The Savage Grace: A Dark Divine Novel(71)

“The Shadow Kings?” I asked.

“No.” Dad clenched my arm. “Sirhan and his pack. His entire pack is here, from the looks of it.”

“What?” Daniel bolted for the door to get a look outside. Dad tried to stop him.

“Don’t go out there. Take Grace and get as far away as you can.”

“And then what?” Daniel asked. “If they want to find us, they’ll find us.”

Daniel went through the front door. The boys followed after him like his sentinels and fanned out on the porch. My father tightened his near-death-grip hold on my arm, trying to prevent me from following.

“You can’t stop me, Daddy.”

His nostrils flared. “I’m just trying to protect you.”

“You can’t. Not anymore. Not in this world.”

Dad stared at me, the fear in his eyes moving from panic to sadness as he bowed his head. “I know. I’ve known for a long time the day would come when I couldn’t anymore.”

“Then let me go.”

Dad released my arm. I followed the boys out onto the porch and stood side by side with Daniel. My father followed and stood in the doorway behind us. Jude stood next to him.

In the piercing light, I made out the outline of what looked like at least ten black cars—probably SUVs, from the size of most of them—facing the front of the house, their brights shining in our faces.

I kept my hand level with my eyes, wishing my superhuman vision wasn’t quite so sensitive.

“They’re trying to put us at a disadvantage,” Ryan said, shielding his eyes.

“It’s working rather well,” Brent said.

Ryan punched him in the arm.

“I was just making a comment.” Brent punched him back.

“Cool it!” I snapped. Brent and Ryan stood at attention now, except for their hands guarding their eyes.

Daniel was the only one who stood with his arms at his sides—as if he weren’t hindered by the light.

“How do you know it’s Sirhan?” I asked Dad. “That could be anyone. It could be the SKs.”

“Because I recognized the insignia on the cars. You can’t see it now, but I saw it when they first pulled up. There’s a medallion of a wolf’s head on their front grille. I was shoved into one of those cars by Sirhan’s guards when they found me trespassing on their land. And that car”—Dad pointed at the outline of a smaller vehicle in the middle of the line—“belongs to Sirhan himself. He personally escorted Gabriel and me from the compound property after he decided to let me go … Which is apparently when he decided he wanted you—”

Dad’s sentence was interrupted when all of the cars’ headlights cut off at the exact same moment.

“Ahhh!” I winced. My eyes throbbed, and the sudden change in light left me blinded momentarily—left us all blind.

I heard a rush of movement, and seconds later the headlights of the middle car switched on—illuminating the silhouettes of at least forty individuals standing in my yard now.

I couldn’t make out any of their faces; they were just tall, stark shadows in the headlights. They all seemed to be holding something long and pointed in their hands. One of them stepped forward, and the light from the car glinted off the tip of the object he held. It was a spear, the blade made of some sort of shiny metal—silver, no doubt. He seemed to be wearing some sort of cloak or robe; I couldn’t help but think about the Grim Reaper from the haunted farm.

“Give us what we came for,” the man said in a deep, rumbling voice.

Daniel reached out and took my hand in his, threading his fingers with mine. Without saying a word, the lost boys stepped closer to us—as if closing our ranks. I could see the muscles tensing in their arms and backs, looking like they’d jump the porch railing and attack at the first command from Daniel or me. Tension radiated off their bodies. I feared what might happen if they went wolf right in my front yard.

Daniel held his hand up, telling his boys to wait. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to be more specific,” he said to the spearman, sounding too calm for the situation.

The crowd stood steady. The same spearman spoke again, “Give us what we came for.”

Was that the only thing he’d been ordered to say?

“Again, specifics would be nice.” Daniel squared his shoulders. “You wanted Gabriel, but he’s already returned to you. Wasn’t that the deal, if Gabriel returned, you’d stay away?”

“But where is Gabriel?” I whispered to Daniel. “Maybe something happened to him. Maybe he didn’t make it back.”

The spearman put his hand to his ear. He seemed to listen for a moment. Was someone talking to him through an earpiece?

He said something to the man next to him. Two other spearmen marched to one of the SUVs and yanked open the door. Something fell out of the doorway and landed in a heap on the pavement between two of the cars. I couldn’t tell what it was until I heard him groan.

“Gabriel,” I breathed out. “No.”

The heap shifted as Gabriel raised his head from the pavement. “I am sorry,” he said. “I did not leave soon enough. Daniel, I…”

“Sirhan Etlu speaks,” the chattiest of the spearmen said. “Sirhan Etlu of the Etlu Clan speaks, and all listen.…”