Free Roar For More (Online Shifter Dating Agency Romance) by Sasha Winter

thought, picturing Jesse in her mind again.
    She considered calling him right there and then to reconfirm his availability for the hike the next day. She was still shaken by her near-death experience and felt no shame in needing his company again, even though she now knew where the reservoir was. Even the added factor of kissing him did not make her feel shy in this regard; they were comrades on this mission now, and it felt good to have an ally outside of the lab. Of course, what delayed her was his blood sample—he was also technically one of her patients now and she had a duty of care for him.
    When the analysis was complete she was shocked and worried. It wasn’t the fact that he had definitely contracted the disease—something she had suspected all along—but that it had progressed further than her observations of his condition had led her to expect. Time would be of the essence, but then an epiphany came to her and she realized something might be done in the meantime. She knew enough about the disease now to suggest nutrients that might strengthen the system against its attack, even if a cure was still beyond her.
    It was eleven P.M. by the time she’d run a few more tests and picked up her cell phone.
    “Hey!” came Jesse’s voice at the other end.
    “Jesse, how are you feeling?” she asked, doing her best to sound upbeat so as not to alarm him.
    “Oh, you know. A little exhausted but I’ll be fine.”
    Already she knew him well enough to know that this meant he was very exhausted and had no idea whether he would be fine. She took a deep breath as she tried to measure up the best way of relaying the news without causing great anxiety.
    “Okay. There’s good news and there’s bad news…and then there’s other bad news, but there’s also other good news.”
    That went well. Try speaking English next time, she scolded herself.
    “Take your time, Aubrey, I’m all ears,” came his response after a confused pause.
    “Okay, I’m going to give you the second piece of good news first, which is that I think I’ve found a way of keeping this virus at bay, at least for a while, by suggesting you add a particular food source to your diet.”
    “Because you’re giving me this advice, I take it that one of the pieces of bad news is that I have the disease?”
    “That’s right. Sorry. I’m being insensitive.”
    “Nah, it’s fine. So what is it that I need to eat in order to feel better?”
    “You’re going to love this one, Jesse…”
    “Go on then.”
    “You need to eat lots of broccoli. There are certain phytochemicals in it that help.”
    “Broccoli? Aubrey, you’re hilarious,” he said dryly.
    “I know. Please believe me when I say I’m getting no sick pleasure out of this.”
    “You’re not fooling me that much, but I’ll let you off. So what are the other two pieces of good and bad news?”
    “Well, the good news is that I have ascertained there is a rogue chemical compound being introduced to the water supply. We’re onto this thing. The bad news is that I don’t know exactly what it is yet. There simply has to be some kind of automatic dispenser at the reservoir facility, and I can’t think where else it would be other than that office.”
    “It’s as you suspected then; we’ll need to go back with a key.”
    “You up for it, tiger?” she asked, a cheeky grin on her face even though she knew he couldn’t see her.
    “Absolutely, let’s sort this thing. After I’ve slaughtered some broccoli at least. That should make me feel well enough, right?”
    “I hope so. Make sure you do.”
    “You got it. See you tomorrow.”
    After hanging up, Aubrey realized she was grinning from ear to ear. What was that all about? A professional medical worker wasn’t supposed to have a smile plastered across her features when she informed patients they had a rare and deadly disease. Luckily no one was around to witness her unprofessionalism.
    Her last task before getting some much-needed