Bridget was about to call it a day when her phone rang with Kian's ringtone.

"Hey, Kian. What's up?"

"Can you stop by my office on your way out? There is something I need to discuss with you."

"I'll lock up the clinic and come over in a few minutes."

"No new patients?"

"Thank the merciful Fates. There was too much excitement down here lately. I want some quiet time in my lab doing research."

"I'll see you in a few." Kian hung up.

Bridget smiled as she took off her doctor's coat and hung it on a peg. Like her, the guy was not much for small talk, which made their infrequent interactions short and to the point. Whatever Kian needed to talk to her about wouldn't take long. Which was good since it was late, and she had plans for tonight. Not that her plans couldn't wait. The girls could go ahead, and she could join them in the club later.

After all, Kian rarely invited her into his office to discuss anything, and whenever he did, it was important. Bridget was much more interested in what he had to say, than in another depressing night at a club.

She was so tired of the endless revolving door of human lovers.

Bridget wasn't a romantic, and she wasn't waiting for her one truelove mate, but she would have liked a steady companion. To witness one Dormant after another transition was exciting and uplifting, they brought her and the entire clan hope. But as she watched the joy on their immortal mates' faces, Bridget couldn't help the pang of envy. She wanted that too.

For a little while, she'd hoped Andrew would fill that need, but regrettably, the glue that binds people together had been absent from their short fling.

He had fallen for Nathalie even before ending things with her.

It had stung, even though Bridget had found an interesting guy at the same time, but hers had turned out to be yet another disappointment, while Nathalie had turned out be Andrew's truelove mate.

As she strode down the corridor toward Kian's office, Bridget reminded herself that it was wrong to begrudge Andrew and the others their happiness. After all, she should count herself lucky. She was blessed with a wonderful son to love, which was more than many of her clan members had, especially the males, who without an immortal partner had no way of producing immortal children.

Pushing the door to Kian's office open, she walked in and took a seat across from him at his desk. "I think this is the first time ever that you’ve invited me to this office for a talk."

Kian frowned. "I remember you sitting here many times."

"I initiated several meetings to talk to you about my research and the equipment I needed. The other times were in my capacity as a council member, together with the other council members."

He tapped his fingers on the desk. "I guess there was nothing

I needed to discuss with you before, but now there is."

"I'm all ears."

"Do you know who Turner is?"

"Of course. Andrew's boss from his days in Special Ops. He is the guy who helped us find where the Doomers were holding Carol."

"Right. Since then we’ve worked together on several projects. Turner is the best at what he does. He also knows who and what we are."

Bridget raised both brows. The one law no clan member dared to break was keeping their existence secret from humans. "Why?"

"He needed to know what he was dealing with when he helped us with the Doomers. I knew that the man was too smart, cautious, and suspicious for a thrall to work on, so the only other option was to eliminate him. Naturally, I couldn't do it after the invaluable service he had provided us with. Besides, keeping secrets is what he does. His professional reputation depends on that. On top of that, I wanted to have him available in case I needed more of what he could do, which I did on more than one occasion."

Bridget couldn't fault Kian's logic, but lately they had all been too lax about secrecy, and it was making her uncomfortable.

"You're the regent. I have to trust that you know what you're doing."

"Half of the time I'm not sure." Kian smiled sheepishly. "But don't tell anyone."

"Unless you screw up royally, I won't."

"Did I ever?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Kian was the right person for the job—smart, dedicated, decisive, and fair.

"Good. Back to Turner. I had him do some investigative work for me about human trafficking. In part, because we know the Doomers are buying girls, and in part because of Eva's interest in the subject and what she'd shared with me. I met with him yesterday, and what he reported was much worse than I thought."

"It's horrific. I read an article about it." It had been a difficult piece that had haunted her for weeks. The level of cruelty some humans were willing to inflict on others, children in particular, was incomprehensible to her.

Kian nodded. "Aptly, Turner called it a worldwide plague. He came up with an idea of what we can do about it. I want to run it by you. It's a crazy plan, and I need a logical person's perspective on it. This is too big and too emotionally laden for me to make a rational decision. I'm afraid my heart would do the thinking for me."

Bridget was flattered. Out of everyone Kian could've talked with, he'd chosen her. "That should be interesting."

When Kian was done talking, Bridget regretted not taking notes. Turner's plan was extremely involved and costly with a large number of variables, each of which could render it undoable.

"I can't give you an answer, Kian. I need time to think about it, and we need more people to do the thinking with us. A team. We need Eva because she has experience in the field. We need Vanessa to evaluate the psychological aspects of dealing with traumatized girls, and we also need the council members. Each of them has expertise that can contribute to the discussion."

A pained expression on his face, Kian raked his fingers through his hair. "I don't have time to run our business and take this on as well. I wish I could, but I'm already stretched to the point of becoming ineffective."

"You need someone else to head this project."

"Like who?"

Bridget didn't hesitate for a moment. "Like me."

"This is a full-time job. Who will manage the clinic while you are doing this?"

"I can have Julian take over for me."

"Didn't he just start his residency?"

"He is about done with the first year and has two more to go. But Julian doesn't intend to work with humans. His end goal is to come back home and practice either here or in Scotland. He doesn't need to complete his residency for that."

"That's a big decision for you and for him."

"It is. As I said, I need more time to think about it. Did Turner leave you any materials I can go over?"

"No. He only had a preliminary report and wanted to check with me before putting more work into it."

"Then I'll wait with my decision until he is done."

Kian raked his fingers through his hair again, a sure sign that he was uncomfortable about something. "You can ask him in person when I send him to you for an evaluation. He wants to attempt transition."

"Is he a Dormant?"

"No, but for some reason, Turner thinks he might be. The man has cancer, and instead of going for conventional treatment, he decided he wants to become immortal like Andrew. I told him it's your call."

Coward.

"Thanks a lot." Bridget crossed her arms over her chest. "You kicked the can down the road."

"I know, but I couldn't say a flat out no. He knows too much about us, and as I've mentioned before, he is too valuable to get rid of."

"How old is he?"

"Older than Andrew by several years. I guess he is forty-six or seven."

"Great. I have to tell him no."

"Not necessarily. If he is not a Dormant, the induction will not harm him."

"That's true."

"And there is no reason to believe he is a Dormant other than him wanting to be."

"True again. So what do you want me to do with him?"

"I don't really know. It's up to you. In any case, you need to talk to him about his plan. If you decide that we should go for it and that you still want to head the project, you will be working with Turner. You might as well get to know him now."

Nevertheless, she was still stuck with being the bad guy who would have to tell Turner yes or no. "Where do you want me to meet him?"

Kian grimaced. "He knows about the keep, not because anyone told him, but because he had Andrew and me followed. He also deduced what Andrew went through on his own. The guy is extremely good at what he does and too smart for his own good. Tell me when it's convenient for you and I'll let him know. He can come down to your clinic."

"Tomorrow at six. I want to examine him after hours."

"Good thinking. The fewer people he meets, the better."