"Mmpphh!"
Leaving him protesting incoherently, she went back to the Jeep. Her lingering sore throat and bruises left her not very inclined toward sympathy. He didn't seem to be outright trying to kill Gio, but that could change at any moment, and he certainly hadn't had any compunctions about almost killingher. She could see no reason to be overly nice in return.
She poured some water from the big jug onto a cloth and bathed Gio's face and wrists. To her relief, after a few minutes of this, he stirred and woke, blinking at her with dazed eyes that abruptly sharpened.
"Javic—" he began, pushing himself up on his elbows.
"Tied to a tree." And still where she had left him, a quick glance reassured her.
She helped Gio sit up and drink.
"How do you feel?" she asked.
"Okay. Starving. Did you bring any of the food?" he asked hopefully.
"All I have is cold stew. I could fire up the camp stove—"
"Cold is fine."
She opened a can, stuck a spoon in it, and handed it to him. Gio ate with polite manners but desperate speed, almost inhaling it.
"Sorry," he said, pausing for breathing. "I don't know—I get like this sometimes, just desperately hungry, I've never felt anything like it."
"Shifting uses energy," Max said. "So does fast shifter healing. Hasn't anyone explained all of this? Have you had anyone to show you how to be a shifter? I thought you had that friend—"
Gio shook his head. Between bites he said, "I don't dare be around him. He has a mate and a niece with a baby. I don't want to bring danger to them."
Max thought of herself as alone, cut off from her clan. But now she realized that she never truly had been. She had grown up in the company of shifters, learning the ways of her animal self and the unique physiological needs of shifter bodies as naturally as she had learned to walk and speak. Whatever the flaws in her upbringing, the rituals and the fierce traditions of her clan that had eventually driven her away, she had never been made to feel anything less than proud of her shifter heritage and comfortable with what she was.
She dug out the Sterno stove, her battered tin cookpan, and some more cans. "Here," she said. "Why don't you make dinner, and I'll see about our guest."
"Be careful," Gio said. He finished the last of the stew while she filled a metal camp cup with water and dug into the medkit. "He could be faking."
"I've got this," Max reassured him, hoping it was true.
She took the cup over to Javic, who was slumped against his tree, eyes half closed. He opened his eyes in a glower when she crouched beside him.
"I know you probably feel like hell, even if you heal as fast as we do," she told him. "I brought you some water and Tylenol. We'll have food soon."
She took off the gag, completely this time, and held the cup for him so he could swallow the pills.
"You're being awfully nice to me," he muttered after draining the cup. His voice sounded slightly hoarse. "If you're just going to torture me, there's no need to bother with this."
Her stomach twisted a little. "We're just going to ask you questions. Here, I need to make sure there's nothing on you that you can use to send a signal, a phone or anything."
"There's not," Javic said.
"Excuse me if I'm not going to take your word for that."
She patted him down and found that he was telling the truth. More of the robe fell apart as she examined it for hidden pockets, but there was nothing. Beneath the robe he wore a T-shirt, also burned through in places—she glimpsed tattoos on his pale skin underneath—and a pair of jeans. He didn't even have a wallet, but in his back pocket she found a small leather sleeve with a photo tucked inside.
For the first time, Javic showed a reaction—anger and misery. "Give that back!"
"Just a minute," Max said. She pulled the photo out and examined it.
The picture showed a thin blonde girl propped up on pillows in a bed. She looked about twelve or thirteen. Her hair was neatly braided with ribbons, and she was smiling widely at the camera with what looked like genuine delight, as if she was happy to see whoever was behind it.
"Who is this?"
