She ate the fish and it was so good. So incredibly good. She took another bite. Another. She squeezed her eyes shut. Tried to make herself slow down and chew.
“Longer than just a day…wasn’t it?” Now there was a bite in his voice. “Mina.”
Her eyes flew open. “I-I ate some yesterday.” And—screw it. She was not going to keep fighting her hunger and act all prim and proper. She was starving. She started shoving shrimp into her mouth. She ate and she loved it and she was so happy that she wanted to laugh, but she was afraid she’d choke on all of that delicious food if she did.
And he just…he watched her. Luke drank his whiskey—she was sure that amber liquid in the short, squat glass was whiskey—and he watched her eat.
She cleaned her plate. Since he was just sitting there, she may have helped herself to his, too. Why waste the food? Then she went for the wine that was waiting. The dizziness that had been filling her body all day was gone. She was back to being herself. She was—
“You will never go without food again.”
“It’s hard to stop for meals when you’re running for your life.” The words slipped out. She drank more wine. “That was…delicious.”
“You were weak…from hunger.”
“Hunger, fear, desperation—you name it.” She took another sip. That wine was incredible. So sweet. She’d never had anything quite like it before. She drank more.
“Your ex-lover was after you.”
“Because he wants to use me. Garrick knows what I can do and his little team of twisted agents—they’re hunting me down because they want me to be their weapon.” She poured more wine. Don’t mind if I do. “But I’m not going to be their weapon.” Another long sip. More of a gulp. That wine was fantastic. Never, ever had she had a drink that good. “I won’t get into the heads of humans and make them do things…make them hurt each other. I don’t care what Garrick has in mind. He can torture me again. He can lock me up again, but I won’t use my power to hurt people.” She lifted her wine glass, preparing for another long gulp. “I—”
“Enough.”
He sounded angry. Why? Oh, was it because she was drinking all the wine? Her bad. “Do you want some?” She offered the wine to him, blushing a bit.
He looked at the dark liquid. Red wine.
“Your whiskey is gone.” She licked her lips, still savoring that wine. “It only seems fair to give you some of this.”
“Fair.” It was almost as if he were tasting the word. “I suppose that would be fair.” He leaned forward. “Just a sip.”
Her breath caught. Just a sip. “Because you’re afraid that if you get drunk, I’ll use my power on you again?”
But he gave a deep, rough laugh. “Ah, sweetheart. I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll keep my guard up when I drink around you.” His smile was lethal. “I’ll stay in control. Don’t you worry about that. When we’re together, I’ll always have free will. Everything I do, it will be because I want it. You have nothing to fear on that end.”
A man she couldn’t hurt with a careless word. Finally.
She put the glass to his lips and Mina watched, oddly fascinated, as he drank from her. His lips—why had she thought that they were cruel? They weren’t. They were sexy. He was sexy.
“Ask me a question, Mina. I’ll give you the truth now. Fair play and all that jazz.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant. Her mind was a little foggy. Maybe she was drunk. “Do you want me?” Mina blurted.
“I’d like nothing better than to strip you naked and take you right here.”
Her lips parted. Yes, please was literally on the tip of her tongue. She had to fight to hold those words back and that was when Mina knew… “You bastard.” She could only shake her head. Her heart thudded in her chest and her hands began to shake. “There was something in the wine, wasn’t there?” The wine she’d been chugging.
He shrugged. “Only a little bit of truth.”
She shot to her feet. “What does that even mean?”
He tilted back his dark head as he stared up at her. “It means…payback.”
She was hurt. He’d blindsided her. “I thought you were helping me.” She had to blink, quickly, because—
He grabbed the sides of the table, his hands clenching. “You are not crying.”
She was. She dashed at her left cheek, swiping away a tear. “So what if I am? What does that do to you? Why does it matter?”
Luke rose to his feet. “It hurts me.”
The wind wasn’t blowing any longer. Everything was suddenly very, very still.
“Your tears hurt me. I can watch a thousand humans cry. I have watched that. I’ve watched paranormals die. I’ve watched them suffer in agony. None of that mattered. It’s your tears that have my guts feeling like they’re being ripped out of me.” His breath was ragged. He was still gripping the table too tightly. “That’s why it matters. Because for some fucking reason that I haven’t fully figured out yet…you matter to me.”
Her gaze jerked to the wine glass. The glass she’d given to him. “You…you took the truth, too.” Whatever had been in that glass, whatever potion that had made her lips too loose and truth spill from her mouth…he’d taken it too.