Jace by Sarah McCarty Read Free Book Online Page A

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