by Terry Spear
Aidan was frowning now. “I’ve ruled out diet or environment, since everyone eats different foods and their locations are so varied. But maybe the environment in Seattle has played a role in your DNA.”
“Oh, don’t tell Ronald that, or he’ll be afraid all the wolves the world over will go there.” Holly was serious.
Nick laughed. “That would be a good one on him.”
Not really. She was sure Ronald would take drastic measures. She wanted to get home to test out her pack’s blood again and see if Aidan could tell any difference between theirs and the others he’d been testing that maybe she hadn’t seen. She could compare the samples to earlier ones she’d taken to see if there was any significant change.
“What are you going to try next?” Holly asked.
“With this revelation about your longevity, I want to do a blood transfusion, if you’re okay with giving a pint of blood, Holly.”
“You think my blood cells could change yours to what they were before? Are you sure?” Holly asked.
“It can’t hurt to try. We’re the same blood type, and it might be a stretch, but you know how it goes when scientists are searching for a cure.”
“Yeah, they come up with cures by mistake.”
He smiled at her. “But it’s only if you want to give blood.”
“Do you want to take a sample of my blood?” Greg asked, coming into the lab.
“Our parents would have to approve,” Holly said. “And really, the changes in our longevity don’t normally occur until you’re around eighteen.”
“I’m nearly that. What if my blood could be a clue to help you solve this?” Greg reached his hand out to Aidan. “I’ll call Mom.”
Aidan pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to him.
Greg punched in a number. “Mom, I want to give Dr. Denali a sample of my blood. Is it okay with you and Dad? Uh, okay… Thanks.” Greg handed the phone to Aidan. “You can tell Dad so he knows I’m not making it up.”
“This is Aidan Denali… Yes, it’s perfectly safe for him to give a blood sample. Also, he wants to stay the night. I think he caught sight of the hot tub.” Aidan smiled at Greg.
“Hot damn!” Greg said, his eyes alight with excitement.
Holly wouldn’t mind a dip in it too. She was rethinking going home tonight! It was lots more interesting here.
“He’ll be fine with us, as long as his being here doesn’t cause you any trouble.” Aidan looked at Holly. “She says she’s going home, but convince her she needs to return soon after. She’s invaluable to my research… Uh, yeah, hang on.” He handed the phone to Holly. “Your mom wants to talk to you.”
“You don’t have to come back here. In fact, your dad and I are thinking of heading home early.”
“Aww, no, Mom. Unless you just want to. Or is it because Jared and Ronald are giving you a hard time? Or you think…” She hesitated as Nick, Aidan, and Greg listened in. She was going to say they were messing up her love life if she returned to the cabin. Her face felt hot all over again.
When she didn’t finish her sentence, her mom said, “You know how we are about leaving the store in someone else’s hands for too long. Your dad just wants to go home. We’ve had a great time running as wolves in the wilderness, but we’re ready to return now. You know how your dad is. He’s such a workaholic, and you know what a micromanager he is. It kills him to relax.”
That was true. Sometimes, he even stayed at the shop longer while they came out here to have fun, and he would join them later. And he returned home early. “What about Marianne?”
“She’s staying with the Dewitt family to help with Joey and the other kids. You don’t have to return anytime soon if Greg’s not coming home tonight.”
“Let me ask Greg what he wants to do.” Holly told Greg their parents wanted to return home tomorrow. “What do you want to do?”
“Stay here with them.” Greg motioned to Mike and Ted, who were standing in the doorway now.
“I was thinking we’d take Nick to one of the packs’ homes tomorrow and see how he likes it,” Aidan said.
“Tomorrow would be fine with me to check on the pack, if it works for your schedule,” Nick said. “Tonight, I want to sleep in a nice, soft bed. And that hot tub sounds inviting. Another home-cooked meal appeals too.”
“Okay, Aidan is taking Nick to visit with another pack tomorrow. Greg will go home with you if he doesn’t want to stay with another family at the cabins for a while longer. But he’ll stay here for the night,” Holly said.
“What about you?” Greg asked Holly. “Are you going with Dr. Denali?”
“She’s going with me.” Aidan looked pleased about the arrangement, though he watched her to see if she’d agree.
She closed her parted lips. “I’ll go with Aidan to see how the other pack suits Nick. Besides, I’m working with him now.” This was going to be a Christmas to remember.
“Wait, you’re working with him as in long distance, right?” her mom asked.
“I really hadn’t discussed the arrangements with Aidan yet.”
“Tell her I have a lab set up at my place, and you’re free to stay with me. Plenty of room, if you don’t mind Ted and Mike watching over us.”
“Aidan’s offered for me to stay at his place.”
“Ohmigod, Holly. It’s about time.”
Holly couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “I want to test your blood and Dad’s before you leave in the morning. Is that all right?”
“Why? Is there an issue?” her mom asked, sounding concerned.
“No. I just want to let Aidan take a look. He’s the expert. I want to share our blood tests that I did last month too. I hate to say it, but I need to test everyone’s in the pack again, even though I said I’d wait until next month. I want to see if he can confirm whether my observations are correct or not.”
Greg sat down in the chair and rolled up his sleeve. “Take my blood, Dr. Aidan. I’ll go back with Mom and Dad tomorrow. But I want to know about my blood cells too.”
“Did you hear that, Mom? I’ll stay the night and bring Greg back tomorrow, and you can leave. He’ll go with you. And if he hasn’t already told you, he’s the one who found Nick.”
“No, he didn’t. We’re so proud of him. Tell Greg we’ll have a special something for him when we arrive home.”
“I will. Thanks, Mom. See you in the morning.” Holly couldn’t believe how relieved she was not to be returning to their cabin. She was eager to try out the hot tub with Aidan. She hoped it would be just the two of them though.
As soon as Greg gave his blood, he pulled down his sleeve, got up, and hovered over Aidan’s shoulder as he examined the blood.
“Looks like any normal seventeen-year-old’s blood cells,” Aidan said. “There shouldn’t be any sign of any change in aging.”
“Great. Okay, I’m ready for the hot tub.” Greg’s grin couldn’t have grown any bigger.
“I’ll put out a spare pair of swim trunks for you,” Mike said, coming into the room.
“Mom and Dad have something special to give you when you go home…for finding Nick.” Holly said.
“Cool!” Then Greg looked at Nick. “But I would have done it anyway. Who wouldn’t have wanted to find Santa Claus for Christmas?”
“The rest of your pack,” Nick grumbled.
“Ronald, his brother, and some of his henchmen who do whatever he says. Everyone else is afraid to go against them, so it’s not the rest of the pack,” Holly corrected Nick. She wanted him to be straight on that fact. “Go, enjoy your hot tub time, Greg.”
“I’m going with you.” Nick’s eyes were suddenly alight with excitement. “You haven’t told me what you want for Christmas, Greg.”
As if he wasn’t too old to play the game, Greg didn’t hesitate to tell him. “A bright-red Lamborghini.”
Aidan smiled. “I wouldn’t mind one of those either.”
Nick laughed. “That’s why I was only Santa for the little kids, way before their toys wiped out Mom and Dad’s bank account.”
Greg and Nick left the lab, and Mike folded his arms. “Okay, so about this blood transfusion…”
“I have to try it. It would be like any other kind of blood transfusion, receiving blood intravenously, except that I’d be watching to see if Holly’s blood would alter mine, giving me an immunity to the cell-aging issue, or not.”
“She’s my blood type if she’s the same as yours. Ted’s too, because Rafe wanted to make sure we could give you blood if you ever needed it after a fight, though he would never have guessed what you might need to do with our blood—when it comes to your research,” Mike said. “You can experiment on me. If something happened to you, we’d both be fired.”
“It’s just a regular transfusion,” Aidan assured him.
“Then it would be safe for me.”
“Then you wouldn’t be able to protect me for a while. At least, you’d need to take it easy, not any real roughhousing.”
“As if I’m ever called on to protect you. Ted can handle things for a little bit if something unexpected happens.”
“Yeah, I can, unless you want to give me the transfusion instead,” Ted said.
“Mike offered first. But it’s up to you guys,” Aidan said.
“I’ll do it first. If this doesn’t work like Doc hopes, you can do it next time,” Mike said.
“Okay, sounds good.”
Holly sat down on the chair to give more blood first. Once she’d given a pint, Aidan finally agreed and motioned for Mike to take a seat. “This might not be enough blood to make a difference, and it may take a good long while to see a result, if there is any change at all, but we’ll try it with the small amount of blood she gave.”
“Do you need more?” she asked, willing to give Aidan what he needed.
“No. Later, we could do more, if nothing much happens with this. Our blood builds up faster than humans, so instead of waiting eight weeks, it’s only about three to four for us. But even so, you’d have to wait.”
Ted motioned to the doorway. “I’m going to do some guarding.”
“Okay, alert us if you see any trouble,” Aidan said.
She was certain he meant if someone from her pack showed up.
From the other side of the house, they heard Greg shouting, “This is sooo cool!”
Aidan and Holly laughed.
Mike smiled. “I knew that would be a hit.”
“You’re really going with me when we take Nick to see the first of the packs I had in mind?” Aidan asked Holly as he began to prep Mike.
“Yeah. I want to see how well he’s received.”
Mike winked at her. She felt her cheeks heat. Yeah, all right, so she wanted to go with Aidan to be with him, but she didn’t want to say so.
“I’m hoping this gives me superpowers,” Mike said.
“If it changes your cells so they age more slowly again, you will have superpowers.” Aidan started the transfer. “If this works, we’ll need more blood from your pack, depending on if everyone is aging the same as you and Nick. Your brother’s blood doesn’t count,” he said to Holly.
“I can’t guarantee that anyone else will offer, but I will,” Holly said.
“Do you think it will work?” Mike asked.
“A red blood cell has no nucleus or DNA. However, transfused blood has white blood cells that do contain a significant amount of DNA. Even when white cells are filtered out, the transfusion can still contain a high number of white cells.”
Mike smiled at Holly. “She looks like she’s got a lot of good DNA.” Then he frowned at Aidan. “How long would the DNA stay in my bloodstream?”
“According to studies, donor DNA can last up to seven days in a patient. In women, a year and a half in some cases when the recipient has lost a lot of blood and received more of a transfusion. Now, this is minuscule compared to the patient’s actual DNA. However, with our healing genetics, it’s possible our body will accept the change and it won’t be lost and could even change our DNA so that we have our longevity back. It might ‘see’ it as an improvement and change it.”
“If my DNA replaces yours, you could be me,” Holly said, smiling.
“I’d rather have you than be you. No offense, Doc.” Mike grinned. “What if it works, but we have to have transfusions periodically to keep our cells from returning to their current state?”
“Then we won’t have found the right solution, and we’ll still be working at it. I’ll check your blood before you go home to your family for the holidays, Mike. You’ll need to keep in touch with me if you begin feeling any different. I doubt you’ll notice anything has changed. If this works, it could be a giant step for wolf-kind.”
“I’ll let you know if I begin to feel strange.”
“Good. Thanks for being my test wolf. And thanks, Holly, for donating your blood and helping me with this.”
“This is the part where you kiss the girl,” Mike said, “but I’ll vamoose first.”
Holly noted Aidan appeared to be thinking along that line, and as soon as Mike was done, she was all for letting Aidan thank her…properly. But she needed to discuss her concerns first. “I have another idea too. I want to test my pack members’ blood again to see if anyone is exhibiting signs of faster aging. I told them I wouldn’t test them again for another month, so they’ll wonder what’s up. But I don’t want to hold off on giving them the news if I see a big change.”
“Do you want to go to your place in Seattle after we drop off Nick, if he likes the first pack we take him to visit?”
Aidan really did want to make this a team effort. She hadn’t wrapped her head around the idea that she’d be leaving her pack and family behind.
“Will you come with me to my clinic in Seattle?” Though if Ronald got wind of it, he wouldn’t like it.
“Yeah. I want to see the results too, and using your last quarter’s results, we can compare them.”
“What about those who have been more newly turned in the other packs? If having more pure lupus garou roots is keeping us from changing, wouldn’t the ones who are newly turned have cells that age more like a human’s longevity?”
“They do. They haven’t had the increased longevity, so it’s hard for them to imagine how different their lives could be. The real concern is for royals mated to newly turned wolves, if wolves who have purer lupus garou DNA are not being affected by this change in their longevity. It’s hard to believe that no other wolves have a similar background to yours or Nick’s. At least that I’ve met.”
“In the case of the newly turned wolves, they would age, and their royal mates wouldn’t.” She hoped for the best. That somehow her blood would change Mike’s in a way that would reverse or slow down the aging issue, that her own people’s blood hadn’t changed, and they could all share their blood with others, if it made a difference and reversed the trend. “Thank you for helping me find Nick and wanting to find a pack that will be his forever home. And saving us. Watching you come down to rescue us was like watching a trained Army Ranger.”
She wrapped her arms around Aidan’s neck and kissed his lips. She didn’t know if this was pushing things a bit too far too fast, but she was totally fascinated with the wolf, and she’d never felt like that about any other wolf. She attributed it to their line of work. Their need to help others. And just how sexy he was.
Oh, and the way his body always reacted when they got close. How could that not excite her own?
Chapter 16
Aidan kissed Holly back, fully giving in to the moment. She pressed her soft, curvy body against his, and he was already becoming aroused. He couldn’t help it when he was close to her like this. She licked his mouth in a
sensuous way, parting her lips, offering him entrance. He ran his hands through her silky hair and plunged his tongue into her mouth, caressing her tongue.
Their hearts beat in sync as she rubbed her body against his, such an instinctive reaction to another wolf, wanting to leave her scent on him as he left his scent on her. Her pheromones were kicking his into warp speed, sending a blaze of red-hot desire coursing through his blood.
She pulled her mouth away from his and licked her lips, which made him want to kiss her all over again. She wasn’t pulling that sweet body away from him though, indicating she wasn’t through where they were concerned. Or maybe she was ready to melt into the floor, and she needed his support to steady her. She was one passionate she-wolf.
“Hot damn, you’re going to be one helluva partner.”
She laughed. “Do you think we’ll get any work done?”
“I think I’ll be taking more breaks from my research than I ever have.”
“I’d agree with that.”
They heard someone coming, and Holly pulled away before Aidan wanted to let her go.
Mike poked his head in. “I’m going to walk around the place. Ted’s out there doing a perimeter search too.”
“Okay, just take it easy. I don’t want you passing out in the snow. For our kind, you need to rest between twelve and twenty-four hours. Seriously. Which was why I said you couldn’t be doing guard duty for a while, and why I should have been the guinea pig this time around.”
“Hell, Doc, why didn’t you say so in the first place? Then you could have let Holly pamper you, being that she’s a doctor too. She probably needs some pampering too.” Mike laughed. “Just taking a walk. If anything happens that means a fight, I’ll let you know, and you can take care of it.” Before he left, he added, “Course, then Rafe will fire me…”
“If your blood turns out to have a miraculous change, all in the name of science, Rafe will understand.”
“I know you’ll put in a good word for me.” Mike left the lab.
Holly was frowning. “He shouldn’t be out there, serving on guard duty.”
