Slade Read online

  There was no missing the shock on Slade’s expression.

  “Oh my God, you believe this.”

  “I swear, you Johnsons are slow on the uptake,” Derek muttered.

  “And you would have known sooner?” Slade shot back.

  “Hell yes. A wolf would have known on first contact.”

  Yes, a wolf would have, Slade realized. Whereas he had had to have Jane’s mysterious importance to him put into perspective. Slade blinked. Then smiled. Jane was his mate. That explained everything. The sense of rightness when he focused on her, the perfection of her scent, the wildness that surged inside at the thought of anyone hurting her. The fact that he was willing to sacrifice his family for her in that wild impulse to let her go ... Hell, he should have known right then. Nothing came between a Johnson and family. Only a mate could do that. A mate was everything to a vampire. Because her life meant more to him than anything. Her life was his.

  “You’re looking a little shell-shocked, Slade. The scientist in you having a bit of trouble with reality?”

  “Shut up, Derek.”

  “I think you should all know,” Jane interrupted, “that I don’t like the turn of this ridiculous conversation.”

  He just bet. Against him, Jane still shook like a leaf. The kind of shaking that came from running too long on nerves and fear. From pushing oneself beyond the point of endurance. Exhaustion, adrenaline, and fear were taking their toll. He should have known she wouldn’t have left him. Jane wasn’t the type to cut and run. “Did you sit on top of that box all day, sweetness?”

  “I couldn’t let them get you.”

  “Let them?”

  “It was all my fault.”

  “What was?”

  “I found the transceiver. I didn’t think until afterward that just anybody could pick up the call.”

  “Only Caleb would pick up.”

  “Well, I didn’t know that, did I?” she snapped. “I don’t know anything about the technology, and then there was this horrible growl. And you said the werewolves were coming, and I realized I might have led them straight to you.”

  And she was shaking all over again, just thinking about it. Slade opened his hand over Jane’s back, feeling the fragility of muscles and bone. Finding the thread of her energy, he followed deeper, until he could slow the flow of adrenaline and regulate her metabolism, while his own mind raced, the ramifications of her confession weakening his knees. She’d thought she’d signed his death warrant, so she’d stayed to cancel it. Her delicate body pitted against vampire fangs and werewolf claws. They would have cut through her human flesh like a hot knife through butter.

  “You should have run right then.”

  “Right.” Her voice was tight with tension. “And leave you alone and helpless?”

  “Yes.”

  “No.” The syllable ended in a squeak.

  You’re hurting her, Slade, Caleb pointed out mentally.

  He looked down. His hands were digging into Jane’s sides. Shit. He never lost control. He eased his grip. To Jane he said, “Sorry.” To Caleb he snapped, “Who the hell growled at her?”

  Caleb’s features were very stark in the black and white of his night vision. Caleb shrugged. “Derek didn’t like what she had to say at the time.”

  Jane’s body jerked slightly. Slade knew that she strained to see through the dark. “The giant’s a werewolf?”

  “Yes.”

  Shit. “You could have given her time before revealing that.”

  “Maybe.” With a tip of his hat Jane couldn’t see, Derek smiled. “One of the good guys, ma’am.”

  “Oh.”

  Jane didn’t relax. Slade couldn’t blame her.

  “The bad guys are coming, though. We ran into a couple on the way over.”

  The last was phrased causally for Jane’s benefit. It didn’t stop her panic from flicking across Slade’s senses. He brushed his lips across the top of her head, inhaling her scent, letting the rightness settle into him anew. “It’s okay,” he whispered to her before asking Caleb. “I assume you’ve got that under control?”

  “Not much to control, but enough of an amusement that a couple of the D’Nally pups decided to indulge.”

  Derek touched his hand to the transceiver in his ear. “We need to go.”

  Trouble. The warning from Derek whispered in his head.

  Slade nodded, taking another breath, inhaling again the scent that was uniquely Jane’s, that slid so perfectly over his senses. Spring. Hope. Perfection. She was all those things. How had he not recognized earlier what she was to him? “Sweetness, I’m going to pick you up now, and I don’t want you fighting me.”

  She swatted at his hand with typical Jane exasperation. “Good grief, I don’t need to be carried.”

  Yes. She did. He was hiding her weariness from her through their mental connection, but her legs were just too weak to carry her at the speed they needed right now. Bending, he slipped his arm behind her thighs. “I know.”

  She stopped him with a hand under his chin. “Maybe you didn’t hear me correctly. I’m not going to be carried like a child. Especially in front of your brother and a werewolf.” The way she said “werewolf” held more than a hint of disgust.

  Derek snorted. “You been filling her head with tales, Johnson?”

  He’d implied they were dangerous predators and connected to Sanctuary. Deadly. Jane didn’t have the night vision to see any difference in Derek. In truth, Derek’s handsomeness equaled his lethal talents. But women didn’t see the latter. At least at first glance. “The truth was scary enough.”

  “Shine that flashlight over here, cutie,” Derek ordered.

  “I think I know all I need to know about your kind.”

  “I assure you, ma’am, women swoon when they see me.”

  Slade shot Derek a glare. “And he insists it’s not from fear.”

  “Though we’re abstaining from comment,” Caleb added. “Don’t want to bruise his fragile ego.”

  Jane being Jane had to see for herself. She flashed the light in Derek’s direction. Of course, the damn bastard was smiling his prettiest.

  Jane gasped. “He’s handsome.”

  Slade snatched the flashlight from her hand. “The hell he is!”

  Derek laughed. “The McClarens are a very handsome pack.” With a jerk of his chin he motioned to Slade and said, “And for sure, before you commit yourself to that one there, you might want to check us out.”

  To Jane’s credit, all she did was blink.

  “She’s not checking you out in any manner,” Slade shot back.

  “That’s true,” Jane snapped. “And the only thing I’m committing to is quitting my job.”

  “And we’re more than willing to help you with that,” Caleb interjected, “but we need to leave. Now.”

  Slade looked over at Caleb. “How close?”

  “Tobias said the sentinels are down, but they got a message off. They’ll be behind us soon.”

  “Then we’ve got to move.”

  He tipped Jane’s face up. “Where’d you put my transceiver?”

  While Jane couldn’t see him, he could clearly see the nervous dart of her eyes to the right. Amidst the dirt and rock and bits of straw there were pieces of plastic.

  “You smashed it?”

  “I didn’t know if it had a tracking device.”

  It had. His brother just hadn’t needed it to find him. Their mental connection assured, with a little hunting, they could find each other. It was going to take weeks to build a new one. The hardest part would be getting the parts. Sanctuary had started tracking electronic parts orders to track him.

  “Shit.”

  Jane took the flashlight from his hand. “You can build a new one.”

  Turning the flashlight on Caleb’s face, she gasped. “He does look like you.”

  “Just more handsome,” Caleb tacked on.

  Jane tipped her head to the side to assess the claim. “Your features are more e
ven, but they’re not as compelling.”

  This time it was Caleb’s turn to blink. Then he laughed and grabbed up his pack. “Don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone put it quite like that before.”

  “No doubt.” She pushed away from Slade, her fingertips pressing into his chest, heat from her touch sinking deliciously into his skin even after the contact broke. “I’m not going with you.”

  “The hell you’re not.”

  Reaching over, she grabbed her bag off the ground. “You risked your life for me, I saved yours.” She took a step back toward the door. “We’re even.”

  There wasn’t a prayer in hell she was wandering off by herself. “Technically you didn’t save mine, because I wasn’t in any danger.”

  “I called your brother. If I hadn’t called your brother, the sentinels would have gotten here and you would have been dead.”

  “She’s got you there,” Derek pointed out.

  If he didn’t take charge, the woman was going to fall flat on her face. “Shut up, Derek.”

  “Just agreeing with the lady.”

  Slade slipped his arm back around Jane. On her other side, Caleb took her hand, steadying her as she weaved.

  “Sorry. I got dizzy there for a second.”

  A quick mental check revealed she was hypoglycemic.

  “Did you bring food?” Slade asked Caleb.

  “Allie sent a snack. I tossed it in your SUV”

  “Good.” Slade took a step forward. Immediately, Jane stepped away. Just as quickly, he scooped her up into his arms, holding her despite her squeal. Or maybe because of her squeal. There was something infinitely appealing about pulling decidedly feminine sounds from the ever-practical Jane. Her arms came around his neck, and then, as if she realized what she’d done, dropped to her chest. “Put me down.”

  “In a minute.”

  “I can walk.”

  “I can carry you faster.”

  Her nails dug into his chest in warning. “I’m not going with you.”

  He smiled down into the face of her determination and shook his head. She had a lot to learn about him. First off, that he took care of what was his. “I wasn’t aware I was giving you a choice.”

  6

  “You knocked her out?”

  Sitting in the backseat with Jane in his arms, Slade met Caleb’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “Yeah.”

  “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.

  “Slade?” Caleb asked again.

  Shit. 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.”

  “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 w
hen 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.”