He drew back, both dark eyebrows rising. “I didn’t know that was a secret.” Confusion clouded his gaze before quickly clearing. “It’s okay. Sometimes the skill takes time.”

Oh, God. Now Adare was trying to reassure her.

Jacqueline nodded, the glitter in her eyes cutting. “That’s true. Did you just get mated recently?”

“Five years ago,” Benny said helpfully.

For the first time, Grace understood the expression of someone wanting the ground to open up and swallow them whole. It had never made a lot of sense before. Now, she got it. “I haven’t had much chance to work on the skill. My job doesn’t get too dangerous.” Yep. That sounded lame.

Benny nodded. “Grace is an amazing photographer. She captures moments nobody else sees.”

Jacqueline patted her shoulder. Actually freakin’ patted her. “So, you take pictures. That’s nice.” If any more condescension dropped from her mouth, it’d stain the snow.

“Well, there’s a skill to getting the right angle and moment that are beyond many, ah, people,” Grace returned smoothly. Yep. Direct hit right back at ya, dumb animal. Her phone buzzed, and she glanced at the face. “Um, I have to take this. Excuse me.” She lifted the phone to her ear and dodged inside. “Hey, Doc,” she whispered, heading for the kitchen. “Tell me you have good news.”

“Nope,” Dr. Palendrom said, his cheerful disposition gone. “Your bloodwork is worse, meaning the mating is completely disappearing from your body, which isn’t a surprise since you mated without the sexual component.”

Yeah, no kidding. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “If my chromosomes unravel from mate to human, will I end up back in a coma?”

“I have absolutely no clue,” the doctor said. “This is uncharted territory.”

Okay. She’d never asked this, but she had to know all the facts. “What if we mate again?” Not that she’d ask Adare. But still.

“Again, I don’t know, but it looks like his cells are attacking yours instead of strengthening them, so if I had to bet, I’d wager that a second mating would kill you.” The doctor sighed. “You really need to see the queen—she’s the expert in this situation. Well, with genetics. There never has been this situation.” He coughed. “I’m totally guessing, but if you took the virus, negated the mating and somehow survived, you could conceivably mate some other immortal whose cells don’t try to kill you.”