Read Online Jace by Sarah McCarty - Free Book Online

her teeth bit into the tough leather of his jacket. “I know you’re hurting, sweet, but we’ve got to get out of here.”
    She tilted her face up. He caught her head on his palm, supporting her when she would have overbalanced. “You’re done ticking off the Sanctuary?” she asked.
    “For the moment.”
    “Okay, then.” Bracing her hand on his knee, she levered herself up. Without the support of his hand in the middle of her back, she wouldn’t have made it. She was that weak.
    She bit her lip and swayed. “I’m ready.”
    The overpowering nausea rolling through her spilled over onto him. “How long has this been going on?”
    She swallowed hard, once, twice. If anything, she got a bit greener. “Since about ten minutes after you left.”
    Damn. He tucked his hand under her chin. Lifting her face. “If you need to puke, you might want to do it now.”
    “I’m not vomiting.”
    “I’m going to have to carry you over my shoulder to get where we need to go.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “To a safe place.” At least, he hoped it was safe. And that it was still there.
    She glanced over at the crevice. “What’s wrong with here?”
    He pointed up to the aperture in the ceiling. “The sun will fry us.”
    Biting her lip, she looked around. “It might not reach the corners.”
    Like he would chance her to a “might” and a glimmer of hope. He shook his head. “We’re leaving.”
    “And for that I need to vomit?”
    “The only way I can move fast enough to beat the sun is to carry you over my shoulder.”
    Her hand clutched her stomach, her eyes widened, and she looked at him again. “I…can’t.”
    Because he was there. “This is not the time for modesty.”
    “Tell my modesty that.”
    He stood, holding her hand, drawing her with him. Her flesh was too cold. Damn it, he didn’t know how this would go for her, but if it was anything like what he had gone through when he converted, he wanted her surrounded by the best of medical knowledge. He wanted her safe, coddled. He wanted that haunted look out of her beautiful brown eyes. He wanted the last year back.
    “You going to puke?”
    “No.”
    “Good enough.”
    He scanned outside the door. Still nothing. It was now or never. “C’mon.”
    He went through the opening first, holding her hand in case she got stubborn, mildly disappointed when she didn’t. As soon as he broke free from the crevice, Jace scanned again. To the left about a hundred feet the patrol was coming back. Fast. With a “Hold tight” he had Miri out and into the clear. As she stumbled forward he bent down, placed his shoulder in her abdomen, straightened, and took off.
    It was natural that his palm fell to her buttocks. The desire that surged through him at the contact wasn’t. They were in danger. If he didn’t get them both away now they were going to end up as Sanctuary dog meat. And yet, right alongside the adrenaline that came from danger rode the hot lust only she inspired.
    Miri swatted his back. “You’re sick.”
    Obviously, some thoughts he wasn’t good at concealing. He patted her buttock. “Only around you.”
    He angled down the mountain, heading toward home and safety.
    She dropped her head against his back. “Lucky me.”

4
    T HEY’D found a new way to hurt her. She frowned. Before there’d never been any malice in what they did. She was just another experiment to be brought to its conclusion. They applied force when necessary to get the compliance they needed, but it had never gone deeper than that. It had never been personal. This, however, felt very personal. The fire burned up from her gut, spreading outward, a living, breathing agony that fed on itself in an ever-growing twist of agony. Enough so, dear God, that she wished she knew what they wanted so she could give it to them.
    She cried out. There was no reason not to. They’d know all they needed about her level of pain from the electrodes attached to her skull. It fed reams of