A low throaty chuckle rumbled in the room, making the atoms in my body fizz. Our God held his power in check, while this one wanted it to be felt everywhere.
He leaned forward, and the shadows unwrapped his features an inch at a time, like they were being bent to his will. I expected everything from a traditional old wise guy to a skull-like male. He was neither of those things. He was stunning. His sharp features were born of dreams and nightmares. His inky hair waved in an unseen breeze, the lone tendril resting on his wrinkle-free forehead shifting as his full mouth curved into a smile. Silver eyes, the color of liquid mercury, completed the otherworldly appearance. He was flawless, disarming, devastating.
He tilted his head as his gaze scanned my body. He waved a hand, and my badass leathers replaced themselves with a flowing floor-length silver Greek goddess gown, while swirling silver bands wrapped around my upper arms.
“What the fuck?” Hudson growled.
“Better. Females don’t wear warrior clothing,” Donn said, his voice deep and commanding.
“They do now. Put them back,” I demanded. If I gave an inch now, I had no chance. “Females aren’t the weaker sex. They never were, and the world knows it now.”
“Indeed. Women have always been merciless. You don’t need clothing to communicate that, Cora. I already know you are a worthy adversary.” I had no comeback for that. “You brought friends,” Donn said, peering behind me.
“I’m not a friend. I’m her mate,” Hudson snapped back.
Donn gave him a look of faint amusement, like he found that super funny. I didn’t like that one bit.
“And I am Lucifer, son oftheGod, ruler of damned souls.”
Donn flicked a glance at him, and his eyes shone with a little more interest at my uncle. “We have the daughter of death, the god of death, and the lord of the damned,” Donn said with a cutting look at Hudson. “You are the odd one out.”
Hudson growled low, and Keverin rippled to the surface. Donn tilted his head. “Interesting. Not a simple shapeshifter, are you?” Hudson bared his teeth.Oh no.
“You made a deal with my grandmother.” We needed to move this along. Costume changes and trying to intimidate my mate were getting us nowhere.
He inclined his head. “I did. My foothold into this world needed to be solidified by someone with power.”
As we suspected. But asking him to explain himself wouldn’t go well. I had to tread carefully to avoid us all meeting a watery grave.
Lucifer folded his arms. “There are a thousand better beings to make deals with. Why her?”
Donn’s silver eyes lasered my soul. “She is a bridge to the true purpose of my return.”
“Not in this lifetime,” Hudson stated, picking up on Donn’s clear message.
“She used that power to build an epidemic of remnants, who have revealed themselves to the humans, and she is poised to become the leader of the new world.”
He flicked his hand like he was swatting a fly. “Eloise is a speck, and your world is but a bolt in a much larger universe.”
Right. Well, before we sat down for snacks and settled in for an ancient alien binge fest, I needed him to recall his power so Eloise could die.
“Have you got your foothold?” I asked carefully.
He raised his arms and smiled. “What do you think?”
Yup, his power could be felt everywhere. “That’s fantastic for you. Welcome back. Now, could you please take back your power from Eloise?”
“I am not interested in your petty squabbles.”
Humanity’s fate was hardly a petty squabble. “I am not asking for your interest, merely to return her back to the elemental she was born.”
If he did that, we could kill her, and I think our remnant problem would resolve itself. It would go down in the history books as a mass hysteria event, and everyone would go back to believing the unbelievable was explainable. It was the simplest solution.
Donn narrowed his gaze. “I’m blood bound. It would take considerable effort to break that.”
Considerable effort, but not impossible. This was good. Of course, just like Lucifer, Donn wanted his pound of flesh.
“What do you want?”
