The panther blinked its eerie golden eyes and backed up.
Luke dove into the water. He sank deep, then shoved back up—not to take in air because he could have stayed down much, much longer—but he popped to the surface so he could call for her again. “Mina!”
He didn’t see her. Just saw the churning waves. They slapped against him. Maybe she didn’t come back up. Mina is still below. The water has her. He’d warned her not to try escaping.
Luke sank beneath the waves again. It was nearly pitch black down there, but he could still see—he could always see in the dark. He looked to the left, looked to the right, searched under the dock in case the battering water had pushed Mina’s slight body under there and she’d become trapped. He didn’t see her, but he had to keep searching, had to—
Hard hands grabbed him. He spun around, and found himself staring into a pair of angry golden eyes.
Cat’s eyes.
Cats can swim so well.
Only a panther hadn’t grabbed him in the water. The beast had shifted back into human form. Julian pointed upward and kicked away from Luke. Then the guy’s naked-ass body was flying upward. Luke followed him, breaking the surface. “She’s down there!” Luke blasted as he drew in a breath. “We have to—”
“Your woman can swim,” Julian Craig’s rumbling voice cut through his words. He lifted his hand and pointed in the distance. “Thought you’d want to know that she was hauling ass that way.”
Luke spun around, slapping the waves, and, sure enough, in the growing red glow of dawn, he saw Mina’s dark head just above the waves. The woman was definitely hauling ass.
“Looks like an Olympic contender to me,” said a deep, amused voice. A voice that came from the dock—Rayce Lovel’s voice. “Or someone who is really, really motivated to get the hell away from you.”
Luke swam back to the dock. He hauled himself up, and the water poured down his body. He was soaking wet and completely furious.
“Didn’t charm her, huh?” Rayce asked, nodding his head. He wore a pair of jeans, nothing else. Like Julian, he must have shifted back to human form while Luke had been frantically searching the water. “Had to happen sooner or later, you know. Every woman you meet won’t just drop her panties for you and—”
Luke grabbed him. It was an instinctual, animal attack. He locked his hand around Rayce’s neck and lifted the guy up into the air, holding him easily even though Rayce was roughly his same height and shared his muscular build.
“Don’t,” Luke gritted out, “ever fucking talk about Mina that way to me. Not if you want to keep living. I can skin you in an instant, wolf or man.”
Rayce’s green eyes had widened.
The dock trembled as Julian pulled himself up. “Hey, guys…let’s all take a breath here.”
Luke wasn’t in the mood for a breath.
Julian closed in, his steps soundless, the way they always were. “This is classic displacement,” he said, his voice hinting just a bit at the British accent he couldn’t ever seem to fully shake, despite the fact that he hadn’t been in his homeland in years. “You aren’t mad at Rayce. You’re mad because that gorgeous lady just gave you the slip—”
Luke’s left hand flew out and locked around Julian’s neck. “I’m furious at both of you assholes because you let her go.”
Julian wasn’t fighting him. Neither was Rayce. If they weren’t fighting, then where was the fun in an attack? Snarling, he shoved them both back. “Get some clothes on.”
“Hey!” Now Rayce was insulted. “Not like we can wear clothes when the beasts take over. You of all people should know that. And I did stop to put on jeans.”
Luke just glared.
“Right, getting clothes,” Julian said quickly.
“And get Marcos out here.” Luke turned to stare at the reddening sky. He could still see Mina, swimming so strongly. But she wouldn’t be able to keep up that pace, not for long. Good thing that Marcos just had the Devil’s Prize in the dock house, right around the side of the island. He’d be there in moments. “I need to hunt.”
Mina wasn’t getting away. There was going to be a price for her crimes that night. He hoped she was ready to pay.
She paused in her swimming right then and glanced back at him. She bobbed in the water. The waves pounded against her, and he found himself tensing. She was too delicate to be out there. Too small. She was going to drown—
She lifted her hand. And, at first, he thought she was waving good-bye to him.
Then he realized…
She was only waving with one finger.
His lips curled. You’ve got to stop doing that, sweetheart. You’re just making me want you more.
She spun away and dove beneath the waves.
***
Garrick McAdams shoved open the door at the dive bar. The scent of ocean air mixed with stale booze as he marched inside.
“We’re closed!” A voice yelled, a grumpy drawl that came from behind the bar.