Amaury didn’t give a rat’s ass about what Luther thought. Nina was his, and he would not allow her to be hurt.
Luther turned toward Delilah and brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. A defiant shake of her head was the answer.
“What a lovely mate you have, Samson. When I heard of your bonding a few months ago, I wanted to congratulate you in person. Excuse the delay, but I had things to prepare, you understand. I needed loyal supporters and what better way than to create them myself, don’t you think? After all, you turned all my friends against me. In my moment of grief, I had nobody.”
Amaury remembered the time well. Only, Luther had been the one who’d turned against his friends, pushing everybody away, accusing everybody of wrongdoing.
“You could have saved Vivian. And you let her die. You had the power, yet you didn’t act. But enough of the past. It dies today—with me and your blood-bonded mates.”
It was no surprise to Amaury that Luther was prepared to go down with them. He had to know that both he and Samson would hunt him down to the end of the world. Luther was as good as dead the moment he laid hands on Nina and Delilah.
A quick glance at Samson confirmed his friend was thinking the same thing. Amaury looked at his watch: only six minutes left. He gestured to it and made a sign to Samson, indicating the remaining time with his fingers.
“Gabriel, update.” Samson’s voice through the earphone sounded calmer and more collected than he looked face to face.
“This is Quinn. Found the trigger mechanism. It’s on auto. I can’t deactivate it from here. I need to find the console.”
“Do it.”
“On my way. A word of warning though—I think there’s a manual override somewhere. In case we disable the auto, he has another way of setting it off.”
“I’m looking for it,” Thomas replied.
“Less than five minutes,” Amaury whispered.
“Good night, my friends. And welcome to true darkness,” Luther said. A moment later, he glided back into the mausoleum behind the women, his frame melting into the entryway.
Thirty-eight
Nina shivered. Luther’s last words had given her the chill.
She looked to her side to where Eddie had hidden earlier, but couldn’t see him anywhere. She caught a look at the clock. Less than five minutes remained.
Out in the distance across the grassy area she could make out some shadows. Were they moving toward her, or was this merely wishful thinking?
Seconds later she saw a familiar shape come into view. Despite the darkness, she recognized him: Amaury. Next to him, a slimmer, but equally tall man appeared: Samson.
Nina looked over the edge of the platform as Amaury and Samson continued their approach, unimpeded by anybody. This wasn’t right. It was too easy. Why would Luther leave them alone, so their men could come to free them? It didn’t make sense. Yes, the bomb was ticking, but five minutes would be plenty of time to free them and be far enough away from the platform by the time it blew up. No, something was seriously wrong with this picture.
It’s a trap!
She concentrated on Amaury and opened her mind to him. Frantically, she looked around herself, following the wires.
From the corner of her eye she suddenly saw a movement. Eddie rushed past the platform and toward Samson and Amaury, launching himself onto them. She wanted to scream and stop him, but the gag in her mouth prevented her from it.
Instead she watched as he bounced against Amaury. They fought while Samson continued to approach. A frantic look by Eddie toward Samson told her that something was wrong. Eddie wasn’t fighting to kill them, only fighting to stop them.
Amaury, stop! Don’t hurt Eddie! No further! Stop Samson—stop him now!
A second later Amaury’s command echoed through the night. “Samson, stay back!”
His friend instantly stilled, and so did Eddie. He stopped punching.
“Thank God,” she heard her brother’s voice rasp. Exhaustion clearly showing on his face, he pointed to a spot only a foot ahead of Samson. “Laser beam.”
Nina’s heart pounded.
Amaury still had her brother in a tight grip, but he didn’t appear to want him any more harm. “Talk. Fast.” Amaury’s voice reached Nina’s ears and felt strangely comforting.
“Once you pass that point, the laser beam is interrupted and triggers a second mechanism, and you’ve got sixty seconds for the podium to blow,” Eddie explained.
Nina’s heart stopped. So that’s why Luther had been so confident and left them alone. If the men tried to rush them, they would inadvertently reduce the time on the clock and blow up with them.