Falcon (Kindred, #5)

TWO-2

Stirring from her sleep, Devon sensed that someone was close by. But when she opened her eyes, the last thing she expected to see was a man sitting on the edge of her bed.

Scrambling to a seated position, she took in his features: handsome, maybe mid-thirties, clear blue eyes and a faint smile on his lips.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, clutching the sheet to her chest although she still wore the cotton nightgown beneath. “Are you him...? The guy who’s going to...”

“I’m the doctor, Bess told you I was coming.”

When he scooted closer, she scooted away toward the other side of the bed. It was downright creepy that he’d been sitting there, watching her sleep. He couldn’t be one of the men who’d told Bess not to touch because he clearly had no concept of decency himself.

“I don’t need a doctor,” she said. “I just want to leave.”

The strength of his brow and narrowness of his eyes was peculiar. “We’re here to help you,” he said. “There’s a nasty gash on your hip and your back was bleeding at the auction. The taser can have after-effects too.”

Ah-ha! She’d caught them in a lie. “You were at the auction? Bess said I would never meet the man who purchased me. So she’s a liar, that nice lady thing was all an act? I don’t know what kind of operation you’re running, but if you think I’ll be charmed by some soup and a fancy bed then you’re wrong.” Tossing the sheet away, she climbed out of the bed on the opposite side from the one he was sitting on. “If you want to help me, let me go.”

Wobbling on her feet, Devon felt light-headed and grabbed for the post at the foot of the bed.

“Let’s take a step back,” he said, rising from the bed, but his tone didn’t come across to her as calming. It was condescending, coming from a know-it-all doctor, and it only succeeded in raising her hackles. Except, she had to keep blinking because her eyes were blurring and couldn’t maintain focus. “I’m an MD, an emergency room resident. You can call me Wren.”

She didn’t want his name or his help. “Good for you, Wren, let me go.”

“Bess didn’t lie to you. I wasn’t present at the auction, and I wasn’t the one who paid for you. I got a report about it from my colleague,” he said, ignoring her plea for freedom.

Closing her arms around the post, she began to regain her balance. “That’s convenient, is that the same ghost colleague Bess referred to? The one I’ll never meet?”

“Yes,” he said.

Nothing made sense. If she’d been sold to these people for s*x, why wasn’t she being subjected to assault? Why wasn’t she forced to be n***d? Why were these people being nice to her and why was this purchaser even at an auction if he had no intention of ever meeting her? “Why? Why can’t I meet this phantom?”

“There’s no need for you to meet him,” Wren said. “Bess will provide all the meals you need. I’ll tend to your injuries. I want to take some blood and run some tests—”

“Why would I let you stick me with a needle?” she said and let go of the post only to grab for it again when invisible heat rushed north. “Why would I show you my body and let you examine me?”

“I’m a doctor.”

According to him he was. Just like with Bess, this guy acted like he was entitled to do whatever he wanted. He might be telling her that it was for her own good, but that was her decision. If she wanted help, she was capable of finding a hospital on her own. “How do I know that? Am I supposed to trust you because you show up with a couple of Band-Aids?”

“I... I’m telling you that I’m a doctor, and yes, you should trust us because we saved you from that place. Would you sit down, please? You’re running a fever.”

“I am not,” she objected but twisted to collapse on the bed, twining her arm around the post and resting her face against it. “What’s wrong with me? Did you d**g me? What was in that soup?”

“You weren’t drugged,” he said. “We want you well and strong, Devon. No one will hurt you here, you have to trust us.”

They weren’t being upfront about what had gone on or their plans for her. Knowing that she couldn’t let her guard down, she did what she could to maintain it, despite encroaching dizziness. “You demand my trust,” Devon said. “But you don’t trust me.”

“We don’t—”

“You say you rescued me, but you’ve locked me in here. You want me to trust that you’re a doctor here to care for me? But you won’t tell me where we are. Get real. And what’s with the mysterious guy, the one who purchased me? Is he the wizard behind the curtain? Something doesn’t add up. No, I—”

“We have to protect ourselves. You could endanger what we do if you reveal our details. We’re withholding to protect others.”

He came into view in front of her, and she pulled her legs onto the bed to scramble back. “Admitting that you’re not telling me everything doesn’t help you. I won’t give you my trust until you give me yours. I don’t want you to touch me! I don’t want anyone to touch me!”

With a step backwards, he seemed stunned, and for a man who apparently made snap life and death decisions, that was suspicious. She had no doubt in her statement.

“You won’t let me treat you?”

Yeah, he had it now. Why should she trust this stranger to stick her with a needle? Devon felt sick and crawled back up the bed, closing her eyes to try and quell her nausea. “You don’t trust me, and that gives me no reason to trust you. I won’t be a part of your sordid experiment. Prove to me you mean well and let me go.”

She couldn’t say any more, now it was up to him. All decisions were his now. He could do as she asked, or he could disprove his claims by forcing her to submit against her will. Whatever he did next would prove his morals.

To his credit, he didn’t leap onto the bed and attack her, but he didn’t toss her a key for the front door either. After a few seconds of gaping, Doctor Wren went around the bed and bent to pick up a plastic medic case from the floor that she hadn’t previously seen.

Turning over, she watched him leave in the same way Bess had. There wasn’t enough energy left in her reserves to let her move to check the door again, and she couldn’t handle having her hopes dashed again anyway.

She would love a shower and a drink of fresh, cool water, but she couldn’t be sure they weren’t watching her, and until she had proof of their intentions Devon couldn’t accept any more of their aid.