"I just like order."

"I'll take that as a no."

She licked her lips. "I need the lab organized to work."

"I thought that was what we're doing."

He tugged again. The tips of her sneakers b.u.mped the toe of his boots. He slid his hand up her arm. Jane didn't step away, but the expression on her face fluctuated between indignation and longing. Curling his arm around her back, Slade pulled her forward so that she leaned against his chest.

"I'm a perfectly competent adult."

"Uh-huh."

He brushed his lips across the top of her head, noting that while she stood stiffly in his arms, she wasn't pulling away.

"I don't need to be coddled."

"I know that."

"So why are you-"

"Hugging you?"

"Yes."

"Maybe because I need to be coddled?"

Her snort was eloquent. Threading his fingers through the silky strands of her hair, he speculated, "Maybe I'm just making excuses to hold you."

"Why?"

The immediacy of that question struck him as significant. "Because you're the s.e.xiest thing I've ever seen, and you have the most fascinating mind."

"You think I'm s.e.xy?"

Apparently her brilliance was a given, but her s.e.x appeal was up for grabs. "Very s.e.xy."

There was the slightest movement of her head, but then she settled her forehead against him as naturally as breathing. "Are men who think they're vampires hard up?"

Fisting his fingers in her hair, Slade coaxed her face up. "Any man would count his lucky stars to have you in his arms. You know it and I know it, so don't be playing that game with me."

"If this were a game, the rules would be that I am not most men's first choice."

"Well, you can consider yourself on the highly desired list twenty-four/seven from here on out."

Rolling her forehead back and forth, she sighed. "Has anyone ever told you you're crazy?"

"A time or two."

She licked her lips. "Have they ever mentioned you have the patience of a saint?"

With another brush of his lips across her hair, Slade eased Jane away. "Maybe I'm just using you as my guinea pig."

"Good grief, this is you experimenting?"

"Don't sound so appalled."

She took a step back. Too many emotions were coming at him too fast for him to sort them out. He had no trouble reading her anger, however.

"I hate men who are good at everything."

Reaching out, he knocked a beaker off the shelf in feigned clumsiness. It shattered with piercing shrillness.

"There."

Jane looked at him, and then the beaker, and then back to him. "What does that prove?"

He didn't look away. "That I'm not perfect."

Neither did she. "Maybe it could be better if you were."

He didn't have an answer to that.

"WHERE'D you get this blood?" Jane asked, looking up from the microscope.

Slade stopped searching the filing cabinet to see which slide she was talking about. "It's Joseph's blood."

"The other blood is his parents?"

"His mother and father, just like it's labeled there."

"This isn't like any blood I've ever seen. There are things in there that shouldn't be there."

He sighed and pulled out a folder. "Only if you're running on the a.s.sumption that those are human samples."

"This blood is similar to human, but it has some important species-level differences."

He was tempted to flash his fangs. Instead, he smiled a smile that looked as tight as it felt, if her expression was anything to go by. "Yeah."

She grimaced. "Vampires are a legend."

"Most legend is based in fact."

"If this is fact..." She held up the slide. "Then this might hold the key to eternal life."

Slade went back to rummaging. "That's what Sanctuary believes"

"But Sanctuary members are vampire."

He shrugged. "Vampires can be killed." Pushing the spare chair away from the second filing cabinet with his foot, he clarified. "They're looking to close that loophole in nature's law."

And G.o.d help them all if they succeeded.

"What, almost being immortal isn't good enough?"

"Not for Sanctuary. They'd like to improve on vampirism."

"In what way?"

"Well, first off, they'd like to fix it so they can't be killed. Second, they'd like the ability to create life, not just change it."

"So they can have a secret vampire army?"

"Yes, or maybe they just want to touch base with the humanity they left behind. The best of both worlds. I don't know." He pulled another folder out. "n.o.body understands Sanctuary."

"Have you tried?"

"You ever tried comprehending what a rabid coyote is going to do?"

"No, but we're talking people, not animals."

"Uh-huh."

"n.o.body's all bad."

Slade took Miri's file out of the pile and tossed it to the table in front of Jane. Sometimes convincing was better left to pictures. "That's Miri's medical file. She's my brother Jace's wife."

Pulling it toward her, she asked, "Should you be showing this to me?"

"She wouldn't care." He motioned with his hand. "Go ahead. Read. I'll wait."

It was a very thick file compiled from his images and the ones they'd salvaged from the rubble of the stronghold from which Miri had been rescued. Jane opened it tentatively.

"What you're reading is her account of what happened to her after being kidnapped by Sanctuary. Backed by the best doc.u.mentation I could provide in the way of forensic evidence."

After she finished reading the entire file, she carefully closed it and pushed it back to him. Her face was pale. "Why?"

"Why did they torture and experiment on her? Because they feel might makes right."

"So do you." "To a point, yeah." Turning to the photo section, he shoved the file back at her. "But not like that. No one has the right to do that to anyone."

Reflexively, she looked down and touched on one paragraph in particular. Opening her palm over the paper, she stroked it, offering intangible comfort to a woman she'd only read about. "Is she all right now?"

It was the photo and caption describing how Miri had gotten the permanent scar on her face. It took a h.e.l.l of a lot to scar a wolf permanently. A lot of pain delivered to the point of near death. Pain that had to have been sustained over time as the body was defeated in its effort to heal. His hand closed into a fist. Miri carried the scars on her soul as well. And there were times when even his brother and her daughter couldn't fight the black memories, but those episodes were getting further apart, though he doubted they'd ever totally leave. "Jace is helping her through."

"What happened to her daughter, Faith?"

"Jace brought her home."

After a lot of suffering on everyone's part, but Jace had promised Miri, and a Johnson never broke a promise.

"Where does Jace live?"

"With Miri."

"But not here?

"Nah. Jace went wolf on us."

"Meaning?"

"Jace always leaned toward the wild side, but after he married Miri, it became more evident. He's heading up one of the D'Nally clans now. He fits right in with the wolves."

She glanced at the slides and then the files. "I need to meet him and his family. If his daughter isn't having issues, her blood may hold the answer we need."

"Or maybe theirs?" he asked.

"At this point I'll take everything I can get."

"They'll be coming in tomorrow."

"You'll let me know when they arrive?"

"I don't expect there's any way you'll avoid it. He and Miri will likely come in under heavy guard, and that always kicks up a ruckus."

"Why?"

"Jace's pack is particular as to whom comes near their Alphas. They don't acknowledge the McClarens' claim of family, so, in their eyes, they're in hostile territory."

"Would the McClarens hurt them?"

Stir their irritation a bit. Taunt their overprotective instincts, maybe, but hurt? Slade recalled Ian D'Nally's size, hawkish features, and intense personality that commanded absolute loyalty. Hard to imagine anyone being able to hurt the D'Nally. "No."

She shook her head. "Then why?"

Slade shrugged. "Wolf culture is very insular. The D'Nallys are old school, even for wolves. They view the McClarens as modern."

"They think Derek is modern?"

Slade smiled. "Maybe even downright revolutionary."

"Good G.o.d."

"Yeah, it does boggle the mind. What's your family like?"

"Dead."

It was his turn to blink. One word. No emotion. No more explanation. And if he just went by her facial expression, no impact on her emotions, but the energy that flared outward in the split second before she responded contained everything she was suppressing. Grief. Hate. Rage. One h.e.l.l of a lot of rage. Interesting.