Once Finn got his fill of Bria’s breasts, his green gaze drifted up to her face to check out the rest of the perky package. He’d seen the same photograph of Bria that I had. It took him a second to recognize her, but when he did, Finn’s smile cracked, then flaked off his face like old paint. He blinked a couple of times, trying to make sure he was seeing exactly what he thought he was. When he realized that it really was Bria, Finn immediately looked down at me to see if I’d noticed her, if I’d recognized her. I nodded the tiniest bit to him.

“She’s not going anywhere. The paramedics aren’t here yet,” Bria repeated and stabbed her finger into Finn’s shoulder for emphasis.

That got Finn’s attention. He didn’t like anyone messing with his clothes, unless they were female and taking them off him. “I’m taking her to an Air elemental healer, and she’s going to get the best medical attention there is in Ashland as soon as I get her out of here,” Finn snapped. “Gin is my sister, and she’s coming with me. So back off, copper.”

Back off, copper? Geez. Finn had been watching too many old crime movies with Sophia Deveraux.

Bria’s blue eyes narrowed. “Why don’t we leave it up to Gin? See what she wants to do?”

Finn narrowed his own eyes in response. “Fine. She’ll tell you herself that she’s coming with me, detective.”

The two of them glared at each other another moment, before staring at me. Finn, his features pinched tight. Bria, looking just as serious as he did. The man I considered my brother and my long-lost baby sister. Emotions welled up in my chest, making it hard to breathe. Or maybe the sensation was just from all the internal bleeding I was suffering from tonight. Either way, it hurt.

But I really only had one choice in the end. Finn was my foster brother, my closest confidant, my best friend, the one person I trusted above all others. Bria was a mercurial ghost from my past, a stranger with an angel’s cold face. Gotta dance with the one who brung ya.

“Finn. I want… to go with Finn.” For more reasons than one, it pained me to force out the words through my broken jaw, but I did it anyway. Pain and I were old, old friends.

Bria frowned and looked at Finn, who gave her a haughty, smug, I-told-you-so smirk. She turned her attention back to me.

“All right. That’s your choice, ma’am. But before you go, can you tell me who did this to you? Who beat you?” Eyes hard, lips tight. Grim, determined features, but not unkind ones.

Detective Bria was just trying to do her job like an honest cop would. She seemed so… good. So protective of others. So willing to help. For some reason, all that made me proud of her. That she seemed to have grown up so strong. Right now, she still thought I was an innocent victim, instead of someone who’d brought all this on herself.