Cole, Tara, and I were sitting in the living room lounge area, me on a recliner and Cole and Tara sitting next to each other on the loveseat. I was super nervous, especially when I saw the concerned and nerve wracked expressions on each of their faces. Tara had prepared each of us some chamomile tea just before we got home and I wondered how she did it. I hadn't seen Cole text her or anything announcing that we were almost home but I didn't think too much of it. Cole easily could have sent her a text right before we left and before I got in the car and Tara could have just set an alarm to remind her.

I wrapped my fingers around the hot mug of tea, the warmth feeling nice against my cold fingers and providing a sense of comfort from the chilly tension in the room. The rain still poured down outside and if we hadn't been having this little family meeting, I'd either be outside enjoying the rain, or upstairs reading in my room, but alas, I was in the living room, waiting for someone to say something or anything at all. I had all but finished my tea by the time Tara spoke.

"Honey, we need to talk to you about something and we aren't sure how you're going to take it, so we need to ask you a couple of questions first. Is that ok?" Tara spoke so softly, it seemed as though she was afraid she would frighten me.

"Yea, sure. Cole assured me that it was nothing bad but the waiting is killing me, so let's get this over with," I tried to joke but I ended up sounding depressed and irritated.

"Sweetpea, how much do you know about your birth parents?" Cole asked me.We had talked about them a little bit when we had all first started getting to know each other, but it was much too sensitive a topic for me and we never really got into too much detail over it.

"Not really that much, I've already told you just about everything I know, minus details. My mother abandoned me and my father after she gave birth to me. My dad..." my voice trailed off as I choked up, fighting back the tears. "All I remember is that he was killed in an animal attack when I was seven. I wasn't with him at the time, and only being a small child, nobody ever gave me the details. It was only until I was much older that Ms. Jean found out and gave me a brief summary," I managed to finish speaking, the tears falling at this point.

"Oh, sweetpea," Cole said softly as he rose from his place beside Tara and made his way over to me, kneeling next to my chair and hugging me tightly while I cried into his shoulder.

He soothingly petted my hair, making soft shushing sounds as he rocked us back and forth a little until I had calmed down. When he pulled away, he leaned over to the table next to me and pulled out the drawer, grabbing a couple of tissues for me. His soft hands reached for my face as he wiped my tears away and handed me another tissue to blow my nose, which I did softly, clearing out the gunk. Cole went back over to Tara and sat down again, instinctively grabbing her hand and squeezing it.

"Stella..." Tara started, " Your mother didn't exactly abandon you." My eyes widened in surprise.

"What? What does that mean? Wait! Did you know my mother?" The questions poured out of me before I could stop them and I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes again.

"Ummm, well, Stella, how much do you know about..." Cole started, using my name for the first time since we met, I was pretty sure, "werewolves?" Cole finished his question with an uneasy expression on his face.

My jaw dropped stupidly. I couldn't help but zone out as my thoughts ran wild. Fucking werewolves? That's what they're asking me about? Seriously? Wait a second. Wait, wait, wait. Oh, my fucking god. We are having the conversation! The one that Cole was telling the guy on the phone that he'd have with me! Oh, my god! The conversation I'd overheard Cole having with the guy he called Alpha! Oh, shit, fuck damn! Of all the fucking scenarios that went through my head, werewolves was not on that list. How did I not make that connection? I heard familiar voices in the background, trying to snap me out of my daytime reverie.

"Stella, wake up!" Tara yelled as she slapped my face, hard enough to snap me back to reality but not enough to hurt me badly. Both Tara and Cole were kneeling down in front of me with worried looks on their faces. I couldn't help the reaction I had as I doubled over with silent laughter shaking my shoulders.

"Oh goddess, Stella, please don't cry," Tara said as she placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her with a big smile which scared her and Cole, both of them jerking back abruptly. I allowed my laughter to erupt from my throat, filling the silence of the room. Cole and Tara looked scared and surprised, unsure of what to do, because me laughing clearly wasn't the reaction they were expecting. They probably thought I had a mental break or something. It was a solid minute or two before I could breathe enough to form proper words.

"Oh my god," I said as I wiped tears from my eyes, " Well, this isn't what I was expecting and it definitely could have been worse. I was over here thinking you guys were in a gang or mad scientists or time travelers or something," I exclaimed and my laughter resumed. Cole and Tara looked even more confused now, their heads cocked to the side.

"On the first day, when Cole brought me over to visit and explore the house, he got a phone call. I didn't go upstairs like you told me to, Cole. I'm sorry," I admitted and apologized and looked Cole in the eyes, not afraid to admit that I was wrong in my actions. "On the phone, whoever you were talking to, you told them you were going to talk to me about it, whatever it was, on Saturday, so of course I at least thought about it for a couple of minutes every day but knowing you were going to talk to me anyways, I didn't let it bother me too much. I definitely thought you guys were going to tell me you were involved in illegal activity, like you guys were in a gang or something. I actually feel kinda dumb now, I mean you called the guy on the phone Alpha, and somehow I didn't guess werewolves. I'm ashamed of myself, I've read my fair share of werewolf novels and I didn't guess that," I shook my head with a smile on my face and laughter in my voice.

Cole and Tara just looked at me with confused, dumbfounded expressions on their faces as they shifted their positions from sitting on their knees to plopping on their butts, almost in sync. Wait. They did that in sync. Somehow Tara also knew the exact right moment to make our tea so it would be done and hot for when we got home. She also knew what I wanted for breakfast!

"Wait! Are you guys mates? Oh, my god, can you hear each other's thoughts? That would make so much sense!" I asked as I plopped down on my butt in front of the slapping my hands on each of their knees.

"Sweetpea, you don't seem to be... uhhh... well.." Cole started.

"Scared or surprised?" I asked to which he nodded. "Well come on, I was expecting you guys to tell me you were cold blooded gang members. Being werewolves is actually really fucking cool. Werewolves have always been one of my favorite mythical, well I guess not so mythical, creatures," I said as I rocked myself back and forth, I had too much energy to just keep still.

"Uhhh, ok. Well you being so open and receptive to this makes this whole thing much, much easier. Anyways, yes we are mates and yes we can hear each other's thoughts. We can also do something called mind-linking with other members of our pack. Works better than a cellphone ever could," Tara said with a laugh.

"Well, that explains why you guys are so cute and lovey-dovey together and it explains how you conveniently prepared my breakfast of choice this morning without us telling you what I wanted," I teased with a playfully accusatory glare at Tara. She blushed a little and ran her hands through her hair.

"Well, I had actually already started the batter for waffles but I could actually hear you saying you wanted pancakes," Tara said as she pointed to her ears, " advanced hearing." I made an o shape with my mouth in understanding. "The tea on the other hand, Cole did mind link me when you guys were almost home and told me that he had prepared you for having this conversation," Tara said with a teasing smirk as she poked Cole in the ribs.

"Ok, so do you guys have wolf forms that you shift into?" I asked, my head tilted to the side.

"Yes we do. Would you like to see our wolves later?" Cole asked me in return. I nodded my head eagerly.

"Yes, of course! That's so fucking cool. My mom and dad are werewolves!" I slapped my hand over my mouth after I realized I had been swearing in front of them. Cole and Tara just laughed at me and smiled at me warmly and happily and I realized that aside from me accepting their secret identities, I had called them mom and dad. That must have made them feel good.

"We do still have more to tell you, though, sweetpea," Cole said.

"Maybe we should just start from the beginning?" Tara suggested, glancing between me and Cole. Both of us simply nodded and Cole took a deep breath before speaking again.