“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.
The gun faltered in my grip as I tried to shake off the cries of the wolf, driving me to embrace it. Driving me to let it sink its teeth into Talbot. Rip out his throat for everything he’d done. For what he’s doing to Daniel…
Talbot was right. He knew me too well. He knew exactly what was in my heart. He knew exactly what would push me over the edge. Force me to give in to the cries of the wolf in my head. I’d told him so myself. It would always be Daniel.…
“However will you choose?” Talbot asked. “You let me go, and I will kill him.”
I lifted the gun and aimed the beam of the laser scope so it sat still and steady right over Talbot’s heart. “I’ve made my decision.”
Talbot didn’t even blink. “You know that all you have to do is want to kill me, and you’ll lose yourself.”
“I know,” I said.
I squeezed back on the trigger. A silver bullet exploded from the chamber.
I have no regrets.… I thought as the bullet hit Talbot squarely in the shoulder. He screamed, let go of Daniel, and stumbled backward. He clutched at the searing bullet wound and looked at me with shock and rage twisting in his glowing eyes.
“The difference is,” I said to Talbot, “I didn’t want to kill you. Just stop you. These bullets hit whatever is left of the target.” I pulled the trigger a second time, taking out one of his kneecaps. He collapsed onto the hard dirt ground, shrieking and writhing in pain.
I dropped the gun and scrambled toward Daniel, on my hands and knees, unable to walk on my fractured leg. But then Jude was there, pulling me against his side, and he carried me to where Daniel lay in the straw.
Jude set me down, and together we lifted Daniel so he was sitting up. Blood seeped from the gash in his cheek. But what worried me more was the blood soaking through his shirt. I pushed it up over his chest, but to my surprise the blood that was there had streamed down from the reopened bullet hole in his shoulder. Not a single mark marred his chest.
“It’s okay,” Daniel said, gritting his teeth. “He couldn’t get to my heart.”
“Why?” Jude asked.
“Because this heart doesn’t have an old wound to rip open.”
I nodded, understanding.
“What do you mean?” Jude asked. “Did I miss something?”
“When I stabbed Daniel last year, he was an Urbat with two hearts layered one on top of the other. But I killed that creature, and Daniel was essentially reborn.
Perfected. This heart, this single heart, has never been broken. There was no hole to rip open.”
Shifting so I was sitting at Daniel’s side, I started to help him remove his robe so I could get a better look at his shoulder.
“Water,” Daniel said. “My throat is so dry.”
“I’m on it.” Jude stood, ready to go fetch something for Daniel to drink.