“Who’s Penny?”
“We don’t know much about her. She was a victim of a Sanctuary experiment.”
Not by a blink of an eyelash did Jane reveal the nausea he could feel rolling through her as she asked, “You said ‘little Penny.’ Just how old is she?”
That kind of control only came with pain. A lot of it. Slade tossed a file in front of Jane, reaching out mentally to soothe her discomfort.
“Penny is a little over a year now.”
Jane skimmed the first page before looking up. “You couldn’t fix what they’d done?”
“No.” The answer rapped out with all the frustration Slade felt inside.
“Where does that leave her?”
“With the D’Nallys, the McClarens, and the Johnsons standing at her back.” And with a very uncertain future. Being neither wolf nor vampire, her altered physiology held untapped secrets many would like to exploit. “We’ve made no secret of our protection.”
“Her family wouldn’t?”
Was that a flash of empathy? Slade settled his hip on the side of the desk, tapping her energy as he explained, “In wolf society, children are gifts from God.”
She tapped Penny’s file. “So how did this gift get misplaced?”
“Wolf culture is also full of myth.”
“And?”
“One of those myths is that a child born deformed is more than a genetic anomaly, it’s—”
“Bad luck,” she finished for him.
“Yes.”
“It’s a shame that every culture—human, vampire, or wolf—seems to have beliefs in omens and bad luck.”
“Yeah.”
“So, what myth put Penny in Sanctuary hands?”
That was definitely anger emanating from Jane, but too strong to be impersonal. “Deformed children are almost unheard of among wolves. Without Marc—Penny’s real father—knowing anything about it, his wife followed ancient custom and took the child into the woods, leaving her to die.”
“What would drive a mother to do such a thing?”
“Fear for her family’s reputation. Selfish worry for her status.” Slade ran his hand through his hair. “Hell, a thousand things that make no sense to anyone.”
“Didn’t anyone look for her?”
“When Marc came back from a hunt and went to look for her, he couldn’t find her.”
“Because Sanctuary had taken her.” Jane sighed heavily before asking, “Who found her?”
“Jace did. Many months later. Hooked up to all kinds of devices, undernourished, filthy, and afraid of contact.”
Especially mental contact, but Slade didn’t reveal that yet.
“And?”
Slade shrugged. “What do you think? Jace brought her home to the Circle J.”
“That must have been hard.”
“Not for Jace. He made that little girl a promise in that hell hole.”
“I meant for Miri, since her baby was still missing.”
“It was hell, especially with the little one so changed.”
“Changed?”
“The experiments Sanctuary performed changed her from werewolf to something between were and vampire.”
Mutant.
The thought projected from Jane to Slade. Hard, angry, protective. None of that showed in her analytical question. “Were you able to undo the damage?”
“No.”
“But you tried?”
Six ways to Sunday, but he hadn’t been able to alter Penny’s chemistry one iota. Not one. “Yes.”
Jane’s fingers curled over his fist. Her energy smoothed over his with the same comfort.
“At least you tried.”
Apparently Jane wasn’t the only one who projected. Opening his fist, Slade took her hand in his. Her energy immediately flicked away from his. Had the connection been unconscious? “Eventually I’ll succeed.”
Withdrawing her hand, Jane asked, “What does being different mean for Penny in regard to her future in the pack?”
“I don’t know, but Jace, Marc, and Miri will see to it that she’s fine.”
“The father is in the picture?”
“Yes.”
She drummed her fingertips on the desktop. “And Jace allowed it?”
“Why the hostility? Marc didn’t know what his wife was doing.”
Anger pulsed off Jane in tempo with her fingers. “How do you know that?”
“Because I know Marc.”
“And that was it? They just handed Penny over to the man who lost her in the first place?”
Slade shook his head. “Jace took vengeance in that little girl’s name. The war between Sanctuary has definitely kicked up a notch after discovering Penny in that dirt cellar.”
Jane drummed her fingers faster on the file and eyed Miri’s picture. The anger that had been there before built to rage. “It must have been hard for Miri to give Penny up. It would be like losing her daughter all over again.”
“By Wolf law, Miri didn’t have to give Penny back.”
“But she did?”
“Yes, she did, though it about killed her.”
“Then why did she?”
“Because she’s Miri, and the pack’s female Alpha, and it was best for the pack that Marc recover his daughter.”
“I wouldn’t have given her back.”
Slade’s brow arched.
“Would you? He lost her once, with terrible results.”
Slade shrugged. “I’m not pack.”
“That wasn’t an answer.”
His gaze met hers. “If you’d wanted her, I would have made sure she stayed yours and to hell with the consequences.”
Jane blinked and a bit of that swirling rage faded. “But Jace didn’t.”
Slade shook his head. “Jace gave Miri exactly what she wanted.” A man she could rely on and a man who understood pack.
“But—”
He sighed. “The pack of D’Nallys that Jace heads, the Tragallions, are steeped in tradition and prone to defend their family. Penny was and always will be family.”
“Which means?”
“That’s the same way Jace thinks, which is why he hasn’t transitioned well into modern times.”
“Did Marc take Penny away?”
“Hell no. Wolves aren’t like that. Children are cherished, in many ways raised by all the pack. Once Jace made the decision to stay Tragallion and take the position of Alpha, Miri didn’t have to give up anything.”
He pointed to Penny’s file. “Are you going to read that?
“I’m afraid to.”
“Still sure no one can be all bad?”
The tips of her fingers vibrated against the folder. “No.”
And she hated him for that because she wanted to keep the shield of innocence that said there was a difference between speculating on the existence of evil and it truly existing. He understood that, too.
“I can’t believe that all Sanctuary vampires are this sick.”
Slade sighed. “Neither could I. I’ve often wondered if the genetic mutation that takes a man from human to vampire affects certain centers of the mind.”
“It didn’t affect yours or your brothers.”
“Maybe because we’re brothers, converted by family?”
“Interesting theory.” She tapped the file. “Does conversion affect the women the same as men?”
“There appears to be a gender difference to the way humans react to potential conversion.”
Some women went insane. Some died. Some converted. The possible “whys” were multifaceted and intriguing, so he wasn’t surprised when Jane’s excitement spiked. “Have you done any research?”
Sighing, Slade ran his hand through his hair. “There hasn’t been time.”
“Because of this war?”
“Yes.”
He could literally feel her concentration as her mind raced through the ramifications, feel the excitement surge as she explored the possibilities, feel her energy slow as abstract became reality, feel her fear. Then he felt that indefinable something that removed all emotion from the thought process and left her energy . . . blank.
“Exactly how much danger am I in?”
He wanted to pull her close. Instead, he brushed the back of his finger down her cheek. “A hell of a lot less now.”
She flinched away from his touch. “I meant because you have this idea that we’re a match.”
She’d put that together.
“Don’t look so surprised,” she said when she saw his reaction. “Putting abstract pieces of a puzzle together is one thing I’m good at, and it only makes sense if two of the Johnson men produced babies in situations where no one else could, that Sanctuary would be especially interested in the women the Johnsons are interested in.”
“Your research has already put you in danger.”
“But this perceived attraction makes me more of a target.”
He owed her the truth. “They’re going to be fixated on you now.”
Which meant, as long as Sanctuary existed, she was never going to be able to go back to her life. And considering they were immortal, that was a hell of a long time. The realization should have sparked some change in Jane’s emotions. Instead, she flipped the files closed and stacked them neatly, as if he hadn’t just told her she had no future.
“Then I guess I’d better find a way to make myself unattractive.”
“No way to do that.”
She looked around the lab, taking in the equipment and supplies. He had a well-stocked laboratory. “I imagine I can be quite toxic when necessary.”
Slade’s gaze followed hers. Son of a bitch! He grabbed her arm. “You will not experiment on yourself.”
An emotion flashed through the blankness. Murderous rage. She didn’t like the thought of anyone commanding her. In contrast to the emotion, her voice was soft, almost sweet. “Forbid away if it makes you feel better.”
Slade didn’t care if she wanted him dead. As long as she was alive, he would deal with it. “I’m serious, Jane.”
“So am I.”
His rage rose to meet hers. “I mean what I said. I’m not going to let you harm yourself in some mistaken belief that I can’t keep you safe.”
“I’ll keep myself safe.”
The hell she would.
She didn’t argue, just kept staring at him with that implacable regard that said so much more than words. She didn’t trust him.
A knock came at the door. Shit. Slade backed toward it, watching her, his nerves jumping with premonition. A probe of her mind revealed nothing. Son of a bitch! The one person who could lock him out was the one person who never ought to be able to.
He opened the door. Tobias stood on the other side, one of the new guns in his hands. He held it out.
“These have an issue.”
As if he needed this now. Looking back at Jane, Slade said, “You need to read Faith’s and Penny’s files. Like Joseph, they’re half vampire. Read all the files. Every word. There might be some help in Penny’s if you look at what I did to stabilize her. I used the same technique on Joseph, but without the same success. Faith is healthy. She has no apparent problems.”
“All right.”
Still sweet as pie. There was nothing to give him pause in the response, but the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He wanted nothing more than to walk over there, pull her into his arms, and make love to her until there were no more barriers between them, no more distrust. Instead he turned back to Tobias. “What seems to be off?”
“The beam loses power over distance.”
Which meant it lost its ability to kill. “Shit. The refraction must be off.”
“Two teams are going out in three days. We could really use these guns.”
“I’ll have them ready.” The tiredness that had been getting stronger for the last year covered Slade in a wave. He pushed it back. Somehow, he’d have them ready.
With a jerk of his chin, Tobias indicated where Jane sat, seemingly absorbed with the files in front of her. “Will she be able to help?”
“I’m hoping so.”
“Good. It’d be a shame for Allie and Caleb to lose their little boy.”
“I thought you believed four Johnson men were enough.”
“With Jace turned wolf, there’s hope for the kid.”
“Not if Caleb has anything to say about it.”
“Hell, Caleb’s not far from wolf himself. None of you are.”
Slade laughed. “So the McClarens keep saying. Is Jace here?”
“They’re on schedule.”
“How are they doing?”
“Miri’s a little shaken after the last attack. They came right into the compound.”
“Sanctuary’s getting bolder.”
Tobias handed him the gun and smiled coldly. “That’s okay. We’re getting meaner.”