Page 39 of Stolen Mate

Lara rushed across the expanse of the loft, throwing herself at Tess and hugging her tight.

“I’m so glad you’re home. Did you leave your bags down in your SUV? I just got back with breakfast. Let’s eat it while it’s hot, and then put your feet up and I’ll go get your bags. I had a really light day, so I had them move my appointments and gave the staff the day off with pay. I know you haven’t been gone long, but it feels like ages. I invited myself to hang out, eat lots of food, and maybe binge watch something.” Lara barely took a breath as her plans spilled out of her. “God, I hate flying. They squish you in like a sardine.”

“Not in first class,” said Tess, picking up her food, which Lara had taken out of the take-out boxes and put on plates.

She looked at her dining table, and opted for the comfortable sectional, facing Puget Sound.

“First class?” asked Lara, following her to the couch. “Since when do you fly first class?”

“Since some nice guy who hates flying and was sick had me upgraded so he could have the row to himself. I have to tell you, once you fly first class, you’re not going to fly any other way.”

“Were you able to track down your mother’s people?”

Tess set her fork on her plate and her plate on the coffee table. “Let’s be real clear. My mother is the same person she’s always been, the same one who’s your mother, and the one who we recently lost.”

Tears welled in Lara’s eyes. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that.”

“Okay, now that we’ve got that settled,” Tess said as she picked up her plate and fork and resumed eating. “I got so confused trying to remember to say ‘birth mother’ or ‘mother who raised me.’ So, I just decided Mom is Mom and I will refer to the woman who gave birth to me by her first name, which is Teresa.”

“Do you think Mom and Dad knew?”

“Yes. I think they named me for her.”

“Did you find out if the adoption was legal?”

“Not for certain. I decided not to pursue that as I didn’t want Mom and Dad to be seen as having done anything wrong.”

“But if it wasn’t a legal adoption…”

“Teresa was their guide on their last trip to the Alaskan bush. They found Teresa mortally wounded in the wilderness with me not far away. Her dying request was for mom and dad to take me and run from her abusive spouse’s family and keep me safe. They honored that request.”

There would be time enough to fill Lara in on all the details, but that pretty much covered it—well except for the part that their father had shot Teresa when she was a polar bear-shifter, but that could come later.

“So, what did you find?”

“I found some people who had heard Teresa’s story. It wasn’t pretty, and I found out something very unique and unusual about her. Something she passed down to me.”

“Like a genetic trait or disease?” asked Lara, concerned.

“Not a disease and nothing bad, but I’m going to tell you something that is pretty fantastical and that you have to swear you’ll never tell another soul.”

“I would never tell anyone anything confidential you shared with me. You know that.”

“I do, which is why I’m trusting you. My life and those of others could be badly compromised if you tell anyone.”

Lara put her empty plate down on the coffee table and took her sister’s empty plate, placing it beside hers, and then took Tess’s hands into her own. “Are you dying?”

Tess laughed and squeezed her sister’s hands. “No. In fact, I’m told I have a genetic predisposition to a longer, healthier life, and shouldn’t have much of a weight issue.”

“Can we do a blood transfusion? That sounds good; I’d like to sign up for that.”

“If after you hear what I have to say, it’s what you want, I can arrange it.”

“That’s not how blood transfusions work,” Lara said, looking perplexed.

“I know. Technically it wouldn’t be a transfusion, but my blood could overwrite your base DNA.”

The look of confusion on Lara’s face intensified. Tess figured it was best to try and explain it to her in as scientific a manner as she could.

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