Jace (5 page)

“What?”

“Your instant obedience to Derek.”

She frowned. “He’s Alpha.”

“And I’m your mate.”

She yanked her arm free. “He’s earned my respect.”

“Let her go, Jace.”

Jace had no intention of doing anything of the kind. “Stay out of it, Derek.”

“As an unmated were, Miri’s my responsibility.”

“We’re mated.”

“The union wasn’t sanctioned. It’s not recognized.”

Miri jerked her hand free and headed to Derek’s side. “We don’t have time to waste arguing this.”

She knelt by the woman Derek held and took her head into her lap. Derek touched the unconscious woman’s cheek, brushing the dirt from the edges of her eyelashes before standing and coming over to grab the rock Jace handed him. He couldn’t keep his eyes off the woman. “If you’re so gone over her now, what in hell you going to do when she wakes up?” Jace asked as the were went to work beside him.

“Bear it.”

Jace yanked a hunk of rock free. “You could just marry her.”

“Were law is very specific on that. Mating is a woman’s choice.”

“And I’m willing to bet were males have been getting around the specifics of that law since the day after it was made.”

“Maybe.”

Jace sighed. “But not you?”

“No.” He tossed a rock back. “She’s been tricked enough.”

Jace threw the rock behind him. It bounced off the floor before rolling up against the wall. “One of these days you’re going to realize pack law is made to be broken.”

Derek looked over at the woman, regret in his eyes. “Maybe.” He turned back, his expression as barren as the cavern behind them. Derek was pack to his bones. What part of his soul that wasn’t claimed by his mate was owned by his pack. Breaking pack law would break him. Surrendering his mate would kill him. Nothing of the bleakness of his choice was reflected in Derek’s tone as he motioned toward the night beyond the opening.

“The hole’s big enough. Let’s go.”

T
HEY
were running out of time. Jace grabbed Miri’s shoulders and pulled her, and the unconscious woman tied to her back, out of the hole. Using Miri as a makeshift sled for Kim had seemed the safest way. He steadied Kim, catching her when she slid to the side as Miri stood. Kim was incredibly light and tiny. It didn’t take any effort at all to hold her. With an explosion of energy, Derek surged out of the hole, not even pausing to brush the dust from his clothes before taking Kim from Jace.

The werewolf studied her with an intensity that was unnerving as he shifted her in his arms. Kim’s head lolled over the crook of his elbow, her long black hair falling straight toward the ground. Derek looked at him. “How much time do I have?”

Jace didn’t really know. He and his brothers weren’t in the habit of converting humans. “Judging by what happened to Allie, about three hours.”

“Shit.” Derek swore, glancing at the sky. There were only about two hours until dawn. “Can she stand the sun before she’s converted?”

Jace caught Miri’s hand, keeping her at his side. “I don’t know, but Allie couldn’t stand any light on her eyes.”

Derek took a breath, stroked the woman’s cheek with that foreign tenderness. “Then I’ll have to make do.”

“You’re a good four hours from the D’Nally compound.”

“I know.”

“You could hole up until tonight.”

Derek was shaking his head. “No. I want her safe.”

Jace pulled Miri closer, squeezing her fingers when she tugged at her hand.

“I can’t go with you,” Miri said to Derek.

Derek’s slate gray eyes fastened on Miri. “No. You can’t.”

The little bit of hope Jace clung to that the wolves would accept their union died.

Derek lifted his head. Jace didn’t need to hear his “Company coming” to know the Sanctuary thugs were closing in. He could feel them like an itch under his skin.

“Good luck.”

“I’ll catch up to you later.”

“I’ll be watching for you.”

Derek took off across the barren clearing, reaching the scraggly pines in a blink of an eye before disappearing into the shadows of the rocks rimming the base of the bluff.

“Do you think he’ll make it?” Miri asked.

Jace glanced down at her face. The scars down both her cheeks glowed brilliantly white in his night vision. He reached up and touched them. “If not, he’ll die trying.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not so pretty anymore, am I?”

The scars were perfectly smooth, perfectly symmetrical. They had to have been done on purpose, and, to become permanent, they had to have been inflicted when she was near death. It took one hell of a lot to put a were near death and then keep him or her there long enough to scar. “You’re beautiful.”

The enemy was getting closer. So was the dawn. He hooked his arm around her waist and lifted her up.

Miri wrapped her arms around his neck. “You lie.”

He levitated them across the packed snow and frozen ground. “No, I don’t.”

“You lied in the cave.”

“When?”

“When you promised I’d be all right.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Aren’t you?”

“But you couldn’t know I would be.”

“But you are, so I didn’t, and your argument is empty.”

“Hrrmph!”

It wasn’t as easy as it should have been carrying her. He’d given her too much blood, weakening himself. She frowned up at him. “I can walk.”

“You’d leave footprints.”

“You could erase them.”

“That would leave an energy trail.”

Her claws dug into his nape. “You could leave me.”

He ducked under a branch. “Never again.”

A disturbance in the energy to the left raised the hairs on the back of his neck. Miri opened her mouth. He put his hand over it. Something was wrong. She didn’t move, just froze, absolute and complete terror staining her scent, startling him. He smoothed his thumb over her cheek. His lips over her brow, wrapping a thread of energy around hers. As much as he dared.

You’re safe.

She didn’t relax, and he guessed he couldn’t blame her. They were out in the open, and she had only him to rely on. Their brief time together hadn’t allowed him an opportunity to play knight to her damsel in distress.

Stay quiet
.

Her eyes widened. The nod of her head was almost imperceptible.

Jace crept forward. Ahead of them, at the opposite edge of the field, four Sanctuary vamps searched. He leaned back against the tree, blending his energy into it, covering Miri’s with an additional layer. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the scent of fresh blood clinging to her.

If the wind shifts, I want you to run that way.
He gave her a mental push to the northwest.
Hide with Derek and the D’Nallys.

It won’t be safe.

Those were mean-looking vamps. His energy was depleted. He could take them out, give Miri time, but he wasn’t sure he’d survive it.
It will by then.

Miri’s instinctive
No
screamed through his mind. He cut it off.
Yes. With me dead the weres will let you live. Derek will take you to the Circle J. My brothers will get our daughter.

Again that shake of her head.

I thought you wanted me dead.

The patrol was moving on.

Yes, but I wanted to be the one to kill you.

His eyebrow raised.
I’ll keep that in mind.

The vampires passed the point where Derek had moved off. They hesitated. One man separated from the patrol, disappearing into the shadows. Miri watched. Jace felt her fear.

Derek can handle him.

She didn’t look convinced.

Jace was more worried about the three men who still hunted the edge of the clearing. They weren’t bothering to hide their energy. It came off them in powerful waves, a statement in itself. The vampire inside him rose to the challenge, wanting to take them on; the human side considered caution; the mate side of him cared about only two things: keeping Miri safe and finding their daughter. An image teased his mind, coming from Miri to him. He closed it off before it could coalesce, the ache in his chest expanding. He didn’t want to know what his little girl looked like. Not yet. Not until he found her. Right now, Miri’s pain was all he could handle.

The attempt at connection fizzled out. Behind it rose Miri’s pain at the rejection. Goddamn, he was a coward, but he’d just found out that Miri was alive and he had a daughter. He wanted his first knowledge of his little girl to be a good one, not a panicked sharing that only conjured dread.

The patrol moved on. Lifting Miri, shadowing to the right, moving from energy field to energy field, Jace circled behind the patrol, scanning for others, wishing they had Raisa with them. She could sense any energy, even that blocked by the Sanctuary shield.

Against his side, Miri stiffened. This echo of thought was too hard and fast to block. Sharing minds was going to take some getting used to.

Raisa?

He shook his head, unwilling to be distracted by an explanation. His transceiver was blank, no static, nothing; the way it had been since the walls had come down. He didn’t know if it was being monitored or being blocked, but he couldn’t chance using it. Couldn’t check to see if Derek was okay. Couldn’t call his brothers. Couldn’t rely on them to back him up. At least not today. And today was what he had to focus on. Today they needed to get clear of Sanctuary patrols and find shelter. At the south point of the clearing there was a separation in the rock. Barely narrow enough for a man to get through. He probed. There was an opening on the other side. He would have to put Miri down. That would leave her scent behind. She shivered. The odor of fresh blood tickled his nose. He checked her neck. It wasn’t coming from there. He glanced down. Bright red smeared her thighs.

“Miri? Sweet?” he whispered against her ear.

The glance she cast him was anguished. She shook her head and clamped her legs together. He knew it wasn’t that time of the month. Menstrual blood had its own unique scent; this was different. This spoke of injury, but also something else. The vamps were getting closer, the anguish in her eyes stronger. He didn’t have time to question her now. And her condition didn’t leave him any choice.

He levitated her through the opening, sweat breaking out on his brow with the effort. He needed to feed, needed strength. As soon as he had her through the crevice to the cavern beyond he set her down, sliding in after her.

What had felt like a clearing was actually a wide opening in the cavern. The opening high in the rock wall above gave it a sense of space. There was no back exit. They were trapped.

“Shit.”

It would have felt a lot better if he could have shouted it rather than breathed it.

“Jace?”

Miri swayed. He set her down, his hand over her stomach. “Why are you bleeding?”

Again that anguished look. This time backed by fear.

He sent his energy within, and while he struggled to come up with the answer to his second question he had the answer to the first.
Miscarriage.

“You were pregnant?”

She swallowed. Her expression went completely blank, but the razor-sharp edge of her fear sliced over his nerve endings. And then he had the answer to his first question. Were males were very territorial. There were some instances that triggered their primitive instincts and they could go into a killing rage. Circumstances like evidence their mate had slept with another. Cupping Miri’s chin in his hand, Jace lifted her face. “I asked you a question.”

She licked her lips and seemed to stop breathing altogether. Her hand slipped behind her back.

“Have you gone all quiet because you think hearing you were pregnant by someone other than me is going to upset my delicate sensibilities?”

She blinked, narrowed her gaze, and then nodded. He eased her up, reaching over and removing the rock from her grip. “I’m not pack, Miri.” He set it aside. “I don’t go loco just because I’m pissed.”

“What do you do?”

Lingering damage in her throat hoarsened the whispered query. He stroked his thumb across her voice box. “I get furious and scared.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Why scared?”

He pressed against her abdomen. “I want the bleeding stopped.”

“It’s not like I can make it stop.”

“But I can.” It would cost him more energy than was safe, but he hadn’t found her just to let her bleed to death. He pressed with his fingers, struggling to find the path to the wound, reaching inside, locating it through the heat. He found the tear inside and frowned. It had a familiar feel. Like a wound from a knife or a gouge from…

This time he bit off a swear word. Abortion. Her baby had been aborted.

He pulled her against him, pressing his lips to her hair. “Ah, Miri, I’m sorry. So very sorry.”

Her tears wet his shirt as he healed the wound. Her fingers dug into his forearm. “It wasn’t yours.”

He drew back to see her expression. And wished he hadn’t. Pain, brilliant and cutting, glimmered among the shattered edges of her control.

“I know. I can do the math.” A fresh tear hovered on her lash. He watched it swell, then caught it before it could fall on his thumb, rubbing it between his fingers until it was gone. If only he could remove the memories of the last year so easily. “But it was yours, and I’m sorry.”

She blinked uncomprehendingly, as if he spoke a foreign language. Her mouth opened, closed. On the next attempt she found her voice. “You left me, our daughter. You left me and they—” She bit off whatever she was going to say. Her arms wrapped around her torso. She finished the brief outburst with the same abruptness with which she’d begun. “You left.”

The biggest crime a were could commit against a mate. “Listen to me, Miri.”

The order fell on deaf ears. She struggled out of his arms. “I can’t.”

Jace grabbed her hand, tugging her back. “You have to.”

Her chin came up and the gold in her eyes grew more pronounced, seeming to light them from within. “No, I don’t. Not now. Not ever.”

She had another think coming if she thought he was going to leave that subject standing between them forever. He could, however, drop it for now. “Fine, but there is something we do need to talk about.”

She seemed to almost pull within herself, her eyes becoming as blank as her expression. If the moisture of her tear hadn’t lingered on his fingers, he might have been fooled into thinking she was calm. She was a very strong woman, but beneath her outer mask, he could sense her control splintering, piece by piece, layer by layer. He didn’t wanted to see her shatter, but he had to know. “Do you know where our child is?”

Her lids lowered. Her lips firmed. And she didn’t answer. He cupped her cheek in his hand, running his thumb along her lower lip, pulling it away from the edge of her teeth. “I can take the information from your mind.”

That chin came up another notch. The golden-brown eyes flared with wolf rage. “So why don’t you?”

Because it would hurt her. “I will if you force me to.”

She shrugged as if she didn’t care. “It won’t be the first time I’ve been forced.”

More blame at his feet. “You have to trust someone, Miri, and right now, I’m all you’ve got.”

YES,
he was. Miri stared up at Jace. Hating him for looking so much like she remembered—so strong, so in control, so damn unchanged—as if the last year that had done so much to her had passed him by. Reinforcing her growing conviction that she’d done this to herself—to her daughter—by mating outside pack approval, and now she had only him to trust to make it right. “I should never have trusted you.”

He didn’t flinch or give any sign that her words hurt. “But you did. You did even more than that. You chose me for your mate.”

She felt her eyelashes flicker. “Mating is not a choice.”

“And neither is accepting my help now.”

She pushed his hand away from her stomach. God, she wished she could say she didn’t need him. Her daughter’s face flashed before her, tiny little features, all red from the stress of childbirth. She’d only seen her for a brief few minutes. Long enough to know she had black hair like hers, the changeable between gray and blue hazel eyes like her father’s, and the sweetest little expression. She’d only had that brief time before sending her off with strangers, out in the human world, hoping she could hide in plain sight. Hoping her ancestry wouldn’t show before she could get help for her. “There’s nothing saying I have to like it.”