Page 29
“Did he get answers?” Kole asks.
Nico shakes his head. “No. The guy—” He looks at me. “Nova, the guy Luther tortured was Johnny’s father.”
I blink hard, trying to make the pieces fit. “Fuck…”
“When Luther realized who he was, he lost it.” Nico shakes his head, his dark floppy hair falling across his face.
“Johnny’s dad was who he killed,” I breathe.
The air in the room thickens as if everyone has stopped breathing now.
Mack groans. Kole mutters, “Fuck,” and Kim frowns at us. Clearly, he has no idea who Johnny was.
“Burned him alive,” Nico says. “And now he’s…” He turns the camera. For a moment, all I see is flames, but then I see Luther. He’s striding through them, back and forth, waving his arms, pulling the fire higher and higher, casting more and more. Somewhere behind the flames, the outline of a chair and a blackened charred body bring nausea to my throat.
When Nico brings the camera back to his face, he says, “I can take him down. I can stop him. But I might have to hurt him.”
“Do it,” Mack grunts. “Take him down, Nico. Stop him. Let the place burn, and get the hell out of there. Hide somewhere. Anywhere. Not the cabin. Then call us. We’ll figure something out.”
Nico doesn’t nod or reply; he’s already shifting.
His skin starts to stretch and thin, he yowls. His jaw clicks and grows larger, wider. His eyes flash red. Then the phone goes dark.
“How much will he hurt him?” I ask, running my hand over Mack’s upper arm.
“As much as he needs to, I guess,” Mack replies.
“Annalise knows?” Kole growls, pacing away from us and thumping the wall with a large fist.
Mack hands me back my phone. “She must. All this time, we thought we kept it between us. But there’s only one thing that could make Luther go back to that place. And only one way she’d know he was the one to ask.”
“Annalise knows what?” I move to Kole’s side and he instinctively puts his arm around me.
“We swore we wouldn’t—” he says to Mack.
“That was before he lost it and murdered a human.” Mack grips the side of the bed with both hands, as if he’s bracing himself to stand. “Years ago, when Luther and Kole were training with me at the Bureau, Luther went missing for a few days. It was after a particularly harrowing case. You don’t need the details, but it led him to find out who killed his parents.”
“The humans who massacred his village?” I remember the night he first told me what led him to hate humans the way he did. My stomach clenches. I need to be close to him.
Mack nods solemnly. “He found them. Tortured them. Killed them. Every single one.”
“He called me, and I brought Mack.” Kole folds his arms in front of his chest. “We covered it up. Or at least, we thought we covered it up.”
“Turns out, Annalise knew all along.” Mack shakes his head.
“And it looks like she used it to blackmail him into helping them. Threatened him with jail, or exposure, or both.” Mack practically barks and thumps the desk with his fist. “I thought she was different. Turns out she’s no different than the rest of them. Fuck!”
He’s losing his cool. The air shifts. His anger quivers around him. I reach for his hand but before I can grab hold of it, Mack has released a loud roar that shakes the entire room. His muscles twitch, his fingers splay out.
By the fire, Snow roars too.
Their anger builds. The pair of them. Screaming.
And then they both pass out.
13
LUTHER
