Page 236

“So someone is taking care of the good doctor.” I don’t need her to send me that file; I have a feeling I know exactly who is funding him.

“So it would seem. Albertson used to be one of the top researchers in inter-species genetics. Especially Designation Biology, dynamics, and instability. He was brilliant, but a bit of a recluse.”

“Yeah, I remember him.” I start typing, pulling up some of my own files. “He got blackballed after performing unauthorized treatment on a Human-Wolven hybrid kid, right? The one whose body was rejecting his designation during puberty?”

“That’s him.” She confirms. “Stabilized him, but the ethics board tore him a new asshole. He lost his license and vanished. According to them, what he did was wrong.”

“Morally grey area,” I mutter.

I can hear the approval in her tone. “Exactly. No one else would touch that kid to help him. Albertson did, and lost everything for it.”

”Fates,” I breathe, pulling up what I can. “This is an absolute shit-show.”

“I’m going to keep running tests,” Whitetail insists. “This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen. I know when you called me originally, you said the blood was exhibiting unusual markers, but you really undersold this shit, Daxen.”

“I told you I didn’t know what the hell it was,” I remind her.

“You did. Now neither of us knows what the hell it is, except that it’s far above both our pay grades. This isn’t just the kind of scientific discovery people die for, Daxen,” she warns. “This is the kind of scientific discovery people would sell their souls for.”

Vae flicks his gaze to me and raises a brow in question. I already know what he’s going to ask. Will she fuck us over?

I give him a tight shake of my head. Whitetail won’t sell us out. She’d lose everything she’s painstakingly worked to curate over the last eight decades. If she wanted to sell us out, that means exposing herself, and attention is the one currency she won’t dabble in.

No, Whitetail will demand something else.

And I can fill in the blanks just fine on my own.

“I don’t have more than the vial Caelan found at the estate,” I admit.

Her reply is immediate. “I want it.”

She wants more information and freedom to run her own studies, which she can’t do with the small amount I provided her. And to be honest, I don’t have the time, the bandwidth, or the equipment to do it myself.

“You share every single experiment, study, theory, or note with me, and it’s yours.”

“Done,” she agrees.

“Don’t make me track you down.” My voice is ice cold, but it’s important she understands exactly what I’m threatening. “I’ve never pushed to meet face-to-face because we have a good working relationship. And frankly, I respect your desire to stay the fuck away from people. But I don’t need to tell you that I already have everything I need to knock your door down in under twenty minutes. Don’t make me regret giving you my trust. I like you, kid. I’d hate to rip off your head and watch your corpse burn.”

“I don’t want to share this with anyone, Daxen,” she shoots back. “I want to figure out what the fuck it is and who it belongs to. On my own.”

My eyes flick to Vae. He lifts a shoulder in a lazy shrug. ‘Don’t you dare put this decision on me, asshole.’

I sigh, prepared to capitulate.

Silas taps me on the shoulder, and when I glance at him, he mouths, ‘You should keep some.’

I wave him off. I already planned to. I trust Whitetail, but not so thoroughly that I wouldn’t keep back a bit for my own experiments. Just in case.

I open my mouth to respond, but Silas whispers, “I want to see what kinds of flowers it grows.” The excited grin on his face is genuinely unsettling.

Fates, Fuck my life.

Of course, that would be his primary concern. I’ll have to hide the vial to keep him from growing his own personal Secret Garden. With our luck, the flowers will grow ten feet tall and eat him.

“I’ll send it via secure drop in the next twenty-four hours, so be ready.”

“Perfect,” she replies, and hangs up. I know I won’t hear from her again until she has more information—that, or more warped results that make my blood pressure spike.