by Cynthia Eden
“Ear plugs,” Madeline shouted. “Can’t hear a freaking word you’re saying.”
Mina trembled.
“You and your new boyfriend are both going down,” Madeline yelled.
Mina was trying to push herself in front of Luke. A very noble gesture, but totally unnecessary.
He rose to his feet. Then he waved his hands.
The agents didn’t know what hit them. They were so busy staring at him that they didn’t see the threat coming from behind. A black panther lunged from the shadows. A snarling, white wolf leapt for their throats.
Six agents against two shifters? Those odds were hardly fair.
“Hurt them,” Luke called out. “Don’t kill them.” Yet. Because he was sending a message, one that he’d make sure was loudly received. Besides, he needed at least one agent left standing to lead him to his prey.
The agents fired wildly, but the shifters were moving too fast for them. One after the other, the agents hit the ground. And they didn’t get up. When you were unconscious, it was difficult to move.
“You had back-up?” Mina punched his arm. “You should have told me they were here!” Before he could speak, she was pulling him closer. “And they shot you!” Now alarm raised her voice. “You’re bleeding! I have to get you help, I need to—”
“I’m not bleeding any longer.” The pain had lasted only for a moment. “No worries. It takes a whole lot more to knock me out than whatever they were firing.” The bullets had actually just been pushed out of his body as he healed. He heard them hit the ground.
She stared up at him with fear heavy around her—he could feel it. “But they weren’t trying to knock you out. They weren’t firing tranqs at you. Those were…I think they were real bullets.” She bent and picked up one bullet. “Real,” she whispered. Mina swallowed. “They wanted to kill you.”
Lucky for him, they hadn’t realized how impossible of a task that particular job was.
“One standing!” That was Rayce’s voice. He glanced over to see the wolf shifter—naked now that he was in human form—holding Madeline in front of him. He’d yanked the plugs out of her ears and had tossed them to the ground. The redheaded agent was fighting fiercely. Too bad for her, a human could never hope to match a wolf shifter’s strength.
Julian continued to pace in his panther form.
Mina whirled away from Luke and ran toward Madeline. She dropped the bullet she’d been holding. “You were trying to kill him!”
Madeline stopped her struggles.
Snarling, Mina pulled back her fist and drove it right at Madeline’s face. “You don’t get to just kill people!”
Blood trickled from Madeline’s busted lip. “He’s not a person.” She spat blood on the ground. “Neither are you.”
Mina’s hand pulled back to punch again, but Luke caught her fist. He kissed her knuckles. “Easy, love.”
Mina blinked at him, as if confused.
“I need her alive and awake.” He rolled back his shoulders, straightened his bloody suit and said, “After all, she’s going to take me to her buddy Garrick. She’ll lead me right to him.”
“The hell I will—”
He glided another step closer to Madeline. “Yes, yes, by hell, you will.” He let his power flare, knowing it would show in the glow of his eyes. “Because you don’t have a choice. You take me to Garrick or I will make every fear you have become a reality.” He leaned toward her. “And believe me, I know all about the fears you hold inside. Fears are my specialty.” They always had been. He leaned in even closer to her and searched her gaze. “Let’s just see…what do you fear?” He reached out his hand and cupped his fingers around her chin. She tried to jerk away from him, but he held her tight and he saw.
“Uh, Luke?” Mina tapped his shoulder.
“Being different. Being like the paranormals your team uses. You fear becoming a monster?” He could see it all so clearly. Humans were often easy to read, especially the ones with weak minds. “Too late, you already are a monster.”
When she tried to tear out of Rayce’s arms, the shifter just held her tighter.
“I can change you,” Luke said, not looking away from her. “You think I can’t let my darkness take you over? Oh, I can. It can spread like a plague, from human to human, wiping you all out until nothing is left.” Nothing but the dark. His dark.
Hadn’t that always been his brother Leo’s fear? That Luke wouldn’t stop? That he’d let all of that evil out to taint the precious human world?
Her fear deepened.
“You will take me to Garrick. To him and to whoever is pulling the strings at your agency. You’ve been playing with my paranormals and that shit is stopping. I will destroy your whole organization—”
Wind whipped against him. A deep, inhuman howl seemed to shake the night.
Luke’s head jerked back. He stared above him, seeing the giant wings in the moonlight. “Oh, hell, no,” he snarled. But it was too late. He was grabbed, yanked up, held fast and tight in an unbreakable hold. Below him, he could hear Mina screaming for him. He could hear Rayce’s roar of rage.
But then in a flash, they were gone. No, he was gone, flying through the air, hurtling far and fast and leaving Mina behind. Mina, the woman he’d sworn to protect.
The woman he’d just left vulnerable.
Rage burst through him and Luke’s careful control began to crack.
***
“Luke!” Mina screamed. She whirled around, searching the sky—the empty sky. “Luke, where are you?” Wind had whipped around them, like a mini-tornado. There had been a howl—no, more like the roar of a freight-train. Luke had been there one moment, and the next, she’d seen him surging up into the sky. Now he was just…gone.
“I’ll track him,” Rayce said, pushing Madeline toward Mina. “You and Julian take care of her. I’ll get Luke.”
He’d better get Luke back. “Who took him?”
But Rayce wasn’t answering her. His bones were snapping—a terrible, stomach turning sound. He hit the ground on all fours and fur sprang over his body. She stared at him, stunned, because she’d never seen a shift up-close. His face changed, elongated. Wicked sharp teeth burst from his mouth. Claws sprouted from his fingers. That terrible bone-snapping continued and his muscles bulged. In minutes—seconds?—a beast was before her, and then the wolf bounded away, rushing toward the shadows.
And Mina was left there, surrounded by unconscious agents, a big, black panther at her side, and a stunned-looking Madeline in front of her. But then Madeline blinked, seeming to realize that she had a shot at freedom. She lunged away from Mina, rushing toward the building on the right.
The panther tackled her. He didn’t slice her skin, but his big paw pushed between her shoulder blades, pinning her, face first, to that ground.
Mina raced toward them. “You aren’t getting away, Madeline. You’re taking us to Eli.” Because Eli was the mission. Getting him to safety. She looked back up at the sky. Where are you, Luke? Maybe they should try to hunt Luke first. Get Luke, then get Eli. Because she was afraid, terrified all the way to the pit of her soul.
Just what sort of creature was strong enough to carry off the Lord of the Dark?
Mina scooped up one of the guns that had been dropped on the ground. It felt oddly heavy in her hands. She pointed it at Madeline. “I don’t know if this thing is loaded with real bullets or with tranqs, but if you try to run again, we’ll be finding out.”
The panther’s shining eyes flashed toward Mina.
“What? I won’t shoot her in the heart or anything. I know we need her alive to get Eli back.” She braced her shoulders and tightened her grip on the gun. “You’re going to get up, Madeline. Nice and slowly.” She injected all of her power into the commands. “You will cooperate with us. You will take us to whatever base you’re using.”
Madeline wasn’t struggling any longer.
The panther eased away from her. Madeline rose, nice and slow, and she turned toward M
ina, her stare a bit cloudy.
Mina smiled at her. “Ready to cooperate?”
Madeline nodded.
“Good, then take us to your car.” There had to be one stashed around there someplace. Mina frowned at the panther. “And maybe you can shift and borrow the clothes from one of the agents on the ground? Because you going in as a panther isn’t exactly keeping things on the down low, now, is it?”
A rumble came from the beast.
Mina exhaled and, once more, her gaze lifted toward the sky. The fear in her belly hadn’t lessened. She wanted to give chase, to run after Luke. He…needed her. “Tell me that Rayce will find him.”
Again, the panther rumbled.
“That had better be a yes,” Mina muttered.
***
Luke flew through the air and he twisted, his feet coming down hard just as he hit the rooftop. His knees didn’t buckle, but his fists clenched in rage. He looked around, seeing the glittering high rises, hearing the rush of traffic far below. “Fucking Miami?” Luke shouted as he recognized some of those too-tall buildings. He hated the damn city—that was why he lived on an island.
There was a fast rush of wind, the beat of powerful wings and then…
His dumb ass of a brother appeared before him.
Luke didn’t hesitate. He ran right at his twin and drove his fist into Leo’s face. Leo’s head snapped to the side. Luke drew back his hand, ready to hit again. “You had no right—”
Leo looked at him and his brother’s eyes—as dark as Luke’s own—gleamed. “You crossed the line. You broke the truce.”
“We have no truce. We have you and we have me, and we have us both supposedly staying the hell out of each other’s business!” Rage burned in him and smoke began to seep from his pores. Always a very, very bad sign.
But Leo ignored that obvious warning. “You attacked humans. I saw you. I was watching from above—”
“The way you always are,” Luke growled. He was so tired of Leo’s pompous bullshit.
“You hurt them. You were trying to terrify that human woman.”
Luke smiled at him. “Trust me. She deserved that terror, and everything else I was going to give her.”
Leo stepped closer to him. “You were threatening to let your darkness reign.”
Luke looked down at his hands. Claws had torn from his fingertips. Long, black. Sharper than knives. “You shouldn’t have interfered.” Leo had taken him from Mina. If anything happened to her…
“Would you have let your darkness out?” Leo demanded. “Knowing what it would do the world? Would you have really done it?”
Luke turned away from his brother. He had already wasted enough time with him. Mina was waiting. Mina needed him. He felt his own wings pushing from his back, growing and cutting right through his shirt. His wings weren’t soft. They were as sharp as the claws he now sported. He climbed onto the narrow ledge and looked at the city below.
“Luke!” His brother shouted his name.
Luke turned back.
Leo hadn’t moved. He stood there, glaring. Better watch it brother. All that rage…it will lead you straight to hell.
“You’re trying to take someone who belongs to me,” Leo gritted, his words brittle. “I don’t know what game you think you’re playing, but it ends now.”
“Those humans?” Luke knew his wings were stretching behind him. They were on a high-rise, far away from the prying eyes below. But even if someone had seen him right then, he didn’t care. He was growing sick of the shadows. “The ones who’ve been using my paranormals? Torturing them? You’re siding with them?”
Confusion flashed on Leo’s face. “What?”
“Those treacherous humans—they were the ones you were so angry with me for…hurting. As if they weren’t due some pain.” He could give them plenty. He turned away once more, ready to leap off that roof—
“I mean Mina. I’m talking about Mina James. She’s mine.”
His control had been cracking. Little, tiny spider web-like cracks. But at Leo’s words, something happened to Luke. He felt it, deep inside. Like a splintering. No, like an earthquake.
In a breath, he was in front of Leo. His claws were at his brother’s throat. “Say that shit to me again.”
Leo had gone statue-still.
“That’s what I thought,” Luke snarled. He’d always wondered…in the end, which of them would be stronger? Which would be left standing? He was ready to find out. “Mina is mine.”
He saw the understanding in his brother’s eyes. The shock. “You…you had sex with her?”
He let his claws draw blood from Leo. “Mina is mine,” he said again. Because there wasn’t more to say. He didn’t know what Leo thought he was doing, but—
“She isn’t dark,” Leo rasped, his lips barely moving. “You must have seen that. But…you ignored it? You’re trying to…to change her? You can’t. You can’t take one of the light and make her your mate.”
Mate. He tested the word in his mind. Mina. Mate. Why, yes, he rather liked that idea—
But in the next instant, Leo was shoving at him. Slashing at him because his twin had his own claws. His own wings. His own fire. Leo’s claws swiped across Luke’s stomach, and blood soaked his shirt-front.
“Her very name means love!” Now Leo was shouting. “You knew what she truly was—you didn’t care! You’re trying to taint her! To turn her—she is one of mine!”
“My Mina is a siren.” He barely felt the slashes on his skin. “Sirens are dark creatures. They are—”
Leo let out a roar. He rushed at Luke, but Luke caught him, holding tight. They stared, eye-to-eye, fury burning from them both. “She’s no siren,” Leo denied. “And you know that. What kind of game are you playing with her? You recognize your own kind. You recognize the dark.” He shoved Luke back. “You can lie to the rest of the world, but not to me.”
They’d always seen through each other’s lies.
“You knew from the beginning that she wasn’t yours, but you tried to keep her at your side, didn’t you? Always the selfish bastard.”
Luke laughed. “You have no idea what I am.” His wings beat behind him. “Or what I am capable of doing.” He glared at his brother, the man who shared his face. The man who might wind up being his destruction. “Try to come between me and Mina, and you will find out.”
Before Leo could speak again, Luke’s wings flew out. They slammed into Leo’s chest, cutting him deep and sending the guy spinning back across the roof. Luke didn’t look at him again. He’d wasted too much time. He leapt into the air and let the full force of the shift sweep over him. It had been so long since he’d given into the call of his beast and his humanity—what small bit he fought to keep—vanished in that change. His beast was powerful. Deadly. Fire blasted into the night as he flew.
He was going to burn his enemies to ash. Anyone who got in his way, anyone who tried to stop him from taking what he wanted…
I will burn you all.
***
“Aw, hell,” Leo muttered as he rose to his feet. Blood poured down his chest, but he ignored the pain. It would stop, soon enough. The injuries would heal. He’d recover, as he always did.
His gaze was on the sky, a sky that was lit every few moments by a blast of fire. His twin had transformed completely, losing the body of a man in favor of his dark beast. The beast’s body blended perfectly with the night. Were it not for those flames…no one would ever know he was there.
But then, he knew that was what Luke wanted. To blend with the night.
I hope I didn’t just screw us both even worse. He rolled back his shoulders. His wings scraped over the rooftop. He didn’t transform fully—after all, Leo knew the danger in that, but he took to the sky, his wings beating at the air around him.
There had been such fury in Luke’s voice when he spoke of Mina James. Such possession. Luke had always enjoyed owning things. Taking. He saw, he coveted, he owned. That was his brother’s way.
But it wasn’t the way things would work with Mina. They couldn’t work that way.
She wasn’t meant to be one of the dark ones, losing her soul bit by bit until there was no goodness left in her. She was meant for far more, and he would not let her fall for his brother.
No matter what battle he had to fight.
Chapter Twelve
It was a fast, dangerous plan. It could also be a really, really shitty plan, but it was the best that Mina had been able to come up with on short notice—and since Luke is gone.
They didn’t have his paranormal mojo to back them up, so they were winging things.
Julian stood to her right, wearing the clothes and gear and ID he’d taken from an unconscious agent back at their big fight scene. Madeline was to her left, her eyes glassy and her body tense. She was still under Mina’s control, and they were going to use that fact to their advantage.
“You sure about this?” Julian whispered as they approached the gates that led to the Naval Air Station. Madeline had revealed that her team had been given a special wing in that facility for their work.
Work. More like torture.
Mina lifted her cuffed hands. She rather thought the handcuffs made a nice touch. Added a bit of authenticity. “I am not in the least bit sure.” What she did know…well, it was that Eli was in that place. Luke had been determined to get him out and she…she was doing this. And Rayce, you’d better be finding a certain Lord of the Dark, right away.
The plan—such as it was—consisted of her playing the role of prisoner. Since the agency had been so determined to get her back, she figured they’d be jumping with joy when they saw her. So they’d all go inside, they’d be led to the prisoner holding section, and them, bam—Julian did his panther thing, Madeline attacked her fellow agents and, Mina got Eli out of there.
Simple. Desperate.
“Garrick is the one we have to worry about,” Mina murmured. She didn’t know why they hadn’t seen him yet. She’d been surprised that he hadn’t been lurking around the dock, waiting to pounce on them. He’d sent his goons and hadn’t come to the scene himself, something that still bothered her. “Keep your eyes out for him.”