But in the next instant, Leo was shoving at him. Slashing at him because his twin had his own claws. His own wings. His own fire. Leo’s claws swiped across Luke’s stomach, and blood soaked his shirt-front.
“Her very name means love!” Now Leo was shouting. “You knew what she truly was—you didn’t care! You’re trying to taint her! To turn her—she is one of mine!”
“My Mina is a siren.” He barely felt the slashes on his skin. “Sirens are dark creatures. They are—”
Leo let out a roar. He rushed at Luke, but Luke caught him, holding tight. They stared, eye-to-eye, fury burning from them both. “She’s no siren,” Leo denied. “And you know that. What kind of game are you playing with her? You recognize your own kind. You recognize the dark.” He shoved Luke back. “You can lie to the rest of the world, but not to me.”
They’d always seen through each other’s lies.
“You knew from the beginning that she wasn’t yours, but you tried to keep her at your side, didn’t you? Always the selfish bastard.”
Luke laughed. “You have no idea what I am.” His wings beat behind him. “Or what I am capable of doing.” He glared at his brother, the man who shared his face. The man who might wind up being his destruction. “Try to come between me and Mina, and you will find out.”
Before Leo could speak again, Luke’s wings flew out. They slammed into Leo’s chest, cutting him deep and sending the guy spinning back across the roof. Luke didn’t look at him again. He’d wasted too much time. He leapt into the air and let the full force of the shift sweep over him. It had been so long since he’d given into the call of his beast and his humanity—what small bit he fought to keep—vanished in that change. His beast was powerful. Deadly. Fire blasted into the night as he flew.
He was going to burn his enemies to ash. Anyone who got in his way, anyone who tried to stop him from taking what he wanted…
I will burn you all.
***
“Aw, hell,” Leo muttered as he rose to his feet. Blood poured down his chest, but he ignored the pain. It would stop, soon enough. The injuries would heal. He’d recover, as he always did.
His gaze was on the sky, a sky that was lit every few moments by a blast of fire. His twin had transformed completely, losing the body of a man in favor of his dark beast. The beast’s body blended perfectly with the night. Were it not for those flames…no one would ever know he was there.
But then, he knew that was what Luke wanted. To blend with the night.
I hope I didn’t just screw us both even worse. He rolled back his shoulders. His wings scraped over the rooftop. He didn’t transform fully—after all, Leo knew the danger in that, but he took to the sky, his wings beating at the air around him.
There had been such fury in Luke’s voice when he spoke of Mina James. Such possession. Luke had always enjoyed owning things. Taking. He saw, he coveted, he owned. That was his brother’s way.
But it wasn’t the way things would work with Mina. They couldn’t work that way.
She wasn’t meant to be one of the dark ones, losing her soul bit by bit until there was no goodness left in her. She was meant for far more, and he would not let her fall for his brother.
No matter what battle he had to fight.
Chapter Twelve
It was a fast, dangerous plan. It could also be a really, really shitty plan, but it was the best that Mina had been able to come up with on short notice—and since Luke is gone.
They didn’t have his paranormal mojo to back them up, so they were winging things.
Julian stood to her right, wearing the clothes and gear and ID he’d taken from an unconscious agent back at their big fight scene. Madeline was to her left, her eyes glassy and her body tense. She was still under Mina’s control, and they were going to use that fact to their advantage.
“You sure about this?” Julian whispered as they approached the gates that led to the Naval Air Station. Madeline had revealed that her team had been given a special wing in that facility for their work.
Work. More like torture.
Mina lifted her cuffed hands. She rather thought the handcuffs made a nice touch. Added a bit of authenticity. “I am not in the least bit sure.” What she did know…well, it was that Eli was in that place. Luke had been determined to get him out and she…she was doing this. And Rayce, you’d better be finding a certain Lord of the Dark, right away.
The plan—such as it was—consisted of her playing the role of prisoner. Since the agency had been so determined to get her back, she figured they’d be jumping with joy when they saw her. So they’d all go inside, they’d be led to the prisoner holding section, and them, bam—Julian did his panther thing, Madeline attacked her fellow agents and, Mina got Eli out of there.
Simple. Desperate.
“Garrick is the one we have to worry about,” Mina murmured. She didn’t know why they hadn’t seen him yet. She’d been surprised that he hadn’t been lurking around the dock, waiting to pounce on them. He’d sent his goons and hadn’t come to the scene himself, something that still bothered her. “Keep your eyes out for him.”