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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

logan

“ H ey, 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 she had 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.

Emma scowled. “That sounds rather spiritual for a woman of science. Logan said mentioned the prophecy. What was he talking about?”

Dr. Wise warmed to the topic, always ready to discuss the lore she’d been studying for decades.

“Most shifters can only change into one kind of animal. However, a multimorph is being who can shift into multiple forms. The multimorph is meant to unite the shifter clans and herald a prolonged time of peace, usually by bringing all the shifters together against a common enemy. Really, multimorph isn’t the original term to describe it, but it’s the closest modern English terminology, and it stuck. ”

“Is that so?” Emma’s mouth twisted in disgust. “I’m not sure I believe in the whole prophecy mumbo-jumbo of it all.”

“That’s a reasonable response,” Dr. Wise agreed.

“Everything about this is foreign to you. While none of my family is a shifter, and I am not a shifter, my first husband was one. Since then, I’ve been trying to collect as much lore as possible into one place.

Many of the clans have their own versions of history.

By comparing the similarities and the differences, we learn more than any one clan could know on their own.

” She paused, and a shadow crossed her face.

“Much of it has already been lost because so much of it is shared orally.”

“None of the clans bother to write down their own histories?”

“No,” I said. “Not until I granted permission to Dr. Wise.”

Emma studied the ground. “It reminds me of the blank slate of adoption. When my parents adopted me, the process was as straightforward as it could have been. Two strangers took in a baby they’d never seen before.

My birthmother chose my parents from a waiting list, and essentially, I became theirs as soon as the contract had been signed.

I might have been two weeks old at the time, but my parents had been my parents for as long as I had lived.

” She took a deep breath. “I have no histories of my own either.”

I stood, placed my hands on the desk and leaned toward the doctor. One question had remained in my brain since the first time I had watched Emma change into animal versions of herself.

“Do you know of any time where a shifter has been able to take different forms that wasn’t the emergent multimorph?” I realized I was hunting for any possibility that Emma wasn’t the chosen one with big important shit to do, shit that didn’t include doing me.

Dr. Wise drummed her fingers on her pant leg and then pushed her glasses higher on the bridge of her nose.

She clearly chose her words carefully. “There’s nothing in our possession which declares degrees of multi-shifting.

Any occurrence of multimorph became the multimorph and emerged at the same time as a great threat.

Somehow, these two are tied together, like two sides of the same energy must be balanced. ”

“Then in your opinion…”

She pursed her lips, muttered to herself, and then tipped her head back and forth. “I would say…” Her voice trailed away. “Why, yes, based on your account and the information we currently have, I would say that Emma Carter is the emergent multimorph. She is meant to combat a great evil.”

“Likely Acheron since he’s the only great sorcerer around right now,” I said.

“And the disappearing shifters must be tied to it somehow,” Olivia added.

“Disappearing shifters?” Emma asked. “Is that a special skill or…”

I unlocked the drawer to my right and rummaged through it, searching for the answer to Emma’s question. “Ah. Here.” I withdrew a crinkled sheet of parchment with names listed on it. “This is the list of shifters who have disappeared from our communities. They’re organized by shifter type.”

She took the sheet from me and scanned the contents. “That’s a lot of different types.”

“All clans in Louisiana are represented there. We’ve reached out to shifter clans in other states and are currently compiling a list of those as well.” I paused. “It’s beginning to look like a nationwide problem. Maybe even a worldwide problem. ”

Emma placed the sheet of paper on the desk. “None of these are reported to the authorities?”

Olivia shook her head. “If we reported them, we’d risk exposing ourselves to the human world, and that’s not something we’re prepared to do. We do have our own investigators.”

Emma turned to Dr. Wise. “Do you have anything I can take home to read up on my condition?”

Dr. Wise blinked rapidly. “You do not have a disease.”

Emma’s shoulders drooped as though she’d suddenly taken on the weight of the world. “Maybe not, but it feels like a life sentence, and I’d like to read up on it.”

“I’ll compile some items and get them to you.”

“Thanks,” she murmured.

The reality of Emma’s position struck me for the first time.

I had pushed her to embrace her place in our history with open arms, pushed her into training immediately, and pushed her into an overflow of information.

Less than forty-eight hours ago, she’d been just a human with a successful business.

I had to admit she’d adjusted remarkably well for a young woman with most of her life still ahead of her.

Mark down another point in favor of Emma’s emergence as the multimorph.

“We should get you the tour of the grounds I promised you,” I said. “We haven’t done that yet.”

“Another time.” A sigh leaked from Emma, sounding like a deflating tired. She stood. “Need me for anything else?” she asked. “I’m probably going to grab some food before I head back to Willow Creek.”

“No, go ahead. ”

Head back to Willow Creek? She’s still going on about that?

“I’ll help,” Olivia said, meeting my gaze over the desk. I hoped my beta could talk some sense into Emma.

“I’ll go too,” Dr. Wise said, also standing.

“As I mentioned, I will compile a collection of historical information about multi-shifters on a thumb drive and bring it by as soon as I can. For obvious reasons, I don’t like to send anything classified via regular email. Do you have a secured email server?”

“Makes sense,” Emma said. “No, I don’t have a secure server. As a vet, it didn’t seem necessary.”

Dr. Wise reached into her attaché case, pulled out a handful of parchments, and placed them in front of me on my desk. “Meanwhile, I have these for you.”

“Thanks,” I said, not relishing the idea of another stack of nonsensical prophecies to go through. I’d much rather make time to share another meal with the new woman in my life.

If wishes were shifters…

They both escorted Dr. Wise out of the room, and I closed myself in my study to go over the notes while Olivia tried to talk Emma into taking time off from her practice and staying at the manor until she could defend herself from attacks.

A n hour later, I leaned back in my desk chair and rubbed my eyes. Emma’s laughter filtered through the walls, and the sound sent warmth through me. I liked her. As a person, as a woman, as a mate.

My thoughts returned to Friday night, when she’d been a willing and eager participant in what could have been an incredible night.

Nothing in the prophecies I’d read said I couldn’t bed her…

Though, nothing had said I could either.

As the alpha, I wasn’t accustomed to adjusting my desires to suit someone else, and I usually got what I wanted.

And I wanted Emma.

Fuck whoever she thought she craved in her bed. I intended to convince her she needed me. With the unsatisfied demand she’d lit in me, gods help her if she ever fated to another shifter. A white-hot fire burned between us, and it would take a long time to put out.

The sound of her laughter tickled my ears once more, sending an amplified rush of desire burning through my veins. What could be so funny out there? My curiosity brought me to my feet and into the foyer before I heard the familiar lilting voice of an unwelcome visitor.

When I stepped into the dining room, five shifters were seated at the table. Four of them belonged there, but the fifth?

Fuck no.

Jasper Sionnach had no business being in my house, making Emma laugh or making her eyes glitter like that. Her smile, every inch of her, belonged to me. Red creeped into my vision, and my skin burned as though I stood at the edge of a nuclear meltdown. My self-control slipped.

“What are you doing here?” I snarled at him, rage seething through to my bones.

Olivia stood almost immediately, stepping away from the table warily. She should have known better to let the fox into the manor when we had so much at stake.

The two other shifters also stood and took positions on either side of Olivia. Invisible apprehension snapped through the air.

“The nose wants what the nose wants,” Jasper said without shame and without cowering beneath my glare. He lounged nonchalantly in the table chair with an empty plate in front of him. “Besides, Miss Emma hasn’t mentioned being ready for me to leave. I believe she’s enjoying my stories.”

With effort, my hands remained fists at my side. Jasper had a nose. He knew I was furious about his presence.

“You must be exhausted after last night. Emma, and it’s been a busy day,” I said.

Emma’s gaze narrowed, and a new scent rolled off her. “Huh. I guess I must have gotten a second wind. Aren’t you sweet to worry. I feel fine, Lo-gan .” She drew out the syllables of my name and poured every bit of sickly sweet Southern threat into her words as she could.

My temper flared, and another snarl threatened. “Phil,” I commanded the shifter to the left of Olivia, “ escort Jasper from the premises. I’m sure he can find a more willing conversation partner elsewhere. Perhaps Rachel would be willing to take in the stray?”

Before Phil could move, Emma jumped up from her seat and swayed slightly before catching the back of the chair to steady herself. Fire flashed in her eyes, and a breath of wind stirred the strands of her hair. “Fuck off.”

Jasper’s mouth twisted into a smile, and his head swiveled between us. “Seems our foxy girl has sharp little teeth, ay, Logan?”

Our? Our? Mine! Emma was mine.

Emma screamed when I launched myself at Jasper, grabbed the back of his collar, and dragged him from the chair and out the front door. Then I tossed him on the seat of his pants onto the circle driveway next to Emma’s car.

Marching back inside did nothing to ease my fury, and I slammed the door behind me, wincing when the distinct sound of glass shattering filled the foyer.

“Dammit,” I bellowed.

I took an immediate left into my study, shoving a hand through my hair. Those windows would be harder than hell to replace.

“Emma,” I yelled, moving around to the other side of my desk to keep the large piece of furniture between us. “Get in here.”

A moment later, she appeared on the threshold with clenched hands and a clenched jaw as Olivia and the other two shifters passed behind her, presumably to check on Jasper and make sure he left our premises. At least they knew how the hierarchy worked, even if Emma didn’t.

I pointed at the wingback chair in front of my desk. “Sit.”

She raised her chin. In a deadly serious voice, she said, “I. Will. Not.”