Jace Read Free Page A

through. Miri was small. Jace glided to the opening. Miri’s scent reached out, flowed around him in a silent caress. Subtle, light, enticing, cinnamon spiced with bitter fear. A red stain on the door drew his hand. Blood. He rubbed the residual smear between his fingers, keeping his expression impassive as his vampire howled in recognition. Miri’s. He brought his fingers to his mouth, refreshing his memory with her taste as he reached out carefully with his mind.
    Derek, following his actions, frowned. Jace didn’t have an answer for the question in his eyes. He didn’t know how badly she was hurt. From the standpoint of Miri’s rescue, it didn’t matter. They’d planned for the worst, hoping for the best. He looked through the door. The room was large, with computers and gadgets around the perimeter. It looked a lot like the lab that had held Caleb for a time. In the middle stood a stainless steel table. Restraints made of the same stainless steel gleamed ominously in the sterile white light. A dark liquid spread over the bottom of the table and dripped off the edge. Two bodies lay crumpled on the ground, shards of glass sparkling around them. No energy came off the bodies. Looked like the worst hadn’t happened. Miri was ambulatory. Jace smiled. And kicking ass.
    He backed up, linking to the faint trail of energy that lingered in the aperture. Derek stayed put, covering him as he searched with his senses. She hadn’t gone past them to the exit—he would have felt her if she had—so she had to be in the compound somewhere. Probably not far. She was covering her energy, as he’d taught her, but she couldn’t hide the scent of her blood. Not from any vamp, but especially not from him. Not from her mate.
    He ran his tongue over his lips, refreshing his senses, and backtracked slowly. Not the first room. He moved across the corridor, sending his mind into the space beyond, tuning in to her unique vibration. Not there. But across the hall, at the third door, something was different there. There was a heaviness that didn’t belong. He let his rifle lightly touch the metal surface. A start of feminine fear, overridden immediately by a heavy surge of male energy.
    He motioned to Derek. Miri was in there, and she wasn’t alone. He made the sign for “vamp” and then the sign for “kill.” Derek nodded. Jace braced his back against the wall, reached for the knob, paused, gathered his muscles, and pushed the door open.
    Blinding light burned his eyes. A bullet whined out of the room. With super speed, he leapt between the bullet and the echo of the gun’s report, diving into the room, taking in the scene as he rolled. In the back right corner of the room a male vamp held a naked Miri against his chest. One hand was around her throat, his nails pressed to her jugular. And in his other hand he held a gun.
    Shit. Not good.
    Through the violence of the scene his vampire senses hyper-focused on Miri, taking in all that he saw, all that was different. The straggly hair, the sleek beauty of her small body, the blood on her thighs, the jagged scars on her cheek. The fury in her eyes. He came to his feet smiling. That was his girl. All spit and vinegar. All heat and laughter.
    He brought his gun up as he reached his feet. The vamp’s attention was split between Derek, dead ahead of him in the hall, and Jace to his left. “You’ve got nowhere to go.”
    The vamp smiled, revealing his fangs. “Just out the door.”
    Jace shook his head. “Not an option.”
    The Sanctuary vampire jerked Miri forward a step. “Something tells me I’m holding my get-out-of-jail-free card.”
    He was an ugly son of a bitch, with his torn, half-morphed face and ragged sneer. Jace met Miri’s gaze, the hand at her throat remaining at the periphery of his gaze.
    “I got your message.”
    “What took you so long?”
    The naturally husky tone to her voice strained to hoarseness under the pressure the vamp was applying. “Things kept getting