Jared (33 page)

“Anytime.” Slade got to his feet, all six foot one of
him radiating barely contained rage.

Jared melded his energy to Raisa’s, calming the
lingering panic, shielding her from the pain in her head. He brushed a kiss across
her cheek, savoring the softness of her skin, her scent.

Wake up, sunbeam.

Slade looked past his shoulder to the people
approaching. Four steps and he was between Jared and the group, the curl of his
fist, the flash of his talons reminding Jared that while his brother might be
slow to rile, when he got pissed off, he was the most deadly of them all, as
likely to face off against a tribe of irate Sioux as he was against a cheating
gambler. And when Slade got pissed, it was never a matter of odds, but of right
or wrong. And mistreating a woman was always wrong in his book. “Since when do
Johnsons condone terrorizing women?” he asked Caleb.

Caleb’s energy was as grim as his expression. He stood
there under his brothers’ censure, pinching his nostrils to stop the flow of
blood and drawled evenly and carefully, “Since a Sanctuary bitch got her claws
into our brother.”

“THE need to call names is a sign of a small mind,”
Raisa rasped, Ther hand coming to her head. Jared caught it in his, bringing it
down to her chest.

“I’m going to have to agree with that,” Allie puffed.

“I told you to stay away,” Caleb growled at his wife.

Allie, with her usual disregard for orders she didn’t
like, waved Caleb’s logic away. Instead, she waddled up to him and lifted his
hand from his face. She cut a glare at Jared after looking at the wound. “Lucky
for you, it’ll heal straight.” She then cuffed Caleb on the side of his head.
“And what do you mean by calling my new sister-in-law names?”

“I have it on good authority that she’s Sanctuary.”

“I distinctly heard Jared say she was his wife. That
makes her your sister-in-law, and it’s bad karma to call your new sister
names.”

“Allie.” Caleb’s frustration was about to boil over.

“Don’t you ‘Allie’ me.” She pressed her hand to her
side. “I’m sick of how this war has changed everything, warped everything. No
one knows who to trust, everything is suspicious to the point when your brother
brings his wife home”—she eyed him meaningfully as she stressed the word
“wife”“—World War III erupts.” She stomped her foot and promptly burst into
tears. “I’m not having it anymore, Caleb. Do you hear me?” She wiped at her
cheeks. “I’m not.”

If Jared hadn’t been so torn between keeping Raisa in
his arms and killing every male around him, he’d have laughed at his brother’s
expression. Allie was Caleb’s one weakness and her uncharacteristic tendency to
burst into tears had had him in a tailspin since about her fourth month of
pregnancy.

“This is Renegade business, Allie.”

She shook her head, her deep brown hair swinging about
her face. She wasn’t a classically beautiful woman, but she was always an
animated one. “This is family business. My family, so I’m not running along
back into the house so you can just get the idea right out of your head.”

“In about a minute I’m going to take the choice out of
your hands,” Caleb growled deep in his throat.

“Is this where I’m supposed to go all weak-kneed and
obedient, because if it is, you ought to know I plan on missing my cue.”

Raisa’s hand touched Jared. He looked down. “I like
your sister-in-law.”

“You copy her, and I’m paddling your butt.”

“Don’t believe him, Raisa,” Allie called over. “Caleb
pulls out the same threat every time he doesn’t get his way.”

Jared glanced over at Allie, just beginning to
appreciate how Allie’s free thinking could mesh up unfavorably with the
stubborn softness Rai often displayed. “The difference would be that I mean
it.”

To his surprise, it was Caleb who snorted. “You just
go see how far meaning it gets you.”

“I can handle my wife.”

“Now those are famous last words,” Slade put in, his
face resuming its normal form. The familiar banter eased over the tension. It
was common knowledge that Caleb adored his wife and would cut off his arm
before he let anything hurt her. He went to ridiculous lengths to make sure she
smiled. Jared brushed his lips over Raisa’s hair, breathing in her scent. She
placed her fingers over the cut on his knuckle. It immediately felt better.

Caleb rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Do
you swear she can be trusted, Jared?”

It was just like Caleb to put him on the spot. Jared
touched Raisa’s hair where it rested against the black of her shirt. If he said
no, Caleb would lock her up. If he said yes, he would be swearing she was no
threat, and he couldn’t say that. Not with the chip in her skull. Raisa’s hand
fell from his cheek. The cut immediately started stinging.

“It’s a pretty straightforward question, Jared.”

Yes, it was, but he couldn’t bring himself to betray
either side.

Raisa blinked and then sat up, moving away from him on
the frozen ground. He helped her to her feet. The downed weres sat up, watching
her. She shifted away. Jared went with her, curling his lips back from his
teeth as the men stood up. Slade fell into step beside him.

Shit, now they were brother against brother.

No.

Raisa’s denial slipped into his mind. Sad. Resolute.

Raisa pushed her hair off her face and wiped the
leaves off her sleeve.

“Raisa.”

She ignored his warning. “The person to answer that
question should be me.”

Caleb’s eyebrows went up as he glanced at Jared. “I
can see you’ve got her right under your thumb.”

“Shut up, Caleb.”

Caleb motioned to Raisa. “Be glad to just as soon as I
hear what the little woman has to say.”

Allie groaned at the little woman comment and rolled
her eyes. “Way to win friends and influence people. That is so not politically
correct.” She turned to Raisa. “I swear I’ve been working hard to bring him
into this century.”

Raisa folded her arms across her chest. Then, when one
of the weres collapsed after trying to get up, took a step forward,
instinctively reaching out. Her fingers brushed his shirt. There was no missing
the motive behind the movement. The man needed help. Raisa tried to provide it.
Again, not exactly the behavior of a cold-blooded spy.

“Son of a gun, Slade, for a mild-mannered scientist
you sure have a mean fighting style,” the were said, getting up. He nodded to
Raisa, keeping a safe distance.

“You should have listened when I told you to back
off,” Slade cut in.

The were wiped the blood from his hand. “Hell, Caleb
sent us after her.”

“Caleb was wrong.”

“That hasn’t been determined yet,” Caleb interrupted.

Derek took the necessary steps to Raisa’s side. He
cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her head, studying the bruise forming on
her temple. He looked at his men. “You caused this?”

Ty and Logan, the two weres who had been chasing
Raisa, fell in beside him, checking out the injury for themselves, regret
putting the frown on their faces. “We didn’t realize she thought we were going
to hurt her until she panicked at the end.”

Derek nodded, accepting the explanation. He touched
the bruise with his thumb. “The McClarens apologize for the offense and offer
you protection.”

An offer of protection from the wolves was all
inclusive and to the death, against all comers. It effectively tied Caleb’s
hands. Ty and Logan took a position slightly in front of Raisa, their position
clearly backing the decree. Caleb’s curse was as vicious as Allie’s pat on his
arm was soft. “Sometimes, sweetheart, you have to go with your instincts.”

“This isn’t a democracy.”

Slade grinned. “It doesn’t seem to be much of a
dictatorship, either.”

Jared felt sorry for his brother. Caleb had never
wanted to be part of any of this, but when the Sanctuary had gone after his
wife, he did what any Johnson would have done. He had taken on the threat.
Unfortunately, there was no getting away clean when the conflict was a civil
war. And Caleb’s natural tendency to bossiness had landed him as one of the
leaders. Normally, it would be a source of amusement, but with Raisa’s future
on the line, Jared didn’t appreciate the decision on the table.

“Well, Jared?” Caleb asked, “Can she be trusted?”

Before he could answer, Raisa pushed past the men.
“No, I can’t.”

Caleb took more of Allie’s weight as she shifted
uncomfortably. “Why not?”

Rai folded her arms across her chest. “You have the
reports that tell you why.”

“Actually,” he watched her, his green eyes alert, his
energy probing. “I don’t think I do.”

Allie rolled her eyes. “At last he sees the light.”

Jared reached for Raisa. She slapped at his hands
before lifting that chin and squared those shoulders. “You can’t protect me
from this, Jared.”

“The hell I can’t.”

Caleb’s big hand came over Allie’s bigger stomach,
sheltering their future as he said, “You’d be surprised by what a Johnson can
do when he puts his mind to it.”

“What’s more, you shouldn’t protect me.” Raisa’s gaze
dropped to Allie’s belly. Her lip came between her teeth. She backed up,
cutting him an accusing glare. “You had no right to bring me here. None.”

“This is my home.”

“It’s more than that. It’s everything they want.”

“ ‘They’ being the Sanctuary?” Caleb asked.

Raisa backed up another step. “Yes.”

For all that he looked relaxed, Jared knew Caleb was
studying her the same way Slade was, and he was missing nothing. There was an
explosion building inside of Raisa. An impatience and frustration that bubbled
and welled. “You’re not Sanctuary, are you, Raisa?”

“I’m worse.” She glanced at Allie. “I’m so sorry.”

Jared grabbed her and pulled her close, aware of all
the eyes upon them, the speculation. “Enough, baby.”

She pressed her face into his chest, her nails digging
through his shirt. “But it’s a secret. A big secret, and now that I know it,
it’s only a matter of time before they do.”

Jared cupped her head in his hands. His thumb settling
on the spot of the implant. “That’s not a given.”

“It’s more likely true than not. You know that. You
have to lock me up, drug me, so when they call, I can’t answer.”

And watch as they blew her up? “Not a chance in hell.”

He felt a weight on his shoulder. Caleb’s hand. His
brother squeezed once. “What’s going on, Jared?”

“The Sanctuary put an implant in her head.” He kept
Rai’s face pressed to his chest and met Caleb’s gaze. “If she doesn’t feed them
information they find satisfactory, fast enough, they hurt her. If she doesn’t
respond or give them what they want, they’ll detonate it.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“That was my reaction.”

Raisa stiffened in his arms. He stroked her back. She
didn’t have to worry. He could, and would, protect her.

Allie came closer, touching Raisa’s back. “I think we
need to bring back that whole string-them-up thing that was so popular in your
day, Caleb.”

“It does have its upside.” There was a pause during
which Caleb looked down on Raisa. His hand moved as if to touch her, then it
dropped back. “She’s right, Jared, she can’t be trusted.”

“I said, she can.”

Another long silence, and then Derek inserted quietly.
“Not at first.”

Raisa just stood in Jared’s arms, neither condemning
nor rejecting him, just accepting his lack of faith as if it was expected. Just
one more person owing her loyalty but selling her out.

“You didn’t because you know she’s right, and we’re
right.”

“And this secret is too big to risk,” Derek added.

“No.” Jared’s fangs surged as Derek moved forward.
Being were, Derek would put the life of Allie’s child over all else. “Back
off.”

“You said yourself, I can’t be trusted,” she reminded
him over her shoulder as she strained to get away.

“I didn’t say a damn thing.”

“You didn’t have to.”

His silence had said it all. Raisa tried not to focus
on that. Tried to stay on the logical reasons. She had a stupid bomb in her
head, but it didn’t keep her from wishing, deep down inside, that just once in
her whole life, someone would put her first. Would she ever grow up?

“If you all are done with the drama, I’d like to make
a suggestion.”

Everyone turned to face Slade. Mud spattered and
wearing a lab coat that should have made him look innocuous, he was in some
ways the scariest of the brothers because of the energy that poured off him.
Relentless. He was relentless.

“What do you propose?”

Slade shrugged. “I was thinking we’d just take it out.
No bomb, no kaboom.”

Watching Slade approach was like watching a cougar
stalk his prey. He did it with the same intensity, the same unblinking intent.