In His Keeping (Slow Burn #2)

He shrugged again, uncomfortable with discussing his financial status. Most of the Devereaux fortune was tainted money. Inherited from their parents, who had most certainly been involved in shady dealings. At least his father had. He had no way of knowing whether his mother had knowledge of his father’s dealings or was directly involved herself.

They’d put the money to good use and had made their fortune the old-fashioned way. By earning it through hard work and smart investing. People no doubt thought all their money had been inherited when, in fact, their parents hadn’t left them much, considering their net worth when they’d been murdered.

“Where are we going?” she asked, more firmly this time as if she’d shaken some of the numbness she’d experienced up to now.

“Someplace safe,” Beau said grimly. “Somewhere I can be sure of your safety so you don’t go off half-cocked in search of your parents. You hired me to do a job and that’s precisely what I intend to do. But you’re staying put where I stash you. The last thing I need is to have to worry about you when we’re trying to track your parents’ whereabouts.”

“I won’t get in the way,” she said softly. “If you believe you can find my parents, then you have my full cooperation.”

Satisfied with her promise, he carefully began cleaning the blood from Ari’s nose, face and ears. Some had even slithered in long trails down the sides of her necks to her shoulders and even lower onto her chest.

He did his best to preserve her modesty, leaving her bra on even as bloody as it was. The last thing he wanted was to embarrass her or make her self-conscious.

“I’ve never bled before,” she said in obvious confusion. “I don’t understand. You called it a psychic bleed. How could you possibly know what that is?”

Beau gently scrubbed the last of the blood from her face and inspected her to see if she’d incurred more bruising. He frowned when he saw thin cuts to her arms and hands, no doubt received when she’d crawled out of the overturned vehicle.

He set to work cleaning and then putting antiseptic on the cuts before covering them in light bandages.

“I’ve had experience with people with psychic abilities,” he said calmly. “The bleeds seem to occur when the psychic is concentrating very hard on an object or mental thread. It can be overwhelming. Sometimes it can seriously harm them.”

She shivered, her arms going around her body in a measure of self-protection. He nearly drew her back into his arms, like she’d been before, but he forced himself to maintain a professional distance. Chill bumps danced over her skin either from shock or worse. With the mental strain she’d undergone, her brain might be temporarily unable to regulate her body temperature. It firmed his resolve that as soon as they had her safely tucked away he was going to have her thoroughly checked out by a physician he trusted. One who had experience with psychic bleeds.

“I’ve never used my powers like that,” she admitted. “I had no idea if I could do something of that magnitude. In the past I’ve floated objects. Small things. My parents said that from the time I was an infant I would summon my two favorite stuffed animals to my crib. It freaked my mother out until they realized it was me doing it and not someone in the room with me without their knowledge. I was told never to use my powers and so I didn’t. It’s been years. And then the incident at the school. I didn’t think about it. It just came naturally. Automatic almost, as though I’d been using and honing my skills my entire life. And just now. Did you see those cars flip?”

There was incredulity in her question as if she didn’t quite believe it herself.

Beau nodded. “Indeed I did. Very impressive.”

“I had no idea,” she said in a grave tone. “I have to find a way to control it now that it seems to come so naturally to me. I don’t want to hurt someone or, God forbid, kill someone by using my powers.”

Beau tucked his hand underneath her chin and turned her face so she looked him in the eye. “You’ll get it under control. What you did today seemed very controlled to me. You didn’t blow up anything. You just made it so they were incapacitated.”

Her face wrinkled in silent question. Then she flashed those mesmerizing eyes as she looked up at him.

“Do you think I could blow something up? I mean if I pictured it in my mind?”

Beau was hesitant to answer. Ari on a mission could be a serious wild card and impossible for DSS to do their jobs if she chose to go out on her own, confident in her ability to do anything. And maybe she could. But he’d be damned if she went after the bastards who held her parents alone.

“Is that how you caused them to flip and crash?” he asked calmly. “By picturing it in your mind?”