Nothing Remotely Familiar by Donna McDonald

Nothing about Topper’s life is remotely familiar anymore.

Who knew mating an alien would net her a teenage witch in just a few years? Topper sure didn’t.
Now she’s also expecting a son who’s letting her know daily how much he’s inherited from his ice planet loving father. Unfortunately, spontaneous ice in the dessert and Topper wanting to wear fur is drawing the wrong attention to her beloved town. A trip to Glacier to visit Stark’s goddess isn’t the easy fix she hoped for, but her alien mate is convinced it will help.

Luck being what it is—especially when the Fates are involved—the day before they leave teenager, Jessica, gets assigned her first witch familiar. Worse, the witch responsible for the assignment turns out to be one of Topper’s old enemies. Before Topper can unravel what stinks about the situation, her coming of age daughter bonds with the vicious, fanged-toothed koala. When her alien mate seconds keeping the infamous “drop bear” there’s not much Topper can do but go along.
Now Jessica’s stuck with the animal for at least the probation period, which means Topper’s also stuck. It also means Koala Kevin from down under is heading through a travel portal to the ice planet of Glacier with them.
Goddess, help them all.

NOTE: A shorter version of this story was published in Pets In Space 4. Expanded content contains approximately 18,000 additional words.