We Don't Want To Anger Morven

[Michael Vellas]

Michael suppressed a sigh, but he was not unsympathetic to Matias's plight. It was the kind of thing he would have done not so long ago where enemies seemed to surround him. A flash of irritation flooded through him at the thought that this may have been how Nikolai felt when they first encountered one another. A most unpleasant thought. However, it passed quickly. That was then, and he had learned much.

"I do not doubt your word," Michael replied, trying to placate the man's prickly nature. "Nor your courage. I would not send any but the Rods of Dominion against some of these monsters, I simply need to know how skilled you are so I do not have to tell the Ascendancy Damien's emissary is dead."

He frowned at the man's last request. "It does not sound agreeable," he said without any anger but his eyes were icy. "That man hates you - or your family. You have made it abundantly clear how dissatisfied you were enough to insult my men and I. I am a patient man, but I do not care how precious you are to Nikolai Brandon or Damien Oakland. I do not care what has happened between you two. I have vulnerable men to take care of, and I will not have any of them endangered - that includes you."

Michael relented. "Tell me why you want to see him, and I may consider it. Despite what you may think, Matias, I am trying to help you. All of you. I had to run and hide for years, hunted for this power which I never asked for and killed men and creatures who look at us as something that needs to be euthanized. I will not see another man go through the same again."