The sky seemed to darken overhead.
Her heart was hurting. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. I killed him. Mina shook her head and suddenly, some of the heavy fog that had seemed to fill her head—suddenly, it lifted.
In her mind, Mina saw a man sitting at an old, faded bar. He had dark hair and a face built for sin. He was drinking a dark amber liquid. His head turned toward her and a faint smile lifted his lips.
Luke.
She saw him again, only he was in the middle of some kind of cell. His face was furious as he yelled for her to run.
Luke.
And she saw him again. Dark hair mussed. Eyes bright with passion as he stared down at her. In that memory, they were in his bed. He was making love to her and she—
She’d been so happy. With Luke.
“He’s not dead,” Mina whispered. Luke. She kept repeating his name in her head like a mantra and every single time that she thought of him, the fog that had shrouded her memories dissipated a bit more.
I’m Mina and he’s Luke.
“Luke got blasted to bits, darling. Trust me. He’s gone.”
Mina looked up. She saw the shadows above them. Not shadows, though, not really. Just big, dark dragon wings. “You can’t kill the Lord of the Dark.” She glanced back at the monster. Garrick. I remember you now, too. “But he will kill you.”
Fear flashed on Garrick’s face. He looked up, too, and then she saw the terror race across his face.
That was good. He should be terrified. Because Luke was going to kick his ass.
“Fire at him!” Garrick bellowed at the agents around him. “Shoot that bastard out of the sky!”
They grabbed for their guns and started firing. Mina screamed, loud, lost, desperate—
And time seemed to freeze.
Glass burst all around her—every bit of glass on the ship just shattered. The men—and even the redheaded woman—screamed. They dropped their guns and immediately covered their ears.
Mina heard her own scream echoing around her. It seemed to linger in the air, hanging there as the others dropped to their knees in apparent suffering.
“Stop…her…” The redhead—Madeline. I remember you now. “Stop her from…screaming…her screams…hurt!”
Garrick put his hands around Mina’s throat. He started squeezing. Her screams were cut off as she choked. Her hands flew up, punching at him, but he just tightened his grip. “When you…pass out…” he rasped. “I’ll stop.”
What?
But then there were more screams. Only they weren’t coming from her this time. Over Garrick’s shoulder, she saw that the dragon had landed. In a flash, the beast vanished and Luke was in the form of a man. Julian was with him, and the shifter’s frantic gaze shot around the ship.
“Rose!” Julian bellowed. “Rose, where are you?”
Luke’s twin was behind them, and he was causing the humans to scream as he punched them and tossed them overboard.
Dark spots danced before Mina’s eyes.
“Welcome to hell.” Luke’s voice. Cold, brutal and—
Garrick was ripped away from her. In the same instant, a soft cloth wrapped around Mina’s body. She’d been naked, but now she was covered with some sort of shirt that dipped over her shoulders and fell to her—well, to mid-way down her tail.
Her breath heaved in and out of her lungs as she slapped her hands against the ship’s deck to steady herself. She looked up and saw that Luke held Garrick, only Luke’s hand wasn’t that of a man. His fingers were the talons of a dragon, and those talons were drawing blood as they tightened on Garrick’s throat.
“What did I hear you say to my Mina?” Luke asked, tilting his head, his eyes glowing with power. “Right. When you pass out, I’ll stop.” Blood flowed down Garrick’s neck. “Guess what? I won’t stop, not until you’re dead.”
She wanted to stand up and run to Luke, but tails weren’t made for standing. She could only drag herself forward with her hands as she fought to get closer to him.
“I’ll kill her,” Madeline shrieked. “If you don’t let him go, now, she’s dead!”
Mina felt the barrel of the gun press to her temple.
Very slowly, Luke turned to look at Madeline. He didn’t ease his grip on Garrick. Blood kept flowing from the struggling agent’s neck. Mina realized that all of the other goons under Garrick’s command were gone. Leo had tossed them all overboard. He’d even thrown the boat captain into the water. The only people on the deck were her, Luke, Leo, Garrick, Madeline, and Julian.
“Where the fuck is Rose?” Julian bellowed.
Madeline laughed. “That vamp is at the bottom of the ocean.”
Julian didn’t hesitate. He ran to the side of the boat and dove over the edge.
So then it was just Mina, Luke, Leo, Garrick and Madeline.
In a stand-off.
“You don’t want her to die,” Madeline said to Luke. “Because you’re as freakishly obsessed with her as Garrick. So how about you don’t play with me, hmmm? Let Garrick go. Then you—and your twin over there—you two get the hell away from me!”