by Cynthia Eden
“Yes.” He nodded, all encouraging. “Do that. Just get comfortable. Before you know it, Luke will be back and he can take over your…care.”
She shimmied. She rolled. She lifted up her knees and she pulled her cuffed hands under her body, looping them so that they could come in front of her once more.
“Wait!” Alarm raised his voice. “You’re a limber thing, aren’t you? Normally a bonus with women but—stop! Stop that!”
No way. The cuffs were in front of her now so she could reach up and jerk the gag right out of her mouth—exactly what she did. “Screw you,” she snapped at him.
His eyes immediately…glowed. Lust flashed on his face and he grabbed for the cell door.
Oh, no! I said the wrong thing—again! That was her problem. She always said the wrong thing. She did the wrong thing. “You want to get away from me!” Mina yelled, hoping to stop him before this went too far. “You don’t want to screw anyone right now. You just want to get far away from me, fast.”
He immediately turned on his heel, like a puppet on a string and nearly ran from the area.
Her mouth dropped. “No!” She lunged forward and grabbed the bars. “I mean…you want to get away after you let me out!”
She could hear the thud of his fading footsteps.
“You want to let me out first!” Mina shouted.
But it was too late. Apparently, Julian could run very, very fast.
Her forehead pressed against a bar. “I did it again.” Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Now she was trapped.
Unless someone else happened to come into the cell area. In that case, she’d be ready. And she’d plan her words very, very carefully.
***
Garrick buttoned up his shirt. “You think I don’t know the story sounds farfetched? I thought the tales about her were bullshit, too, until I had her close and she stared into my eyes, parted those sexy lips, and told me to cut out my own heart.”
Luke’s heart was drumming too fast. His heart never raced that way. Not unless he was getting ready to end someone.
“When you aren’t of use to her any longer, Mina eliminates you. It’s the way she works. Eli didn’t have a boat she could use, he didn’t have a car…just his motorcycle. That wasn’t going to help her. So she found someone else to get her out of this place and she planted the order to die in Eli’s mind.”
Had Mina been alone with Eli? He wasn’t sure where she’d been when he’d first arrived at the bar. He just remembered looking up—and she’d been there. Perhaps she’d talked to Eli before he’d arrived…
“You know her, don’t you?” Garrick asked him.
Luke looked back at her picture. At the faint smile there. Such a temptation. The way her eyes gleamed… “Never seen her before in my life.” He handed the photo back to Garrick. “What agency did you say you were with?”
A little muscle seemed to tick near Garrick’s right eye. “The FBI.”
“So impressive,” Luke murmured. His head cocked to the right. “May I see some ID?”
Garrick put Mina’s picture back in his coat pocket and pretty much threw his ID at Luke.
Luke gave it a cursory glance. “Fascinating. The FBI has come all the way down to the tip of the Keys after a killer…one who told you to cut out your heart.” Now he tossed the ID right back at Garrick. “Were you fucking her?”
Garrick’s hand fisted as he clenched the ID. He took a surging step toward Luke. “Where is she?” His voice was low, deadly.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Rage surged inside of Luke. Dark and twisting, only…this rage was different. Not the usual fire that burned him when someone had done something very, very wrong and pissed him off. This was…like nails, like claws, cutting into his insides, and he wanted to lift his fist and drive it into Garrick’s bland face, breaking the guy’s nose, blackening his eyes because the bastard had known Mina, because he’d touched her, because he’d kissed her and—
Luke stepped back. “That’s what it’s like, huh?”
Garrick frowned at him. “What? What in the hell are you muttering about?”
Jealousy. I just had my first taste. And he didn’t particularly like it. Too bitter. “Did she…hypnotize you into fucking her?”
Garrick’s face flushed bright red. “You’re making this a joke. Mina James is no joke. What she did to me, what she did to Eli, what she has done to dozens of other victims…it’s no laughing matter. The woman needs to be stopped.”
“And you’re just the man for that job.” Luke glanced down and realized that he’d clenched his own fists. Unacceptable. Humans weren’t supposed to stir that much emotion in him. He kept his control. Always. Even when fury rode him hard, he stayed in control.
Because when he lost control, well, his bad side came out.
And people died.
“I’m the man on her case. Half a dozen agents are down here. We’re hunting her. We will find her. She’ll be taken down.” Garrick’s gaze held Luke’s. “And anyone dumb enough to be helping her will go down, too. Collateral damage.”
“That almost sounds like a threat.” Luke shook his head. “Not very FBI-like, is it?”
Someone called out Garrick’s name. A woman with red hair who was sporting an equally boring suit. Probably another FBI agent.
Garrick pulled a small, white business card out of his pocket and handed it to Luke. “If you do see Mina, call me. I can help you.”
Luke took the card. He held it between his thumb and his index finger as he watched Garrick walk away.
The card started to burn.
Mina, you have very poor taste in men.
In seconds, the card was nothing but ash, drifting in the wind. Luke stared at that drifting ash, watching as it blew toward the ground. The ground and…
A spider.
His shoulders tensed. There was a big, fat spider on the ground. One that was scuttling fast as it moved to follow Garrick McAdams. The spider ran right up to him but before it could attack, Garrick glanced down. His lips tightened in distaste as he stared at the spider, then his shoe lifted and slammed down on the arachnid, squashing it. He twisted his foot, as if making good and certain that it was dead.
Luke focused his gaze on the charred remains of the bar. He looked down, staring at the ashes and the soot and…another big, fat spider scuttled out. Unerringly, it went straight toward Garrick McAdams.
But this time, it was the female agent who squashed the spider. Stomping it quick beneath the heel of her shoe.
He waited to see if more spiders would come, but they didn’t. Only two had been left. Two—because Eli was gone. They must have slipped from Eli before he’d been taken away. Those last two spiders had done their job, though. They’d shown Luke just what he needed to see.
The FBI agent couldn’t be trusted.
A good thing…because the instant Luke had found out that Garrick had an intimate past with Mina, he’d wanted to kill the bastard. Now, well, he had a more legitimate reason for the fury.
Even he had standards, after all. If you were going to destroy a man…
It helped to have a few reasons for the dark deed.
***
“Does he know where she is?” Madeline Slate asked. Her red hair was bright in the afternoon sun. Her eyes—a light brown—darted over his shoulder to peer at Luke Thorne.
“I think he does.” Garrick didn’t look back at the guy. Luke Thorne was a dick, but the guy was also their key to finding Mina. “We’re going to watch him when he leaves and follow his ass back to the island.” Once there, away from the prying eyes of the crowd around them, Garrick and his team would take control.
They’d get Mina back.
And Luke? Well, they’d deal with him, too.
“Is he already under her power?” A slight furrow appeared between Madeline’s eyes. “If he is, he’ll fight to keep her.”
“Doesn’t matter how hard he fights.” Garrick wasn’t even a little worried. Mina is close. I’m
getting her back. “Our orders are to bring her in. She’s too valuable to the organization. We’ll get her back and she will cooperate.”
Madeline licked her lips. “If she doesn’t?”
There was no choice for Mina. Not after all that she’d done. “Then she dies.”
Chapter Seven
Footsteps.
Mina jumped to her feet when she heard the distinct thud of footsteps approaching her cell. She ran toward the bars, grabbed them, held tight and—
Okay, wait. This looks too desperate.
She immediately pushed back from the bars, smoothed her hair, straightened her robe—she was still wearing the damn thing—and tried to look as if she were totally and completely relaxed. When Julian had left her¸ he’d rushed out and left the door to the cell room open, so it only took a moment before she saw a flash of blond hair appear.
And Rayce walked into what she thought of as her new personal hell.
When he saw her, he stopped short. “Where’s Julian?” Rayce demanded. He crossed his arms over his chest, frowning.
Her shoulders lifted. “I don’t know. He locked me in here…” She hoped that she looked suitably pitiful as her lips curled down. “And he just left. Maybe Luke called him? Maybe something happened with Eli?”
Alarm flashed on Rayce’s face. A handsome enough face. Hard jaw. Sculpted lips. But…not dangerously sexy. Not like Luke.
“Let me out,” Mina said, pushing power into the words. “Then we can get the boat and go together to Key West. We can help Luke.”
Rayce blinked, looking vaguely confused. He was also not moving to let her out.
So she needed to ramp up her compulsion. Unfortunately, she was feeling a bit weak. It had been one long-ass night and she couldn’t exactly remember the last time she’d eaten. “Let me out,” Mina said again, drawing on her reserves. She’d been waiting too long in that cell, hoping that someone would appear. It would have been ever-so-helpful if Rayce had just brought his wolfie self in earlier but…
He walked toward the cell.
Better late than never.
“Thank you.” Relief made her light-headed. Or maybe that was the hunger. Didn’t really matter. “Open that lock as fast as you can and get me out.”
He reached for the lock. Then he stopped, his brows furrowing. “I don’t have the key.”
He didn’t have the—Her teeth snapped together. “Julian has it.” Julian, who was somewhere running wild on the island. “Just—just break the bars, okay? You’re a shifter, right?” Wolf shifter, werewolf, whatever he wanted to be called was fine with her. “That means you’re super strong. Just rip the bars apart. Luke did it.” She pointed to the cell on her right, the cell she’d trapped Luke in before. Two of the bars had been heaved apart so he could slip out. “Just do what he did.” Do it now. Now, now, now.
Rayce curled his fingers around the bars. He sucked in a deep breath and then he yanked on them, straining, the muscles in his arms and chest bulging, his face darkening, lines of strain appearing and—
Nothing happened.
His breath panted out.
Mina narrowed her eyes. “Tell me that’s not all you’ve got.” She’d heard whispers about wolf shifters. They were supposed to be wild, fierce, so far up the paranormal chain that they were not fucked with by others.
And this guy couldn’t break a bar for her?
“Luke did it,” she said again. “You can, too.” She snatched for her own power, pumping it into her voice. “Bend the bars. Get me out. You can do it.”
Rayce nodded grimly, and he braced his body. His muscles strained as he pulled and pulled and she thought she heard a faint groan from one of the bars.
Excitement fired her blood. “That’s it! Keep going! Keep—”
Smoke began to rise from his hands. And she caught the acrid scent of…burning flesh? Horror had her mouth dropping open as she realized that the bars were actually burning him. Silver and a werewolf don’t mix. Oh, shit. “Rayce, stop—”
“He isn’t me, sweetheart.”
Rayce’s shoulders slumped as his hands fell away from the bars.
Mina’s whole body went cold, then hot.
And Luke walked into her hell. He flashed her a wide smile. “Up to your usual tricks, are you?”
“Trying to be,” she muttered back. What was the point in a denial?
“Um.” He pointed to Rayce. “If you know she’s a siren, then why would you ever let her compel you? Would putting in some ear plugs have been too much to ask?”
Rayce shoved away from the bars. “I was…looking for Julian.” His hands were covered in blisters.
“Ah, yes, Julian. That panther was supposed to be keeping watch.” He paced toward the bars and lifted one dark brow as he stared at Mina. “What did you do to my friend?” Anger was there, cold, deadly, staring at her from his eyes and chilling her in his voice.
“I didn’t hurt him,” she said quickly. But she had hurt Rayce. She hated the sight of his hands. “I’m sorry,” she whispered miserably to Rayce. “You need to bandage your hands.”
“His hands will heal.”
Actually, they already appeared to be healing. That was good.
A muscle jerked in Luke’s jaw. “Now let’s talk about Julian again. Where is he?”
She backed away from the bars. A little space between her and Luke might be a good thing, especially considering the way he was looking at her. “I just sent him out, told him to get away from me, okay? That’s all.” She put her still cuffed hands in front of her, feeling the silk of the robe beneath her fingers. “Trust me, I needed the guy to get away. It was in everyone’s best interests.”
Luke’s hand curled around one bar. “And why is that?”
Her gaze darted between him and Rayce. This was embarrassing. “Can we maybe talk in private, Luke?”
“What happened between you and Julian?”
Okay, jeez, that low voice was kind of terrifying. “I said the wrong thing, all right? I told you, I do that. You have no idea what it’s like to have to watch every single word you say. I said the wrong thing, I messed up, and I had to send him out to—to stop him.”
His gaze seemed to burn into hers. “Stop him from what?”
Her cheeks felt as if they were on fire. Her eyes jerked toward Rayce, then came back to Luke. “Can we talk about this alone?” she asked again, hating the pleading tone of her voice.
“Rayce,” Luke’s voice rumbled. “Go find Julian. Make sure he’s not hurting himself.”
Horror widened her eyes. “He’s not! I didn’t tell Julian to hurt himself—I wouldn’t—”
“The same way you wouldn’t tell a former lover to cut out his own heart?”
The sound of her sharply indrawn breath seemed way too loud. Oh, crap. He met Garrick.
Rayce gave a low whistle and his gaze raked over her with new appreciation. “Didn’t expect that. Bloodthirsty, huh? Guess that definitely makes her your type, Luke.”
“Go. Find. Julian.”
“Right. On it.” Rayce hurried out.
Luke kept that dark stare of his on her. She wanted to look away, but couldn’t. “I can explain…” Mina began.
“I certainly hope so. I mean, I would hate to think you just went around from man to man, fucking them, using them, and leaving death in your wake.”
The pain hit her—so sharp and unexpected that tears actually filled her eyes. She should have been used to the accusations. After all, plenty of people hurled them at her. But for some reason—some stupid reason—hearing those words from Luke cut her right to the core.
He swore. “Are you crying?”
A tear leaked down her cheek.
“Stop it,” Luke snapped. “Stop it right now!”
She swiped at the tears, lifting her cuffed hands. “I’m not a whore, despite what you think.”
“You tried seducing me last night.” Like she needed that reminder. “And your ex just told me that was your MO.” The fain
t lines near his eyes tightened. “Didn’t I tell you to stop crying?”
“It’s not like I can do it on command!” Mina fired back.
He glowered.
“I made a mistake with Julian.” Her voice had dropped to a whisper. “I was mad and when I’m mad, I don’t think well enough before I speak. I said, ‘Screw you’ and it was like a light switched on inside of him. I could see it. The lust was there, burning too hot for him to control. He was charging for the cell, getting ready to unlock it—”
An animalistic rumble came from him. Deeper than a growl. Way rougher.
Goosebumps rose on her arms. Odd because she could have sworn that it had just gotten warmer in there. “So I told him to walk away. To get out of here. Before something happened.” She swallowed. “Before someone got hurt.”
Silence.
She didn’t think silence from Luke was a good thing. “How is your friend Eli?”
“Eli isn’t my friend.”
She rocked back on her heels. Still very, very furious.
“Did you talk to Eli?” Luke suddenly asked her.
“I told him that I liked his tat.” She remembered the intricate spider that she’d seen on Eli’s neck. “That a crime?”
“No, but using your voice to tell a man to kill himself, to get him to destroy his bar, to burn my whiskey—that is a crime.”
Tell a man to kill himself. She took a step back. “I didn’t.” Her voice was too low and the past was suddenly all around her. Grabbing at her. Slicing into her. Hurting her. “I didn’t!”
“Eli wasn’t there when I arrived,” Luke said, his voice curt. “He was gone, apparently sent to a hospital for treatment because of the burns that he sustained. A very helpful Agent Garrick McAdams was at the scene, though. He told me about you. About how you used Eli—you wanted a boat from him, wanted transportation—”
“The only thing I ever told the guy was that he had a nice tat!”
“When he couldn’t provide that for you, Agent McAdams said you gave Eli a dark compulsion. Death. And then you went on to your next victim.” His lips twisted. “That would be me.”
No, no, no. She ran forward, toward the bars. Toward Luke. “That isn’t how it happened! I went to the bar to find you! I waited outside until I saw you arrive, then I went in. I went straight to you. I didn’t talk to anyone else. I was so nervous that I was afraid I was going to pass out before I got to you, but I had no choice.”