Emma nodded. “He’ll come around. Do you love him? It’s so much easier if you love the dimwits.”
Janie swallowed. “Yes. I’ve loved him for so long, but the reality is more intense, you know?”
“I do know, and if you ever need to talk, I’m still your favorite aunt.” Emma sighed and rubbed her shoulder, glancing back at her notes.
“Always,” Janie said softly. “How often do you call the king a dimwit?”
Emma chuckled. “He needs to be kept humble, you know. So every time I want to get tossed into the pool, I make sure to call him a name. My favorites are dimwit, dipshit, and asshat.”
Janie laughed. Her aunt was a brave woman, to be sure. She nodded to the papers. “What are you so preoccupied with?”
“I was just examining your latest blood tests and can’t believe how quickly your chromosomal pairs are multiplying. This speed is unheard of.”
“So I’m immortal?” Pleasure caught on Janie’s breath.
“Not yet, but soon.” Emma blinked and wiped off her forehead. “I have had the worst headache all day.”
Janie peered closer. “Your brow is damp.” Her aunt never perspired, and the lab was kept cool. She hustled across the room to feel Emma’s forehead. “You’re all clammy.”
Emma blinked. “Now that’s odd.”
Immortals so rarely became ill that Janie felt for her aunt’s pulse. “Your heartbeat is sluggish. What is going on?”
Heavy footsteps echoed outside the doorway, and Janie’s dad rushed inside with Moira in his arms. “She passed out,” Talen said, laying her down on an examination table.
Moira? Janie ran toward the table. Moira was one of the most powerful people Janie had ever met. She didn’t just pass out. “Was there any warning?” Janie asked, feeling for a pulse.
“No,” Talen said.
The door banged open again and Conn Kayrs ran inside, his gaze immediately landing on his mate. “What the hell happened?” His green eyes flashed a deadly threat, but when he reached out to hold Moira’s hand, his movements remained gentle.
Janie frowned at the slow pulse. “How long has she been out?”
“Not even a minute,” Talen said, staying close to the table.
“Excuse me?” said a quiet voice from the doorway.
Janie turned to see her aunt, Amber Kayrs, leaning heavily against the door frame. “Amber?” she asked, just as the woman started falling.
Talen pivoted and caught her before she could hit the floor. “What in holy hell?” he muttered, turning and carefully placing her on another examination table. “Somebody call Kane.”
Janie nodded. Kane was not only Amber’s mate but the smartest vampire on the planet. If something was going on, they needed him in the lab. Now. “Emma is near the phone.” Janie turned and gasped.
Emma sagged against the counter as if the granite could hold her up. All color had deserted her face, leaving even her lips nearly white. Her eyes fluttered closed.
“Emma!” Janie cried out, just as her aunt pitched forward.
Chapter 22
Janie retrieved data spit out by the nearest printer, her heart aching. Nearly her entire family had converged in the lab, heating the oxygen, but at least now everyone had regained consciousness.
Emma pushed off from a table, and Dage slipped an arm under her shoulder to half-carry her toward Kane. “What do you see?” Emma asked.
Kane turned around, his violet eyes nearly as dark as the natural cotton shirt he wore. It looked like silk, but with a vegan as a mate, he’d quickly discarded all silk in favor of plant-based materials. “You all are infected with a mutated Virus-27.”
The room roared into silence. Deadly, stunned silence.
“How?” Talen growled.
