Jared (46 page)

With the Sanctuary feed under control, she could
refocus on the patrol’s energy. It was moving away and slightly perpendicular
to their current course. They were moving on.

Raisa touched Jared’s arm. At the movement several of
the party glanced at her expectantly, waiting on her decree. It was both heady
and scary knowing they trusted her with their safety. She made a cutting motion
across her neck. Jared nodded and spoke into his com. “The path is clear
again.”

Another trickle of energy came at her. One she had no
trouble recognizing. She quickly closed off her mind to Jared’s a split second
before the pain lanced into her skull. She covered her gasp by pretending to
smother a cough. The men fell back into formation, impatience radiating off
them as she took an extra few seconds working up the ability to stand. Derek
held out his hand. She placed hers in it. There was no way he could miss the
trembling in her fingers. His blue eyes studied her face. She forced a smile,
knowing he saw the trembling in the corners. “I’m a little out of shape.”

“We’ve only got an hour more.” He glanced over at
Jared, who was talking to Jace. “Do you need help, or can you make it?”

She quickly got to her feet. “I can make it.”

“I’ll just tell Jared.”

She caught his arm. “Don’t.”

If Jared touched her, she wouldn’t be able to hide
anything from him.

“He should know.”

“He’ll know soon enough.”

But hopefully not any sooner than he needed to.

Derek stared at her for the few seconds it took Jared
to come up to them.

“Ready to head out?” Jared asked.

Raisa held Derek’s gaze, begging him silently. The nod
of his head was almost imperceptible.

She gave Jared a bright smile through the building
pain consuming her. “Yes.”

From the glances the other men threw at her, she might
have just overdone the enthusiasm. From the way they all watched her as they
resumed that mile-eating pace, she was sure of it.

Thirty minutes later, four more patrols successfully
evaded and one more ahead, her lungs burning, her legs aching, every step
bringing a tear to her eye, Raisa ran out of time. The Sanctuary allowed her
the luxury of knowing it was coming, letting her feel the buildup of power the
way one felt the draw of a wave before it came crashing down. She stumbled on
the anticipation of the agony a split second before it arrived, grabbing for
Jared. She saw his brows snap down in a frown, heard his curse, and then a bolt
of agony struck through the base of her skull, wedging down through the hollow
of her spinal column, shattering outward in knife-edge arcs of pain, so much
worse than before.

Jared’s arm came around her. “Raisa!”

She felt his call against her ear, heard it battering
the shields she’d put around her mind. She couldn’t answer, paralyzed by the
unending torment that ripped across her nerve endings. A blur of black closed
around her. A band of steel compressed her ribs. The world tilted. She buried
her scream against Jared’s side, digging her talons into his flesh. Hands
fastened around her wrists and pulled them away.

“The scent of blood will draw the Sanctuary patrols,”
Jace said, his harsh drawl only audible because of the headset. He was right.
She had to retract her talons. She couldn’t. The pain was too intense, her
survival instinct driving the need for defense.

“Hold on, sunbeam.” Jared’s deep voice slid like a
balm over her distress, soothing the rougher edges. “Just five minutes.”

She wasn’t going to survive five minutes of this. She
grabbed his side and held on. Cutting her talons through his coat and shirt
rather than his skin as he carried her along. It was the best she could do.

“The patrol,” she managed to gasp.

“Fuck the patrol.” That was Jace.

“So close.” They were so close to rescuing Miri. They
couldn’t be detected now, not because of her. Jared’s muscles gathered. His
energy flared outward. Trees passed in a blur as he put on more speed.

She crawled up against his body, driven to move by the
agony and the battle not to call out. She could feel the sweat dripping down
her face. “Blood.”

Her blood. They’d scent her blood.

“Don’t worry about it.”

She wiped her face on her shirt, trying to keep the
drops from hitting the snow and leaving a trail.

“How bad is she?” Derek asked.

“Very bad.”

“Shit. I knew it.”

Jared’s energy honed to a razor point. “Knew what?”

“Knew she wasn’t right back at the last stop.”

Jared’s “And you didn’t tell me?” coincided with
Jace’s “This has been going on for almost an hour?”

“She said she was just tired.”

Jared gritted his teeth at that revelation as Raisa’s
hands crept higher over his shoulder. She wouldn’t want to do anything to risk
Miri’s rescue. She had a thing, as Allie would put it, about not disappointing
people. Dammit, he should have seen the signs.

He cupped her head in his hand, supporting her as she
weakened.

“Give them something.” He backed the order with every
bit of compulsion he could manage. He ran into the brisk wall of her will. She
shook her head and immediately moaned. Her body went rigid. Shit. She wasn’t
going to do it, and she was stubborn enough to make sure she didn’t.

Jace.

What?

She’s not going to make it.

Shit. There was a pause in which Jared could feel
Jace’s mind working and reworking the plan.

If we split, and if she can hold on ten more minutes,
we’ve still got a chance. Can she hold on?

No.

Weak and fragile, Raisa’s I can make ten more minutes
overrode his denial. Jace’s response was immediate as he signaled the men to
split, racing off with everyone except Derek and Slade. Your call, Jared.

Raisa’s We have to try ripped at his guilt, his
conviction. If it were him, he’d say go for it, but it wasn’t him, it was
Raisa, and nothing was more important than her. He looked down. She was
bleeding from her pores, her eyes, ears, and nose. She wasn’t going to make ten
more seconds, let alone ten minutes, and yet, her determination reached out,
surrounding him. No, she can’t.

Won’t fail you. The thought immediately thrust into
his mind, a cry from her heart.

Dammit! Was that what this was about? She thought she
had to prove herself to him?

Jared enfolded Raisa in his energy, struggling to keep
his rage at bay long enough to give back some of the soothing peace she always
gave him so freely.

“Give them something.” The order quietly slipped into
his head, no accusation in Jace’s voice, just acceptance.

Raisa’s protest was immediate. No. Pinpoint us.

There was a hard break in Jace’s connection, a moment
of despair and loss, and then he was back in control of himself. Do it, Raisa.

Inside Jared, the denial welled. Jace deserved his
happiness.

Jace didn’t allow it to grow to expression. Your mate
is here.

And his might already be dead.

Jace was farther away now. Do what you have to, to
save Raisa. If I can get Miri out, I will.

And if you can’t?

I’ll die trying.

It had always been the Johnson brothers together
against the world. Fuck that. I’m not going into eternity short a brother.

You have your wife.

He was the selfish type. He wanted it all.

Sometimes you just have to take what you get, Jace
answered before severing the connection, leaving Jared with nothing to hold on
to except the woman in his arms.

To the right, a darker shadow flashed among the rocks.
A cave?

“Slade?” Jared murmured into the com so Derek could
understand.

“I see it. Let’s hope it’s big enough.”

Derek glanced at Raisa, his mouth set in a grim line.
“It’ll be big enough even I have to make it so.”

Jared nodded. They were out of time and options.

The cave was small, barely big enough to shelter them
from the sun. Derek took up guard at the entrance. Raisa moaned, barely
conscious.

Jared glanced at Slade. “Can you get the device out of
her head?”

“Yes, but she might go into shock.”

“It can’t be worse than what she’s going through now.”

Slade sighed, his gaze sympathetic. “Yeah, this would
be hard to top.” He opened a surgical pack and laid it on the floor. “Hold her
tightly.” From his backpack, he took out the energy-blocking device he’d
created and set it beside her. “If she moves at the wrong time, we could all
get blown up.”

Slade set up the equipment with quick, efficient
motions. It wasn’t fast enough. “Hurry up.”

Slade glanced at Raisa. His mouth set in a grim line.
“Will do.”

Jared cupped Raisa’s head in his hand, slipping easily
past the few guards she could maintain, tracing the pain back to its source,
finding the frequency of the transmitter embedded within, blinking in amazement
as he realized she was still blocking the homing frequency.

“You’re an amazing woman, sunbeam.” His amazing,
incredibly strong, unique woman. And they’d tortured and humiliated her. Used
her, abused her, and convinced her that she was expendable. Damn them all to
hell.

She must have felt his presence.

Jared. The mental whisper was very weak.

“Right here.”

Love you.

The mental cry that punctuated that declaration about
ripped his heart out. He wouldn’t give her permission to leave him by
responding in kind. “Tell me again when you’re feeling better.”

The shake of her head was more a twitch of muscle than
movement. What . . . tell . . . them?

Jesus, she was still trying to buy Jace time. He
brushed his lips across her eyes, the flutter of her lashes a whisper of
butterfly wings against his lips, her life force an uneven pulse.

They were losing her. Grief and fury wrapped around
his fear, squeezing it out until there was nothing left inside but ice-cold
rage.

“Tell them I’m coming for them.”

SHE was in a cave. The dark, dank odor of the interior
felt embedded into her pores, which meant she’d been here awhile. Raisa kept
her eyes closed, assessing her physical condition. It wasn’t any more pleasant
than her environment. She was weak, her mouth dry, and at the base of her
skull, there was a steady throb.

Had they gotten the Sanctuary device out? She started
to lift her hand and quickly reconsidered when a sharp jolt of pain shot down
her shoulder and across her chest. Further inventory revealed every muscle in
her body ached to the point that movement was going to be agony. Had removing
the device caused damage? Was that why she was so weak and why it was so
difficult for her to move?

She lay there, listening to the sound of water
dripping in the distance and tried to remember what had happened. She
remembered Jared telling her to give the Sanctuary something, then trying and
being too weak to do it. She remembered the cold, deadly intent inside him
coalescing as she struggled to send the message. Remembered feeling Jared take
over when she failed. Remembered hearing his deep drawl resonate within her
even as it reverberated outward in a lethal promise.

I’m coming for you.

She shivered at the memory. It was one thing to know
Jared was capable of killing. It was another to feel the intent within him, to
know the depths of which he was capable. Even if it was for the right reasons.
There were some illusions she’d prefer to keep.

“You ready to join us again?”

Raisa licked her dry lips with her equally dry tongue.
She couldn’t place the voice. “Depends.”

“On what?”

Slade. It was Slade who was talking to her. The kernel
of irrationality that clung to the hope that Jared had stayed with her rather
than following his brother withered. She told herself it was fine. Told herself
that it made more sense for him to leave Slade with her than to stay himself.
He wasn’t a doctor. He was a warrior, and Jace needed a warrior in battle.
Telling herself all that didn’t make the fact that she hadn’t come first with
him hurt less.

“Did you get the implant out?” Her voice sounded like
sandpaper sliding across metal, scratchy and irritated.

“What?” he asked with a stab at humor. “You don’t
believe what the pain in your neck is telling you.”

She appreciated his attempt at humor even though she
couldn’t play along. “Don’t take it personally.”

“I’ll try not to.”

She heard the scrape of his boot sole on dirt as he
shifted position. His energy prodded hers in an annoying poke.

“Are you planning on opening your eyes anytime soon?”

“No.” If she did, she might burst into tears. She
hurt, and she just wanted Jared. And when she opened her eyes, he wasn’t going
to be there. Lord, she was pathetic.