Sarah McCarty (12 page)
“Afraid she’s going to rip you a new one for tricking her?”
Slade smiled. Jane in a temper. He’d never seen that. He’d bet she would be all fire and reason. “Nah.”
“Then why?”
Because he needed to think.
“She needs rest before she faces the rest of what’s coming.”
“You think she’s going to shatter like a piece of china?”
“Hell,” Derek turned in the front seat. “From the way she sat guard on Slade, that’s one tough woman. Too tough to shatter.”
Jane stirred against him. Slade ran his fingers through her hair, mentally soothing her disquiet.
Rest
.
.
Jane would like the world to think her tough, but Slade had seen inside her mind. He’d seen the pain she hid, the sensitivity she guarded, the fear she battled. “She isn’t.”
Her cheek snuggled into his chest. The fabric of his shirt was an intolerable barrier between her skin and his. His claws extended with the need to rip it away. Caleb’s mind brushed along his—a subtle check to see if he was okay. Slade gave him the answer he sought. As soon as Caleb accepted the lie and withdrew, Slade dropped the shield.
He wasn’t okay. He was trying to cope with the fact that he had a mate. A woman. A wife. A partner. A responsibility. A liability. A mate wasn’t something that he’d ever anticipated. But Jane was here and she was a Sanctuary target. Walking away wasn’t an option. Sanctuary would rape her mind and leave it an empty shell. That incredible mind of hers that rattled along like a machine, ricocheting between logic and emotion. That incredible mind that was a perfect match for his.
That
could never be sacrificed, but would be if he let his vampire rule. He’d never let his vampire rule.
That
could never be sacrificed, but would be if he let his vampire rule. He’d never let his vampire rule.
“Slade?” Caleb asked again.
Shit
. No doubt, his emotions were spiking hotter than Jane’s.
. No doubt, his emotions were spiking hotter than Jane’s.
“Just catching my breath.”
“Finding a mate does have a way of knocking a man off balance.”
“Yes, it does.”
The low rumble of agreement from Derek was more pain than sound. Unlike the Johnson men, who’d spent more than two centuries as vampires, never expecting to find a mate, Derek had been born knowing his existed. And he’d had to give her up to keep her alive. Because of Sanctuary.
“So what’s our plan?” Caleb asked.
“We need to get Jane back to the lab.”
“Why?”
“We need to show her Joseph.”
Caleb’s head whipped around. “She can’t be trusted.”
“Yes, she can.”
“What makes you so sure?”
Slade stroked a hand down Jane’s head, preserving her peace. He’d learned a lot about Jane the last few months. “She spent her whole life trying to find a cure for world hunger. The minute she sees Joseph, it’s going to be every aspiration she’s ever had, every bit of determination she’s ever experienced, brought to one pinpoint of need.”
“For a vampire baby?”
Slade understood the scoff in Caleb’s tone. Bending, he slid his lips over the top of Jane’s head, skimming the ridge of her part for a heartbeat, feeling the heat of her skin in a subtle caress across his lips. “Jane won’t see a vampire baby. She’ll just see Joseph.”
“What the hell makes you so sure?”
“We’ve been talking for months.”
Caleb cursed. Derek growled. “And you didn’t tell us? That’s a breach of security.”
It had been risky, but his time with Jane had been ... unique. “Considering I
am
security, we’ll probably survive.”
am
security, we’ll probably survive.”
“You should have brought her in earlier.”
Probably. But he’d delayed, allowing himself to toy with the possibilities. “She’s here now.”
Another curse. “Before you follow your instincts, keep in mind that she’s been working for a Sanctuary corporation.”
Slade met his brother’s gaze in the mirror. “She doesn’t even know what Sanctuary is.”
“That’s an assumption on your part.”
“No assumption.”
“You’ve been in her mind?”
“Deep enough to know that.”
“Deep enough isn’t good enough for me.”
“Adjust.”
Derek shifted in the front passenger seat. Leather creaked as he turned. “If you’re thinking on getting nasty with the woman, Caleb, the McClarens will offer her sanctuary.”
Caleb cut him a glare. The McClarens wolf pack and the Johnsons were allied, lived in the same compound. Derek offering sanctuary was the equivalent of the Johnsons offering sanctuary. Which effectively tied Caleb’s overly protective instincts.
“Since when?”
“Since she parked her ass on that box and drew down on whatever was coming to protect your little brother.”
“Hell.” Caleb smacked the wheel at the reminder. “Sometimes, Derek, you make me regret saving your ass.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
Derek and Caleb had been friends since Caleb had saved Derek’s life early on in his vampire days, back when the Johnsons hadn’t known that vampires and werewolves were supposed to be enemies. Not that Caleb would have cared even if he had known. The Johnsons weren’t the conforming sort. Never had been. Likely never would be. That friendship had evolved into an alliance that was forged in steel. The Johnsons and the McClarens had each other’s backs. Even if they didn’t always agree.
“I appreciate the offer, Derek.” Leaning back against the headrest, Slade closed his eyes. He was aching and tired. The last twenty-four hours had been a bitch.
“Anytime. So, what’s the plan when she wakes up?” Derek asked, the lazy humor in his voice indicating that he was pretty sure Slade had one. “You going to hog-tie her to the crib, or keep a gun pointed at her?”
“Neither.” He pulled her up against him, brushing the hair off her cheek, shifting her hand out from between them when she frowned in discomfort. “I figured I’d appeal to her sense of injustice.”
“Does she have one?”
More than she should. “Oh, yeah.”
“So you’re telling me she has a hero complex?” Caleb asked.
“No.” He watched the scenery pass. “What I’m telling you is that I think she’s an empath who’s driven to make sure she never feels those feelings again.”
Derek cast him another look over his shoulder, taking his attention away from the outside. “So you’re thinking of mating to a woman who doesn’t want to feel emotion. Nice.”
It probably would be merely “nice” if she succeeded, but Jane was nothing but logic and emotion, the two uncomfortably coexisting. And he wanted both. He wanted that calculating mind and that passionate heart. In order to get through her defenses, Slade would have to be honest with her, and all he had to give her right now was lies.
“I didn’t say a thing about mating.”
Derek snorted. “I find it amusing that you Johnsons always start a relationship thinking there’s a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“Then how come you didn’t give her one?”
“She doesn’t know what she’s facing.”
“Did you tell her?”
“Yes.”
“And yet you still forced her to come along against her wishes.”
“Shut up, Derek.”
Derek chuckled. “It should be interesting when she wakes up.”
No. It was going to be straightforward and as uncomplicated as he could make it. “Not if you follow orders.”
Caleb arched a brow as he looked at Slade in the rearview mirror. “You’re giving orders now?”
“I always give orders. You just hear them as suggestions. Makes you more pliable.”
“Uh-huh. Well you might take a minute to figure out how you’re going to
suggest
to Allie that she go along with kidnapping a woman.”
suggest
to Allie that she go along with kidnapping a woman.”
“Allie won’t care if it means Joseph’s life.”
“Have you met my wife?”
“Many times.”
“And you still believe she has a selfish bone in her body?”
“She loves her son.”
“Yes, but she won’t go along with this.”
“She will.”
A mother’s love was predictable. Reliable.
Caleb snorted again. “Uh-huh.”
“I am not participating in kidnapping the woman who might save my child’s life.” Standing on the wide, covered porch of her house, hands on hips, Allie tossed her head, causing the soft brown fall of her shoulder-length hair to swing about her expressive face.
“Allie, be reasonable,” Caleb cajoled. “We need her.”
“I am being reasonable. You’re being reactionary.” Allie shook her head. “Kidnapping a woman. Caleb, what were you thinking?”
“Hell, what makes you think it was my idea?”
Allie searched his gaze before turning slowly toward Slade, shaking her head. “I thought you were the reasonable one of the brothers.”
“I’m always reasonable.”
Just not always as balanced as people believed. But that was his secret.
Slade looked toward the small cabin to the right of the main house where Jane slept in the big brass bed. Even separated by walls and a hundred yards he was drawn by that inner hum of rightness to touch her energy, to feel it close around him. He succumbed to the temptation, reaching out with his mind. Her energy was soft now, peaceful, free of the stress and worries that haunted her mind. At least he’d been able to give her that.
“Not everyone is as open-minded as you,” Slade said. “And Joseph needs her.”
Allie turned in Caleb’s embrace and leaned back against his hard chest. The way his brother loomed behind her, his muscle backing her stance wasn’t an illusion. Caleb would always have Allie’s back. From the day he’d met her, she’d been his focus. At first, he’d thought to hold himself back from her, knowing there was no future for her without conversion, but Slade and his brothers had taken the decision from his hands the night Caleb had almost been killed by a rogue D’Nally were. Allie was their brother’s anchor to this world, and they’d used her to keep him here. He’d just barely worked up to forgiving them.
Allie cocked her head to the side, studying Slade with those big blue eyes. She was such a strange mix of optimism, determination, and new age openness that he could never tell what she was thinking. “Jane is a scientist. Which means she deals in hard facts and proof and only finds questions interesting as long as they remain unanswered. Why don’t you appeal to that?”
“Because I ran out of time.”
“Another man?”
Allie had always been astute, and today was no different. She’d felt his interest.
“Lots of them.”
She let out a huff of air. Caleb stepped in and let him off the hook.
“We’re not sure how innocent she is. She worked for a Sanctuary company.”
Allie brushed that aside with a wave of a hand. “If there was a taint of Sanctuary about her, she wouldn’t be here, but that doesn’t absolve you.” Pointing her finger at Slade, she said, “You promised me you’d find a cure for Joseph and I’m holding you to it. But not at her expense. We’re not Sanctuary. You need to get her cooperation the right way.”
“I’ll get it.”
“Without lies.”
“I can’t promise that.”
“You have to.”
He settled his hat over his brow. “No, I don’t.”
Joseph was his nephew and he’d fight with everything he had, but unlike Allie, he didn’t have a qualm about kidnapping a scientist who might have the answer Joseph needed. He’d never been that good-natured.
“But speaking of the devil, where is my nephew?”
“He’s sleeping.”
“He go down late?”
“No.”
It was four a.m. Joseph usually went down at one a.m. and got up at two thirty a.m. Three hours was a long time for Joseph to nap. His constant need for food functioned better than any alarm clock. “Did he seem lethargic when you put him down?”
Worry flashed across Allie’s expression. “No. Why?”
Slade hated being the one to add to her worry. “It’s a long time for him to be without food.”
Panic flared across Allie’s expressive face, draining what little color exhaustion had left in her cheeks. “I was just happy he was resting.”
The worry immediately echoed in Caleb’s energy, the way it would with any mated pair. What one felt, the other did, too. Only in Caleb’s case the pain of worry was amplified by the agony of his guilt. Caleb blamed himself for his son’s illness. It didn’t matter what Slade said to the contrary. Caleb was stuck on the fact that Allie had not been fully converted when Joseph had been conceived. Never mind the suspicion that he never would have been conceived if those unique circumstances hadn’t existed. Caleb knew what he knew. “I’m sure he’s fine, Allie girl.”
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