out as an airy whisper. “Where … Where … are you taking me?”
“I’m just trying to help,” Talbot said.
“Why?”
My head felt so heavy, and the world started to turn dark and splotchy all around me. I don’t know how fully with it I was when I thought I heard Talbot answer: “Because I love you.”
“No … you don’t,” I tried to say, but I don’t think the words actually left my mouth. Does Talbot even understand love?
Talbot said something I was too groggy to understand. I strained what was left of my superpowers to listen to him. “… because you reminded me of who I wanted to be … a long time ago. Like my ancestors—the Saint Moons. But I’ve been alone with only the wolf in my head since I was thirteen … I’d lost sight of everything I once believed in.” Talbot held me closer to his chest. He leaned in to whisper—or shout, for all I could tell—into my ear. “Caleb offered me a family, but you offered me something worth so much more: myself.”
“Jude?” I whispered, unable to process Talbot’s confession. My brain was far too fuzzy. “What … happened …?” I couldn’t even think straight enough to finish the question.