Page 55 of Cosmic Power

“We need to focus all our attention on finding him, rescuing my son and getting those crystals back. Nothing is more important.”

One thing was more important. Zamorra. As harsh as it might have sounded, he didn’t give a fuck about the crystals or Zvetari’s son, who he didn’t even know existed until a few moments ago. All he cared about was getting Zamorra back, even if it meant he had to burn the entire fucking world to the ground to get her.

“Even if Barnabas is able to open a Galactic Portal, what does it matter? If he steps through, he’ll be gone forever. Sounds like a good thing to me,” Luther shrugged.

“For one,” Zvetari began, exasperated.“There's no way of knowing how much blood he’s willing to spill to make the offering. He could bleed my son dry. And two…” he trailed off, biting the inside of his cheek.

“And two?” Luther prompted.

“There’s a chance that activating the crystals could alert the fae.”

Frowning, Luther stared at his maker with confusion. “I don’t understand. You said when you first arrived here, you tried using the crystals to go back and rescue your people. Why would you think using them now would alert the fae?”

“Lenore and Elias believe it’s possible the fae could hone in on the energy signatures the crystals emit when they’re used to their fullest potential. It’s been nearly 4,000 years since we left Alterra. That’s a long time for the fae to sit and stow in their anger. They wouldn’t have liked that we escaped. That we possess the ability to travel the stars like they do. They would want to destroy it. I know it. It’s the type of beings they are. It’s entirely plausible that they’ve figured out a way to track the crystals. It’s one of the main reasons why we haven’t used them in the last 3,000 years.” He blew out a breath, exhaustion etched on his face. “Like I said, this takes top priority right now. Anything else you have going on needs to be dropped and dealt with later.”

Luther didn’t like the sound of that. He had not one, not two, butthreeindividuals chained in the warehouse awaiting punishment. And he needed to make it a very public punishment, so everyone could see what would happen to those who betrayed him. To those who crossed him. Since apparently it wasn’t clear enough already.

There was so much that had to be done that the mere thought of it all daunted him.

“There’s nothing we can do until we have his location. I have people on it now, looking for where his hideout could be. I’ve checked his pack territory and he isn’t there. I have someone staking it out until he returns.”

“That’s not good enough,” Zvetari snapped, his anger simmering. “For all we know, Barnabas has all the pieces he needs to activate the crystals. We need to locate him. Now.”

“What would you have me do, Zvetari? Prance around and pray to the gods for answers? Why don’t you ask your Ancestral friends, Lenore and Elias? As powerful mages, they should be able to find some way to track the crystals.”

Zvetari glared. “You don’t think I asked them that the moment they told me the crystals had been stolen?”

Speaking of which— “How is it they were stolen, anyway? They must be more powerful than any other mages on the planet. And yet, someone was able to steal from them?”

“They were both reluctant to say.”

Luther didn’t blame them. It would be highly embarrassing for beings of their calibre to be bested like that.

Getting to his feet, Luther rolled back his shoulders and straightened the lapels on his jacket. He walked to the window over the kitchen sink and looked outside, staring at the moon high in the dark sky. Annoyance flared inside him. He had wasted more time than he wanted dealing with first, Thaddeus’ arrival, and now Zvetari’s. Half the night was gone.

Despite all the things he had to do, all the punishments he had to exact, he knew that finding Barnabas was a top priority for him. Finding Zamorra. Nothing would come before that. He turned and leaned back against the sink, crossing his arms over his chest as Void entered the kitchen.

“Alright, I get you guys are having a massive DNM right now, but we gotta get going. I might know where we can find Griffan, Matt and Samuel.” He frowned at Zvetari’s half naked form. “Nice tats. I didn’t know you could get tattoos that glow like that. Who’s your artist?”

Both vampires ignored his question. Luther pushed off the sink and marched towards him. “Are those the shifters that might know where Barnabas is?”

Void nodded, picking meat out of his teeth. “If they’re not guarding Zamorra, then I have an idea where they could be.”

That was enough for Luther. He glanced at his maker and an idea flourished in his mind. “Wait near the front door, we’ll be there in a moment,” he said to Void.

Pursing his lips, Void eyed Zvetari. “What, this guy is coming too? Why?”

Luther’s eyes flashed red and he bared his fangs. “Go.”

“Jeez, you ask one question and you get your head bitten off. Touchy motherfucker,” Void mumbled to himself as he left the room.

Shaking his head, Luther said, “That mind thing you can do, can you do that to any supernatural?”

Zvetari frowned and then raised his brows as he picked up where Luther was going with that question. “Yes,” he smirked. “I can.”

ChapterFifteen

Zamorra woke up to the worst headache she’d ever had in her life. And by worst, she meantworst.It was like the world’s worst hangover, times a million. Nothing even came close to comparing to the relentlesspound, pound, poundgoing on in her skull.

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