Luther's Return (Scanguards Vampires Book 10) Read Online Free Page B

promised.
    More people now crowded into the backstage area. Zane, the bald vampire who could scare the living daylights out of anybody, marched toward Samson, clearly agitated. He had a special connection to Isabelle: he was her godfather, the first person Isabelle had ever bitten. Besides her parents, he was the closest confidant she had.
    A sob tore from Delilah, and Grayson exchanged a look with his father. Samson nodded and transferred his wife into his son’s arms.
    “She has to be here, Mom,” Grayson comforted her.
    “Nothing in the basement,” Zane reported to Samson, then turned to Blake. “How about the surveillance cameras?”
    “I’ve already sent Eddie to check the video footage,” Blake replied, just as Amaury joined them.
    The linebacker-sized vampire with the shoulder-long hair exchanged a quick glance with Samson. “The upper floors are clear, too.”
    Blake touched his mic and listened for a moment. Then, “Bring him in! What are you waiting for? Now!”
    Instantly, Katie could see all the vampires backstage go on alert. Their eyes started to glow, and she could see their mouths become fuller as their fangs extended.
    “Who?” Samson asked Blake.
    “My guys found an unknown vampire lurking in the parking lot. They’re bringing him in now.”
    When the assembled vampires’ eyes narrowed a few moments later, Katie realized that they could already hear the intruder being dragged in, though it took another few seconds for Katie’s ears to perceive the sound of the struggling individual.
    Everybody was rushing toward the door, anticipating the suspect’s arrival. Their broad backs obstructed Katie’s view. Anxious to find out what was going on, Katie stepped onto a footstool and looked over the vampires’ heads, just as three of Blake’s men brought in a defiant vampire.
    Oh my God! He looked ferocious, and the black hair, black lashes, and dark complexion made him look like the devil. His eyes glared red, and his fangs were extended. He was big, broad-shouldered and muscular. He wore casual clothes, but there was nothing casual about his demeanor. Power and strength radiated from every pore of his body. She was inexplicably drawn to that power. Drawn to the vampire beneath the surface.
    The sudden silence in the room pulled her out of her observation and made her snap her gaze upward, back to the captive’s face. The strange vampire had stopped struggling and was staring at Samson.
    “Luther!” Samson hissed.

4
     
    It had been a bad idea to show up in San Francisco wanting to make things right, Luther realized now. Apparently twenty years had done nothing to lessen Samson’s hatred for him. Nor Amaury’s. Both his former friends glared at him as if they were ready to rip his head off. Maybe they should. Maybe it would all be for the better.
    “Oh my God, it’s him, it’s Luther,” the tearful voice of a woman broke the hate-filled silence.
    He didn’t have to break eye contact with Samson to recognize the voice: Delilah, the woman he’d almost killed so many years earlier.
    “It was him, it was him!” she now yelled with a fury he didn’t quite understand.
    If he’d known that everybody at Scanguards held a grudge for such a long time, he would have never come.
    “I paid the fucking price,” Luther ground out.
    What else did they want from him? The council had sentenced him to twenty years, though they could have given him fifty, but Amaury’s mate, Nina, had pleaded for leniency. Maybe she shouldn’t have. Maybe he didn’t deserve leniency.
    “Release him!” Samson commanded the guards who were restraining him. When they hesitated, he added, “That’s an order.”
    When the men took their claws off him, Luther felt a sense of surprise wash over him. Had he misjudged Samson?
    A balled fist punched him in the face so fast and so hard that Luther was catapulted back. He lost his balance and crashed against the wall. Before he could jump back up, Samson was already on