The Devil In Disguise (Bad Things #1)(41)

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.