Jace Read Online Free PDF Page A

grit in her voice. “Just remember to flip off the safety before you start threatening people. It’s on the side.”
    She tipped the gun and flipped the switch. “Done.”
    He reached over, his fingers gliding over hers, his starved senses relishing the contact. He tilted the barrel away from his midsection. “It’s there for a reason.”
    “Not a good one.”
    He slid the switch back. “Trust me and leave it on.”
    Her mouth twisted. He placed his finger over her lips, cutting off the retort he knew was building. The support to the right groaned. “Bitch at me after we’re out of here.”
    She flipped her hair over her shoulder, a totally feminine gesture of anger and challenge. A stray tendril fell forward, ignoring her want, feeding his. “Count on it.”
    Despite the danger, her sass made him smile. He pushed her hair back. Derek disappeared around the corner. He tucked the stray strand behind her ear. “C’mon.”
     
    DEREK knelt in what remained of a doorway. The frame listed heavily to the right, leaning against a fallen beam. The whole place was unstable. Derek’s gun lay discarded beside him. He was hunched over something.
    Another groan from the steel beams set Jace’s teeth on edge. “One more blast and this whole place is coming down.”
    Derek didn’t respond, just reached out as if in a trance and touched something with a tenderness Jace had never seen him offer anything before. A few steps closer and he knew why.
    There was a woman trapped in the debris. Probably the one who’d been screaming, though she wasn’t making a sound now. Even from here he could see she was tiny; so small, Derek’s hand against her cheek dwarfed her face. Her features marked her of Asian descent. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Another step and he could see the male body trapped on top of her, his head level with her chest. No energy came off the body. “Guess we found the missing sentry.”
    Derek nodded.
    Jace holstered his gun. Miri came up beside him, her fingertips resting on his arm, her energy snuggling into his.
    “Is she okay?”
    The woman didn’t look good. He wasn’t even sure she was alive. “I don’t know. Derek?” Another warning vibration shook the floor. Jace touched Derek’s shoulder. “Derek. We have to leave.”
    The were shrugged off his hand and reached for the concrete slab compressing the woman’s chest, shoulder, and arm. He moved it carefully aside. The vampire’s blood-spattered shoulder came into view. Beside him Miri aimed her gun. With her thumb, she switched the safety off. Her hands were shaking.
    “He’s dead, Miri.”
    She shook her head. The gun stayed pointed. “They never die.”
    “This one did.”
    She didn’t look convinced. He didn’t argue. Another piece of debris came off. The woman gasped and choked; blood sprayed from her mouth. Jesus.
    Derek caught her head before it could slam back onto the concrete. “Shh, just lie still.”
    His voice was as soft as his hand on the small woman’s skin. Her almond-shaped eyes opened, then stared vaguely a second before they focused on the man above her. She blinked once and blinked again. Mesmerized by terror or something else—probably the first, for, sure as shit, waking up to find Derek glaring down at her like he wanted to commit murder would be enough to give any woman nightmares.
    Her breathing increased to shallow pants. Her scent was tainted with fresh fear and fresh pain.
    “Hush, baby,” Derek murmured.
    Baby?
    The cold muzzle of the gun was thrust into Jace’s hand before Miri sank to her knees at the woman’s side. “It’s all right, Kim. He’s a friend.”
    Jace switched his grip to the handle, warm and damp from her nervous grip. He flipped the safety on before putting it back in his belt.
    After a slow blink and a series of shallow breaths, the woman managed one word. “Alive?”
    “Yes.” Miri’s hands fluttered over the debris where the woman’s hand should be. “And I’m