Chapter 70: Seventy.

"I did try and tell you she wouldn't go for it." Isla remarked, to an annoyed Kalvin.

"Isla," He growled warningly at her, annoyed at the fact his plans had hit a sticking point, and that his mate was basically bragging about being right.

But before he could do or comment on anything further, Colt grabbed the magazine her Mom had left on the unit and whacked him across the back of the head with it

"Don't you dare growl at my Mother because she was right, and you aren't getting your own way." She bit at him, feeling her inner hackles rise as she jumped to her Mom's defense.

Isla couldn't help but laugh at this, as Kalvin stood there with his mouth agape. Colt had never behaved like this before when they bickered. Oh, they knew she disliked it, but it was normally one of their boys who got involved to stop it. Due to their animalistic side breaking through in a protective way. This was the first time Colt had experienced it, and neither of them could keep a straight face afterwards, in a way, it was kind of cute.

Colt however, was feeling riled up as her hazel eyes began dilating, the pupils shifting to an almond shape as she zeroed in on the percieved aggressor in the room.

"Colt," Her Dad spoke calmly, "I would never, never hurt your Mother. She's my everything." He said calmly, as Colt's eyes darted between the two of them.

Isla wrapped her arms about Kalvin's waist and pulled herself close to him, insertkng herself between Colt and her father. She kissed him on the cheek softly, before turning to her daughter, "He's right, Sweetie, I'm absolutely fine."

Colt's eyes blinked repeatedly a few times, before she shook her head back and forth snapping out of it. "What happened?" She asked confused.

"Your Father growled at me, and then you," She started to laugh, "Well, you fllowed through on what were, my very empty threats throughout our years together." Isla smirked.

"I what?" Colt asked confused further by her Mom's response.

"You hit me across the head with a folded up magazine." Kalvin said, still in partial disbelief, while nodding towards Colt's hand.

Colt looked at her hand to see the magazine. The magazine that now had torn up slits ripped through it, from where her claws had extended out and punctured then torn it, and her eyes almost bulged out of her head looking at it. "Oh crap! Dad, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to" She said initially in shock, before she was carried along by her parents laughter.

Kalvin flopped into the seat beside the bed, shaking his head, then rubbing his hands down his face. "Well, I feel completely unmanned."

To which Isla and Colt burst out laughing again, tears streaming down their faces, as they went until they were all laughed out.

Kalvin sighed at the women as they were cackling on the bed. Once they appeared calmer, he began to speak hoping Colt would see reason. "On a serious note, Colt, you need to seriously reconsider. Your connection with Elijah is dangerous. He is dangerous. I want him gone and completely out of your life."

Colt openly rolled her eyes at her Dad, "Yes, and you seem more than happy to rip away half of my soul to do so. Not to mention, you would be passing a death sentence on him."

"That bastard doesn't deserve to live." Kalvin cut in snarling, riling his daughter up further.

"Says who? You?" Colt challenged her father, her frustration growing at her Dad's arrogance. "And on exactly who's authority do get to be judge and jury?"

"Colt. Be reasonable, we almost lost you!" Kalvin threw back at her, his voice steadily rising.

"But, you didn't." She spat back viciously. "And who would I be anyway, if I lost half of myself? Elijah is as good as dead to me now, after what he's done, I want nothing more to do with him. But, he is still mine!" She growled. "No one, will take him from me, not even you. Life isn't black and white, Dad! He is sick, He has no one, and he has lost everything, that ever mattered to him, his own daughter included. I would have thought you'd show him more compassion on that front at least!" Colt screamed at her father, disgusted and enraged by his selfishness.

Isla stroked her daughter's arm to calm her as, Kalvin huffed unable to formulate a response in the face of his daughter's fury. Then he stood so fast the chair fell back and he stomped out of the room, without another word.

"Bloody hot headedness, the pair of you.." Isla remarked casually. "Are you sure this is what you want?" She asked Colt, needing her daughter's full confirmation before she would completely oppose her own mate on the subject.

"More than sure. He is already suffering enough." Colt stated, not wanting to analyse her motives further.

"And what about your suffering, Sweetheart?" Isla asked compassionately, still concerned for her daughter.

Colt sighed and leaned her head on her mother's shoulder. "I will learn to deal with it. Maybe I will sneak into his house one night, and just castrate him." She joked picking up the shredded magazine, "Apparently my claws are pretty sharp."

Both Isla and Colt were still laughing at that comment, when there was a small knock on the door. They turned towards it to see Ashley and Rebecca walking in. Rebecca was beaming, not only because her best friend was awake and on the mend but, because she was with Ashley, getting a rare glimpse of the woman she loved at work. Colt's smile grew across her face in an instant as she squealed with excitement.

"Girl, you look amazing!" She called to Rebecca, as Felix walked in behind them.

"Hey there Kitten, you're looking pretty good too." He said, tracking his eyes along her bare legs.

"Hey Felix, you too? I am honoured." Colt joked pulling away from hugging Rebecca to give Felix a peck on the cheek.

"Never could stay away, Kitten." Felix flirted back, earning himself a punch in the arm.

Colt pulled her arm away, feeling oddly satisfied at seeing him wince, and tartly said, "Only because I know where the laser per stash is, right?"

Rebecca intervened, "Will you two quit flirting." Making everyone laugh.

"Oh please, its harmless. Like Felix." laughed Colt. "But, we can totally focus on how cute you and your doctor girlfriend are together, if you'd rather?"

"Wait!" Isla chimed in, finally joining the dots and clapping her hands, "You're our Rebecca's Ashley? Why didn't you say something?" She said scrutinizing their body language towards one another as Ashley began to blush.

"Erm, I guess so." she responded awkwardly, unsure of the sudden attention she was receiving.

"You guess?" Rebecca asked, feigning offence. "Gee, thanks."

"Oh, behave you." Isla scolded, while approaching Colt's doctor. "Welcome to the family, Sunshine." And she wrapped her arms tightly around a very flustered Ashley, who was looking around for help that wasn't coming. Everyone else was too busy laughing.

"I knew my Mom would try and claim you as a daughter at some point, Becs," Colt said sitting beside her on the bed.

"To be fair I think it happened a while ago, we are only just catching up." She laughed back.

"Oh weisht, you two." Isla muttered, her Scottish accent shining through as she told them to be quiet.

"Right, well." Ashley said as she began to extract herself from Isla's affectionate embrace. "I have some news for you Colt, and it concerns you to a degree, as well Isla, so if you want I can come back later when you're alone or..."

"What type of news?" Colt asked curiously, interrupting her doctor.

"Some interesting DNA results, from the tests we did while you were unconscious. Pre-sedation. You see, we have never seen a shifter before who presented your symptoms, and while trying to decipher what was going on, we wanted to look at the code in your DNA incase there were any clues." Ashley said, "It was a bit of a long shot, but we were at the point of looking at everything in the hope of finding anything. Plus, shifter records are pretty new in comparison to human ones. We don't have a lot of literature or case studies to fall back on." She explained.

"I was that bad?" Colt asked shocked, the awkward silence she received as a response spoke volumes. "Aright then, would you guys mind waiting outside for a bit?" She asked her two friends, suddenly feeling quite desperate to know what Ashley and her team had discovered.

"Of course." Rebecca responded.

"Sure thing, Boss." Felix winked. "I will even go get you some coffee. Proper stuff. There's a nice little cafe down the street."

"Thanks Felix." Colt smiled genuinely, before adding with a wink, "Tell whoever the cute barista is, that I say hi." She added, noticing with satisfaction that Felix at least had the courtesy to blush somewhat.

"You are so transparent, Pussy Cat." Rebecca laughed out loudly, as they both left the room, promising to be back shortly.

Then Ashley turned to Colt and her mother, who were looking at her expectantly, suddenly feeling slightly nervous. Ashley took a seat, which gave both Merrier women pause, as it looked like this could be a long conversation. Then she began talking.

"What do you know about chimerism?" She asked, delving right in.

"As in the fire breathing lion creature, with an extra goat head growing out his back? Oh crap what else was it that he had?" Isla asked perplexed, about the sudden turn towards legendary creatures.

"A snake for a tail. But no, that's not what I mean." Ashley, continued. "What I mean, is a person who holds two sets of DNA within them instead of one." Ashley responded.

"Oh, I read an article about that once, about a Mom whose children weren't biologically matched to her, the DNA in her ovaries didn't match that of her blood, right?" Colt began, then continued. "It was because she was a twin right? But, early on one baby died and the other embryo absorbed it or something."

"Are you telling me, I lost another child?" Isla asked confused, and very uncomfortable, suddenly wanting Kalvin around, as a sinking feeling settled over her.

"Well, yes and no." Ashley answered.

"What do you bloody mean, yes and no?" Isla asked her voice rising, as Colt reached across and took her hand.

Ashley glanced at Colt, as she herself spoke. "Mom, she means me." Colt said. "She means I am both children. I am a wolf and a wildcat. Right?"

Isla's eyes widened. The test results were explaining why Colt was the rare anomaly she was, it had occurred within her very own womb at the very start of Colt's existence.

"Exactly." She confirmed. "In a human cell, the DNA present is a double helix, so two strands of genetic code, one of maternal origin and one of paternal origin. In shifters, it is a triple helix, the two human plus one animal. But in Colt's, what we found was medically speaking, just astounding. Unlike the lady of your story and most human chimeras where different DNA is present in different parts of the body, all of Colt's DNA is present in the one cell, throughout her entire body. There were six strands of DNA present, all beautifully woven together like they were meant to be." Ashley explained. "There are so many implications of what this could mean, and honestly I am way out of my depth research wise. But there are a few things I do have to tell you."

Colt felt like her head was going to explode. This was what made her genetics different, what made her different. "Is it hereditary?" She interrupted. "Chimerism I mean." All of a sudden she had thought of Elijah, of Nora, of a child of her own. A vision of her and the man she loved, cradling their little bundle between them. She had been so sworn against it, due to the unknown aspect of her genetics, but now. To be a mother? That would make her happy, to raise a family with someone she loved, could be just perfect. There was that split second where the possibility of it over took the reality of her situation. Then she shook her head with a frown as that very reality crashed back around her.

Isla's heart constricted at the news. Colt was doing the one thing she had never done before. Colt was inquiring about becoming a mother. The thought brought a swell of happiness to her. Knowing that deep down, Colt had always wanted a family but would never admit it to herself, let alone anyone else. This little bit of hope might be exactly what is needed to lift her up, and to help her recover.

"Well, not really. You see, chimerism is a bit of a developmental fluke. So while the chances of a twin pregnancy may be slightly higher, that doesn't necessarily follow suit that it would happen again, and one embryo would absorb the other dying one." Ashley began, then paused. "But Colt, the whole truth is, we aren't sure that conceiving a child will be a possibility for you. The way a sperm and egg carry genetics, is so variable, shifters have a poorer rate of fertility between themselves as it is, due to the way the gene's spilt, with each parent having three strands. You would in theory be producing eggs which already have three full genetic strands. We just don't know how that would work I'm afraid."

Author's Note: I have bee waiting for months and months to share this with you all. I hope you liked it. B x.