Sarah McCarty (29 page)
Creed didn’t even hesitate. “A mate is worth any sacrifice.”
An image of herself as vampire popped into her mind. Face ghastly white and distorted, fangs dripping blood. A shudder went down her spine. Slade’s head snapped around. She felt his probe as clearly as she felt his touch. She’d projected her distress.
“Damn.”
Slade straightened.
Broderick spat blood and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “This mean you’re done being reactionary?”
His gaze still on her, Slade answered, “I haven’t worked up to a reaction yet.”
“Then what was that all about?” Jane asked, blocking his mental probe and the knowledge of the weariness dragging her down. This mission was too important for her to be weak.
Slade frowned, obviously not happy with her success at shielding her thoughts. “A warning.”
She rolled her eyes as he got closer. “Good grief. For a logical person you can be so caveman.”
“When it comes to you. Absolutely.”
With a shake of his head, Creed blocked her impulse to check on Broderick. Putting her hand on her hips, she faced Slade instead. “Well you might want to consider I’m the one who called him my protector.”
“He didn’t deny it.”
“It was probably hard for him to talk with your fist in his mouth.”
Slade shrugged.
“I don’t want you as my woman,” Broderick cut in.
“That might just keep you alive,” Slade countered.
Jane ignored the comment. “Is this where I say thank you?”
“Say whatever you want as long as your research continues.”
“Watch your tone, pup.”
The pup didn’t look the least intimidated by Slade’s growl. Creed, however, did lose a bit of his nonchalance. Jane didn’t want another fight. Angling herself between Slade and Broderick, she asked, “Why is my research so important to you?”
Jane just couldn’t help it, Slade decided as she put herself in harm’s way yet again. The woman just couldn’t stay out of a fight. He pulled her back a safe distance as the werewolf answered, “Because it matters.”
The deliberate lack of inflection in Broderick’s voice caught Slade’s attention. He made a note to dig deeper into the were’s background. “It’s a little brassy to be demanding trust when you don’t give it.”
Creed stepped forward. “Are you challenging the honor of the Tragallion weres?
“Just this pup’s.”
“This pup is Tragallion. Part of the D’Nally pack.”
Shit. That was going to complicate things. “I thought the rogues were on probation?”
“It ended.”
About ten seconds ago, he’d bet from the way Broderick tensed. “Does Jace know?”
“It’s pack business.”
Which implied everything and said nothing. Boundaries had gotten a bit vague when it came to Jace and the pack he’d adopted. It was no longer the Johnsons against the world. It was the Johnsons filtered through the Tragallions, D’Nallys, and McClarens. Cocking an eyebrow at Creed, Slade asked, “You think he’s going to spout the party line against his brothers?”
“Yes.”
That confidence was irritating. “He’s a fucking vampire and a Johnson. His loyalty should be with us.”
Creed smiled that smug werewolf smile that just made a man want to punch him in his mouth. “But he’s our fucking vampire.”
It was a reminder. The Johnsons owed the Tragallion weres. And their overpack, the D‘Nallys. Jace would be dead except for the Tragallion weres who’d come to his rescue in the battle for little Faith’s life. The Tragallions had done more than back Jace. They’d given him a place. After years of senselessly risking life, his brother was alive, calm, and happy. He owed Creed D’Nally and all the Tragallions for the sense of purpose that took all that reckless energy and gave it a focus.
“Shit.”
Creed just smiled, which pissed Slade off more. Jane’s look said she was out of patience. The voice through the transceiver said they were out of time.
Wiping the blood from his already healing mouth, he jerked his head in the direction of the SUVs. “Time to go.”
Broderick took a position behind Jane. Creed took the position ahead. From the shadows came Broderick’s fellow rogues. Young men without pack who’d gone wild to fend for themselves. Young men who now wore the Tragallions’ fighting spirit with pride. Young men Slade was supposed to trust. Creed met his gaze, those distinctive D’Nally eyes narrowed in challenge.
“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt your little charge’s feelings.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Jane muttered. “Do you have to antagonize everyone?”
Slade didn’t break gazes with Creed. “It’s family talent.”
“Lovely.” Jane picked up her laptop case.
The corner of Creed’s mouth tipped up in a smile at Jane’s defiance. “Seems to me, Johnson, you’d be better focused on getting your woman to the safe house.”
Slade cast the former rogues a jaundiced eye, wondering if he’d ever been that young and that full of fire. He didn’t doubt they were trained well. Jace wouldn’t have sent them otherwise, but still ... they were damned young. Or maybe he was just getting damned old. He reached for Jane’s case. She shook her head.
“If we’re attacked, they’ll go for the case,” Creed pointed out.
“If they get the case through all of you, it doesn’t matter anyway.”
She had a point, but Slade wasn’t taking chances with her safety. “Give Creed the case, Jane.”
She clutched it tighter. “No.”
He didn’t have time to argue. It was getting close to dawn and his senses were starting to agitate in that way that said trouble was coming. “Take it.”
Creed snatched the case from her grasp. Slade caught Jane’s arm before she could go for the were. He palmed his gun, a combination weapon of silver bullets and lethal spectrum sunlight, as the rogues stepped forward. “What the hell is in there?”
Jane didn’t take her eyes from the case. “My life.”
He could feel her stress. He didn’t doubt she was telling the truth. The agitation in his senses increased. “Let’s go.”
As a unit they moved forward.
“And, Creed?” Slade called.
“What?”
“Don’t lose the case.”
THE safe house was giving Slade the creeps. Which was something for a vampire. There was nothing about it to signal trouble. It was a small nondescript cape set at the end of a long street populated with equally nondescript capes. To the rest of the world it was abandoned. A property trapped in probate. None of the fortifications made to the structure showed. The filtered glass in the windows. The high-tech cameras. The special energy mat that detected vampire presence. But it was all there. He’d designed it himself. The little house was the safest anyone could be outside the Renegade compound, but every time Slade looked at it, it looked ... wrong.
If they’d had any other choice, he would have pushed on, but he couldn’t take the coming sunlight and Jane flat refused to go without him, claiming no end of troublemaking if he tried to force it. And when he’d called her bluff, the rogues had stepped to her side. Clearly, their instructions were to protect her. He and Jace would have to talk about that when he got back home.
Through the window he could see Jane standing by the kitchen table, her laptop open before her. He couldn’t see the screen, but the energy coming off her was tense. In her right hand, she clutched the flash drive. She reached for the keyboard and then stopped, pulling her hand back and rubbing her fingers together. Whatever was on that screen tempted her. Greatly. Whatever was on it scared her. Whatever was on it needed to be revealed. It was a threat, and whether she thought it relevant or not, he needed to be aware of it.
I don’t want to be vampire.
Slade flinched at the unvarnished truth. He didn’t blame Jane. He hadn’t particularly wanted to be vampire himself, but after all was said and done, it hadn’t been bad for him. Vampirism had allowed him to live until a time when his way of thinking became appreciated. It had allowed him the time to experiment. To succeed. Once he’d gotten used to the oddities, vampirism had been a gift.
But Jane had been born in a time that embraced her mind and talents. She didn’t long for the future to come. She longed for the present. Buried the past. She didn’t want to live forever. Even for him.
The horizon lightened. Derek came up beside him, his blond hair shining white in Slade’s night vision. “It’s time to go in.”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t look too happy about it.”
Derek was as close to him as any brother. “Jane doesn’t want to be vampire.”
“Did you ask?”
“Indirectly.”
“Try directly.”
“Why?”
“Because forever is a hard concept for humans to wrap their brain around.”
“Not for Jane.”
Derek cut him a pitying glance. “Maybe not now, but it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.”
There was nothing Slade hated more than well-meant advice. He’d already weighed the pros and cons. “Has Mei changed hers?”
Slade regretted the jab as soon as it left his mouth.
“No.”
That one syllable summed up a world of hurt. Derek had ordered his mate converted to a vampire rather than lose her. She hated him for it, but he couldn’t walk away. Not only because she was his mate but also because his was the only blood she could take and survive. She should have been able to take Jace’s since he’d converted her, but once her conversion was complete, Jace’s blood had been as poisonous to her as anyone else’s, leaving Derek in an impossible position. Derek shifted his grip on the rifle.
“Maybe Jane can cure Mei.”
“Do you want her cured?”
Curing Mei would remove the only bond between the couple. They’d never had a relationship. Derek had found her as she was dying, cut down by a Sanctuary guard. Slade couldn’t imagine that. To wait hundreds of years for a mate only to find her as she was taking her last breaths. It’s a wonder the wolf was sane at all.
“I want her happy.”
“There’s no saying she can’t be happy with you.”
“I scare the shit out of her.”
“Not so much anymore. Heard she tried to shoot you last time you got to arguing.”
“She thought I was going to rape her.”
Slade cocked an eyebrow the werewolf. “What were you doing?”
“Wiping a smudge off her cheek.”
Shit. “Still, shooting is a step up from screaming.”
“True.” A ghost of a smile touched Derek’s lips. The first Slade had seen in a long time. “She’s beginning to find her feet.”
“Give it time, maybe she’ll find you, too.”
“Maybe.” He motioned to the house with the tip of the rifle. “You need to head in.”
Yeah. He did. He was as excited about that as Derek was about Mei’s screams.
I don’t want to be vampire.
He shrugged off the memory. Nodding to Derek, he headed for the house, stopping in a few feet and turning back as the hairs on the back of his neck rose in warning. “Watch yourself out here. I’ve got an uneasy feeling.”
“Will do.”
SLADE
opened the door quietly. Jane was waiting for him, her hand clenched at her side, the computer open before her. A strong intelligent woman battling with things above her head.
opened the door quietly. Jane was waiting for him, her hand clenched at her side, the computer open before her. A strong intelligent woman battling with things above her head.
“Come in.”
There was a touch of sarcasm in the invite. She still hadn’t forgiven him for his high-handedness earlier in regard to the case. Closing the door behind him, Slade stepped into the plain kitchen with its cheap maple-finished cabinets and white tiled countertops. He still didn’t have a good enough angle to see the computer screen, but he wanted to. Whatever was on that screen was something that scared her but not ... really. He couldn’t define the emotions that poured off her when she thought of whatever was on the computer. They were complex, old mixed with new. Anger mixed with purpose. With anyone else he would have been able to probe for the answers, but Jane was very good at hiding things from him. Too good. It was annoying. It forced him to deal with her in ways he’d thought he’d put behind him. It forced him to deal with her as if he was human.
“Didn’t you watch enough B-movies to know it’s dangerous to invite a vampire into your home?”
She didn’t smile. “I’m a slow learner.”
She punched a button on the keyboard. He heard the soft click that said the computer had gone to sleep.
“I doubt that.” He nodded toward the keyboard. “Keeping secrets?”
She didn’t deny it. “A girl needs her mystery.”
“A woman knows when to come clean.”
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