Page 54 of Shifter's Secret Baby

Alarm shot through me at the confession. It took all I had in me to hide the fact.

“Why?”

Rachel eyed me, as if to say, “Do you really care?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t look well earlier.”

I looked at my assistant suspiciously. Her heart was probably in the right place, but I didn’t need her matchmaking right now, and I couldn’t be sure if she was being truthful or simply trying to pluck at my non-existent heartstrings. My head was already in enough turmoil.

“She looked fine to me, and she didn’t mention anything.”

Rachel rolled her eyes.

“What?”

“I’m sure she would have told you if she was feeling sick when you kicked her out.”

“You better watch yourself, little girl,” I hissed, annoyed. “Sometimes I think you forget there’s a line.”

“Okay.” She turned finally to leave me alone in the office, closing the door behind her, but work was impossible to focus on now.

I stared at the closed door for a long moment before grabbing my cell phone.

“Where the hell have you been?” I demanded when Avalon answered.

“And a very good evening to you, my dear,” the wizard purred sweetly. “I was thinking about you not twenty minutes ago.”

“Thinking about me doesn’t help me, Avalon. I’m waiting for information on that fae line I asked about.”

Avalon chuckled, unbothered by my annoyance. “And obviously, my sweet, if I had any such information, I would have given it to you, but I did warn you that tracing ancestry that old would be tricky. Going back two thousand years is not without its problems.”

Disappointment welled up inside me. If Avalon couldn’t trace the fae’s line to the present day, there would be absolutely no hope of lifting the curse early.

“Why do you need this particular fae line, anyway?” Avalon pushed. “There are many powerful fae families who could probably solve any ailment you’re suffering. I could recommend—”

“I need the Ambroses, Avalon. Find them.”

“I haven’t given up,” he assured me. “But calling me with grumpy voices isn’t going to move things along.”

I gritted my teeth together so hard, they made cracking sounds in my mouth.

“Fine,” I conceded. “I have another job for you.”

“Oh?”

Others could do what I was going to ask of Avalon, others who had done some of this due diligence already when I’d contracted to go into business with the man in question, but the wizard had better connections.

“I want all the information you can find on Dr. Barney Madison.”

Avalon was silent for a moment, and I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head through the phone.

“Why does that name ring a bell for me?”

“I couldn’t say. But I would like you to find out.”

“Am I required to go back two thousand years for this investigation?”

“No,” I sighed. “He’s alive… for now.”

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