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 h.e.l.l 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 b.i.t.c.h! 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 h.e.l.l 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. s.h.i.t. Slade backed toward it, watching her, his nerves jumping with premonition. A probe of her mind revealed nothing. Son of a b.i.t.c.h! 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. "s.h.i.t. 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."

"h.e.l.l, 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."

Slade looked at the gun. It was going to take days to fix this. If he put it aside, the wolves would understand, but they were already up against superior numbers. They didn't need to be out-weaponed. Didn't deserve to be. What he needed was more hours in the day. He thought of all the changes in the past year, all the ways he'd come up with to kill the enemy. All the ways the enemy had come up with to kill them. The endless cycle with no end because he couldn't find the edge they needed. But he would. Eventually, he would.

"Yeah. We are."

10.

CLOSING the door, Slade turned around, the gun in his hand. He looked entirely too natural that way for her peace of mind. Too s.e.xy. He also looked incredibly tired.

"Anything I can help you with," Jane asked, despite her best intentions. She knew how it was to have people relying on you 24/7, to face impossible demands because it meant life or death.

Hefting the gun, he admitted, "I could use a few more hours in the day."

"What? With all your magical powers, you haven't managed that?"

He tossed the gun to his other hand. "I'm working on it."

d.a.m.n him for being agreeable. It made it that much harder to hate him. "What's wrong with the guns?"

"One of the refractions is likely off."

"You say that like fixing it is no big deal."

"It'll just take time."

"Time you don't have."

He didn't deny the guess. "I'll find it."

"It can't wait?"

"No."

Paper rustled under her fingers. "Neither can Joseph."

Slade set the gun on one of the long tables. "I know."

Yes, he did. Jane could feel Slade's determination and frustration as though it were her own. It was disconcerting, not only because of the force of the emotion but also because it seemed so natural in its blending with her own. Experimentally, she put her wall around it. There was a start and then a withdrawal. Interesting. She apparently did have some control.

Stacking the files, she pushed her chair back a little harder than she'd planned. She caught the chair with her heel before it rolled past the drawer labeled "Syringes." "I guess you do." Opening the drawer, she said, "I'm going to need a blood sample."

"The one we got from Joseph earlier isn't enough?" He shook his head. "You're worse than a vampire."

"Not from Joseph." She prepared a vacuum tube and needle. "I need your blood."

He flashed his fangs. "I'll be happy to share."

She shook her head and set the tube on the table. "You're going to have to work harder than that to scare me. Give me your arm."

Rolling up his sleeve, Slade took a step closer. "Interesting challenge."

"What makes it so interesting?"

"My options."

Delicious heat poured over her in a wave of energy as she wrapped the tourniquet across the thick bulge of his biceps. "I wasn't aware you had any."

He picked up the tube and handed it to her. His fingers lingered against hers as she took it. The touch was light. There was no reason for her breath to catch, or her pulse to pick up speed, but it did.

"At least two."

Popping the cap off the needle, she asked, "Do I want to know?"

"I don't know. How fond are you of surprises?"

"I know I don't like bad ones." Especially after the last twenty-four hours.

His head canted slightly to the side as she slid the needle into the vein at the front of his elbow. "What about good ones?"

Blood filled the vacuum tube, warming it, giving the impression, for an instant, that she held his life in her hands. Not a responsibility she wanted.

"I don't know. I've never had a good one."

"Really?"

Glancing up, she was in time to catch the speculation in his eyes. "Don't go getting ideas."

Those fingers on her hand drifted over her wrist, sneaked under the sleeve of her shirt. "Too late."

The tube was full. She swapped it for another. Her fingers trembled, every part of her focused on the shiver of sensations radiating up from her arm. Who knew a forearm could become such a s.e.xual focal point?

"Don't you want to know what kind of ideas I'm getting?"

She gave him the truth. "No."

"Why not?"

"I think we've pretty much established that you're out of my league."

The second tube filled. "Who established that?"

Glancing up, she smiled. "My last date was a shy accountant who spilled his wine when I asked him up to my place." Brent was a very nice man, but the night and the relationship had gone nowhere after that. "Trust me, you're out of my league."

As soon as she removed the needle, he brought his arm to his mouth, leaving her with the gauze and tape in her hand, staring as his tongue stroked efficiently over the puncture site.

"That takes care of the bleeding?"

"There's a healing agent in our saliva."

"Oh." She put the gauze on the counter. He took the tubes from her hand. "Be careful with those."

He put them in the rack. "I will be."

"We need to get them sampled."

"What are we looking for?"

"A control sample."

"You think my blood will be close enough to my brother's to provide a control?"

"You know it is. Sibling similarity, converted by a sibling. The similarities are going to be more than the differences, but yours is untainted by any potential changes this ... mating might bring about."

"Maybe." He stopped her when she reached for the tubes of blood. He stepped in front of her. "In a minute."

"We don't have minutes."

The table creaked as he leaned against it. The chair wheels caught on the toe of his boot, stopping her retreat. He was too close, too big, too male. If Jane could have gotten out of the chair without looking a total coward, she would have.

"I don't like you being afraid of me."

She didn't like the way he said that, his drawl trailing off into speculation. No good could come of him looking deeper into her feelings. Especially when she didn't understand them herself.

"I'm not."