Psy & Changelings 06 - Branded by Fire

something.
    A cup.
    Water.
    She gripped his wrist, her fingers almost sliding off the vivid masculine heat of his skin.
    He continued to hold the cup out of reach. “Slow. Understood?” It was less a question than an order—in a voice that said he was used to being obeyed.
    She nodded and let him bring something to her lips. A straw.
    Her hand tightened on him, she was so thirsty.
    “Slow,” he repeated.
    She sipped. Rich. Orange. Sweet. Despite the ruthless edge in her rescuer’s voice, she might’ve disobeyed and gulped, but her mouth wasn’t working right. She could barely draw up the thinnest of streams. But it was enough to soothe the raw flesh of her throat, fill the empty ache in her stomach.
    She’d been so hungry for so long.
    A flash of something in the corner of her mind, too fast for her to grasp. And then she was staring into those strangely compelling eyes. But he wasn’t just eyes. He was clean, almost harsh lines and golden-brown skin. Exotic eyes. Exotic skin.
    His mouth moved.
    Her eyes lingered on his lips. The lower one was a little fuller than seemed right on that uncompromisingly masculine face. But not soft. Never soft. This man, he was all hardness and command.
    Another touch, fingers on her cheek. She blinked, focused on his lips again. Tried to hear.
    “. . . name?”
    She pushed away the juice and swallowed, dropping her hands to the sheets. He wanted to know her name. It was a reasonable question. She wanted to know his name, too. People always exchanged names when they met. It was normal.
    Her fingers clenched on the soft cotton sheets.
    Beat-beat.
    Beat-beat.
    Beat-beat.
    That fluttering bird was back, trapped in her chest. How cruel.
    Not normal.
    “What’s your name?” His eyes were piercing in their directness, refusing to let her look away.
    And she had to answer. “I don’t know.”
     
     
    Dev looked into that cloudy hazel gaze and saw only a confused kind of fear. The need to protect ignited in his gut, but it was a need he couldn’t afford to indulge. “Glen?”
    Dr. Glen Herriford frowned from the other side of the bed. “Could be a side-effect of the drugs. She was pretty doped up when she came in. Give it a few more hours.”
    Nodding, Dev put the juice on the table and returned his attention to the woman. Her lashes were already dropping. Not saying anything, he helped her down into a position flat on her back. She was asleep moments later.
    Jerking his head to the door, he walked out with Glen following. “What did you find in her system?”
    “That’s the funny thing.” Glen tapped the electronic chart in his hand. “The chemicals all add up to plain old sleeping pills—not even an overdose.”
    “That’s not what it looks like.” She was too disoriented, her pupils hugely dilated.
    “Unless . . .” Glen raised an eyebrow.
    Dev’s mouth tightened. “Chances she did it to herself?”
    “There’s always a chance—but someone dumped her in front of your apartment.”
    “I went inside at ten p.m., came back out at ten fifteen.” He’d left his phone in the car, had been irritated at having to stop work to return to the garage. “She was unconscious when I found her.”
    Glen shook his head. “No way she had the coordination to get through security then—she’d have lost her fine motor skills well beforehand.”
    Fighting the rush of anger provoked by the thought of how helpless she must’ve felt, he glanced back into the room. The bright white overhead light glinted off the woman’s matted blonde hair, highlighting the scratches on her face, the sharp bones slicing her skin. “She looks half-starved.”
    Glen’s usually smiling face was a grim mask. “We haven’t had the opportunity to do a full checkup but there are bruises on her arms, her legs.”
    “You telling me she was beaten?” Raw fury pulsed through his body, hot and violent.
    “Tortured would be the word I’d use.”
    Dev swore under his breath. “How long before she’s functional?”
    “It’ll probably take forty-eight hours to flush the drugs out completely. I think it was a one-time hit. If she’d been on them longer, she’d have been even more messed up.”
    “Keep me updated.”
    “Are you going to call Enforcement?”
    “No.” Dev had no intention of letting her out of his sight. “She was dumped in front of my door for a reason. She stays with us until we figure out what the hell is going on.”
    “Dev . . .” Glen blew out a breath. “Her