“Come to apologize?” Grisham said, barely looking up from the low embers in the hearth.

The man sat in a high-backed Queen Anne chair. His long legs extended from the tufted leather, and the top of his salt and pepper hair was all that showed from behind.

The morning paper sat on a tray with his breakfast and coffee beside his chair. The library was silent except for the soft crackle from the fireplace.

“I’m here to talk about Evelyn, not to apologize for shielding my patient from further trauma,” Pax replied.

Grisham finally turned. Red-rimmed eyes stared at Paxton for a moment before he gestured to the chair adjacent to where he sat. “Very well, Doctor. Coffee?”

Pax eyed the silver coffee pot and plate of scones and his stomach rumbled. “As much as I’d love to say yes, I think I’ll pass. I’m not here to exchange pleasantries.”

Evelyn’s father uncrossed his legs and sat straighter in his seat, his hands slipping to either chair arm. His skin was dotted with brown liver spots and held a strange pallor. Pax noticed both, but didn’t comment.

“I see. All business, eh. Okay then, son. What do you have to tell me about my Evie?” the old man asked.

Pax shook his head. “You’ve got it backwards, Senator. It’s not what I can tell you about Evie. It’s what you need to tell me about her. She was attacked. That much we know for certain. It’s also clear you found out well after the fact, and then chose to show up at the hospital in the middle of the night. If showing up at the hospital the moment you found out she’d been hurt was your kneejerk reaction, I might not find your choice of visiting hours so strange.”

“And?” Grisham asked matter-of-factly.

Pax continued, even though the man had turned his eyes back to the smoldering embers. “Like I said, had it been your kneejerk reaction. But it wasn’t, Senator. In fact, there wasn’t an ounce of shock in your scent. You weren’t stunned at what happened to your daughter. Your scent held a single layered trace. Guilt and deception.” He touched his hand to his nose. “Shifter senses.”

Grisham templed his fingers. “Ahh, a shifter and a doctor. That’s quite a combination. Tiresome, but interesting, nonetheless, and now you’ve come here thinking I can shed some light on what happened to Evelyn.” His gaze fixed on Pax. “What makes you think I know any more than you or the police?”

Paxton looked at the sumptuous room, tamping down his anger. His wolf growled, its claws itching to rip the composure right out of the man in the winged-back chair.

“Sir, I’m not here to play games. I’m here for answers, and you can either help me help Evie or I go to the police with what I know.”

The man’s unruffled calm wavered for a moment before sliding back into passive dispassion. “And what is it you think you know?”

“I know she was attacked by a shifter. One who possesses the ability to phase into different species. Most shifters in our world are dual-natured, so it wouldn’t be hard to track down the few gifted with unusual talents. Especially one who acquired those talents at a certain research facility with which you happen to be affiliated.”

Grisham turned. “Ferrell.”

“Yes.” Pax nodded. “Ferrell. I found the syringe used to inject Evelyn with mutated venom. I have my own pathologists working on decoding the components in order to extrapolate an antiserum, but the damn poison is acting more like a virus. A retrovirus to be exact.”

“Doctor Noble, are you telling me you are at an impasse, then?” Grisham asked.

Paxton nodded. “Yes. If we don’t find something to counter whatever is destroying your daughter’s tissues, she is going to die.” He stood from his chair. “I’m not prepared to let that happen. Not now. Not after twenty years.”

Grisham’s eyes narrowed and he stared at Pax for a long moment. Finally he nodded, almost absently. “The boy from the lake.”

Pax didn’t answer.

“It’s funny. I told my wife the moment Evie lashed out at me,” he lifted a hand to the scar on his face. “I told her you were the one. That Evelyn had found her mate.”

Pax took a step forward. “Then why did you send her away? Why did you exile her from me, from you and her mother, from everything and everyone she knew and loved? And who are these mysterious aunts?”

“I had to or she would have been a pawn long before now. Her mother and I had no choice but to send her out of the country in order to protect her. Her aunts were governesses I hired to see to her wellbeing. I’m not ashamed to say I had dirt on each of the three that guilted them into keeping our secret, but I think they truly grew to love Evie.” The old man exhaled, and he seemed to age a decade in that moment. “Evie’s mother never recovered. She carried on with our life, but it was a charade, and I was too stupid then to realize.” He looked at Pax. “I lost her to a broken heart.”

Sitting again, Pax stared at the man’s slumped shoulders. “And now you’re going to lose Evie all over again if you don’t help me find a way to save her. I need to see the research files from Farrell. There might be something in them that can help point to a cure.”

“Those files have been long gone, boy. But they wouldn’t have given you the something you seek.”

“Why? How do you know?” Pax argued.

Grisham stood from his chair. “Because, Doctor, it’s not a something you need. It’s someone.”

Paxton stood as well, his eyes taking in the strange color of the senator’s skin and the unusual spots. “You?”

“Yes. I allowed myself to be used as a test sample. It was for purely selfish reasons, like everything else I did in my life. I thought if I possessed the ability to shift into every creature on this earth and beyond, I could amass power and prestige like no other. Instead, I ended up a freak and owing my soul to more than one criminal entity for the money it cost.” Grisham’s eyes shifted from a milky brown to an unusual shade of green. His pupils went vertical and his skin seemed to shimmer with an iridescence, both the likes of a reptile.

“Senator?” Pax asked, taking a step back.

He chuckled a bit. “Don’t be alarmed, son. I’m often cold-blooded in more ways than just metaphorically. It’s why I’ve got a fire in the hearth in late May.”

“I appreciate this vote of confidence and humility, Senator. So what was with the bravado at the hospital the other night? If you had told me then what you’re telling me now, you could have spared Evie in the interim,” Pax shot back, annoyed.

Grisham exhaled again. “Old habits are hard to break, son. Especially ones where snapping your fingers gets you whatever you desire. I’m dying, boy, and the last thing I want is to see my daughter die before her time. She’s a rare beauty. Inside and out.” He smiled. “But I think you already know that.”

Paxton met his strange eyes. “What are you trying to tell me, Senator?”

A soft, sad smile creased the old man’s lips. “I’m saying if you want to save my daughter, all you need is me.” He chuckled a wheezy breath. “Or more precisely, my blood. It’s time for me to do something truly selfless for once. It may be the last chance I get to make things right.”