Part 24 (1/2)
”Tobias is just taking shots in the dark.”
”Accurate ones, if the look on his face is any indication.”
The Enforcer had a way of knowing things. His only weakness was little Penny. When he was around that baby, he was a different man. Almost ... human.
”I know you can't hide it anymore,” Caleb said.
s.h.i.+t. ”You know that experiment I've been working on since we became vampires? Finding a way to sustain ourselves without taking blood?”
”Yeah.”
”I think Jane's research holds the key.”
”The h.e.l.l it does,” Jace remarked.
”You sure of that?” Caleb asked.
”No, I'm not sure. I haven't seen all her research files, but I think it's likely, though the woman doesn't know what she's holding.”
Jace tapped his fingers on the table. ”h.e.l.l, Slade, that would make the woman as brilliant as you.”
She was more than brilliant. She was vulnerable and sweet. And his. Until the split second it would take him to lose control, and then she'd be dead or worse. Dying a slow death as her organs dissolved under failed conversion. But he couldn't let her go. Couldn't trust her to someone else.
”That's going to be a problem,” Tobias muttered.
Yeah it was.
”Where is this research?” Jace asked, cutting to the chase as always.
”I don't know yet.”
That jerked everyone's head up. Caleb swore. ”Christ, you've been with the woman constantly and we don't have it yet?”
”What would you have me do, rape her mind?”
”Whatever it takes,” Tobias growled.
”How can you say that?” Allie asked, shocked.
Tobias pushed his chair in, his golden eyes sweeping over the Johnsons. It rattled unsteadily. ”Because anyone who controls the ability to sustain life, holds the secret to taking it.”
”Son of a b.i.t.c.h.” Caleb grabbed the chair ”They could poison the water, the environment.”
”Only if the compound were able to be inhaled or absorbed through the skin,” Slade countered.
”Do you know that it's not?”
”No.”
Jace shook his head. ”You need to get that research, Slade.”
”I know.”
”You're the closest to her. She trusts you.”
”I know,” he all but shouted.
Allie pushed past Caleb. ”You can't ask him to betray his mate's trust!”
”She's not a true mate if she can't take his blood,” Jace interrupted.
”We don't have any choice,” Tobias snarled. ”We can't risk Sanctuary getting to the formula first.”
”And what are you going to do if you get to it first?” she demanded. ”What's so holy about your purposes?”
Tobias stood. ”Not a G.o.dd.a.m.n thing, but when the dying's done, Sanctuary won't be waving a victory flag.”
With a shake of her head, Allie stepped forward, reaching out for Slade's arm as if her small hand could contain the force of the inevitable. ”You can't do this, Slade.”
Slade touched his energy to Jane's. Felt her strength, her turmoil. Her vulnerability. Her need and that ever-present rightness that always came with the joining of their energy. His vampire snarled a warning. His human side grieved, but looking around the room, he saw the truth in his brothers' eyes. It had always been the Johnsons against the world. And when the dust settled here, it would still be that way.
”Do you see anyone else who can?”
Allie didn't have an answer for that. Neither did he. Turning on his heel, he pushed past Jace, ignoring it when Caleb called his name. He had a mate to betray and forever in which to grieve her loss. What the h.e.l.l could anyone say?
12.
SLADE stood by the bed, watching as Jane slept. She lay on her back, the white sheets pushed down around her waist, one arm thrown above her head as if warding off what she couldn't see. Him. In her head, poised to take what she wouldn't give. What they needed. Just a little rape of her mind. That's all that was required. For the common good. So why was he quibbling?
Her eyes opened and met his. There was no censure in her gaze. No hate. ”Because you're a decent man.”
The h.e.l.l he was. ”No, that's not it.”
Pus.h.i.+ng herself up on her elbows, she shook her head. No matter how he tried, he couldn't skim her emotions off the energy around her. All he got was a sense of calm. ”No? Then what would you say?”
”I'm thinking, sweetness, that you have undiscovered talents that keep getting in my way.”
”Like what?”
”Like blocking my thoughts, reading my mind, and slipping out from under my orders.”
She rolled her eyes. ”Orders. Is that what we're calling drugging people these days?”
”I didn't drug you.”
”Whether you used your mind or a pill, the results are the same.”