“Damn it, Samson!” Luther cried out, glaring over his shoulder, Katie pressed to his chest. His heart pounded out of control at the thought that he could have been too late. “I don’t care what you do to me, but if you hurt Katie, I’m gonna kill you!”
To his surprise, Samson froze in his next movement. His fists were still raised, his fangs still extended, and his eyes glared red. But he was hesitating.
“Stand down!”
Luther recognized Blake’s voice. From the corner of his eye, he saw the young vampire run toward them, several other men following him.
“Samson, don’t! I asked him to come,” Blake continued as he reached them.
Behind him, Luther recognized Haven, Eddie, and Grayson. Footsteps from the other end of the corridor made him toss a quick look down that end: Amaury, Zane, and Gabriel were approaching from there, followed by several vampires Luther didn’t recognize immediately.
Samson shot Blake a look of annoyance, eyes narrowed. “You did what?” he snarled.
“What the fuck!” Amaury echoed Samson’s words, venom spewing from his eyes, eyes that were pinning Luther just as surely as if he were using a stake.
“You’d better have a bloody good explanation for that, Blake!” Samson growled. “Or I’m gonna rip your head off just as soon as I’m done with him.”
Surprisingly, Blake didn’t even flinch at his boss’s threat. Instead, he inserted himself between Luther and Samson and braced his hands on his hips. “I suggest we assemble in the conference room to discuss this further.”
Samson went toe to toe with his employee. “And I suggest you tell me now what’s going on. My patience is at its end.”
Blake nodded. “As you wish.” He took a step aside and motioned to Luther. “Luther is responsible for us knowing who has Isabelle. He risked his life to get us the lead.”
All the air rushed from Samson’s lungs. His eyes darted past Blake and landed on Luther. Luther now turned fully, finally releasing Katie from his protective embrace. He waited silently for Samson to digest the news, just as everybody else in the hallway refrained from talking to give their boss the time he needed to come to grips with the fact that his enemy had helped him.
“I don’t want a thank you,” Luther said into the silence.
He knew how hard it would be for Samson to force words of thanks over his lips, and he wasn’t going to put his former friend in that situation. If he were in Samson’s shoes, he wouldn’t want to be obliged to thank his enemy either. “Katie was the one who put me on the right trail. You should thank her.”
Samson gave a stiff nod to Katie. Then he looked at Blake. “Conference room. Now.” He glanced back at Luther. “You, too.”
Like the leader he was, Samson marched down the corridor and disappeared through a double door to the right. Several of the vampires followed. Luther exchanged a look with Blake.
“Sorry, Luther, but I thought it better not to tell him in advance, or he might have prevented me from getting you here.”
Luther shrugged. “Hey, he didn’t kill me. Not a bad start.” He took Katie’s hand and walked in the direction of the conference room, when Amaury stepped in his path.
“He’s not the only one you have to convince that you’re worth keeping alive,” Amaury said.
“I’m aware of that, brother,” Luther said.
Amaury opened his mouth for a retort, but Eddie gripped his shoulder.
“This is not the time. We’ve got more pressing things to discuss. If you’d like to beat the shit out of my sire once all this is over, I’ll be the first to stand back and watch. But if you touch him now, I’m gonna have to hurt you—brother-in-law or not,” Eddie warned.
Nodding a thanks to his protégé, Luther walked around Amaury. He caught Haven’s eyes zooming in on his and Katie’s joined hands, before he lifted them toward Luther’s face. Luther hadn’t even noticed that he’d taken Katie’s hand, but he couldn’t let go of it now, not when Haven silently challenged him on it. Instead he met Haven’s look stoically, not giving away his feelings. With a resigned sigh, Haven turned and disappeared in the conference room.
Moments later, almost everybody was seated around the large table: the full contingent of the upper echelon of Scanguards. Gabriel, Amaury, Zane, Yvette, Quinn, Thomas, Eddie, Haven, Wesley, Grayson, as well as John, who he’d met during the raid on Forrester’s house. Several other vampires sat among them, but Luther didn’t know them. Samson was leaning against the wall, and Blake stood at the head of the table.