“You’re outnumbered, Mina.” The pain kept cutting into her. “And…really…do you want to die for that freak?”
Helpless, her stare flew to Luke and that was when Garrick lunged forward. His body slammed into hers. They hit the ground with an impact that had her shaking. He grabbed her wrist, twisted it, nearly shattering the bones and she screamed—
No sound.
At least, no sound from her.
A deep, guttural bellow seemed to shake the very earth itself. And suddenly, Garrick was flying through the air—being thrown through the air. Luke was there. He scooped Mina into his arms. Held her. His gaze searched her face, so desperate. So worried.
“Fire at him!” Garrick yelled. “Shoot him until he’s down again!”
She looked over Luke’s shoulder. Saw the agents aiming. She squeezed her eyes shut, an instinctive reaction as—
Howls. Growls. A gunshot blasted, and her eyes flew open. A giant white wolf was in the middle of the smoke and the flames and he’d just taken down one of the agents in black. As she watched, the wolf leapt at another agent, going for his throat. There were screams and yells as the agents tried to figure out where the hell the beast had come from—
Wind blew against her body. The fast whip of wind that she now knew signaled wings. Wings batting at the air. Her stare snapped back to Luke, but he hadn’t shifted. He was holding her, cradling her in his arms, and his body was still that of a man.
Leo appeared behind him. “You owe me for this.” He locked one arm around Luke and lifted him into the air. Since Luke was holding Mina, she rose, too. Leo hoisted them with one hand, as if their weight were nothing to him.
Below her, the wolf was still attacking, dodging bullets. Fighting fiercely.
“Get the hell out of there, Rayce!” Luke roared.
The wolf stilled, only for an instant, then he turned and disappeared into the smoke.
They were getting away. Alive. Safe…able to come back and fight another day. They were going to make it.
“Mina!”
Garrick was in the middle of the smoke, glaring up at her. “Come back to me…now!”
He had something in his hand—the gun? No…the remote.
“Come back…now.”
The pain blinded her that time. She could feel the slice in her neck, but it was worse, as if something were burrowing beneath her skin.
“Come back or die!” His thundering threats were following her.
Mina closed her eyes. Closing your eyes doesn’t make the bad things disappear. No, she knew that truth. She also knew she wouldn’t try to get Luke to take her back down. If she did, if they went back, he’d suffer, too. Their grand rescue mission had gone to shit.
So she let the pain sweep over her. She tightened her hold on Luke. And she knew that…whatever happened…
It was her choice. And her choice…it was Luke.
Chapter Fifteen
They landed on the island—or rather, Leo dropped Luke on the dock. Luke held tight to Mina. She’d been so silent, so still, during that flight. The flight itself had only taken a short time—his brother had used his enhanced speed to get them out of there once that soon-to-be-dead jerk Garrick had begun screaming his threats.
“We’re safe,” Luke told Mina.
She didn’t stir in his arms. Her body was slumped against his.
He looked up, glaring at Leo. “You will pay.”
Leo’s eyes widened. “What? Are you serious? I just saved your ass—and her sweet ass, too.” He waved his hand and clothes appeared on Luke’s body. “And I hate talking to you when you’re naked. It’s like looking into one really twisted-ass mirror.”
A growl rumbled from Luke’s throat. Did his brother think he was a fool? “Don’t you think I don’t know what they did? What you gave to them? There’s only one weapon that could have cut through my wings that way. Only one item that could have made me bleed.” A near-fatal attack. “Did you think you weren’t strong enough to end me yourself? So you started working with the humans? Was that your fucking plan all along? To get them to do your dirty work?” He’d wanted to find the head of the snake at Garrick’s government agency. Luke was very much afraid he might be facing that snake right then.
Leo took a step back. “That’s not…it didn’t happen that way—”
“I am going to end you.” He made that promise easily. “And I don’t care what hell that brings.” But his gaze darted down to Mina. Why hadn’t she stirred?
“No, I guess you don’t care. That’s your problem, brother. You never care. You don’t care about the destruction you leave in your wake. You don’t care about the lives you wreck. You don’t even care about the woman in your arms! Not really. She’s just another possession to you, nothing more.”
Mina was everything to him. And she wasn’t moving.
Come back or die! That fool Garrick had screamed those words at her. Luke had thought the human was threatening to shoot her. His brother had obviously thought the same thing because that had been the moment that Leo flew faster, rushing them out of that area.