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Draconian adaptogen with the hopes of synthesizing it. Of course, it would leave potential patients with a whole new set of problems, but some might consider it a small price to pay. At least they wouldn’t have to suffer the emotional difficulties she was now experiencing.
    They parked at the laboratories Domino had arranged for, then she and Domino flanked Icki, who seemed rather pale.
    He slanted Domino a jaded look. "I can’t look that bad."
    Domino just raised a weary brow and opened the door for him. "Just try to faint in my direction, if you can. You’ll flatten Bali."
    She shot him a look, but couldn’t argue the case.
    To her surprise, the Draconian doctor, Skye, was waiting for them in the lab. He glowered at Icki, who immediately dropped into a chair and leaned back, lids drooping. "What is he doing here?"
    Domino shrugged. "He would have followed us in a cab and fainted on the way here. He thinks he’s well enough to follow her around."
    Startled by the Draconian doctor’s presence, Bali demanded, "What is he doing here?"
    Skye ignored her and used his medical scanner on Icki. "Stay in the chair until we’re finished. That bullet nicked your heart, and it’s not appreciating the abuse."
    Bali glanced at Icki with concern, then jumped back when Skye pointed the scanner her way. "What are you doing? Icki was going to run the tests." Fear pounded in her chest, both familiar and powerful.
    Strange doctors with medical equipment freaked her out. It had taken her long enough to get used to Icki, and he’d been a friend first.
    "He’s in no shape to do more than hand holding today, and I’m not going to hurt you." Skye looked at her steadily, then glanced at Domino. "If it helps any, you might want to know that I’m Domino’s brother."
    Surprised, Bali glanced between them, distracted enough to let Skye run a quick scan. "I didn’t know."
    He set down the scanner and reached for a syringe. "We’re private about family ties. Arm." He reached for hers, and she leapt on top of the table, ready to take his head off if he got any closer. "Stay back!"
    Blind panic bolted through her, and she had a flashback to the last time her father had taken a blood sample. She’d been stronger then, more fearful, and he’d had to clean the blood from the table, walls and floor when he’d accidentally torn her vein in the attempt.
    Pain. She remembered the pain and her father’s soft, coaxing voice. Coaxing, soothing, then the hard hands grabbing her and strapping her to the table for another swim in the pool of horrors. Green fluid choking her, closing over her eyes, her face....
    "Bali." Domino’s snapped command made her look his way. Her gaze landed on Icki’s familiar, strained face before Domino blocked her view.
    "Get down, Bali. He’s not going to hurt you." His golden eyes locked with hers and wouldn’t let go. "Get down," he said, softer.
    A cold sweat dampened her face, trickled down the side of her face. Every scrap of martial training she possessed ran through her head as she assessed the Draconian’s soft targets. If they rushed her, she’d kick for the throat, then grab the syringe and toss it. A haze clouded her vision, and she shivered. She couldn’t go into the pool again!
    "Bali."
    Bali looked over at the quiet voice and saw understanding in Domino’s eyes. The moment shifted, became incredibly surreal.
    Slowly, Domino reached for her cold, damp hand. "Come down, little one. I won’t let him hurt you."
    She blinked hard. Nobody protected her. Her father had always done whatever he wanted to her, and nobody had ever stopped him. "You can’t," she said simply, stating a truth she’d learned with painful repetition.
    "I can. I will," he said harshly, his grip firming. "He won’t hurt you. I won’t let him."
    The moment stretched out, unreal, uncertain, but somehow his offer raised a fragile trust in her. She remembered the boy in the lab who had carried her to the couch, who’d spoken such