Jace Read Online Free PDF Page B

someone before, didn’t have a clue how to do it correctly. Didn’t know how he was going to face Derek’s devastation if the woman died.
    Miri’s hand withdrew from his. He didn’t blame her for the lack of faith. He hadn’t done much to prove to her he was a man to count on. His fangs, partially retracted, extended as he gathered his strength, his energy, and sent it forward into the woman, searching for her life force. Needing to hold it as the transition was made. He came up hard against a wall of nothing. He closed his eyes, searched harder. Again nothing. “Damn it.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    He wasn’t aware he’d spoken aloud. “I can’t feel her. It’s too late.”
    “Like hell it is.” Derek’s wrist was in front of his mouth. “Bite me.”
    A vampire that bit a were had access to his thoughts. A were connected to a vampire could be ostracized from his pack. It was a hell of a risk to take for a woman who was probably already dead. “It might already be too late.”
    Derek didn’t waver. “It’s not.”
    What the hell, someone had to be right today. Jace bit, taking in the were’s blood, feeling his power go through him. A lot of power. Along with that power came the vibration of an external connection. The woman.
    Jace followed his instincts, following that vibration to deep inside Derek’s core. Things got more confusing there, thoughts and emotions a careening, jumbled chaos. Unlike Jared, who could move in and out of another’s mind like a whisper of a memory, Jace wasn’t so skilled. His talents lay in other directions.
    Here.
    The whisper came into his mind, Derek guiding him through the chaos with a surety that made Jace wonder if he’d done this before. The Here came again. Stronger, louder, giving him a point of focus. He flowed along it, following it toward that black wall of nothingness, feeling the prod from Derek as he did.
    Hurry.
    Seconds stretched like hours as he searched for a crack, Derek’s implacable resolve shoving him onward until he found it. Right there. A weakness. He burst through, flinching back as he got to the other side, unable to absorb in one breath all the information coming at him.
    Damaged. She was so damaged, the energy coming off her little more than a silent scream. Too late, he tried to block Derek from following him in, but it was no use. Nothing came between a wolf and his mate, and Derek was one particularly stubborn wolf. His energy passed in a powerful force that bruised as it surged by, surrounding that stuttering life force with all the strength he had, covering it, sheltering it within his power.
    Can you hold her without me? Jace asked.
    The answer came in a snap of impatience. Yes.
    Good.
    He took a mental breath and glanced over at Miri.
    “When I tell you to, slice my wrist.”
    Her lips set in a firm line. She nodded.
    “And then you get the hell out of here.”
    Her hair slid over her shoulders. Her energy convulsively reached for his in instinctive denial. “No.”
    He met her gaze, unable to pull his will from the woman to enforce it on his mate. “One of us has to get out of here for our child.”
    Miri bit her lip. Her eyes filled with tears, but not one fell. Her shoulders squared. She nodded again.
    He wanted to touch her so badly it was a live ache inside him, but he couldn’t. Physically and mentally he was tied to the woman they were trying to save. Miri’s hand touched his shoulder. Her energy smoothed over him. Chaos stilled, leaving only purpose behind. He lowered his head, scraped his teeth over the other woman’s delicate skin, gauged the depth, and then bit down.
    There was a moment of total disorientation as her life force flailed. Derek was there, strong and implacable, quelling the instinctive rebellion with the ruthless efficiency that made him such an invincible enemy and invaluable friend. Jace pulled the last of the woman’s blood into him. They only had seconds. Now!
    He grabbed the woman’s mind as