Jared (47 page)

He sighed. “Well, that’s going to complicate my seeing
how your pupils react.”

That was an attention getter. “Why do you need to see
how my pupils react?”

“That implant was attached to your spine. There’s a
chance I damaged something getting it out.”

He said that so calmly, like it was no big thing, but
he was talking about her spine, her nerves. She tried to quell the flood of
panic.

“How about you try to move your arms?”

“How about I don’t.” She had no idea if vampire nerves
regenerated like their bodies did. The thought of living through eternity
paralyzed was terrifying. The thought of trying to move and failing was worse.

A stroke of calm spread over her panic. Sunbeam?

Jared. A split second after she felt him in her mind,
he was in the cave, displacing air and panic as he settled beside her, filling
the space with his scent, his energy, his strength. “Dammit, Slade, I told you
not to wake her before I got back from feeding.”

She opened her eyes. Jared’s face was averted as he
glared at his brother, presenting her with the bold outline of his profile.

“I was perfectly obedient.” He motioned to her. “She’s
the one who broke your rules.”

“Tattletale.”

Even her voice sounded hoarse. Jared turned and Raisa
caught her breath. She’d spent the whole of her natural and unnatural life
longing for someone to want her. To look at her like the heroes of romance
novels looked at the women they loved. Like she was the sun to his moon, the
heart in his soul. In the moment Jared’s eyes met hers, she knew she hadn’t
dreamed big enough.

He knelt above her, the skin over his cheekbones white
with the emotion he was trying to suppress. Emotion that buffeted the edges of
her thoughts. Fear, worry, and something else, something so intense she was
afraid to name it. He reached for her cheek. His hand was shaking, the
trembling transferring from him to her as he whispered gruffly. “Welcome back.”

She couldn’t look away from his eyes. They were very
green, very warm.

She had to concentrate to bring her hand up, but she
managed it. She wrapped her fingers around his wrist and held on tightly. “It’s
good to be back.”

He shifted his grip, cradling her head. “How do you
feel?”

“Like I’ve been run over by a bus.”

His thumb brushed her cheek. “I just bet.”

“Don’t move her,” Slade warned. “I need to check how
she’s healing first.”

“Well, hurry up,” Jared snapped, glaring at him again.

“Why, are you in a rush?”

“Yes.”

She had to ask. “For what?”

Jared made room for Slade to work. “You’re overdue for
an ass chewing.”

Slade snorted.

“Why? I didn’t do anything.”

“The hell you didn’t. You jeopardized your safety.”

“I bought Jace time.”

“You risked your life!”

Slade’s right eyebrow arched as he placed his hands on
the sides of her neck. The skin heated and a strange tingling worked outward.
“I thought you were going to wait?”

“I am waiting,” Jared snapped.

He might be waiting, but his thoughts weren’t. They
were flooding into her mind, and along with them came images of her face—pale
in his night vision, the blood covering her face in a dark smear, tearing from
her eyes, dripping from her ears. And along with the image came the imprint of
his anguish. Total and complete. Absolutely devastating. He hadn’t wanted to
live without her. Because he loved her. The knowledge blossomed inside her,
spreading and growing, filling her with warmth. He loved her.

She closed her fingers around his, holding on as Slade
skimmed his hands over her body, probing with his energy for the right
responses.

“I’m going to be fine, Jared.”

His snort was eloquent. “You’d say that no matter what
was the truth.”

Yes, she would. Because she didn’t like him to worry.
It was sweet that he knew her so well.

His frown got deeper. “There’s nothing sweet about
me.”

He’d been peeking into her mind again. She squeezed
his hand. “Then you’ll have to start seeing yourself through my eyes.”

The expulsion of air could have been a snort of
disgust or laughter. “You romanticize everything.”

“Since it works to your advantage, why are you
complaining?”

Slade chuckled as he slowly bent her leg. “She’s got a
point, there.” His gaze met hers. “That hurt anywhere other than your muscles?”
he asked.

She shook her head. His mind probed hers, verifying
the answer. A second later she felt Jared intrude, too.

“What?” She looked between them. “You don’t trust me?”

Jared’s “Hardly” was in perfect synch with Slade’s
“No.”

“Well, that’s not very flattering.”

“It wasn’t meant to be.” Jared slipped his hand under
her head and glanced over at his brother. “Can I hold her now?”

Slade waved him on before gathering up his equipment.
“Go crazy.”

Jared lifted her carefully, easing her chest to his.
Her sigh blended with his as their bodies flowed together in perfect symmetry.
Raisa stroked her energy over Jared’s, finding that same symmetry there,
relishing his immediate response.

Mine.

Yes.

His kiss was as consuming as his emotions, not giving
her time to breathe or react, just claiming her mouth, her breath, her love.
Drawing it into himself as if he couldn’t get enough, couldn’t quite believe
that she was there. She held him through the outpouring of emotion, stroking
her hands up and down his back in small, gentle movements.

His lips separated from hers. “Son of a bitch, I love
you, Raisa Slovenski, and if you ever do something so unselfish and
self-sacrificing again, I’ll have your ass for breakfast.”

“Kinky.”

“I’m serious, Rai.”

“I know you are.”

He grabbed her shoulder, his fingers biting into the
muscle in a way they never would have if he weren’t so upset. “I mean it.
Nothing, nothing in this world matters more to me than you, and you will not
endanger yourself like that again.”

The sheer intensity of his emotions blinded her. She
grabbed his wrists. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

“I’m going to have to agree with him on that one,”
Slade interjected, zipping his pack closed. “That was too close. And Jared, if
you don’t lighten up, the woman’s going to have bruises.”

“Shit.” Jared loosened his grip, but his emotions
still churned.

Raisa looked into his eyes. “Did they get in? Did they
get Miri?”

“They got in.”

Her stomach sank, hearing what he didn’t say louder
than what he did. “But what?”

Jared just shook his head, his eyes filling with a
sadness she couldn’t accept. She slapped his chest. “No! Tell me they got out.”

He kept looking at her with that awful sadness. She
hit him again. “Stop it.” He didn’t stop, wouldn’t stop. And he didn’t do a
thing to protect himself, just said, “I’m sorry.”

“We don’t know what happened after they found her,”
Slade said from beside her, catching her hand. “There were several shots and
then silence.”

She yanked her hand free, sitting up straight,
ignoring the pain. “Call them on that communication thingie.”

“It’s too risky.”

Raisa froze, her hand falling slowly over Jared’s
heart. “They’re not dead?”

This time Jared answered. “We don’t know. We had a plan
B and C in case things went wrong, but the only way we’ll know if they worked
is if Jace and Miri show up at the rendezvous point.”

This time she slapped him for a whole other reason.
“Why did you let me think they were dead?”

“I didn’t. You told me to tell you they got out. I
can’t.”

And he wouldn’t give her false hope. She took a
calming breath. “What do you believe?”

His jaw set. “That, until I find a body, I’m not
believing anything.”

Slade’s “Amen” was an approving growl.

He wasn’t making sense. “Then why did you say you were
sorry?”

“I promised you I’d get your friend out.”

And he couldn’t tell her that he had. She blinked.
“Good heavens, do you think I’ve confused you with Superman?”

Slade’s snort wasn’t delicate. “Apparently.”

The expression on Jared’s face confirmed her
suspicions. “You might as well know that I’m not having this.”

“Having what?”

“I’m not having you go totally macho on me at
inconvenient times. I’m not all that matters. You matter, too! And if you think
I’ve forgotten that it’s your brother who is missing, too, you have another
think coming. You have got to be as upset as I am with a hell of a lot more
reason so . . . so . . .”

She came to a stuttering halt.

Jared’s right brow lifted in that way that just begged
a body to slap him. “Raisa Johnson, did you just swear?”

She had. She wiggled out of his embrace. “See what
you’ve driven me to? And my name is Slovenski, not Johnson.”

“Won’t be the first time he’s driven a woman to
cussing,” Slade interjected.

Jealousy, mean-spirited and consuming, snuck up past
her guard as she got her feet under her. She’d forgotten about her sore
muscles. The room spun as her muscles lodged a protest at the sudden move. The
mistake cost her precious seconds, stealing some of the thunder from her
declaration. “Well, I’d better be the last!”

“That’s a given. Sit down before you fall down.” Jared
caught her left hand in his, easing her back down. He turned his hand palm up
and then opened his fingers, leaving her palm suspended on his much larger one.
His thumb rested on the third finger, rubbing just below the knuckle, warming
her skin, marking her with his heat. His gaze met hers, dead serious. “Will you
marry me, Raisa?”

She stared at his thumb, her finger, his face. Was he
asking her to marry him because he felt he owed it to her or because he really
wanted to?

“There isn’t another woman for me.”

There wasn’t another man for her, either, but if she
accepted now, in these circumstances, she’d always wonder. For three heartbeats
she didn’t know how to answer and then a fragment of a memory provided the
answer. “Ask me again when we’re out of here.”

He hadn’t been expecting that. “What the hell
difference will that make?”

“Everything to me.”

His mouth opened then snapped closed. He let go of her
hand. Derek ducked into the cavern. “Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but
we’ve got company.”

Slade slung his pack over his shoulder. “Did you scent
them?”

“Nope, but I got a hell of a visual.” He motioned with
his rifle.

“Looks to be an easy dozen coming up the slope.”

“Time to go.” Jared tossed his pack and rifle to
Slade.

He caught them easily. “Did you get everything set?”

“Yup.” He picked Raisa up.

She grabbed his neck. “I can walk.”

He passed her to Derek. “But I need you to run.”

She wasn’t up for that. Not without feeding. Derek
held her like she was a piece of expensive china until Jared came out of the
cave and then he passed her back.

“Which way, Rai?”

She opened her mind, sorting through all the energy
fields. She pointed down and to the left. “That way’s clear.”

Jared flashed her a grin. “Not up?”

She hooked her arm around his neck. “Not if I can help
it.”

His laugh wasn’t the full sound she liked to hear, but
at least he still had his sense of humor. And as long as the man could laugh,
he could heal.

“Then down it is.”

Trees blurred as they ran. She could feel the
Sanctuary vamps still climbing behind them. They were close. Too close. All
they had to do to spot them was to look down. She checked around. There was no
cover for a quarter mile. She glanced back over Jared’s shoulder. Two Sanctuary
men came out of the cave.

“Jared?”

“What.”

The men pointed and shouted at their fleeing party.
More men came out of the cave.

“They’ve seen us.”

“Good.”

His arm shifted beneath her. Muscles flexed. He
stopped and turned. In the next instant, a wall of fire detonated in front of
the weres. It was followed quickly by an explosion of sound and rocks that
spewed into the air like confetti tossed at a party.

When the smoke and dust cleared, the cave opening was
gone and there wasn’t a Sanctuary man in sight.

She leaned back as far as she dared to see Jared’s
face. “We were carrying explosives?”

She felt slightly nauseated at the thought.