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.
To do that, he had to get killing-close. What better way to do that than by offering himself up as bait?
A woman’s voice shouted, “Drop any weapons that you have and put your hands up!”
“Madeline,” Mina whispered as her hands rose. “I’d recognize that grating voice anywhere.”
He could see Madeline perfectly in the darkness. Her red hair was pulled back, her body was stiff, and her gun was aimed not at his heart, but at Mina’s.
That just won’t do.
Luke stepped in front of Mina. From what he could tell, all of the human civilians had been cleared out of that area. Only the hunters remained. “Sorry. I don’t have any weapons I can drop—” Luke began.
He didn’t get to say anymore because Madeline opened fire. The shots thundered and he felt the impact in his chest. One, two, three. Behind him, he could hear Mina screaming. He staggered and started to fall.
The agents pushed closer.
“Stand back!” Mina yelled. Her voice shook with a power that he could feel. “Drop your weapons and get the hell back!” Her hands grabbed for Luke’s shoulders.
But the agents didn’t fall back. Their weapons remained trained right on Luke and Mina.
“Ear plugs,” Madeline shouted. “Can’t hear a freaking word you’re saying.”
Mina trembled.
“You and your new boyfriend are both going down,” Madeline yelled.
Mina was trying to push herself in front of Luke. A very noble gesture, but totally unnecessary.
He rose to his feet. Then he waved his hands.
The agents didn’t know what hit them. They were so busy staring at him that they didn’t see the threat coming from behind. A black panther lunged from the shadows. A snarling, white wolf leapt for their throats.
Six agents against two shifters? Those odds were hardly fair.
“Hurt them,” Luke called out. “Don’t kill them.” Yet. Because he was sending a message, one that he’d make sure was loudly received. Besides, he needed at least one agent left standing to lead him to his prey.
The agents fired wildly, but the shifters were moving too fast for them. One after the other, the agents hit the ground. And they didn’t get up. When you were unconscious, it was difficult to move.
“You had back-up?” Mina punched his arm. “You should have told me they were here!” Before he could speak, she was pulling him closer. “And they shot you!” Now alarm raised her voice. “You’re bleeding! I have to get you help, I need to—”
“I’m not bleeding any longer.” The pain had lasted only for a moment. “No worries. It takes a whole lot more to knock me out than whatever they were firing.” The bullets had actually just been pushed out of his body as he healed. He heard them hit the ground.
She stared up at him with fear heavy around her—he could feel it. “But they weren’t trying to knock you out. They weren’t firing tranqs at you. Those were…I think they were real bullets.” She bent and picked up one bullet. “Real,” she whispered. Mina swallowed. “They wanted to kill you.”
Lucky for him, they hadn’t realized how impossible of a task that particular job was.
“One standing!” That was Rayce’s voice. He glanced over to see the wolf shifter—naked now that he was in human form—holding Madeline in front of him. He’d yanked the plugs out of her ears and had tossed them to the ground. The redheaded agent was fighting fiercely. Too bad for her, a human could never hope to match a wolf shifter’s strength.
Julian continued to pace in his panther form.
Mina whirled away from Luke and ran toward Madeline. She dropped the bullet she’d been holding. “You were trying to kill him!”
Madeline stopped her struggles.
Snarling, Mina pulled back her fist and drove it right at Madeline’s face. “You don’t get to just kill people!”
Blood trickled from Madeline’s busted lip. “He’s not a person.” She spat blood on the ground. “Neither are you.”
Mina’s hand pulled back to punch again, but Luke caught her fist. He kissed her knuckles. “Easy, love.”
Mina blinked at him, as if confused.
“I need her alive and awake.” He rolled back his shoulders, straightened his bloody suit and said, “After all, she’s going to take me to her buddy Garrick. She’ll lead me right to him.”