The Devil In Disguise (Bad Things #1)(14)

“Mind the spiders,” Garrick advised him. “I’m pretty sure they bite.”

Timothy’s eyes widened in horror as he looked down at their perp.

Paranormals. Just when he thought he had them figured out…

Something new lands in my path.

Something new…once upon a time, Mina had been his something new. Mina had been his.

Then she’d fled.

He walked outside and saw the red sky. Red sky in the morning…sailors take warning. The old saying slipped through his mind and he smiled. It wasn’t the sailors out there who needed to take warning. Mina needed to be on guard. Because he was coming for her.

She wouldn’t get away from him. Not ever again.





Chapter Five


“How long has she been in the water?” Marcos yelled as he raised his voice over the roar of the wind and the waves.

Too long. Luke’s jaw was clenched tightly. He stood near the search light, moving it back and forth across the waves. She’d been dipping beneath the water a lot, and he’d lost sight of her again. Mina needed to pop her head back up, right the hell then.

“She can sure hold her breath a long time,” Rayce muttered. He sounded nervous. Rare for the wolf shifter.

She’d better be holding her breath. Luke’s hands shoved the spotlight to the left and— “There!” he bellowed. “Port side!”

She was bobbing in the water? caught now in the bright light. Her dark hair was slicked back and her hands circled gently at her sides. She should have looked terrified. Should have looked like a damn drowned rat after that frantic swim in those rough waves.

But…

She didn’t.

With the light on her, her eyes shined, hinting at her paranormal powers. Her skin seemed to glow. In that water, she was even more beautiful than she’d been on land. Not struggling, not desperate to stay afloat…

She just drifted there, ever so easily, as if she’d just been waiting for him.

“Uh…Luke?” The worry was deeper in Rayce’s voice. “Just what are we dealing with here?”

He wasn’t touching that one, not yet. He let go of the light. The sky was a red right then, deep like blood, and soon, more of the sun would be falling onto them. He probably would have found her without the search light, but Marcos had insisted they use it. Marcos…a by-the-book human if Luke had ever met one.

“How long has she been in the water?” Marcos asked again. Everyone on the damn boat was worried about Mina, that was obvious.

“She’s been in there long enough.” It was time for her to come back to him. Luke took a deep breath and leapt over the side of that boat. He sliced into the water, powerful, deep strokes.

He thought she’d run from him. But…

She waited.

This time, anyway. Maybe she was more tired than she looked.

Luke closed in on her. She stayed right there, swimming so easily. But…

The closer he got to her, he realized that her body was tense. And her gaze darted nervously around her, as if searching those dark depths below her.

“Stay the f*ck there,” he growled. He was so close to her.

“G-get back on your boat,” she told him and there was fear quaking in her voice. Yes, she needed to be afraid of him. She needed— “Sh-shark.” Her stutter came again. “It brushed against me. You need to get out of the water and get back on the boat.”

He paused, just the smallest of hesitations. A shark wouldn’t dare take a bite out of me. Most creatures—those on land and on sea—recognized him for what he was. A primitive awareness of danger.

Humans, though, they were the exception. They always foolishly ignored their primal instincts. They chose to ignore the warning signs that went off in their heads when he was near. They didn’t acknowledge the danger he presented to them, not until it was too late.

But Mina…she wasn’t afraid of him in that moment. The woman actually seemed afraid for him. What an unusual twist.

His hand grabbed her shoulder. He pulled her closer to him. Their bodies brushed beneath the water.

“Shark,” she said again, and her whole body was shaking. “I-I saw its fin…it came right up to me. Bumped me. That’s what they do right? Just before they bite, they bump their prey—”

“Nothing is going to bite you.” Well, he might. But that would be for later. And lots of fun. “Hold on to me.”

Her hands came up and curled around his neck. She held him tightly. And he…liked it. He bent his head closer to her, pulled, compelled to get—

Something came whizzing by his face, missing his head by about a foot.

“Life preserver!” Rayce yelled as the object splashed into the water. “Grab it and I’ll pull you both back.”

He didn’t need to be pulled back. And Mina was still treading water just fine, but to shut up the wolf—Rayce always had a tendency to worry—Luke put an arm around the life preserver and held it. Rayce immediately started hauling them back toward the boat.

“I-I think I felt it bump me again,” Mina said, voice sharp. “You have to get away!”

And again…she was trying to protect him. Needless, but cute. “I don’t feel anything.” Nothing but her. “It’s okay. Relax. I’ve got you.”