The Devil In Disguise (Bad Things #1)(51)

She was standing on the ground, right in the middle of the smoke and the flames. The man who’d held her moments before seemed to have vanished, but Luke…

He was a few feet in front of her, on the ground, his body naked, bleeding.

Mina ran to him. He was face down on ground that had been blackened, and she rolled him over. Her heart was about to burst from her chest. He was covered in blood. His arms were twisted, the bones seemingly shattered. His face—his handsome face had been smashed. His nose was broken, a bone poking from his cheek. She felt tears raining down her own cheeks because he didn’t seem to be moving—not moving, not breathing.

One of her tears fell onto his face. She smoothed her fingers over his neck, searching desperately for a pulse. Don’t do this to me, Luke. You’re supposed to be all powerful. Bullets can’t take you out. That’s not the way this works.

“Get away from him, Mina!” It was a familiar voice roaring at her. The voice she heard in her nightmares. Her head lifted and she saw that armed men now surrounded her. Garrick and his men. Garrick had a pistol in one hand and that hated remote for her collar in the other. He was glaring at her. Seething with his fury. “I don’t know what that bastard is,” Garrick shouted. “But our scientists will figure him out. They’ll cut him apart and piece him back together. He’ll be a weapon no one else can beat. Our weapon.”

She still hadn’t felt Luke’s pulse. She didn’t think he could be anyone’s weapon. Not when he was…gone.

No, no, don’t be gone. Please. I don’t want to lose you. More tears tracked down her cheeks and fell onto him. The flames raged around her. Flames he’d created before plunging back down to earth.

“Mina…” A warning edge thickened Garrick’s voice. “Step away from him, now.”

Then she felt the jerk beneath her fingers—Luke’s pulse, starting again. Oh, dear God, he had been dead. But he’d come back. His eyes were still closed, his body far too battered and bloody, but Luke was alive.

She had to keep him that way.

If Garrick and his men got hold of him, they would cut him open. They’d keep him captive. She had once thought nothing could stop Luke, but that had been before she saw him fall from the sky.

She would keep him safe. Her fingers lingered against his skin for just a moment more. Then Mina rose. She eyed the men around her, all men who were armed and ready to attack. Men who were staring at her as if she were some sort of monster. But they were the ones planning to cut up Luke.

“Come to me, Mina,” Garrick ordered her.

Garrick. The man who thought he had her under such control. He’d been her lover once, back when she’d foolishly believed his lies. Before she’d realized he wasn’t actually working for the FBI. He was working for some covert group within the government, a group that specialized in unusual warfare techniques. Off the books, secretive.

Deadly.

Garrick had wanted to use her. He’d tried to force her to use her powers to kill.

That wasn’t who she was.

Or, rather, it wasn’t who she’d been.

She started walking toward Garrick, making sure to keep her head bowed, making sure her steps seemed uncertain and that she let shudders wrack her body. Not hard, really, because she was terrified.

Mina was also furious. And if she looked up, if she made eye contact with Garrick, he’d see that rage. He’d attack. She couldn’t let him do that.

Mina intended to attack first.

“Good, Mina.” The bastard sounded so satisfied. Then, raising his voice, he said to the men there, “Once she’s clear, shoot that bastard again. I want to make absolutely certain he’s out before we take him to containment.”

Her jaw ached because her teeth were clenched so tightly. She just had a few more feet to go…Almost there…yes.

Mina stumbled when she was near Garrick. He lunged to grab her and she grabbed him. Mina snatched the gun from him, just yanked it right out of his grip, and then she pushed it against his head. Her reflexes had always been fast—far faster than a human’s—and the whole switch took less than two seconds.

He blinked at her, stunned. “Mina?”

She just stared back at him. Thanks to that bastard, she couldn’t speak, but she thought he could get the message from her eyes well enough.

I will kill you.

“There is no out for you here, Mina,” he said, his words thick. “No way you get to walk away.”

She could kill him right then. Just squeeze the trigger and…bam. One of her biggest problems would be gone, but then she’d still have to deal with his guards.

Keeping the gun pressed to his forehead, she looked at the others, needing them to understand—everyone had to back the hell away. They needed to get away from Luke. Luke…who was now rising to his feet. He blinked, his expression confused, groggy, and then he seemed to realize where he was and exactly what the hell was happening.

She kept her right hand tight around the weapon. With her left, Mina pointed to the sky. This time, her message was for Luke. Get your ass up there. Fly away. Be safe. She’d hold off Garrick. His men weren’t going to move, not with that gun jammed against their leader’s head.

She only counted four armed men. Normally, she would have thought Luke could take them out, no problem but…