The Devil In Disguise (Bad Things #1)(11)

Golden eyes. Bright, predatory.

She tried to swallow her fear. It didn’t go down. It was hard for her to clearly see this threat—all she could discern were those golden eyes. Such a deep gold, with big, black pupils. “Nice wolf?”

The beast moved forward, a low, graceful movement. Power flowed from him and as he stalked closer to her, coming a bit into the light of the path, she saw that she wasn’t dealing with another wolf.

Instead, a massive black panther was coming toward her. His mouth opened and when she saw his mouthful of sharp teeth…

“Oh, shit.” Mina didn’t try to stay still any longer. If she remained frozen, they’d just both jump her. Rip her apart right then and there.

That’s what happens when you cross Luke Thorne.

She ran. As fast as she could. The panther gave a high, rumbling cry and the wolf snarled. She kept running. She could hear them behind her, the heavy pad of their paws and the scrape of their claws on the stone walkway.

She could almost feel their breath on her, but they weren’t attacking. Not yet. They’re playing with me.

The dock was up ahead. And the boat was gone.

They’re playing because they think I don’t have anywhere to go.

They were wrong.

Her feet pounded over the wood of the dock. She breathed fast, sucking in the air for energy.

“Mina!”

At the fierce cry, she staggered and looked back. Luke was there, standing about thirty feet away, his bare chest heaving and his hands clenched. He’d gotten out of his cell.

His guards were closing in.

There was about to be serious hell for her to pay.

As she stared at him—it just had to be a trick from the dim light—but she could have sworn she saw shadowy wings behind his body. Big and black, stretching out.

“Don’t, Mina!” Luke yelled at her. “Don’t you even think about—”

She whirled toward the churning waves. She’d already told him before. If she had a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea…

The sea would always win.

Mina jumped into the water, flying off the dock and sinking beneath those rough waves.

***

She’d jumped into the water. Water that was far too rough and vicious. Water that would pull her under and take her from him.

“No!” Luke bellowed. The wolf and panther were just f*cking standing there, staring at the water. Not doing a thing to help him out.

Wolves couldn’t swim for shit, so the fact that Rayce didn’t jump in wasn’t exactly surprising but Julian? Cats could damn well swim.

He shoved them out of his way and started to leap into the waves after her.

The panther slammed into Luke, pushing him away from the edge of the dock.

“Get your paws off me!” Luke yelled. “What the hell kind of guards are you two? The woman is going to die!”

The panther blinked its eerie golden eyes and backed up.

Luke dove into the water. He sank deep, then shoved back up—not to take in air because he could have stayed down much, much longer—but he popped to the surface so he could call for her again. “Mina!”

He didn’t see her. Just saw the churning waves. They slapped against him. Maybe she didn’t come back up. Mina is still below. The water has her. He’d warned her not to try escaping.

Luke sank beneath the waves again. It was nearly pitch black down there, but he could still see—he could always see in the dark. He looked to the left, looked to the right, searched under the dock in case the battering water had pushed Mina’s slight body under there and she’d become trapped. He didn’t see her, but he had to keep searching, had to—

Hard hands grabbed him. He spun around, and found himself staring into a pair of angry golden eyes.

Cat’s eyes.

Cats can swim so well.

Only a panther hadn’t grabbed him in the water. The beast had shifted back into human form. Julian pointed upward and kicked away from Luke. Then the guy’s naked-ass body was flying upward. Luke followed him, breaking the surface. “She’s down there!” Luke blasted as he drew in a breath. “We have to—”

“Your woman can swim,” Julian Craig’s rumbling voice cut through his words. He lifted his hand and pointed in the distance. “Thought you’d want to know that she was hauling ass that way.”

Luke spun around, slapping the waves, and, sure enough, in the growing red glow of dawn, he saw Mina’s dark head just above the waves. The woman was definitely hauling ass.

“Looks like an Olympic contender to me,” said a deep, amused voice. A voice that came from the dock—Rayce Lovel’s voice. “Or someone who is really, really motivated to get the hell away from you.”

Luke swam back to the dock. He hauled himself up, and the water poured down his body. He was soaking wet and completely furious.

“Didn’t charm her, huh?” Rayce asked, nodding his head. He wore a pair of jeans, nothing else. Like Julian, he must have shifted back to human form while Luke had been frantically searching the water. “Had to happen sooner or later, you know. Every woman you meet won’t just drop her panties for you and—”

Luke grabbed him. It was an instinctual, animal attack. He locked his hand around Rayce’s neck and lifted the guy up into the air, holding him easily even though Rayce was roughly his same height and shared his muscular build.