Jace (8 page)

“Just break it.”

He didn’t look away, just kept manipulating the mechanism. “I’m not leaving any sign we were here.”

“What possible harm could it do?”

“Think on it a minute.”

She did, and then swallowed. A break-in would be reported. Anyone could pick up the notice. “Even if the Sanctuary guessed it was us, they wouldn’t know why.”

“All they’d have to do is inventory the lab room and they’d have a clue.”

“You don’t know that.”

The latch clicked. He turned the knob and stood, a big dark shadow blending with the night. “I’m not taking the chance.”

Holding the door open, he motioned her through. The excitement she’d been trying to contain danced past caution, dragging hope onto the floor, picking up the rhythm of her pulse.

“What about the alarm?”

“That I handled the vampire way.”

“Which would be?”

“I’m keeping the circuit connected.”

She stepped into the dark room. Light glowed eerily off all the stainless steel. “How?”

“Think of it as copying the energy.”

“You can do that?”

He closed the door. “I can do a lot of things.”

And he wasn’t just talking about electronics. She stepped back, the sexual tension between them crowding her more than his entrance into the small room. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked around. “So where do you think they’d keep a black light?”

“Somewhere around the exam table.”

He kept coming toward her, a small smile on his face. It took her two seconds to figure out why. The exam table was the flat shiny thing she was leaning against. Just before he got to her, she ducked under his arm. “I’ll check the drawers over there.”

His chuckle followed her. “Chicken.”

“I prefer to think of it as being efficient.”

His hand ghosted her right buttock. “I just bet you do.”

She swung at him. Naturally she didn’t connect. Jace was incredibly fast, even for a vampire. His hand caught hers. “Hold up.”

He took his gloves out of his pocket. “Put these on. No sense leaving prints.”

They were way too big for her hands and made things awkward, but she didn’t want to leave a trail any more than he did. “What about you?”

He motioned to the drawer. It slid almost soundlessly open. “I’ll make do.”

“Show-off.”

He cocked that left brow. It was a habit all the Johnson brothers had, but on him it was unbearably sexy. Especially when that slight quirk of his lips joined it. Oh, why did she have to be so attracted to him?

“Are you impressed?” he asked.

She slid open the drawer in front of her. “Not in the least.”

The drawer held an assortment of things, but nothing that looked like a light. She pushed the pen and batteries aside. “Do you have any idea what this thing looks like?”

“Nope. But I figure if it has a switch and a bulb, it’s a candidate.”

“Sounds good to me.”

She reached into the back of the drawer for a black rectangle and pulled it out. It had a long bulb that covered one side and a switch on the other. For a second, she couldn’t move. In the next, she couldn’t breathe. A fine trembling shook her fingers. Sweat broke out on her brow. This could be it. She flipped the switch. The small light cast a purple glow. She pulled off a glove with her teeth. Her nails glowed a dramatic white. She turned her hand over, ran the light over her palm. The calluses were whiter than the rest, but nothing untoward jumped out and said
notice me
.

“Miri?”

She tugged off her other glove. It hit the floor with a soft plop. It had to be here. The clue had to be here. In a flurry of dread and excitement, she ran the light over her hand—back, front, and then back again. Nothing. Nothing at all. A sob broke past her lips. A second tried to follow. She bit it back. It had to be here. Tattooing the information on her in glow-in-the-dark ink was the only logical thing, based on what she knew of the equipment they had. She didn’t look at Jace as he covered her trembling hands. “It’s not on my hands.”

JACE
had never heard a calm so badly faked. Miri stood there, all five foot six inches of terrified woman, clutching her pride like it was her last defense. And maybe it was. He couldn’t imagine all she’d been through in the last year, but he’d heard enough from Raisa, and seen enough, to know that hell didn’t begin to cover it. He reached to take the light. “He wouldn’t have put it any place obvious.”

She didn’t let go. “He might not have put it anywhere at all.”

He could see the flick of her lashes, smell her anxiety. He kept his voice as even as hers. “I think he did.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Cable TV.”

She just stared at him.

“I’ve taken to watching some of the new shows. As soon as you mentioned the tattooing equipment it clicked.”

“It clicked?”
What clicked?

Lint glowed like magic in the dark strands of her hair. He started at the crown, looking for a pattern to fluoresce on her scalp. “Hmm.”

“What? Did you find it?”

“No, but there are some areas of drier scalp here.”

Her hand snapped back. “Don’t you dare tell me I have dandruff.”

He let her hand connect with his chest. He’d never met a woman who needed to whale on something as much as Miri. She kept so much anger packed so deep, it was a wonder she didn’t explode. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Jace?”

“No, you don’t have dandruff.”

“That isn’t what I was going to ask.”

He tilted her head to the side. It wasn’t easy, with her trying to look at him to assure herself he was telling the truth. She yanked her hand back, bumping his wrist. The light dropped. Jace grabbed for it and caught it. As he did his sleeve caught on her hair. She yelped and grabbed the strands. A flash of luminescence caught his eyes.

“Hold still.”

She froze, not moving, not blinking, not even breathing, her anticipation a half beat behind his. For all his big words, he hadn’t really been sure this was the answer, but he’d hoped. Harder than he’d let on, putting his faith in the logic of his deduction. And a clue from the cable TV show featuring tattoo artists and the safety of glow-in-the-dark tattoos. Not that he thought Miri’s safety was of primary importance to anyone at the Sanctuary, but tattooing someone with glow-in-the-dark ink would make sense if one had limited time and resources and didn’t want to leave a trace that could be tapped in her mind. He pressed Miri’s right ear back and brought the lamp up and stared.

“Well, hell.”

She slumped against the table. “It’s not there?”

“It’s there.”

A house number and street, all neatly done in tiny letters on the back of her ear, close to her scalp. The miracle of it, the relief, shook him to his core. So much so, that he had to hold perfectly still or he’d start shaking like a child staring at a bucket of chocolate on Christmas morning.

“Oh, God.” Miri’s knees buckled. He caught her before she hit the floor, his reflexes slowed with the same realization that took the strength from her legs. The light fell unheeded to the floor. Glass shattered. “Our daughter’s at 256 Maple Lane.”

Her hands clawed up his chest and linked behind his neck as she shuddered. “Say it again.”

He knew just how she felt. He dropped to his knees, cradling her in his arms, breathing her scent, trying to absorb the enormity of what that address meant. “Two fifty-six Maple Lane.”

“Where is that?”

“I don’t know, but I know how we can find out.”

She followed his gaze through the door to the reception area. “The computer? But how will we keep them from knowing what we searched?”

“You know about computers?”

“Of course. Ian is adamant about all pack members keeping up with technology.”

Were he and his brothers the only ones who’d been distrustful of technology? Well, with the exception of Slade. Slade had been in lust with every technological progression before it’d even been born into reality. “Well, I don’t know how to keep them from knowing, but I know someone who does.”

“We can’t go back to my pack.”

The light pause that invited denial didn’t escape his notice. He wished he could give pack acceptance to her, but she’d lost that when she’d married him. Though it hadn’t been his choice, it didn’t change the end result. “No, we can’t, but we can go to the Circle J.”

Her hands lowered from his neck. “The McClarens are there.”

“They won’t hold to the code.”

“You don’t know weres. They won’t tolerate a werewolf with a vampire let alone a werewolf turned to something in between.”

“You don’t know the McClarens.”

She stepped back, some of the color draining from her face, leaving it pale with only the amber of her D’Nally eyes. “They’ll kill you.”

“I’m not arguing some will try, but their chances of success won’t be good.”

Miri bent and picked the light up off the floor, putting it on the table before squatting down and sweeping the shards with the side of her hand. “They’ll kill me.”

“They’ll never touch you.”

The scent of her fear covered his assurance. The taint of fresh blood alerted his senses. She’d cut herself. “Leave it, Miri.”

A thin trail of blood spread across the floor in a black smear, broader at the start, thinning as it reached the end of her sweep. Glass tinkled in protest as it lumped together. “We don’t want to leave any sign we were here.”

“Bloodying the floor is a hell of a sign.”

Only then did she seem to realize what she was doing. “Oh.” She scooped up the glass. Tiny fragments shimmered amid the glistening blood like stars in a night sky. To an ordinary human, they wouldn’t mean anything. To a Sanctuary hunter, they would be the key to the kingdom. She stood looking around. He pointed to the wastebasket. “Might as well dump it there.”

He picked up the gloves off the floor, grabbed the antiseptic cleaner off the counter, and sprayed the floor, cleaning it until he couldn’t detect a speck of blood. The whole time he worked, he could feel Miri watching him, feel a surfeit of emotion pouring off her. He just couldn’t tell what that emotion was. He straightened. Miri didn’t move, just stood there, her eyes shining, her hands clenched in fists in front of her. He grabbed another paper towel. “What?”

“Nothing.” Plastic rustled as she took the bag out of the trash container. When he turned, she was right behind him.

“It’s something.”

She bit her lip and then gave him the smile that haunted his dreams, the one that banished all barriers, that lit up her face with the radiance inside. “Two fifty-six Maple Lane. We know where she is.”

He didn’t want to banish her hope, but she’d lost so much already. “It might just be a clue.”

She shook her head and held out the bag. “It doesn’t matter.”

Since her smile didn’t diminish, he supposed it didn’t. He dropped the paper towel in, caught her hand in his, and sealed the cut on it with the stroke of his thumb and a kiss, holding her gaze throughout, not understanding the elation pouring off her along with complete exhaustion. He needed to get her back to the Circle J. Needed to get her safe. “Why?”

“This means it wasn’t a trick. Faith is alive.”

M
IRI’S
strength gave out three hours before he got to the Circle J. Stuck as he was on the back side of the mountain, he couldn’t put in a call for transport. He’d had to carry her. To make matters worse, the conversion had resumed, her pain transmitting to him, torturing him with his inability to do anything about it. He didn’t know if this was normal conversion or not. He didn’t care. Whatever it was, it had to stop. Whatever was required to balance the change had to be given, because he would not let Miri continue to suffer. He put on another burst of speed, feeling the burn in his muscles. Goddamnit, Slade and that brilliant mind of his had better have an answer. He pushed doubt aside with the same ruthlessness with which he pushed himself. Slade would come up with an answer because Slade would take one look at Miri and make it his mission. Everyone had their passions. With Slade, it was little things and knowledge. He couldn’t stop caring about the first and he couldn’t stop seeking the second. Slade would find the answer.

Jace came up to the edge of Circle J land and sent a wave of energy ahead, alerting the guards at the pass that he was coming. The acknowledgment came back in a subtle brush of power. Jace stepped out of the shadows. Two McClaren sentries, Paul and Justin, nodded, looked at the woman over his shoulder, and then did a double take, their nostrils flaring as they caught Miri’s scent. Their posture lost the relaxation of welcome. Their stance drew taller, legs widening, shoulders squaring. Wonderful. Even his local pack was adopting an attitude.

Ignoring the weres’ rumbled displeasure, he raced on through the narrow cut in the mountain. Miri was his, and ancient feuds, prejudices, and other such protests were just going to have to fall to the wayside, because he wasn’t letting her go. He approached the house. There were guards all around the perimeter of the large log home and tension hung thick in the air. Something was wrong. He slowed his pace. Approaching the stairs, he asked, “What’s going on?”

Jonas, another McClaren, glanced at the upstairs window. “Allie’s having the baby.”

That explained the tension. “I thought Caleb had a bunker in the basement set up for the grand event.”

“Allie feels it’s important for the baby’s first breath to be of fresh air.”

“She was angling for a bower in the forest,” Jonas’s twin, Micah, added, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back against the log wall.

“But they compromised on the upstairs bedroom with the window open a crack.”

“Caleb’s negotiating skills must have improved.” Jace eyed both young men, just realizing they were now fully mature weres with the muscles and confidence common to the McClarens. Damn, he was getting old, because he remembered when they were just pups annoying everyone in sight with their slingshots and their immature humor.

“It was more that he lucked out. Labor hit so fast Allie didn’t have time to prepare the space.”

“Ha, and Caleb said Lady Luck didn’t cozy up to him.”

“I haven’t heard him say that since he met Allie,” Jared said, coming out of the house, his dark brow lifting at the sight of Miri, draped unconscious, over Jace’s shoulder. Of his three brothers, Jace was probably the closest to Jared, mainly because Jared understood the intensity of the emotions that often overtook him.

“True enough. She does remind him how to smile.”

Allie had a way of making everyone smile, which just made the scream that ripped out of the second-story window that much more disturbing. Nothing could happen to Allie. Caleb wouldn’t be able to take it. Hell, none of them would. Allie could light the darkest moment with her irreverent humor and her refusal to accept defeat. She’d made believers of all of them and even if Jace hadn’t loved her for herself, he would have loved her for the joy she brought his often too serious older brother.

He glanced up, trying to see through the closed curtains. “Is there something wrong?”

Jared ran his fingers through his hair, the fingers on his other hand opening and closing as they always did when he was anxious. A habit left over from his gunslinger days, when limber fingers meant the difference between life and death. “They can’t stop the bleeding.”

“Shit.” The men lined up on the porch took on new significance. Allie could only feed from Caleb, which meant he’d have to feed a lot more frequently. “She’s draining him that fast?”

“Yeah, but she’s getting too weak to drink.”

Jace gave Miri a mental order to wake and he let her slide down his body. “Caleb must be in hell.”

“He’s not a happy camper,” Jared said, nodding at Miri. “This her?”

“Yes.”

Miri stood shakily. Jonas and Micah frowned as she swayed.

“She okay?”

“I don’t know.” He pulled her in to his side, not liking the way she almost collapsed against him. Another scream came from the house, muted by the wind, quickly smothered by something he couldn’t see. “Slade’s with Allie?”

“For all the good it’s doing.” Jared narrowed his gaze. Miri shuddered as his power touched her, then gasped. Her eyes opened. A growl came from the weres and a curse from Jared. His power lingered.

“You didn’t tell us she was an Alpha D’Nally,” Micah said, his gaze locked on Miri’s face.

“What makes you think she’s either?”

Jonas rolled his eyes. “If her scent didn’t mark her as D’Nally, those golden eyes would. Only the D’Nally Alphas have them.”

Micah glanced over at him. “Ian is going to kill you.”

“Ian is going to have to get in line.”

Jace focused on Jared and his frown. “What?”

“She’s converted, yet not.”

The McClarens growled, and the others picked up the rumble. Jace cut them all a glare. “Get over it, or get out.”

He had no patience for were prejudice.

Jared motioned the twins back, stepping between them and Jace. “In case you’ve forgotten, the McClarens are our friends.”

“And Miri is my wife.” She took a step away, more of a stumble. Her energy was getting stronger. Jace kept his hand on her arm, letting her find her balance.

“Which is going to take time for everyone to absorb,” Jared pointed out reasonably.

Jace didn’t have time.

Another cry came through the window; this time it was abruptly cut short. In the next second, Allie’s voice slid through the open window, strong yet hoarse with weariness. “I swear, Caleb, if you try to help me like that one more time, I’m kicking you in the face. I’ve got this.”

Jace had to smile. “Doesn’t sound like she’s too weak.”

“Caleb just gave her blood again.”

“And a bit of his attitude as well, it seems.”

Jared laughed. If Jace ignored the grim edge, it was like the good old days. “That came naturally, I think.”

“Probably.” Allie had a will of iron.

Miri swayed again. Micah reached out. Jace’s reaction was immediate, instinctive, and as possessive as any were’s. He snarled a warning and pulled her against him.

Micah stared at him, the challenge in his stance no less strong for the mildness of his expression. “You’d better get used to it. Many weres will try to take her from you. She’s fertile and Alpha. There isn’t a stronger aphrodisiac for a were.”

Miri growled, responding instinctively to the tension. Jace ran his hand over her hair and down her back, keeping her close. “Then many weres are going to die.”

“Who’s going to die?” Miri asked groggily.

Miri would have to come fully conscious right then. Jace held Micah’s gaze. “No one, yet.”

She pushed the tangle of her hair away from her face. Her other hand dropped to her stomach as she looked around. She immediately stiffened as she spotted Micah and Jonas. “Yet?”

“Yet.”

She looked past them to the other weres scattered across the porch, then back at Jace, and then again at the weres. Her shoulders squared. A growl hovered in her throat and she put all one hundred twenty pounds of herself in front of him. As if she could protect him from a fully mature male. Jace crossed his arm over her chest and tucked her back against him. “No need to get all wolfie on anyone, princess. You’re among friends.”

Jonas snorted. The look Miri cast him was inscrutable.

“I’m among wolves,” she corrected.

“And family.” Jared stepped forward, too close for Jace’s vampire to tolerate. Another snarl rumbled in his chest. At his own brother, no less. Jared just smiled, amusement replacing worry. “You’ve definitely got it bad.” He inclined his head toward Miri. “Welcome to the Johnson clan.”

“Thank you.” Her hand connected with Jace’s thigh as the last of his growl trailed off. Was she trying to calm him or slap him?

Another high-pitched cry came from the house.

Miri glanced at the door. “Who’s hurt?”

“My sister-in-law is making me an uncle.”

She looked around at the men standing on the porch, and then over her shoulder at Jace. “Your sister-in-law isn’t vampire?”

“She’s definitely vampire.” It was Jared who answered.

“Vampires can’t have children.”

Jace rubbed her arms. “That’s what everyone keeps telling us.”

Miri went still, terror scenting the air around her. “Oh, my God, they can’t know.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out who “they” were.

“The Sanctuary already do.”

Barely perceptible tremors started in her core. She grabbed his forearm, her talons sinking through his skin. The surrounding wolves took a step forward. This time, Jace’s vampire didn’t snarl back as strongly. No wolf could ignore a woman in distress. It went against their personal code of honor and their instincts.

“You have to protect her,” Miri ordered, holding him, staring at Jared, the tremor in her body shaking her voice. “You can’t ever let them get her.”

“No one will touch Allie,” Jared answered calmly. Jace felt the touch of his energy, the request for permission to enter Miri’s mind. Jace shook his head. As much as Jared wanted to help, Miri would not see anyone else entering her mind as anything but another rape. Jace eased her closer and stroked a path of calm through the terror as Jared continued.

“And even if they ever get close to her, they’ll find she’s still one tough cookie.”

Allie was a psychic vampire, able to rip a man’s mind from him the way others ripped tinfoil from packages.

The only catch was that the act completely drained her and left her completely vulnerable in the aftermath, but during that burst of energy she was every vampire’s living nightmare.

“No one’s that tough,” Miri whispered.

A memory flashed from her to him, Miri defiantly refusing to open her legs. A man’s face, the agony that seared through her as he casually applied a Taser to the top of her thigh and held it there. The agony that exploded through her, the complete disruption of her brain function, the utter degradation of being unable to prevent them from touching her. The memory came clearly across the link.

Jace brushed his lips across her hair, channeling the rage that consumed him deep inside, where it could simmer until the moment came to unleash it, keeping his voice soft because the one thing Miri didn’t need now was more violence. “No, sweet, no one’s that tough.”

“Which is why she’ll be guarded as closely as you will be,” Jared added, his normally even drawl almost a snarl. One look confirmed that Jared had still been linked to him as the memory had crossed over. Flames lit his brother’s eyes, vivid against the almost green irises. The edges of his fangs were visible and his energy writhed about him in an invisible lash. The weres, reacting to the energy, picked up the snarl.

Miri shrank back against him.

Cut it out.

From one blink to the next, Jared had himself under control.

“Don’t mind Jared. Without his wife around, he forgets his manners.” In truth, Raisa was an anchor for Jared, emotionally and physically, a true mate for all the energy that surged within him, and just as deadly in her own way.

As calm spread, Miri looked down at his arm and gasped. “I’m so sorry.”

She removed her claws from his flesh. The hot sting remained, a lingering whisper of pleasure.

“No harm done.” Before she could protest, he let her see the desire simmering inside him at the erotic claiming.

Her shock made him smile.

Weres can’t be that much different from vampires.

How would I know?

She wouldn’t. He’d been her only lover.

You’ll have to trust me.

Her snort of disbelief no sooner ended than Allie’s angry voice surged. “Get the hell away from me with that, Slade.”

“You need help, Allie.”

“I told you, Caleb, I’m having this baby naturally.”

“There’s not a thing natural about this.” Caleb’s deep baritone rasped with impatience and worry.

“Well, you’re not introducing anything
less
natural.”

Jace looked at Jared. His brother just shrugged. “She’s determined not to do anything that will traumatize the baby.”

Allie’s voice carried on the night’s calm, tired but reflecting all the stubbornness he’d learned to associate with her. “Raisa, if Slade comes near me again with that oversized salad fork, geld him.”

“Done.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Jace couldn’t help but smile. That “Done” had contained a hefty dose of eagerness. “Raisa still holding a grudge over Slade’s last experiment?”

Jared nodded. “Yup. She didn’t appreciate being knocked on her ass by her own energy.”

Miri pulled his hand away from her chest and turned to face him. She was very pale and didn’t look any too steady. He cupped her shoulder in his hand. Moonlight touched her eyes, bringing out the gold in her irises. “Raisa’s here?”

Jared was the one who answered. “Yes.”

“I didn’t think she’d make it. She was so weak.”

“Yet you sent her out anyway?” There was a dangerous quality to the question.

Miri didn’t flinch. “She was dead if she stayed.”

The simplicity of the response stole the thunder from Jared’s energy.

Through Raisa, they all knew what the Sanctuary did to women in the pursuit of science. Through Raisa, they knew what Miri had committed to endure so that Raisa could live.