The card started to burn.
Mina, you have very poor taste in men.
In seconds, the card was nothing but ash, drifting in the wind. Luke stared at that drifting ash, watching as it blew toward the ground. The ground and…
A spider.
His shoulders tensed. There was a big, fat spider on the ground. One that was scuttling fast as it moved to follow Garrick McAdams. The spider ran right up to him but before it could attack, Garrick glanced down. His lips tightened in distaste as he stared at the spider, then his shoe lifted and slammed down on the arachnid, squashing it. He twisted his foot, as if making good and certain that it was dead.
Luke focused his gaze on the charred remains of the bar. He looked down, staring at the ashes and the soot and…another big, fat spider scuttled out. Unerringly, it went straight toward Garrick McAdams.
But this time, it was the female agent who squashed the spider. Stomping it quick beneath the heel of her shoe.
He waited to see if more spiders would come, but they didn’t. Only two had been left. Two—because Eli was gone. They must have slipped from Eli before he’d been taken away. Those last two spiders had done their job, though. They’d shown Luke just what he needed to see.
The FBI agent couldn’t be trusted.
A good thing…because the instant Luke had found out that Garrick had an intimate past with Mina, he’d wanted to kill the bastard. Now, well, he had a more legitimate reason for the fury.
Even he had standards, after all. If you were going to destroy a man…
It helped to have a few reasons for the dark deed.
***
“Does he know where she is?” Madeline Slate asked. Her red hair was bright in the afternoon sun. Her eyes—a light brown—darted over his shoulder to peer at Luke Thorne.
“I think he does.” Garrick didn’t look back at the guy. Luke Thorne was a dick, but the guy was also their key to finding Mina. “We’re going to watch him when he leaves and follow his ass back to the island.” Once there, away from the prying eyes of the crowd around them, Garrick and his team would take control.
They’d get Mina back.
And Luke? Well, they’d deal with him, too.
“Is he already under her power?” A slight furrow appeared between Madeline’s eyes. “If he is, he’ll fight to keep her.”
“Doesn’t matter how hard he fights.” Garrick wasn’t even a little worried. Mina is close. I’m getting her back. “Our orders are to bring her in. She’s too valuable to the organization. We’ll get her back and she will cooperate.”
Madeline licked her lips. “If she doesn’t?”
There was no choice for Mina. Not after all that she’d done. “Then she dies.”
Chapter Seven
Footsteps.
Mina jumped to her feet when she heard the distinct thud of footsteps approaching her cell. She ran toward the bars, grabbed them, held tight and—
Okay, wait. This looks too desperate.
She immediately pushed back from the bars, smoothed her hair, straightened her robe—she was still wearing the damn thing—and tried to look as if she were totally and completely relaxed. When Julian had left her? he’d rushed out and left the door to the cell room open, so it only took a moment before she saw a flash of blond hair appear.
And Rayce walked into what she thought of as her new personal hell.
When he saw her, he stopped short. “Where’s Julian?” Rayce demanded. He crossed his arms over his chest, frowning.
Her shoulders lifted. “I don’t know. He locked me in here…” She hoped that she looked suitably pitiful as her lips curled down. “And he just left. Maybe Luke called him? Maybe something happened with Eli?”
Alarm flashed on Rayce’s face. A handsome enough face. Hard jaw. Sculpted lips. But…not dangerously sexy. Not like Luke.
“Let me out,” Mina said, pushing power into the words. “Then we can get the boat and go together to Key West. We can help Luke.”
Rayce blinked, looking vaguely confused. He was also not moving to let her out.
So she needed to ramp up her compulsion. Unfortunately, she was feeling a bit weak. It had been one long-ass night and she couldn’t exactly remember the last time she’d eaten. “Let me out,” Mina said again, drawing on her reserves. She’d been waiting too long in that cell, hoping that someone would appear. It would have been ever-so-helpful if Rayce had just brought his wolfie self in earlier but…
He walked toward the cell.
Better late than never.
“Thank you.” Relief made her light-headed. Or maybe that was the hunger. Didn’t really matter. “Open that lock as fast as you can and get me out.”