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“She married one. After her mate passed, she asked to be allowed to continue working with the histories.” It was a lot of information for Emma to absorb, but we didn’t have any time to waste.

“Oh.” Emma didn’t add anything else.

The door clicked behind us, and I directed Emma to the left, into my study. Overly stuffed bookshelves lined the walls. Volumes had been stacked high on the floor, some by my father, but many of them hadbeen collected by me. I stopped directly behind her as she took it all in. Her keys still sat on my desk where I’d left them.

“Wow,” she breathed. “I’m a real sucker for a man with a good library.” She gasped as though she hadn’t meant to say it aloud. Slowly, she turned blushing cheeks toward me.

“Well, I’m a sucker for any woman who appreciates my giant library,” I said, meaning to ease her concern, but it sounded like a blatant innuendo.

Her smile broke radiantly, and her eyes glittered emerald, making her seem regal.

She opened her mouth to speak, and I couldn’t drag my gaze away from her lips where a strand of her hair had caught on moisture on the bottom one. I reached to brush her hair aside.

The harsh sound of a clearing throat broke the spell. Dr. Wise stepped into the study, carrying a dark leather attaché case. “Mr. Blackwood? You sent for me?”

Emma took several steps backward and nearly tripped on an antique leather globe, left in the middle of the polished floor for some absurd reason.

I grabbed the globe and crossed to my desk, placing it on the floor behind, and nearly tripped on it myself when I had to step over it to take a seat in my desk chair. “Dr. Wise, meet Emma Carter.”

Dr. Wise’s eyebrows pinched together over the upper rim of her glasses. The short and aging doctor glanced at Emma. “Hello.”

I gestured for them both to take a seat across from me as Olivia hurried into the study. My beta had thegood sense to latch the door behind her, and Dr. Wise and Emma settled in the chairs. The manor wasn’t soundproof by any means, but a closed door cut down on any eavesdroppers, and I still wanted to keep all the latest developments under wraps.

Emma Carter was my private secret, and I wanted to keep her that way.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

logan

“Hey, Doc. Good to see you,” Olivia said, stopping at the small table with the good whiskey in the crystal decanter. She dropped ice from the tabletop ice maker on the shelf below the table into three glasses and poured whiskey in each one, two fingers deep, and sent a questioning look toward Emma, who nodded. A fourth glass joined the other three.

As Olivia handed out the drinks, I began. “Dr. Wise, I witnessed an event on Friday night. It must have been around midnight.”

The doctor accepted her whiskey, took a small sip, and scooted forward to the edge of her seat. The ice jingled against the glass. “Is that so?”

“I witnessed the event with my own eyes. There were no others in attendance at the time, so I cannot offer any other perspectives.”

She raised a finger. “One moment, Mr. Blackwood, please.”

“Yes?”

“May I have permission to make an audio recording?”

“Sure.” I stopped to consider her. We had so much to protect. “I trust you implicitly, and I know you won’t share what you learn with the other shifters.”

“Of course,” she agreed.

“And I’m only allowing you to record what’s happening for the sake of the shifters who will come after us. It’ll be the first time we have a recording of a multimorph and what happens.”

“I understand.” She reached into her attaché case, pulled out a recorder, a notebook, and an ink pen. After she placed the recorder in the center, on top of the stack of construction company contracts, she made a circle motion with her finger. “Go ahead. Please begin with your name, today’s date, and the date of the incident.”

After I recounted the date and the approximate times, I continued with my observation of Emma’s attack and subsequent double shift, reliving each moment. Olivia hadn’t yet heard the story, so she leaned on the closest bookshelf and kept her eyes glued to my face.

When I finished, Dr. Wise turned to Emma. “Mr. Blackwood forgot that you were also a firsthand witness of the events which happened on Friday night. If you don’t mind, Ms. Carter, can you give your version of events.”

Emma told her side, including the parts where shehad realized the mountain lion was watching her and my naked hanging out at her campsite. An hour slipped by without our realizing it, and Dr. Wise sat, shaking her head.

“You never realize how direct prophecy is until you see it fulfilled,” she commented.