The Devil In Disguise (Bad Things #1)(18)

“Then that just makes you mine, if the stories are true.”

Ah, right. The stories. They were back to that. And she found that she had the courage to push him a bit. “I know one of those stories. According to it, two twin boys were born, a very, very long time ago. One was predicted to rule the dark and all of the creatures that found solace in the shadows.”

He didn’t even blink. “And one was supposed to reign in the light. To have an army at his call, to defend the weak, to protect the innocent…and blah f*cking blah.” He exhaled. “An old tale. Good twin, bad twin. Only we went to some pretty big extremes in my family.”

Yes, they had.

“Leo,” Luke said. “That’s my brother, older than me by all of two minutes and the biggest pain in the ass you can imagine.”

“I doubt that.” Her gaze was on his mouth. She needed to stop staring at his lips. “I’ve got my own pain that I’m dealing with right now.”

As soon as the words left her, Mina knew she’d said the wrong thing. The very air around her seemed to thicken. Tension rolled through her—tension that came from him.

“Someone scares you, sweetheart?”

“You scare me,” Mina said quickly. “That whole ‘I’m keeping you’ thing isn’t normal, you know. People don’t just—”

“I’m not people.”

No, she supposed he wasn’t.

“Who scares you?”

“I scare myself.” Another truth she had always kept hidden from others. But for some reason, out there, with him, she was finding that her secrets wouldn’t stay silent. “I don’t like being this way. I don’t like having the ability to control others. I don’t like having to watch every single thing I say for fear of hurting someone, killing someone.”

He nodded, seeming to understand. “Words can be powerful weapons. Especially, I imagine, your words.”

He had no idea. But that was exactly what she’d become. A weapon. One that some very deadly people were determined to use, whether she was willing or not. “I really wish you’d just give me the Eye,” she muttered. “It would make everything so much easier.”

His hand slid away from her throat and she immediately missed the warmth of his touch. “The Eye…the precious token you came to steal from me.”

She didn’t deny it.

His gaze swept over her. “You can’t get the Eye by theft.”

Now he was staring at her legs.

Her chin kicked up. “Do I get it if I f*ck you? Is that the price?”

And his eyes—they flashed pure, bright gold again. An angry flash. “Do you f*ck to get the things that you want?” Anger, no, rage burned in his voice.

“No,” her immediate denial. She wasn’t holding down her robe any longer. Her hands had clenched into fists at her sides. “I thought you were saying the only way I’d get it was to fu—”

His fingers curled around her shoulders and he brought his face in close to hers. “You will f*ck me because you want me. Because you want the wild, rough pleasure we’re going to give each other. I don’t trade sex for favors. And I sure wouldn’t trade it for the Eye.”

You will f*ck me because you want me. Her breath rushed out. “And I don’t trade sex for anything,” she threw at him. “Just to be clear. I have sex when I want someone. I don’t care what anyone else says…I don’t care—”

He pulled her even closer. “Tell me the name of the bastard who dared to say anything like that about you, and I’ll have him in the ground by dusk.”

Her mouth dropped open. He wasn’t serious. He…wasn’t?

Luke stared back at her.

He is dead serious.

“Y-you can’t kill people like that.”

“Who said anything about killing? I was just going to make the bastard’s worst nightmares come true. In this world, death is the easy way out. Pain is the gift that lasts much longer.”

Okay, he was everything the stories had said and more. “You…you are the Lord of the Dark, aren’t you?” And she’d been kissing him. She still wanted to kiss him.

She still wanted him.

That was wrong.

But then again, she was wrong. Or so everyone had always said. Mina cleared her throat. “You control all the monsters.” That was why he had a panther and a werewolf on his island. Why he had prison cells in his home.

“Someone has to keep them in check. Can’t just have vampires draining every human in sight. Can’t have shifters ripping apart their prey and leaving the bodies in the streets. I’m the one they all fear because I’m the one who can hurt them all. I’m the one they must answer to when their reckonings come.”

Her mouth had gone desert dry. “I really need that boat.” Because she had the terrible feeling that she’d jumped from one fire…

Straight into hell.

“Too bad, sweetheart. You’re not getting it because I’m not done with you.”

That sounded so bad. And his eyes—they weren’t dark any longer. She could definitely see the glow of gold. “Why do your eyes do that?” Mina whispered. “What does it mean when the color changes that way?”

His smile was wicked. “Means a few things…mostly a power surge.”