Jace

by Sarah McCarty; Sarah McCarty

  He closed his mind to the empathic pulse, not wanting to know, now, what had been done to Miri, what he had allowed to be done to her because he’d assumed that while he was away she’d be safe with her pack. Though he blocked out the remnants of screams, the memories haunted him, dogging his steps, just waiting for a break in his concentration to pounce. Ten seconds later, he felt it. The subtlest of vibrations. Just twinges on the edge of his consciousness, but everything in him snapped to attention—Miri.

  Instinct demanded he charge down that connection and wrap her safely in his energy, hold her the only way he could, tell her he was coming, that she wasn’t alone.

  Another growl from Derek, rumbling over the impulse. He nodded, stifling the urge. If Miri wasn’t alone, if he betrayed his presence with his energy, if Miri showed any sign, to whomever was with her, that he was coming, the rescue might be over before it began. It was doubtful all of them were going to get out of here alive as it was, but he was determined that one of the survivors would be Miri. She had to live.

  He signaled to Derek. Corridor on the right. Approximately thirty feet. His normally steady heartbeat, the one that didn’t elevate even in the tightest situations, picked up speed. One by one, his senses focused on the woman just a minute away. He hadn’t seen her in over a year. Hadn’t caressed her face, hadn’t loved her body or restored himself with the touch of her soul in too damn long.

  Another explosion shook the walls. Derek made the motion to hurry. He nodded. It did sound like the boys were having just a bit too much fun with Slade’s toys. And that much boom meant they were fighting hard to buy him time against some ugly odds, but the Renegades didn’t have an endless supply of weapons. He picked up speed. Derek followed. Calm and steady, with a vicious side most didn’t see coming until it was too late, Derek had saved all their asses more than once. The day Caleb had saved Derek’s life and forged the pact between the McClarens and the Johnsons had been a good one for the Johnsons.

  The next corridor was short and unremarkable. Two doors on either side with a steel door at the end. The one at the end was an impressively thick device, with one of those mechanical locks they didn’t have a prayer of opening without five hours and Slade sitting there working his magic with technology. That is, if someone hadn’t already opened it for them. The heavy door was jammed open about fourteen inches with a metal bar. Not big enough for a man to get through, but it might just be big enough for a small woman to squeeze through. Miri was small. Jace glided to the opening. Miri’s scent reached out, flowed around him in a silent caress. Subtle, light, enticing, cinnamon spiced with bitter fear. A red stain on the door drew his hand. Blood. He rubbed the residual smear between his fingers, keeping his expression impassive as his vampire howled in recognition. Miri’s. He brought his fingers to his mouth, refreshing his memory with her taste as he reached out carefully with his mind.

  Derek, following his actions, frowned. Jace didn’t have an answer for the question in his eyes. He didn’t know how badly she was hurt. From the standpoint of Miri’s rescue, it didn’t matter. They’d planned for the worst, hoping for the best. He looked through the door. The room was large, with computers and gadgets around the perimeter. It looked a lot like the lab that had held Caleb for a time. In the middle stood a stainless steel table. Restraints made of the same stainless steel gleamed ominously in the sterile white light. A dark liquid spread over the bottom of the table and dripped off the edge. Two bodies lay crumpled on the ground, shards of glass sparkling around them. No energy came off the bodies. Looked like the worst hadn’t happened. Miri was ambulatory. Jace smiled. And kicking ass.

  He backed up, linking to the faint trail of energy that lingered in the aperture. Derek stayed put, covering him as he searched with his senses. She hadn’t gone past them to the exit—he would have felt her if she had—so she had to be in the compound somewhere. Probably not far. She was covering her energy, as he’d taught her, but she couldn’t hide the scent of her blood. Not from any vamp, but especially not from him. Not from her mate.

  He ran his tongue over his lips, refreshing his senses, and backtracked slowly. Not the first room. He moved across the corridor, sending his mind into the space beyond, tuning in to her unique vibration. Not there. But across the hall, at the third door, something was different there. There was a heaviness that didn’t belong. He let his rifle lightly touch the metal surface. A start of feminine fear, overridden immediately by a heavy surge of male energy.

  He motioned to Derek. Miri was in there, and she wasn’t alone. He made the sign for “vamp” and then the sign for “kill.” Derek nodded. Jace braced his back against the wall, reached for the knob, paused, gathered his muscles, and pushed the door open.

  Blinding light burned his eyes. A bullet whined out of the room. With super speed, he leapt between the bullet and the echo of the gun’s report, diving into the room, taking in the scene as he rolled. In the back right corner of the room a male vamp held a naked Miri against his chest. One hand was around her throat, his nails pressed to her jugular. And in his other hand he held a gun.

  Shit. Not good.

  Through the violence of the scene his vampire senses hyper-focused on Miri, taking in all that he saw, all that was different. The straggly hair, the sleek beauty of her small body, the blood on her thighs, the jagged scars on her cheek. The fury in her eyes. He came to his feet smiling. That was his girl. All spit and vinegar. All heat and laughter.

  He brought his gun up as he reached his feet. The vamp’s attention was split between Derek, dead ahead of him in the hall, and Jace to his left. “You’ve got nowhere to go.”

  The vamp smiled, revealing his fangs. “Just out the door.”

  Jace shook his head. “Not an option.”

  The Sanctuary vampire jerked Miri forward a step. “Something tells me I’m holding my get-out-of-jail-free card.”

  He was an ugly son of a bitch, with his torn, half-morphed face and ragged sneer. Jace met Miri’s gaze, the hand at her throat remaining at the periphery of his gaze.

  “I got your message.”

  “What took you so long?”

  The naturally husky tone to her voice strained to hoarseness under the pressure the vamp was applying. “Things kept getting in my way.”

  A tiny jerk of her chin indicated the man hiding behind her. The move put a nick in her skin. A drop of blood welled. “Things are still in your way.”

  Out of the corner of his eye he watched that bright red drop swell and quiver, holding one instant before it grew too big and began its slow, inevitable surrender to gravity, sliding down her neck, almost glowing in intensity. “Not for long.”

  “Just long enough,” the vampire snarled, pressing those nails deeper, sending more droplets of blood chasing the first in a splash of color. A little more pressure and those razor-sharp talons would sever her jugular.

  Jace brought his revolver higher, sighting it dead center between the vamp’s eyes. “So you say.”

  The vamp focused on him, reaching out with his energy. Not for the first time, Jace wished he had his brother Jared’s ability to turn people’s energy against them, to manipulate their minds. It would come in real handy right now. “Miri, sweet?”

  “What?”

  “Drop.”

  She didn’t question, didn’t blink, just held his gaze and took the leap of faith he needed. He was moving before her weight shifted, springing across the distance between them. Derek’s shot came at the same second. Blood exploded into an arc, filling his vision. Miri’s scream ended in a gurgle. Bastard, she better not be hit. Jace’s hand closed over her upper arm, sinking into the resilient flesh. A flash of recognition shot to his soul, staggeringly strong. He grabbed the vamp’s slack fingers, yanking them away from her throat as he tossed her back toward Derek.

  And then there was just him and the stunned vamp. The shot had been too high to scatter his brains. The caliber too high to have the bullet just ricochet around inside the skull. But, sti
ll, he should be out. He should not be blinking the blood out of his eyes and snarling. He should definitely not have the strength to lash out.

  “Fuck!”

  Jace went flying backward and slammed into shelves. Glass vials fell, exploding by his feet in glittering shards. His vampire rose at the challenge. His fangs cut through his gums; his talons stretched; bloodlust rose. This vampire had threatened Miri. Drawn her blood. Hurt her. There was another scream as the vamp launched at him, fangs and talons bared. Jace met him in midair, holding his red-rimmed gaze with his own, snarling back. The vamp was strong. Very strong. Enhanced maybe. Jace twisted away from the swipe of his claws, using the vamp’s momentum against him, sending him into the same shelf he’d just left.

  “Stop playing around, Jace, and finish it,” Derek snapped from the doorway. “You’re needed over here.”

  Derek never used that tone unless things were bad. Jace risked a glance over, tracking the vamp’s next advance from his peripheral vision. Derek was holding Miri. His hand pressed to her neck, blood was spilling through his fingers as she struggled to get free, her gaze locked on him with a desperation he couldn’t fathom.

  The vampire hit him with a shoulder in the gut, overconfident in his strength. Jace pulled his revolver. He placed the muzzle against the vamp’s side and pulled the trigger. The vamp jerked in shock a second before the paralyzing agent went through him. Jace pushed him off. “I don’t have time to wrestle with you.”

  Leaning over the prone man, he drove his hand through his chest and removed his heart. The vamp’s eyes closed. Jace tossed the organ to the floor and torched it with the sunlight replicator attachment from his gun; a damn handy gadget.

  The whole thing took about fifteen seconds. That was fourteen too long. The one more required to get to Miri’s side, a lifetime.

  Derek, his eyes narrowed, handed her over before Jace could make the demand. Jace checked her heart rate, her blood levels. She was bad.

  “Has she lost too much?” Derek asked.

  Jace placed his hand over the wound, reaching for the knowledge he instinctively knew was his. “I don’t know.”

  Miri bled for desperate seconds as he came up empty. He searched harder, delved deeper into instinct, and then he felt it. A warmth in his hand. A link from his life force to hers. He followed the trail deep into her mind, then out into her body, down to her wound and the torn tissue that screamed with agony.

  Jace.

  The sound of her voice in his mind was shock enough that he lost the connection. Her lips shaped his name again. No sound followed.

  Derek growled, “Focus, damn it!”

  He didn’t need the wolf to tell him that.

  Jace refocused his energy. As soon as the link re-formed, so did that husky feminine whisper. She was using his link to communicate.

  Jace.

  Right here, baby.

  You have to save her.

  He didn’t care about anyone but Miri. He frowned, working at the edges of the tear in the artery. In a minute.

  They’ll hurt her.

  She was talking about his daughter. Their child was a girl. He kept working on her injury as he absorbed the knowledge.

  Leave me.

  No way in hell.

  I’m too hurt.

  Shut up.

  You have to leave me.

  I said shut up.

  He wasn’t leaving her. He began repairing the artery wall as fast as he could, starting with the outside of the opening, wasting precious seconds before he realized his mistake. Jace swore mentally and then changed his plan, working from the inside out. He echoed Derek’s sigh of relief as the repair held and the blood flowed within the artery.

  “We’ve got company coming,” Derek warned, touching his fingers to the transceiver in his ear.

  Jace concentrated on a weak spot in the repair. “You’re turning into a nag.”

  “Must be my age.”

  He sealed the last edge of the artery. He didn’t have time to close the wound. She needed blood fast. He sliced his chest open, bringing her mouth to the wound. They’d never done this. As she always had, she resisted now, obviously still believing taking blood from him to be taboo. He didn’t give a fuck. “Drink.”

  Go to hell.

  “I think we’ve both already been there.” He rubbed his fingertip over the back of her head. “And I for one don’t want to go back.”

  The smallest of hesitations, the shakiest of breaths, and then her teeth scraped his skin. Her breath covered the sensitive spot, raising goose bumps and lust. He cupped her head, cradling her close, tenderness, lust, desire blocking out the danger, narrowing the focus to this one moment, this first moment of bonding.

  Feed, sweet.

  The endearment welled from his soul, slipped past his guard. In a life filled with temptation and opportunity, she was the only woman he’d ever wanted to keep. The only woman he’d ever failed to protect, and it didn’t matter if that failure was his fault or not. All that mattered was that she’d suffered. Miri hesitated, not taking that final step, wavering between fear and trust, needing an incentive to go over the edge. He gave it to her.

  Without you, our child dies.

  Bastard!

  You’ve only just figured that out?

  With a husky snarl, her canines sank deep, the bite no doubt meant to hurt, but all that poured over him was a pleasure so intense, a culmination so complete, he cried out. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Derek cast him a shocked look before quickly averting his eyes. The power of the connection draped over Jace, hazing his good sense. His mind tuned to hers, his body to hers, his focus concentrating on her need.

  It was unthinkable that she be so weak. He needed to make her strong. He needed to give her what she required. Whatever it was. Whatever the cost. His head dropped back as he pulled her close. He gritted his teeth and found his voice with the last bit of reason he had. “Derek, don’t let me give her too much.”

  The look Derek cut him was dry. “How do you suggest I stop you?”

  He anchored his fingers in her hair. “Remind me what’s at stake.”

  He would do anything for Miri. Anything for his child. Anything except give up this moment of richness after a year of desperation and barrenness.

  Miri’s claws dug into his back as her mouth worked erotically against his chest, her torso sliding against his in a languorous twist of need. His clothes chafed his skin, an unwelcome barrier. He needed to feel her against him. To hold her tightly, to feel her heat merge with his.

  Derek’s hand on his shoulder prevented him from shrugging out of his shirt. “You get naked with her and I’m not going to be able to stop anything.”

  Jace snarled but returned his hand to Miri’s head, supporting her, feeling the power flow from him to her, feeling the strength return to her with a bone-deep sense of satisfaction. It was right that he give this to her.

  “That’s enough,” Derek ordered.

  Not yet.

  The whisper came into his mind. Jace’s vampire surged to the fore, snarling at Derek in warning. The wolf would not take him from her.

  “Son of a bitch.” Derek stood over them, his natural drawl shortened as he snapped out, “Miri Tragallion-D’Nally, as a pack Alpha, I order you to stop.”

  Miri shuddered. Jace’s vampire snarled. No male but him commanded his mate. Not even one invoking the universal superiority of being an Alpha.

  Derek grabbed Miri’s shoulder. Jace lashed out. Derek leapt back, his voice maintaining the hold he relinquished. “Obey, Miri.”

  With a moan, Miri released Jace. He breathed deeply as the connection was severed, closing his eyes against his own instinct to bring her back, to give her everything she needed, wanted.

  Miri moaned again. When he opened his eyes, she was holding both hands over her mouth, staring in horror at the blood flowing down his chest. He wiped his hand over the wound, sealing it, nodding to Derek. “Thanks.” He cut a glare at Miri. “When thi
s is over, we’re going to talk about your snapping to at anyone’s orders but mine.”

  He shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around Miri’s shoulders.

  “A were woman is raised to obey her pack male,” Derek explained.

  “You’ll pardon me, but to date I haven’t seen much of this so-called obedience.” He caught Miri’s hand when she would have reached for him, redirecting it into the sleeve of the coat. “And, she’s my mate. There’s no such thing as a pack male for her.”

  “She’s were. There will always be pack loyalty.”

  Jace made a grab for Miri’s other hand, gritting his teeth when she moaned and swayed toward him. The blood exchange should have been private, the sharing one of commitment rather than necessity. “Uh-huh.” He yanked the sleeve up over her hand. It immediately fell back down. “You keep believing that.” He closed the coat over her chest, working the buttons with deft precision. “Come on, Miri. Stand up.”

  She did. Slowly, languorously, the subtle flex of her muscles playing hell with his libido. He couldn’t resist. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her full lips, the edges of his clinging to the softness of hers. Damn, he’d missed her.

  Another explosion shook the walls. He tapped her cheek with his fingers. “Snap out of it, baby. We’ve got to go.”

  She blinked, those big golden-brown eyes that haunted his dreams slowly coming back into focus. She stepped back. He kept his hand on her shoulder until he was sure she was steady.

  He dropped his hand as Derek said, “Time’s a-wasting.”

  “You okay?” he asked Miri. She nodded. Jace glanced down at the dried bloodstains on her legs and feet. “Can you run?”

  She looked around, distaste twisting her features. “Try to keep up.”