Jace

by Sarah McCarty; Sarah McCarty

  He smiled. “I’ll do my best.”

  Derek took the lead, Jace the rear. Miri, as protected as they could make her, ran between them. The ground beneath their feet vibrated with an explosion unlike the others. This was stronger and came from beneath rather than above. “Shit.”

  That about covered it. They were out of time. “They’re blowing the place from within.” Jace turned on the transceiver in his ear and sent a signal to his brother. If the Sanctuary were blowing the place up, there wasn’t any need for secrecy. “I’ve got her. We’re coming out.”

  As soon as the words left his mouth, the walls exploded in a hail of rock and dust. “Shit!”

  Jace grabbed Miri, throwing her down, covering her with his body as boulders spewed like water droplets.

  “Shit” didn’t begin to cover it.

  2

  THE first thing he heard in the wake of the explosion was a ringing in his ears. Shrill and high-pitched, coming in an odd rhythm.

  It wasn’t ringing. It was screaming. A woman was screaming.

  Miri heaved beneath him. “Oh, my God! She’s alive.”

  He braced himself on his palms. “Who’s alive?”

  Miri scooted out from under him.

  “The human woman. I thought they’d killed her.”

  Derek cast a wary eye at the cracking ceiling above them. “Why would they kill her?”

  Her face twisted. “Because of me.”

  “Explain.”

  It was almost a snarl from Derek, who never lost control, and it reflected the strange tension in his muscles. Keeping an eye on the powerful were, Jace shifted so he was between Miri and Derek.

  “They needed someone new to force my cooperation.”

  Jace glanced at the blood on her thighs. “Cooperation for what?”

  “They’ve got it in their heads I can control conception.”

  “You can’t.”

  She shrugged. “Logic doesn’t have any bearing on their beliefs.”

  He just bet it didn’t. The Sanctuary vamps were a fucked-up bunch.

  Derek held out his hand, his attention clearly centered down the hall. Miri took it briefly, standing steadily amid the rubble in her bare feet. Shit. No shoes. That was going to be a problem with the ceiling lying on the floor.

  The scream came again. High-pitched, terrified.

  Jace’s first priority was Miri, but leaving a woman alone here…he couldn’t do it. He shoved Miri at Derek.

  “Get her out of here.”

  The wolf had a strange look on his face. “No.”

  The walls around them groaned. Derek ran for the opening, Miri right behind him, her long silky hair swaying as she darted through the debris.

  Jace followed. “And everyone says I’m insane.”

  “Not insane,” Derek muttered as he helped Miri over a slab of concrete. “Just unpredictable.” There was a protectiveness in the way the were held Miri’s hand. The growl rumbled out of Jace’s throat without conscious thought. Derek steadied Miri as she jumped over, flashing him a warning look. “Especially this last year.”

  With an easy leap, Jace landed on top of the pile, beside Miri, shouldering the were out of the way. Miri shook her head as he slid his arm around her waist.

  “You are as possessive as any wolf.”

  There was no indication in her tone as to how she felt about that. “Make no mistake about it: I’m worse.”

  The far side of the pile was pointed steel and sharp edges. He tucked his arm behind her knees and lifted. Her arms went around his neck and her scent enfolded him with the same intensity.

  “I can walk.”

  “I just made an executive decision.”

  Her eyebrows raised. “Since when do you know anything about being an executive?”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

  She just stared at him for the three steps it took him to get through the debris. “Maybe it’s better that way.”

  He let her slide down his body, enjoying every soft sigh of contact. Ignoring their differences was what had caused the problems between them in the first place. “No, it’s not.”

  Derek was already moving ahead. It wasn’t hard to figure out which way to go; the woman’s scent came strong on the reconditioned air, tainted with fresh blood, soured with desperation. Another scent blended with hers. Vampire. Jace thrust Miri behind him. “Keep up.”

  “No problem.” There was a tug on his belt.

  He glanced over his shoulder. She had one of his guns in her hand. “You know how to use that?”

  “I think so, and if not, I’ll just wing it.”

  He smiled at the sheer grit in her voice. “Just remember to flip off the safety before you start threatening people. It’s on the side.”

  She tipped the gun and flipped the switch. “Done.”

  He reached over, his fingers gliding over hers, his starved senses relishing the contact. He tilted the barrel away from his midsection. “It’s there for a reason.”

  “Not a good one.”

  He slid the switch back. “Trust me and leave it on.”

  Her mouth twisted. He placed his finger over her lips, cutting off the retort he knew was building. The support to the right groaned. “Bitch at me after we’re out of here.”

  She flipped her hair over her shoulder, a totally feminine gesture of anger and challenge. A stray tendril fell forward, ignoring her want, feeding his. “Count on it.”

  Despite the danger, her sass made him smile. He pushed her hair back. Derek disappeared around the corner. He tucked the stray strand behind her ear. “C’mon.”

  DEREK knelt in what remained of a doorway. The frame listed heavily to the right, leaning against a fallen beam. The whole place was unstable. Derek’s gun lay discarded beside him. He was hunched over something.

  Another groan from the steel beams set Jace’s teeth on edge. “One more blast and this whole place is coming down.”

  Derek didn’t respond, just reached out as if in a trance and touched something with a tenderness Jace had never seen him offer anything before. A few steps closer and he knew why.

  There was a woman trapped in the debris. Probably the one who’d been screaming, though she wasn’t making a sound now. Even from here he could see she was tiny; so small, Derek’s hand against her cheek dwarfed her face. Her features marked her of Asian descent. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Another step and he could see the male body trapped on top of her, his head level with her chest. No energy came off the body. “Guess we found the missing sentry.”

  Derek nodded.

  Jace holstered his gun. Miri came up beside him, her fingertips resting on his arm, her energy snuggling into his.

  “Is she okay?”

  The woman didn’t look good. He wasn’t even sure she was alive. “I don’t know. Derek?” Another warning vibration shook the floor. Jace touched Derek’s shoulder. “Derek. We have to leave.”

  The were shrugged off his hand and reached for the concrete slab compressing the woman’s chest, shoulder, and arm. He moved it carefully aside. The vampire’s blood-spattered shoulder came into view. Beside him Miri aimed her gun. With her thumb, she switched the safety off. Her hands were shaking.

  “He’s dead, Miri.”

  She shook her head. The gun stayed pointed. “They never die.”

  “This one did.”

  She didn’t look convinced. He didn’t argue. Another piece of debris came off. The woman gasped and choked; blood sprayed from her mouth. Jesus.

  Derek caught her head before it could slam back onto the concrete. “Shh, just lie still.”

  His voice was as soft as his hand on the small woman’s skin. Her almond-shaped eyes opened, then stared vaguely a second before they focused on the man above her. She blinked once and blinked again. Mesmerized by terror or something else—probably the first, for, sure as shit, waking up to find Derek glaring down at her like he wanted to commit murder would be enough to give
any woman nightmares.

  Her breathing increased to shallow pants. Her scent was tainted with fresh fear and fresh pain.

  “Hush, baby,” Derek murmured.

  Baby?

  The cold muzzle of the gun was thrust into Jace’s hand before Miri sank to her knees at the woman’s side. “It’s all right, Kim. He’s a friend.”

  Jace switched his grip to the handle, warm and damp from her nervous grip. He flipped the safety on before putting it back in his belt.

  After a slow blink and a series of shallow breaths, the woman managed one word. “Alive?”

  “Yes.” Miri’s hands fluttered over the debris where the woman’s hand should be. “And I’m glad to see you are, too.”

  “Sor-ry.”

  Miri’s soft face went hard as she moved another chunk of concrete off the woman. “I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. They hurt you because of me.”

  The woman shook her head, the movement shallow but emphatic. “No.”

  Derek moved more debris off her torso. Immediately, her eyes flew wide and fixed on a point high above, and a violent trembling seized her. Jace’s senses, so tuned to the emotions in others, registered the blood loss going on inside the woman’s broken body; registered the anguish coming off Derek and the horror off Miri. Above him the hall structure shuddered with a violence almost matching that racking the woman. They didn’t have much time.

  Vampire instinct said to get his mate the hell out of there and leave everything else to its own fate. Tiny rocks pinged down on his head, emphasizing the need to hurry. Miri reached back, her hand searching for his. He caught it and held it. Her energy reached up his arm, soft, strong, determined. She wanted him to save this woman. He owed this woman. Jace glanced at Derek. He owed this man. He owed his child. Shit, he must be losing his mind. He didn’t have time to get all human.

  “Help her,” Miri whispered.

  Apparently, he wasn’t going to have a choice.

  Kneeling beside Derek, Jace put his hand over the were’s when he would have removed the last piece of debris compressing the severed artery he could sense in her arm. Derek slashed at his arm, drawing blood. There was only one thing that could inspire such a reaction in a wolf. The discovery of his other half. “Your mate’s dying, Derek.”

  “No.”

  Jace understood that instinctive terror. The soul-deep rejection of the possibility of never feeling the brush of that person’s hand again.

  “She’s human. She can’t regenerate. If you remove that slab of concrete, she’ll bleed out in seconds.” The big wolf shuddered. “If she’s going to stand a chance, she needs to be converted,” Jace continued.

  Derek blinked. Awareness came back to his eyes. His canines flashed as he snarled. “There’s not enough time for a were conversion.”

  Which was going to complicate things. “Do you think she can be converted?”

  Jace didn’t know how one assessed that sort of thing. It’d never been an issue in his life.

  Derek’s “Yes” was immediate and strong.

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “She’s my mate.”

  Which meant they were going on faith, but at this point, did it really matter? Jace brushed a smear of dust from his eyes with the back of his hand. “It’s not too late for me to convert her.”

  Beside him, Miri gasped. Her hands squeezed his. Derek was a pack leader. He had responsibilities. Pack leaders could not mate with vampires.

  Derek touched the woman’s cheek again, his fingers a delicate brush on the bruised and bloody flesh. His voice was a gravelly husk of regret. “Do it.”

  “If her conversion is anything like Allie’s, she’ll be unconscious for a few hours, but then she’s going to hurt like hell.”

  Derek made room for Jace at the woman’s side. “She already hurts too much.”

  “Conversion will make this feel like a picnic.” He leaned over the woman. The comforting words he meant to say stuck in his throat. Her face was white, her lips just one shade darker with a bluish tinge around the edges. She was too far gone to hear them. “We’ll need to get her to a safe place before she wakes.”

  “I’ll take her to the D’Nally stronghold.”

  He glanced at Miri. She shook her head. He couldn’t take Miri there. “Can you get her there alone?”

  Derek nodded, not questioning the why. “Yes.” He slipped his big hand under the woman’s head, arching it back, presenting her to Jace. “Do it.”

  Jace shifted forward, feeling the weight of expectation upon him. It was harder than it should be to muster the enthusiasm. He’d never fed from the innocent before. Never tried to convert someone before, didn’t have a clue how to do it correctly. Didn’t know how he was going to face Derek’s devastation if the woman died.

  Miri’s hand withdrew from his. He didn’t blame her for the lack of faith. He hadn’t done much to prove to her he was a man to count on. His fangs, partially retracted, extended as he gathered his strength, his energy, and sent it forward into the woman, searching for her life force. Needing to hold it as the transition was made. He came up hard against a wall of nothing. He closed his eyes, searched harder. Again nothing. “Damn it.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  He wasn’t aware he’d spoken aloud. “I can’t feel her. It’s too late.”

  “Like hell it is.” Derek’s wrist was in front of his mouth. “Bite me.”

  A vampire that bit a were had access to his thoughts. A were connected to a vampire could be ostracized from his pack. It was a hell of a risk to take for a woman who was probably already dead. “It might already be too late.”

  Derek didn’t waver. “It’s not.”

  What the hell, someone had to be right today. Jace bit, taking in the were’s blood, feeling his power go through him. A lot of power. Along with that power came the vibration of an external connection. The woman.

  Jace followed his instincts, following that vibration to deep inside Derek’s core. Things got more confusing there, thoughts and emotions a careening, jumbled chaos. Unlike Jared, who could move in and out of another’s mind like a whisper of a memory, Jace wasn’t so skilled. His talents lay in other directions.

  Here.

  The whisper came into his mind, Derek guiding him through the chaos with a surety that made Jace wonder if he’d done this before. The Here came again. Stronger, louder, giving him a point of focus. He flowed along it, following it toward that black wall of nothingness, feeling the prod from Derek as he did.

  Hurry.

  Seconds stretched like hours as he searched for a crack, Derek’s implacable resolve shoving him onward until he found it. Right there. A weakness. He burst through, flinching back as he got to the other side, unable to absorb in one breath all the information coming at him.

  Damaged. She was so damaged, the energy coming off her little more than a silent scream. Too late, he tried to block Derek from following him in, but it was no use. Nothing came between a wolf and his mate, and Derek was one particularly stubborn wolf. His energy passed in a powerful force that bruised as it surged by, surrounding that stuttering life force with all the strength he had, covering it, sheltering it within his power.

  Can you hold her without me? Jace asked.

  The answer came in a snap of impatience. Yes.

  Good.

  He took a mental breath and glanced over at Miri.

  “When I tell you to, slice my wrist.”

  Her lips set in a firm line. She nodded.

  “And then you get the hell out of here.”

  Her hair slid over her shoulders. Her energy convulsively reached for his in instinctive denial. “No.”

  He met her gaze, unable to pull his will from the woman to enforce it on his mate. “One of us has to get out of here for our child.”

  Miri bit her lip. Her eyes filled with tears, but not one fell. Her shoulders squared. She nodded again.

  He wanted to touch her so badly it was a live a
che inside him, but he couldn’t. Physically and mentally he was tied to the woman they were trying to save. Miri’s hand touched his shoulder. Her energy smoothed over him. Chaos stilled, leaving only purpose behind. He lowered his head, scraped his teeth over the other woman’s delicate skin, gauged the depth, and then bit down.

  There was a moment of total disorientation as her life force flailed. Derek was there, strong and implacable, quelling the instinctive rebellion with the ruthless efficiency that made him such an invincible enemy and invaluable friend. Jace pulled the last of the woman’s blood into him. They only had seconds. Now!

  He grabbed the woman’s mind as Miri’s claws cut through the artery in his wrist. Blood sprayed. He forced his wrist against the woman’s mouth.

  Drink.

  The woman resisted. He didn’t give her an option, overriding her revulsion with force.

  Derek’s snarl snapped his head around. The few remaining lights flickered, strobing white slashes of light over his bared fangs. Jace hesitated, sensing the precarious hold the were had over his instinctive need to protect his mate, even against the vampire trying to save her. Then Derek shook his head. With a jerk of his chin, Derek motioned Jace on.

  Swallow.

  Jace gave the order. The woman didn’t obey. He didn’t have time to fight with her. He probed her mind, skating by her will, honing in on reflex. Swallow.

  Her lips moved, her throat worked. After the first few swallows, her will to survive took over and resistance turned to demand, increasing their bond, draining his strength. As she fed, he focused on healing the worst of her injuries.

  Derek growled a warning. Around them the teetering mass of debris shuddered. Behind him, Jace heard the scrape of feet over rock. Miri leaving. Good.

  Seconds dragged as Derek’s mate fed. He could feel her body absorbing his strength, the collapsed arteries expanding with renewed life, the blood seeping around the spike puncturing her abdomen.

  Faster. She had to feed faster, and he had to heal her faster. Otherwise they were all going to die.

  As he worked, he tracked Miri with his mind, unable to disconnect from her after so recently finding her. She was working her way up, systematically testing tunnels and pathways for a clear one, following the scent of fresh air to freedom. Fear, tension, and desperation drove every step, claustrophobia threatening her sanity. He sent a thought after her.