“Fascinating,” he heard Garrick say. “But I don’t have time for this shit now. The big boss is coming to meet us, and we have to move.”
Garrick aimed his gun at Julian. Julian saw him through the panther’s eyes. His prey. He surged toward the bastard even as Garrick fired, again and again.
The bullets thudded into him. Other agents were screaming. Shooting.
Julian didn’t stop. He slammed into Garrick, taking that bastard down.
“Shoot him!” Garrick yelled. “Keep shooting him! Stop him!”
Julian locked his teeth around the man’s throat. You’re done. His teeth sank into the bastard and—
“Time for my payback,” Madeline said, voice nearly purring with satisfaction. He felt the muzzle of a gun press between his eyes. “You and that little bitch should have left me alone. No one messes with my mind.” Then she fired.
His teeth shoved down hard in a last, desperate bite. If I’m going out, I want to take him with—
Darkness closed around Julian. A cold, final darkness.
And he wondered, if, in the next world, he’d ever see Rose again.
***
“You’re a dragon.” Mina was still trying to wrap her mind around that fact. Meanwhile, though, her body was currently wrapped around his. Her arm was curled around Luke’s stomach. Her leg was draped over his thighs. They were in his bed, their bodies twined so closely together. She felt safe. Warm.
Protected.
Almost…loved?
“I did not see that one coming,” she confessed to him and Mina pressed a quick kiss to his shoulder.
His hand slid over her hip, seeming to linger a moment on one of her scars. “There were things I didn’t want to see, either.”
His voice was thick with what she could have sworn was sadness. But why would the Lord of the Dark be sad?
She licked lips that had gone suddenly dry. A deep sense of foreboding swept over her. “What haven’t you told me?” She looked at his hand, the hand that was tenderly stroking her scar. The Eye of Hell still gleamed on his finger. “Luke?” Mina prompted when he remained silent.
His hand lifted. He, too, stared at the Eye. “You never needed this.”
Yes, she had. “Garrick has more resources than you realize. You saw that—that collar he put on me.” She didn’t want to remember the pain and terror that collar had brought to her. “We can’t underestimate him again. I do need the Eye. You can use it to take away my dark power and—”
“There is nothing dark about you.” His gaze slid to hold hers. “There never was. You are the most generous woman I’ve ever met. You’re brave and you’re strong and your heart isn’t tainted by anything.”
The heart in question seemed to warm.
“You were willing to trade your life for mine,” he continued and he—held his breath? How very unlike him. Then Luke asked, “Why?”
Why? “Because it was right,” she spoke, slowly, feeling her way. Her emotions were tangled. She didn’t even clearly understand why herself. She’d just known that she couldn’t let Luke suffer. That his death would not happen.
“Of course.” His hand slid away from her hip. He rolled from the bed. Stood there, naked, staring down at her. “I forgot that was the way Leo’s kind acted. Right and wrong. Good and evil. All that jazz.”
She wasn’t feeling so warm and safe any longer. Mina pulled the covers up to her chin. “Luke?”
“I lied to you, Mina.”
No. Automatically, she shook her head. She and Luke had a bond, she knew it. She might not be able to explain it, but Mina felt it. He cared about her. And she was completely tangled up in him.
“I’m not planning to wait for nightfall before I go after Garrick and the others. I just wanted to fuck you one more time, and then I’m walking away.”
Wait—what? Mina jumped to her feet, yanking the sheet with her and wrapping it clumsily around her body.
He waved his hand and clothes covered him. Pity he hadn’t used that same trick to cover her.
“We didn’t fuck.” Those were the angry words that jumped from her mouth. “Don’t you dare say that to me, got it?”
“Then what did we do?” His head cocked as he studied her. His face was a cold, hard mask.
“We made love!” Mina nearly yelled those words at him. “It was more than just physical. You know it was.”
“But you don’t love me.”
Silence.
Her lips were still parted and her breath heaved out. “I—” Mina stopped. She didn’t know what she felt. Was it love? She needed him, she wanted to protect him, she was so eager for those rare moments when he smiled or laughed and…
He’s the Lord of the Dark. He turned into a dragon and burned half of Key West. But his flames had never so much as singed her skin.
“Can you love?” Mina asked him, and she was desperate to know the truth.
He turned his back to her. “The beast that I became…that’s who I really am. The man is just the mask I wear. Inside, my heart is black. I yearn to let my fire out. To rage and destroy everyone in my path.” He paced toward the balcony. Opened the doors and stepped outside.