Jace by Sarah McCarty Read Free Book Online Page B

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