by Cynthia Eden
He’ll bring Mina to me…or I will take away everything that man holds dear.
Chapter Ten
“I’m…sorry.”
Mina forced her eyes to open. She really just wanted to sink into sleep and forget all the worries out in the real world, just for a while, but…Luke was apologizing. An event she was sure didn’t happen often.
His fingers trailed over her arm. “I shouldn’t have given you that drink.”
“No,” she agreed. “You’re an asshole.”
His lips twitched. “You need to stop doing that.”
She settled deeper into the covers. “Then stop being an asshole.”
His smile stretched. “I meant…stop making me like you.”
He liked it when women called him names after sex? She’d make a mental note of that.
“It’s…dangerous for me to trust the wrong people. I have to be very careful,” he added. “Because if something happens and I were to ever lose my control…”
He hadn’t lost his control, not even when things got all hot and heavy between them. “Can’t imagine that,” she whispered.
His smile faded. “That is a very good thing.”
Was it?
“I wouldn’t want you…hurt.”
Nice, considering she didn’t want to be hurt.
“So I needed the truth from you. And I still need it.”
Uh, oh. Alarm bells went off in her head. He was not about to interrogate her while she was still naked in his bed. No way. No—
“The wine won’t be in your system much longer. And I won’t be giving it to you again.”
“You’d better not,” she rumbled. Some of that nice, after-sex languor had left her body.
He kept stroking her arm. “How did you get those marks on your body? Tell me who gave them to you.”
“I don’t know.” Damn him, the wine was still making her talk. Her muscles tensed. “They were just there as long as I can remember.” It was…scary, being the one who didn’t have a choice, who had to speak when compelled. It made her hate her own power even more. She yanked the covers up to her chin, feeling far too vulnerable. Don’t look at my scars.
“What about your parents?” Luke asked her. “Do they know what happened to you?”
“My father was a Navy man.” And her heart twisted. “He was lost at sea before I was born.”
He bent toward her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
So was she.
“Your mother?” Luke prompted. “Tell me what happened to her.”
Her heart wasn’t just twisting now. It was being squeezed by an ice-cold fist. “You know…I would have told you all this, without the weird wine. Maybe you should have tried asking me.” Her past wasn’t exactly pretty but…I would have told him. “My mother stayed with me until I was six years old and then, one day…she walked into the water.”
She felt him stiffen beside her.
“We lived along the California coast,” Mina continued. “She left me with a friend…” The friend who would later turn Mina over to children’s services. “And she just…she went straight into the water.” That memory was one that had haunted her forever. Seeing her mother just walk away. The waves had beat at her, getting higher and rougher. And Mina had just been sitting on the beach, screaming.
Come back, mommy, come back!
“She left me.” And the pain had never ended. “For years…I hated the water. I was terrified of it. Then one day, I decided I wasn’t going to be afraid any longer.” And, as if fate were playing with her, she’d realized that she had a natural gift for swimming. She could swim faster, harder, than anyone she’d ever met. She could hold her breath for almost five minutes. “I don’t like being afraid,” she said.
He pressed another kiss to her cheek. “No, I don’t imagine that you do.”
She sat up in bed, making sure to pull those covers with her. He backed up, but stayed close. Her gaze held his. “I can’t make you tell me about your family.”
Luke laughed. “Trust me, you don’t want to know about them.”
“Yes, I do. Isn’t it fair,” she stressed that word, “for you to tell me about them?”
He was silent a moment, and then… “The only family I have left is a brother. My twin.”
Right. She knew about him. “The Lord of the Light.”
His laugh was bitter. “Yeah, he calls his dumb ass that. We grew up…always knowing we were opposite, always being told that we were fated to destroy each other.” He rubbed his jaw across her arm, the stubble rasping lightly. “How’s that for a fun Christmas card greeting?”
“Do you…talk to him?”
“I try not to. Despite the shit that’s been prophesized, I don’t want to kill him.” He went silent again, as if he’d shocked himself.
“Is it…true?” Mina asked. “Is he supposed to be good and you’re evil?” Two twins—dark and light, good and evil, a balance in the world. So the stories went.
But stories could be wrong.
“You tell me,” Luke said, his voice low. “Am I evil?”
Her hand lifted and her fingers smoothed over his cheek. His stubble rasped beneath her touch. He’d protected her, given her sanctuary. He’d also drugged her with some kind of truth serum. And locked her in a cell.
“You don’t know, do you?” For an instant, she could have sworn that he sounded sad. “That’s the problem, Mina. I don’t know either.”
“Luke—”
But…a phone was ringing. The sound was so incredibly normal that she was jarred. Luke swore and slid from the bed. He paced toward the heavy, wooden dresser and lifted his phone. She hadn’t even seen it over there.
He frowned at the screen, then swiped his finger over it. Putting the phone to his ear, he said, “This is Thorne.”
***
Garrick pressed the knife deeper into Eli’s side.
The guy was bleeding all over the floor, twitching, but…at least the spiders weren’t sliding off the fellow any longer.
“L-Luke?” Eli gasped out.
“Eli?” Luke Thorne’s voice seemed to fill the cell. Garrick had turned the phone on speaker. He wanted to hear every single word of this conversation. “Where in the hell are you?”
Hell is right.
“M-Mina James…” Eli trembled. “She’s…dangerous.”
Garrick nodded. Those were exactly the words he’d told Eli to say.
“Don’t…don’t trust her,” Eli added. “She h-hurt me.”
Garrick pulled the knife back. It made a wet, gushy sound as it left Eli’s side.
“Where are you?” Luke asked again, voice tight.
“I-I got out of the hospital,” Eli’s words tumbled out. “But I need help. Will you h-help me?”
Silence. Eli’s ragged breathing seemed far too loud. Why wasn’t Luke Thorne offering to help? Why wasn’t he promising to rush to the rescue or—
“Agent McAdams,” Luke drawled, “I’m guessing you’re right there.”
Eli’s frantic gaze shot toward Garrick.
“If you’re torturing Eli, I have to say…you’re going to piss me off.” Luke’s tone was still mild. “And me pissed off? Not a good thing. Just ask Eli.”
It’s not. Eli mouthed those words.
Garrick’s gaze narrowed to slits.
“I’m not the kind of man you can threaten,” Luke continued. “I thought you’d learned that already.”
The bastard was about to be a dead man. Garrick shoved Eli away. “I know you have her!”
“And I knew you were there…I could hear your desperate breaths.”
Those breaths had been Eli’s!
“If you don’t bring Mina James to me,” Garrick blasted at him, “I will slice your buddy Eli into pieces.”
Eli was shuddering…and bleeding all over the damn place.
“Let’s see if the spiders can still crawl out of him when I’ve got him cut open.” Garrick’s hand tightened on his knife. �
��Because I will do it, if you don’t bring me Mina.”
Silence. No, shit, the guy should be begging to make a deal! He should be—
“I’m coming for you, Agent McAdams,” Luke said. The words were so dark. And…hushed? “You’ll be the one cut open. You’ll be the one begging. And you will never, ever touch Mina again.”
The line ended. The bastard had hung up—on him.
A sigh came from behind Garrick.
“That didn’t go so well,” Madeline announced. Her high heels clicked on the floor.
Garrick turned toward her, smiling. “It went perfectly. He finally admitted that he has Mina. And he’s coming to us.”
“Without Mina.”
Garrick just laughed. “No way. She’ll be here. She’ll be with him.”
Madeline shook her head. “He just told you that you would never touch her—”
“I know Mina. She can’t stand the thought of someone being hurt.” The pool of blood on the floor was getting bigger. He might have cut Eli too deeply. Oh, well. “She’ll find out what’s happening. And Luke Thorne? He won’t be able to keep her away. When Mina wants something bad enough…” His hand rose and pressed to the scar above his heart. “She gets it.”
***
He wanted to crush the phone in his hand. Grind it to dust. Instead, Luke very carefully put the phone back down and he turned to face Mina.
A Mina who was already out of bed and frantically dressing.
Luke frowned at her. “What are you doing?”
“Going to the rescue…with you.”
The fuck she was. He shook his head. “No, you’re not.”
She kept dressing. Jerking on those jeans, doing a little shimmy.
“Mina…”
She hooked the bra. Searched a few moments for her shirt then yanked it over her head.
He stalked toward her. Luke caught her arm and turned her to fully face him. “You aren’t going anywhere.”
But her face was determined. “I heard enough of that phone call to know what’s happening, despite you trying to keep your voice all quiet.” Her gaze was stark. “That bartender, your friend, Eli, he’s being hurt…because of me.”
“No, he’s being hurt because Garrick McAdams is a dick.” They should be clear on that point. This wasn’t her fault.
Her jaw hardened. “If I return to Garrick, he’ll let Eli go.”
Luke cocked his head as he considered that. “Will he?”
She hesitated.
“Thought so,” Luke murmured. “He’ll just keep you and kill Eli. Time for me to stop the bastard. To end him.”
Her eyes seemed so very big and stark. “It’s my fight. I’m the one who brought him to you—to Eli. I’m not just going to hide when you face off. I can help—”
So cute. “I don’t need help.” But he did need her to be safe. Her safety mattered far more to him than anything else. That realization was unsettling. He wasn’t normally unsettled by anything.
“Everyone needs help, sometime.” Her hand pressed to his chest. “I’m not staying behind. I’m not going to be locked up again. I’m stronger than I look, far stronger. I beat Garrick once, and I can do it again.”
She was so determined. So desperate.
“I don’t want him hurting you,” Mina said, her husky voice seeming to slip right through Luke, “because of me.”
He bent over her and pressed a kiss to her lips. “When will you see, sweetheart, that I don’t hurt easily? I don’t break, Mina.” He broke others. Just as he was about to break Garrick. He’d warned the guy, but the agent hadn’t listened.
Now he’d pay.
Luke turned from her and dressed quickly, quietly. He exhaled slowly then spun for the door. He found Mina in his path.
“I’m not a thing,” Mina said. Her chin notched up. “Not some pet to be kept or some prize to be won. I don’t stay where I’m put.” Each word shook with anger. “You don’t lock me up. You don’t keep me. I go where I choose. With whom I choose.” Her eyes blazed at him. “A man’s life is on the line. He’s hurting, perhaps dying, just because I went into his bar. I’m not going to sit back. You aren’t going to leave me. I’m coming with you, even if I have to swim every bit of the way.”
He stared down at her.
“I’m not weak. I’m not going to slow you down. I can help.” Her breath blew out in a low rush. “I will help.”
Luke knew he could have forced her to stay on his island. There wasn’t a dark creature that he couldn’t control. He had absolute power over his dominion but…
He didn’t want to control her.
Mina had spirit. She had fire. She wanted to fight. And, based on what he’d learned about her, she deserved her vengeance. He’d give her that gift. Perhaps she’d be grateful. He’d rather enjoy her gratitude.
He’d rather enjoy…her. So be it. Luke inclined his head and saw the surprise flash on her face.
“You…agree?”
“I agree, with conditions.”
She nodded, fast. “Any conditions. Great, wonderful, you—”
“You don’t get hurt.” That was the condition that mattered. “If things go to hell…” When he was around, they tended to do just that. “Then you get behind me. I can take any fire, any damage, and still keep going.” Immortality had its benefits. “You can’t. So when bullets fly or fire rages, get that sweet ass behind me.”
“You don’t have to tell me that twice.”
She seemed so fierce. So determined. But…
Afraid. He could see her fear, yet Mina wasn’t letting that stop her. So very interesting. “You’ll come back with me.” Those words pushed from him. “When the battle is over, you come back here with me.” He lifted his hand, and the Eye of Hell gleamed on his finger. “Then we’ll work on the little…problem you have.”
Her breath caught. “Luke?”
“You’ll come back with me.” For some reason, he needed to hear her say those words.
“I’ll come back with you.”
The weight on his heart—a weight that had never been there before—eased. He nodded. “Good. Now let’s go find that bastard of an ex that you have…” He considered Garrick McAdams. “Because I might just finish cutting out his heart.”
Chapter Eleven
The boat drifted into the dock close to midnight. Luke could easily hear voices and laughter floating on the wind. Key West was just getting the party started at that time.
“You want me to wait for you, boss?” Marcos asked.
Luke jumped onto the dock. He turned back, offering his hand to Mina. She followed him over, a quick, graceful little jump. “No need,” Luke told him. “Go offshore.” It would be safer for the man that way. “When I need you, I’ll call.”
Marcos nodded. A few moments later, he pulled away from the dock.
“He sort of reminds me of Charon,” Mina said.
It was a name that Luke hadn’t heard in a very, very long time.
“From mythology,” she added. “Charon ferried the newly dead across Styx—”
“I know who Charon is.” Was. She was hitting a bit too close to home for him, so he caught her elbow and steered her away from the dock. “I’m wagering your Garrick has eyes on the dock. They’ll be reporting our arrival to him.”
“He’s not my anything,” Mina snapped back with the bite he loved. “And if you think that Garrick’s team is watching, then maybe we should have planned a more secretive entrance. Not a big, flashy Come-And-Get-Me deal.”
He took his time strolling down the dock. There was an old pirate shop to the side, one that offered tourists real pirate’s treasure, only the shop owners failed to mention those gold and silver bits were cursed. The tourists would learn that truth later. “Ah, now, sweetheart, haven’t you realized yet? I am a flashy kind of guy.”
“I am noticing.”
They walked a few more feet…
And then the agents swarmed. At least half a dozen men and women in black—
black clothes and black bullet proof vests—burst from the shadows and surrounded them. Mina stiffened, but Luke just smiled. “Right on time.”
“This is a shitty plan,” Mina said. “You really should have discussed it with me in much greater detail.”
Yes, but she just would have argued. Tried to protect him. Been her charming self. So… “Just trust me.”
Her head turned. Their eyes met.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he promised her. As far as Luke was concerned, no one would ever be hurting Mina again. But during the boat ride over he’d realized a few important facts.
Garrick McAdams was a dick, yes. A bother. A pain to be eliminated. But he wasn’t the boss of whatever little madness the humans currently had going. Someone else was giving the orders at the mysterious government agency that employed Garrick. And in order to truly protect Mina, well, Luke had to take out the man or woman at the top.
To do that, he had to get killing-close. What better way to do that than by offering himself up as bait?
A woman’s voice shouted, “Drop any weapons that you have and put your hands up!”
“Madeline,” Mina whispered as her hands rose. “I’d recognize that grating voice anywhere.”
He could see Madeline perfectly in the darkness. Her red hair was pulled back, her body was stiff, and her gun was aimed not at his heart, but at Mina’s.
That just won’t do.
Luke stepped in front of Mina. From what he could tell, all of the human civilians had been cleared out of that area. Only the hunters remained. “Sorry. I don’t have any weapons I can drop—” Luke began.
He didn’t get to say anymore because Madeline opened fire. The shots thundered and he felt the impact in his chest. One, two, three. Behind him, he could hear Mina screaming. He staggered and started to fall.
The agents pushed closer.
“Stand back!” Mina yelled. Her voice shook with a power that he could feel. “Drop your weapons and get the hell back!” Her hands grabbed for Luke’s shoulders.
But the agents didn’t fall back. Their weapons remained trained right on Luke and Mina.