The Snow Leopard's Pack (Glacier Leopards Book 5)

by Zoe Chant

  Maybe it wouldn’t hurt for this woman to believe that Cal had the authority to help her with her problem.

  So he gave her a friendly smile—he saw Teri do a double-take out of the corner of his eye, which was not flattering; he did smile on occasion, and it didn’t even crack his face open—and said, “Nice to meet you, Ms. Lowell. Why don’t you tell me about your mountain lion problem?”

  Lillian met his eyes steadily as she said, “It’s been two days now. Yesterday, I thought it was just a wild cat in the library parking lot, and I called Animal Control. But today he was waiting outside the store when I was running errands after work. And this time, while I watched, he shifted into a man. He followed me through the streets while I drove, and when I pulled over, he waited, and—appeared threatening.”

  “Threatening?” Cal frowned.

  Lillian smoothed her skirt in what looked like a reflexive motion. “Baring his teeth. Flexing his claws.”

  Cal’s inner leopard was taking notice. Had taken notice, in fact, from the second she walked in the door. But now it was starting to growl. Misbehaving cats. Shouldn’t be threatening her.

  Cal mentally caught his leopard by the scruff of its neck. No one benefited from flying off the handle without all the information. “Did he talk to you? Tell you why?”

  Lillian shook her head. “I don’t know what he wants. Or even if he’s dangerous. Maybe he’s just playing some kind of game, and there’s nothing at stake other than making me uncomfortable. But—” She stopped, compressing her lips together.

  But she’s afraid it’s more than that. Cal could fill in the end of that sentence without any trouble.

  If he were a human woman being stalked by a shifter with no apparent reason, he’d be afraid too.

  His leopard growled.

  “Have you met any of the mountain lions before?” he pressed. “Or other shifters in the area? Any idea why this man is targeting you?”

  Lillian shook her head without any hesitation. “My only connection to shifters is through my sister. So unless she has somehow gotten on the wrong side of this man—”

  The sudden tartness of her tone caught Cal by surprise, and he had to suppress a laugh. Even more so when Teri sent back a trademark little-sister offended glare and said, “Excuse me, I told you I had no idea what might be wrong and I meant it.”

  Lillian seemed to accept that, and turned back to Cal. “I don’t know anything about the local shifter community. I’ve never had any interaction with them at all. Is there some kind of—organization? Any governing body?”

  Cal shook his head. “I’m afraid not. The leopards tend to cluster around the Park, so we’ve got a bit of a community here, but otherwise people keep pretty much to themselves. The mountain lions—well, they can be loose cannons. Not smart to cross them.”

  “I haven’t crossed them,” Lillian said, with a bit of a steel edge to her voice.

  “I believe you,” Cal said quietly.

  She seemed surprised to hear that, though he couldn’t think why. But for the first time, she sat back a bit in her chair, losing some of the fear-tense posture.

  “Can you help me?” she asked, her soft tone matching his.

  Cal was struck by the sense that this was a proud woman in front of him—someone who rarely asked for help. He was surprised at the wellspring of anger that was rising in his chest. The idea that someone would accost Lillian Lowell, frighten her and send her here to his office, to sacrifice her pride and ask for help—

  Well, he didn’t know why that was getting his back up so much, but it was.

  So he met her deep blue eyes and said, “I can.”

  Her posture relaxed minutely. Relief. Cal wondered what her life had been like, that she was so locked down. Especially when her sister was so expressive. It didn’t seem to make sense.

  “I make it a point to know who all the local shifters are,” Cal said. It was an old holdover from the Marines: make sure you know the territory. He’d gotten to know everyone automatically when he’d first moved in, even though he wasn’t naturally a social man, just because it was good tactics. By the time he’d settled back in enough to remember he wasn’t on enemy soil any longer, the habit was ingrained. And it’d paid off a few times over the years. “Can you describe what he looked like as a man?”

  Lillian gave a quick but detailed description—about six feet, longish brown hair and beard, narrow face and deep-set eyes, wearing jeans and a dirty white tank top.

  “Okay. That gives me an idea or two. I can go ask around, confirm who the guy is and why he thinks it’s a good idea to be hassling you,” Cal continued. “With luck, it’s just a dumb prank. Someone’ll bring him in line, and you can go about your business without any more trouble.”

  “And if it isn’t?” Lillian asked, her voice steady.

  Cal felt a rush of protectiveness. What was it about her that was bringing this out of him?

  “Then I’ll take care of it,” he said. “Meanwhile, why don’t you go home with your sister tonight. Teri, you and Zach keep alert, why don’t you. Just in case.”

  Teri nodded firmly. “We’ll keep watch. We can call in Joel and Nina, too.”

  “There’s no need for this much fuss,” Lillian said, standing up. “I’ll take a spare bed for the night, but please don’t disturb anyone else’s evenings for what’s probably a prank.”

  “Sorry,” Teri said cheerfully, standing up as well. “I’m going to disturb as many people as it takes, and you can’t stop me.”

  Lillian closed her eyes briefly, then seemed to resign herself to Teri’s determined protection. She leaned forward, extending her hand. “Thank you very much, Mr. Westland.”

  “Cal,” Cal found himself saying, taking her hand. It was softer than he’d expected—for some reason, she gave the impression of someone who had calloused, working hands.

  Capable, he thought as he shook her hand. She seemed capable.

  Her handshake was strong and confident, and she nodded once as she took her hand back. Cal got a breath of her scent, the fear receding enough to reveal something delicately feminine that he couldn’t put a name to.

  “Cal,” she repeated. “Please call me Lillian. I’m very grateful to you.”

  “Just doing my job,” Cal assured her.

  It was only after she and Teri had left the office, closing the door behind them, that he realized that was a bald-faced lie. It was in no way Cal’s job to police the shifter community, particularly not the mountain lions, who had no connection with the snow leopards whatsoever, not even in a casual social way.

  Well. It didn’t matter much, did it? Because he was going to find whatever little upstart mountain lion thought it was a good idea to mess with innocent women, and he was going to whip him into shape.

  His leopard growled agreement.

  ***

  Lillian ended up driving herself and Teri to Teri’s home.

  “Still don’t have a car,” Teri said on their way to the parking lot, with a cheerful lack of embarrassment. “I can hitch with Zach if we’re on the same schedule, and even if we aren’t, it’s bikeable.”

  Last winter, Teri had been in an awful car accident; she’d skidded on ice and her car had been totaled. It had taken her months to recover, and Lillian had to admit she was still a bit on-edge about Teri’s health. Almost losing her baby sister had been the worst experience of her entire life.

  She’d come out of it somewhat overprotective, she had to admit. Although not nearly as bad as their mother, who had eventually driven Teri away because of it.

  Teri gave her directions. Lillian was ashamed to realize that she didn’t even know where her sister lived.

  “So,” she said tentatively as she drove, “you’ve been...happy? The last few months?”

  Teri shot her a sidelong look. “The happiest I’ve ever been.”

  That stung a bit. Teri’d had barely any contact with Lillian, and none at all with their parents, since moving out with her fi
ancé. And it was the happiest she’d ever been?

  Lillian tried not to be hurt, or get defensive. Right now, she was focused on Teri. And Teri was happy, which was good: Lillian wanted Teri to be happy. Even if she was separate from her family, even if that did sting.

  “And you like being—” Say it, say it, say it like it’s normal—”a shifter?”

  Teri nodded vigorously. “It’s amazing, Lillian. I’m so strong, so fast. I can spend so much time outdoors, out in the Park. And I have this—it’s hard to explain. This presence inside me. My leopard. And she’s fierce, and powerful, and like a part of me that I never knew was missing.”

  That sounded...hm. “Does she ever...overwhelm you?” Lillian asked delicately.

  Teri shook her head immediately. “No. We’re a team.”

  Lillian tried to reconcile that with what she’d learned about shifters growing up. That they were dangerous. That they couldn’t control their animal instincts. That they were violent.

  She’d been caught between worry and wonder, ever since Teri had been changed. She didn’t know which was right.

  Maybe this was her chance to learn. And to re-forge a relationship with her sister. They’d barely spoken since Teri moved out, and Lillian hated that.

  “And how does this community work, exactly?” Lillian asked cautiously. “Your boss Cal presented a very...anarchistic picture. But he’s clearly in charge of something. You called him an alpha.”

  Lillian had to admit that Cal Westland hadn’t been at all what she would’ve expected of a shifter leader. She’d pictured a shaggy, rangy type, living out in the woods. Surrounded, cult-fashion, by all of his followers.

  Not the calm, thoughtful, fortyish man with the salt-and-pepper hair in a severe military style. It had been obvious that he was powerfully built, even sitting behind his desk, but he gave off a sense of...control. Like a man who was absolutely in command of himself.

  Lillian hadn’t known very many men who were in command of themselves. The thought made her a bit wistful.

  “Well,” Teri was saying thoughtfully, “it’s sort of hard to explain. Especially since we’re such a ragtag group—Grey’s the only one who really grew up in a shifter community, and he left it when he was a teenager. So most of us are making it up as we go along.”

  “Cal too?” Lillian asked curiously. Was that self-command an act? Or just the sign of a man who didn’t need any external rules, because his own were strong enough to last?

  Teri hesitated. “I don’t know about Cal. He doesn’t really talk about his past.”

  “Oh.” That was oddly disappointing.

  “Anyway,” Teri said, “apparently how it’s supposed to work is that anywhere you have a group of shifters, you have a leader. Some people call them an alpha. And they’re in charge of the group, and they have a say in who stays and who goes, and they keep everyone in line.”

  Apparently how it’s supposed to work. “And how does it actually work, then?”

  “Glacier is kind of weird in that it has all of these different kinds of shifters, and a lot of them are loners. So, like, old Mr. Thatcher and his daughter are hawk shifters—”

  “They are?” Lillian had gone to school with Sarah Thatcher, and had had no idea.

  Teri nodded. “Oh yeah. I didn’t know either. Anyway, there’s only the two of them, and they’re not about to let anyone else boss them around, you know? And that’s the case for a lot of the local shifters. One bear living out in the mountains, well, she minds her own business and no one cares.”

  That made a certain amount of sense. “But you said Cal was an alpha.”

  “Right, so, then there are a few types of shifters that actually have enough people for a community. And we’re one of them—the snow leopards.”

  Snow leopards. Lillian had only had the very briefest glimpse of Teri’s shifted form, months ago. She’d had to do some Googling before she’d figured out that it must be a snow leopard.

  Since then, she’d read all about snow leopards on the Internet, learning how beautiful they were, how they could turn almost invisible in a mountainous environment, the harsh climates that they could survive.

  How, unlike most big cats, they took mates. That had made her feel much better about Teri’s situation—she’d rushed into the relationship so fast that Lillian would’ve been worried even without the shapeshifter aspect, but it seemed like snow leopards were committed animals.

  “Snow leopards are super rare, actually,” Teri continued, “and Glacier is one of the few places in North America that has more than one or two. This environment is really well-suited to us. So there’s quite a few. And a lot of us are attached to the Park in some way. So, since Cal’s the head ranger at the Park, and has been here the longest of most of us, and is so much older—”

  He hadn’t seemed that old to Lillian. Although she supposed that when you were twenty-five, forty was ancient.

  “—he’s ended up in charge. He’s kind of ornery about it,” and Teri’s mouth quirked up in a smile, “and a lot of the time he’ll tell us it’s our job to sort out our own lives. He probably doesn’t like the label alpha, actually. But we all know that if there was ever a real problem, we could come to him. Like now.”

  We all know that if there was ever a real problem, we could come to him.

  Against her will, Lillian was envious.

  What would it be like, to have someone around who didn’t want to tell you what to do, but was willing to help when you needed it?

  Lillian’s mother wanted nothing more than to order everyone around and make them help her. Lillian’s father had shrunk down into almost nothing during their years of marriage, and obeyed his wife in every part of his life.

  Lillian’s own marriage...well, the less said about that, the better. It had been over for two years now, and that was the best thing about it.

  “Oh, right here,” Teri said, pointing at a house coming up on the left. It was modestly-sized, but clearly well taken care of, with cheerful sky blue trim and a neat lawn.

  It was nothing like their mother’s dire predictions of a broken-down shack in the woods. She’d been convinced that Teri had gone off to live in squalor. Lillian was very happy to find out that she’d been wrong.

  She pulled into the driveway and found herself checking all of the windows to make sure the mountain lion wasn’t lying in wait for her again. But she didn’t see it.

  Teri noticed. “Don’t worry,” she said, unbuckling her seatbelt. “If he shows up again, I’ll kick his butt. I bet I’m stronger than he is.”

  “No,” Lillian said firmly, “if he shows up again, we’ll go inside the house and call for help. I don’t want you getting hurt because of me.”

  “Lil,” Teri said, with a strange note in her voice, “you can’t tell me what to do.”

  It was odd. The line should’ve been delivered with a childish pettiness—the kind that Lillian had heard from Teri many times over the years. But instead, Teri said it with such an assured confidence, with a hint of...compassion.

  Like Lillian had gotten something wrong, and Teri was gently correcting her, because she knew better.

  It was a strange, uneasy feeling.

  “Well, he doesn’t seem to be here, so it doesn’t matter,” Lillian said briskly, trying to move past the odd moment with action. “Will you show me around your home?”

  That distracted Teri right away, and she hopped out of the car, leading Lillian inside with noticeable excitement.

  “So this is the living room, and it’s mostly furniture that was already here when Zach moved in, but I found this chair at Lenny’s antiques—” Teri plunged into the tour, obviously proud of her house and excited to show it off.

  Lillian was struck by how happy she seemed. For some reason, Lillian had had the idea that Teri had simply grown out of her childhood bubbly effervescence. That adult Teri was more sober, more likely to get angry or upset.

  Instead, it seemed like those qualities had been
the result of her situation. Now, here in this home that she obviously loved, her natural sunny disposition had come out again.

  Lillian was torn—obviously she was happy that her sister was happy. But if the family had been what made her unhappy...

  She followed Teri through the tour of the house, paying close attention to the things Teri seemed to be especially proud of. The tour ended in a pleasant, simply-decorated bedroom.

  “This is where you can stay,” Teri announced. “Joel and Nina sometimes sleep here, but these days they’re always up in their cabin, now that Joel’s almost done fixing it up.”

  “And Joel and Nina are...” Lillian said hesitantly.

  “Oh, I completely forgot you’ve never met them,” Teri said, flushing. “Um, sorry. Joel is Zach’s brother, and Nina is Joel’s mate. Fiancée. You know.”

  Lillian filed that away: apparently shifters used “mate” to mean “romantic partner.”

  She also couldn’t help but notice that Teri had a whole new family, now—not only a fiancé, but a new brother- and sister-in-law.

  Their mother had been expecting Teri to come crawling back any day, having realized that running away with her boyfriend wasn’t a good long-term solution for her life, and that she belonged with her family.

  Lillian was starting to suspect that her mother was both wrong and right. Teri did belong with her family—but maybe it was this family, and not theirs.

  It suddenly seemed possible that the state of the last few months—hardly speaking at all, never seeing Teri face-to-face once since she’d left—could just...keep on going.

  And that was something Lillian didn’t think she could bear. To lose her baby sister forever...

  “Teri, I’m sorry,” burst out of her mouth without any forethought or consent.

  Teri’s forehead wrinkled in surprise. “For what?”

  “For—for driving you away,” Lillian said, hearing the despair in her voice. “I could tell you were miserable. I knew that Mom was making you crazy, and that it wasn’t going to stop. And I just backed her up, instead of taking your side. I should’ve stood up to her for you.”