Page 19 of Cosmic Power

“It doesn’t matter who. Do you have control over your House, yes or no?”

“Yes,” Luther growled, anger rippling through him.

He didn’t like to be doubted, to have his ability to run his House questioned. Especially by his maker.

“Good.” Zvetari sat on the recliner, his eyes focused. “I’ve been receiving reports about shifters being killed, mutilated. Thirteen so far. All beheaded, their bodies drained entirely of blood and torn to pieces. Am I correct in assuming you are the one responsible?”

“I could be,” Luther replied evasively.

Zvetari sighed. “That means yes. If you wish to kill shifters, fine, but doing it so publicly and with such malice ignites hatred and vengeance among their kin.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you doing it? Are you trying to start a war? Because that’s what’s going to happen if you continue down this path.”

Luther couldn’t care less about starting a war with the shifters. It wouldn’t be the first time vampires and shifters went to war with one another. The two he had been a part of were particularly brutal, the death count reaching into the thousands. But Luther wasn’t going to let anything stop him from finding Zamorra—even if that meant starting another violent and bloody war.

“A war may be unavoidable.” Luther shrugged. “I am not prepared to give up on my mission to retrieve what is mine and exact retribution.”

Zvetari tapped his black claws against his knee, his face pensive. Unlike Luther, Zvetari’s claws never retracted, never disappeared back into his skin like his own did.

Luther never understood why. Why his maker was so vastly different from himself. Over his millennia of servitude in Zvetari’s House, he had noticed the subtle differences between him and other vampires.

The fact that his eyes always burned red, never showing another ounce of colour. The strength and speed he possessed, more than any other being he had ever encountered before. His fangs never withdrew back into his gums and although Luther could not be entirely sure, he could have sworn he once saw giant black wings spring forth from his back. Powerful, transcendent and spanning the width of a whole car.

He tried once; asking Zvetari why he was different from them. But he never answered his questions, always avoiding them and changing the subject. It would drive Luther mad.

“Retrieve what is yours?” Zvetari repeated, a frown on his face. His crimson eyes flicked to Luther’s hand and his expression turned thunderous. “Luther, where is the Garnet Ring?”

Fuck.

Luther knew he would eventually have to tell his maker the ring had been stolen. He was just hoping it would be later. Much, much later.

Zvetari rose to his feet, his fists clenched in anger. “Luther,” he said, deadly, his eyes burning red. “Where. Is. The. Garnet. Ring?”

That tone. Oh fuck, that tone was not good. It meant bad things. Very bad things. Danger. Pain.

Luther adjusted his tie out of habit. Well, better to get it over with than stall. Making him wait would just enrage him more.

“It was stolen.”

Zvetari hissed, his fangs lengthening until they passed his lower lip, thick and sharp. “Stolen?! By whom?”

“Leilani,” Luther replied, but he didn’t even know why he bothered answering. His maker would not believe him.

Just as he predicted, disbelief flashed across Zvetari’s face. “Really, Luther? Again? How many times are you going to blame Leilani for your own shortcomings?”

“Until you finally listen to me and realise she’s not who you think she is.”

Five-hundred years ago, when he and Leilani had been kidnapped by a polar bear shifter—Slade Porter, leader of the Arctic Pack—he did everything in his power to try and protect her.

He loved her. He would have laid down his life for her. That was, until she left him there when she made her escape.

For weeks he’d been tortured, his limbs gnawed off right down to the bone over and over again. Every time he healed, the torture would start all over again. For weeks he endured the worst pain he’d ever experienced. For weeks he hoped Leilani would return for him, would rescue him. But she never did.

Hate festered in his heart and he vowed retribution if he ever escaped.

When his maker eventually came for him, he didn’t believe his sweet, precious Leilani could ever do such a thing…abandon her Mate.

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