“What do you mean? I don’t understand. Why am I here?”
The doctor’s blond ponytail swished as she froze. Her blue eyes went round with shock. “Don’t you remember what happened to you?”
Quinn rubbed her head and tried to recall the time before she’d been in here. Flashes of memories assaulted her. Gravel, black sedan, two cats, Dade…Dade. Work, inventory, flames…
She gasped as it came back to her. Horrified, she pulled the sheets back to reveal her bandaged legs. “I want to see them.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Quinn read the doctor’s nametag. “Moira, please.”
“Swear not to hurt me if I take the bandages off?”
“Hurt you? Why would I hurt you?”
Her delicate eyebrows drew down. “What is the last thing you remember?”
“Burning.”
“Nothing more?”
Quinn squinted her eyes, trying to dredge up anything more, but there was simply nothing there. “Fire, pain, then here.”
Moira leaned over the bed and pressed an intercom button. “Call him,” was all she said.
Static sounded, and a feminine voice came over the other line. “But Lieutenant Danvers said—”
“Call him,” Moira said sternly.
“Call who?” Quinn asked low.
“Someone who can explain what happened to you much better than I can. You ready to see?”
Quinn swallowed the coward down and nodded.
It hurt. Holy hell it was agony to take the bandages off, but Moira didn’t slow down or give her time to back out. And when Quinn laid her eyes on her scarred legs, a piece of her broke. Across her thighs, her skin had melted, and now resembled red Oklahoma clay.
“How long have I been out?”
“Two days.”
Quinn jerked her attention to Moira’s face. Her voice sounded clear as a bell. She didn’t know how she could tell, but Moira was telling the truth.
“Two days?” Quinn dragged her shocked gaze back down to her legs. “But these look half healed.”
“They are. You might have some muscle weakness, and possibly a limp, but you’ll make almost a full recovery.”
“And the scars?”
Moira shook her head sadly.
Quinn leaned back against the pillow and stared at the sterile ceiling. “When can I go home?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you’re a doctor. Surely, you can tell how long it will take me to heal.”
Moira looked pointedly at the officers outside. “It’s not up to me or any of the medical staff here, Quinn. It’s up to the government.”
“What?” she asked on a breath. “What does the government have to do with me? I pay my taxes.” She twitched her head at an escalating noise outside. “I don’t even have a speeding ticket on my record.” The noise grew louder, pricking her ears until they tingled. “What is that?”
“What’s what?”
“That noise. People. A crowd…jeering.” She lurched out of bed and hissed at the searing pain that blasted up her legs. With a groan of shock, she used the chair to steady herself, then shuffled over to the window. The gown she wore was backless, and she was giving Moira quite the show of her ass, but right now, she didn’t care so much about that. Below, thousands of people had gathered. Some held signs, but she could only read one from here.
Cage the Animals.
Animals?
A black SUV pulled through the crowd slowly, and when the door opened, she perked up. Dade and another blond-haired man filed out and made their way slowly through the crowd. The masses surged forward, clawing and touching them. Dade lifted his feral gaze, golden green, up to her window and held her frozen fast.
“What’s wrong with him?” she asked.
Moira inhaled deeply. “As far as I’m concerned, nothing is wrong with him. You either.”
Frowning, Quinn twisted. “Why has Dade come to see me?”
“Because Dade Keller is the reason you are here.”
Confusion washed over her, making it hard for her to breath. Indeed, he’d felt dangerous the first time she’d met him, and cold when he’d sped away from her on the street. “Dade set the fire?”
“No. Dade isn’t the one who put you here in this hospital, Quinn. He is the reason you’re still alive.” Moira stood and smoothed the wrinkles from her lavender scrubs. “You have about five minutes before he reaches this room.” She twitched her head toward the bathroom and smiled. “Push the button if you need me.”
Leaning heavily on the chair, then the bed, Quinn made her way to the bathroom and guffawed when she saw her pallid reflection in the mirror. She looked like an unwashed, unkempt vampire. With a growl, she sponged off in the shower, careful not to get her burns wet. Shaving her legs with the disposable razor on the lip of the shower sounded like hell, so she settled for shampooing her hair while bent forward under the water. Teeth brushed, face washed, and cheeks pinched, she shuffled out the door and froze. Dade sat on her rumpled hospital bed, shirt off and long, deep scars on his back exposed. Moira was checking something under a bandage across his shoulder. Eyes still blazing that feral color, he slid her a glance over his shoulder, then pulled his T-shirt back over his scarred body.