Panther's Passion (Veteran Shifters Book 3) by Zoe Chant (2)

Nate

Nate wanted desperately to run after Stella, follow her, wrap her up in his arms and tell her that it was all going to be okay, they’d figure it out.

But it was pretty obvious that she didn’t want that right now.

All right. It tore at him, staying here alone, but he could respect her needs.

When he heard the door, he did go to the back of the house and look out the window, just in time to see Stella’s form blur and shift, and a lynx go running like a shot into the woods behind the house.

That reassured him. He didn’t want Stella going around alone and vulnerable while Todd was out there, but if she was in her lynx form, he was confident in her ability to stay safe in the forest where she’d grown up. She’d almost evaded him, and he was a security professional with a Special Forces background.

Besides, they still hadn’t seen any evidence that Todd was dangerous.

Yet.

He prowled through the house, restless and unable to sit still. Shifter senses confirmed that both Lynn and Ken were gone—it was after dawn, and presumably they were both at work—whereas Eva was sleeping the sleep of a teenager who didn’t have to get up for work yet.

It disturbed him a little that he hadn’t woken up when Lynn and Ken had left. He was used to sleeping more lightly than that. But with Stella curled up with him, he’d been completely dead to the world.

Safe, his panther growled. All safe together.

That...must have been it. The knowledge that everything that was important to him was right here in his arms had kept him slumbering deeply away.

That was an odd thought.

Nate suddenly felt as though he understood part of what had obviously been freaking Stella out.

He was forty-six years old. He’d built a life, a full and busy life, with responsibilities and routines and people who depended on him to behave a certain way. He’d never had any plans to get married, never set his life up to accommodate another person like that.

Now—everything was going to change. He could see how frightening that might be.

Intellectually, he could see it. Inside, though...there was just a rising excitement.

Yes, his panther chimed in. Everything will be better now.

Better. Nate tried to picture his own life, but better.

Coming home every day, not to his empty, sterile apartment, but to Stella’s smiles. She’d probably decorate. He tried to picture his place with something reminiscent of Stella’s brightly-colored flowy outfits, and had to smile a little.

Taking time off not because Connie bullied him into it, but because he wanted to take Stella to Paris or Tokyo.

Going with Eva to visit college campuses.

Because he wasn’t just getting a mate. He was getting a daughter.

A smart, funny, hardworking daughter, filled to the brim with teenage disdain for lame adults.

Better.

He shook out his hands. He was filled with an antsy energy, a need to go find Stella, pick her up and twirl her around and delight in being mates.

But she wasn’t there yet.

So he set to work installing cameras around the entrances and in the front hall, because that had to get done sometime, and he needed somewhere to put his energy.

He wasn’t used to this. Normally, Nate was a calm and measured man, who could move fast when it was necessary, but who otherwise smiled slow and thought before he acted. He didn’t bounce around like a Superball because he was excited for the future.

Better.

He’d never realized he wanted a mate. But now that he had one, he couldn’t imagine wanting anything else, ever again.

***

Stella

Stella settled on the rock where she always watched the dawn. Today the sun was already up—she and Nate had slept in.

It had been the best sleep she’d gotten in a long time. No nightmares, no restlessness—they’d been squeezed together on that narrow couch, and apparently neither of them had moved at all, because if they had, someone surely would’ve been knocked to the floor.

Stella tried to imagine sleeping like that every night.

She’d always been a restless sleeper, even as a kid. It had gotten worse after Eva was born; she always seemed to have one eye open, waiting for a baby’s cry. And now with Todd, she was hardly sleeping at all.

Not sleeping put a patina over the world. It made everything harder, sharper, less forgiving.

Everything had felt soft and perfect in Nate’s arms.

She shook her head hard. That wasn’t the issue. That wasn’t the issue!

The issue was—

Stella was a middle-aged single mom who couldn’t focus long enough to live in the same place for more than a year. She worked as a waitress and lived with her sister so that she could make any money at all, because she hadn’t planned well enough to send her daughter to college.

And she’d never wanted to be tied down.

It was like two impossible problems at once. On the one hand—how could she shackle herself to a man like Nate, a professional, successful man who had his own busy life, presumably his own plans for the future, and no need for a flighty waitress with looming college debt?

And on the other hand, how could she lock herself in like this? Sweep away all future possibilities and replace them with this man?

Even if this man was...this man.

Unwillingly, Stella started to imagine what the future might hold. Nate traveled for work. Maybe he could take her with him. He was smart and thoughtful—Eva seemed to like talking to him. It wouldn’t be a bad thing for Eva to have a real steady male adult in her life.

And what do you bring to this equation, Stella? she asked herself furiously. What sort of contributions are you making?

Nothing, she knew. She didn’t have any money or a glamorous job. All she had were problems that Nate was already helping her fix.

Suddenly, wildly, she thought of going back to the house, waking Eva up, and telling her that they were moving again. Getting in the car and driving somewhere—out of state, probably. Washington or Oregon, maybe. Leaving all of this behind.

No.

The thought was simultaneous: both from her own human mind, and her lynx’s growling instinct. No. Don’t leave.

If she hadn’t run away from Todd, determined to stay somewhere where she could work for a living and try to give Eva what she deserved...she sure as hell wasn’t going to turn around and run away from Nate.

She could probably at least have a conversation with him before she committed her entire future to one choice or another.

Stella laughed at herself, a little hysterical, but slowly calming down. Getting older did have some advantages, she guessed—back in her twenties, she probably already would’ve been in the car right now, too freaked out by the prospect of real commitment to think at all. And talking it over wouldn’t have occurred to her for a second.

When she’d been focused on teaching Eva how to deal with conflict, back in kindergarten and elementary school, Stella had learned a lot herself.

Like, Use your words.

Taking a deep breath, Stella stood up from her perch, shifted back to her lynx form, and started home.

On the way, she tried to figure out what she’d say. I don’t deserve you? No way. Nate was too nice to accept something like that.

I’m afraid of the future? Nate would say that they’d figure it out together.

I need time? For what?

She didn’t know how to encapsulate all of her weird worries and hesitations and fears into words. At least, not into anything shorter than a novel.

When she reached the house, she wasn’t any more clear on what she wanted to say. But Eva was yawning on the porch, clutching a cup of coffee—and if Stella knew her daughter, it would be three-quarters milk and sugar, one-quarter coffee—and sitting on the little wicker loveseat that their grandmother had had for decades.

Seizing the opportunity to delay talking to Nate, Stella shifted back to human and wandered up to take a seat next to her daughter. “Good morning.”

Eva yawned again. “Morning.” She took a long slurp of her tan coffee-flavored milk.

“What brings you out here?” Normally, Eva liked to curl up on the couch with her phone while she slowly returned to the human world. She had not inherited Stella’s sleep issues, for which Stella was grateful, but it sometimes made mornings a little bit of a trial.

“Nate,” Eva said around another yawn.

Stella froze. “What about him?”

Eva shrugged. “He’s bouncing around the downstairs like he just slammed a couple of 5-Hour Energy drinks and then ate a box of chocolate espresso beans. He installed a bunch of cameras and now I think he’s...cleaning or something. It’s weird.” She took another long slurp of coffee. “Then he started asking me about college and what my plans for the future were. And it’s morning, so I escaped out here.”

Nothing serious could be discussed within at least an hour of getting up. It was a house rule that Eva had installed after one too many questions about her life over the breakfast table.

“He was asking you about college?” Stella asked slowly.

Eva nodded, face buried in her mug. “What sort of things do I want to study. Do I want to live in a dorm. Am I applying early admissions anywhere,” she said when she emerged. “I don’t know why he’s so interested.”

I do. Stella bit her lip, wondering if she should tell Eva yet or not.

Not yet, she decided finally. She’d talk to Nate first.

Besides, she’d be breaking the one-hour rule if she brought it up now.

“Well,” she said decisively, standing up again, “I guess I’ll go see what’s got him all energized. Enjoy your coffee, sweetie.”

“Always do.”

Stella kissed her daughter on her messy bedhead and went inside, trepidation rising in her chest once again.

Nate was doing dishes in the kitchen, whistling to himself. When Stella came in, her footsteps falling softly on the floor, he turned around instantly, a soft smile spreading over his face.

That smile could be mine, Stella thought, every day for the rest of my life. She tried a shaky smile of her own. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he said softly. “I just want to say first—I want you to take as much time as you need to decide what you want from this, okay? I get that it’s a huge thing, and it could completely transform both of our lives, and I want you to be totally comfortable and okay with whatever we end up deciding to do.”

Stella’s mouth fell open. “That...wasn’t what I was expecting you to say.”

He turned off the water and dried his hands on a dishtowel. But he didn’t come towards her, like she’d been half-expecting; he leaned back against the counter, posture open and expression calm. “What were you expecting me to say?”

Stella shrugged uncomfortably. “That you could figure this out, I guess. That you knew it was all going to work out and be fine.”

“No one knows how the future’s going to go,” Nate said soberly. “I can’t promise you everything’s going to be fine, no matter what happens. All I can promise is that I’m going to do my best to make it fine. And that includes letting you figure out what you want. Because if I just say what I want, that’s not going to make for a very good start to anything.”

Stella could feel her lip trembling. Before she could actually start to cry, she took a step forward, and then another, and then flung herself into Nate’s arms.

He wrapped her up tight immediately. “Hey,” he murmured into her ear, “hey, hey, what’s wrong?”

Stella shook her head, unable to speak around the lump in her throat. Her eyes felt hot, her chest tight.

Nate kissed her ear and held her for a long, quiet moment. Finally, Stella swallowed and managed to say, “I don’t know how you’re such a good person. How did you become such a good person?”

“Couldn’t say,” he rumbled in her ear. “My mom would probably tell you that it was a good Christian upbringing.”

Stella laughed a little. “Well, I—didn’t have that, I guess.”

There was a pause. Then Nate said cautiously, “What do you mean by that?”

Nate’s embrace was so warm. His arms were so strong. His words were so kind. It didn’t seem fair that Stella had to make herself pull away from all that, but...it was.

She met his eyes. “I just don’t see how it can be right. You’re so—you risked your life to serve your country. You started your own business, and it’s really successful. You’re helping me just because Ken asked you to and you want to do the right thing. Meanwhile, I’m...” she waved a hand.

“You’re what?” Nate asked, startling her with his vehemence. “You’re raising your daughter on your own after her no-good dad abandoned you? You’re working your butt off so she can go to college?”

“I didn’t—” Stella tried, but he held up his hand.

“I’m not done. You’re being incredibly brave in the face of one of the scariest things that can happen to a person. You face a world that’s given you a lot of hardship and cruelty with a grace that I can only hope to emulate somehow. You’re a good person, Stella.”

Stella bit her lip hard. But she couldn’t hold out in the face of all of that, and a couple of tears spilled over.

Nate caught her hands and kissed them. “Don’t cry,” he said with terrifying gentleness.

“I’m not sad,” she managed.

“I don’t think you are.” His eyes were infinitely blue and infinitely kind. “I just wish that all of that wasn’t crazy enough to make you cry when you hear it. I wish you knew it already, deep in your heart.”

“It just doesn’t seem right!” Stella said furiously. “I guess it’s not—it’s not like you’re Mother Teresa and I’m some awful murderer. I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time thinking that we’re on the same level.”

“Do you want my guess?” Nate said gently.

She nodded.

“I think you’ve had so many experiences where people or things let you down, that you think it’s all your fault. I mean...I promise you this isn’t judgmental, it’s just that from what you’ve said, it sounds like you’ve had a few boyfriends.”

Stella tensed. “A lot of boyfriends,” she whispered.

Nate’s hands tightened on hers. “I told you, I’m not judging at all. I’ve dated so many women, I’ve lost count. But the difference is...I knew every minute with them was casual. Fun, physical, and that was it—I went on my way. Because my way was solid, and paved, and going somewhere I could follow with some basic hard work and dedication.”

Stella had to suspect that spending years as a combat Marine and then starting your own business and building it up to be as successful as Ken said Nate was went beyond basic hard work and dedication. But she could see what he was trying to say.

“But I think you were trying to build something with your boyfriends,” Nate continued. “Right? And it sounds like they kept on stepping away from the plate, instead of up to it. Letting you down, and leaving you alone again.”

“It’s my fault, too,” Stella protested. “I could’ve stayed somewhere instead of moving around so much, built up a real foundation for Eva, started working my butt off fifteen years ago instead of now. Other moms do.”

Nate pressed, “And was there something wrong with trying to find a good relationship, a place where you could live your dreams and be a mom?”

Stella rubbed her eyes. “I thought not.”

“There really, really wasn’t,” Nate said. “Eva’s not sad or traumatized. She’s fine, she has a good mom.”

She stared at him, wanting to believe it. It was weird—Lynn had tried to tell her something similar. That had been strange, too, because Stella was used to Lynn being her severest critic. But since they’d moved back in, Lynn had obviously been rethinking their relationship, trying to see Stella with different eyes.

I wish I hadn’t judged you so hard, her sister had said. You and I are different, but that doesn’t mean your way of doing things is wrong. You’ve seen a lot more of the world than I have, had a lot more experiences, taken a lot more risks. And you’ve still raised a fantastic daughter. I’m proud of you.

It had meant a lot, coming from Lynn. Stella had cried, hearing those words.

But she hadn’t quite been able to believe it.

But somehow, coming from Nate...maybe it was because he’d only met her a couple of days ago. Maybe it was something to do with the warmth pulsing in her chest, the feeling that she knew was the mate-bond. It was almost like she could feel the truth in his words, like her own doubts and self-recriminations didn’t have room to breathe, when surrounded by his affirmation.

It was crazy. But she felt...lighter.

Just a bit. But lighter.

“I—maybe,” she managed to get out. “Maybe.”

Nate looked at her with those gorgeous blue eyes, full of compassion and affection and...something else. Stella lifted her chin and looked right back.

“Anyway,” he added dryly, “it’s not like I’m perfect, either.”

Stella laughed a little. “Oh, no?”

He shook his head solemnly. “Nope. I—well, I guess I’m not a womanizer anymore.”

That sent a thrill of fear and excitement through her.

“But I was, for a long time. When I was younger, I wasn’t always the best at making sure everyone understood that no commitment was involved, that the whole thing should be casual. I hurt some feelings.” He sounded serious.

Stella could easily imagine a twenty-year-old Nate breaking some serious hearts. “But you don’t do that anymore,” she pointed out.

“Well, if we’re only judging by what we’re doing now,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye, “then someone is working her butt off to send her kid to college.”

Stella breathed out a little laugh. “Fair enough.”

“And I’m not always the greatest at fulfilling my responsibilities even today,” he went on. “Connie is always on my case about the paperwork, because it’s my least favorite thing to do, so I put it off until she threatens to quit.”

Stella smiled. “She sounds like a good employee.”

“The best,” Nate said fervently. “Better at my job than I am, some days. And I’m terrible at sitting still. I always have to be moving. Women hate it, mostly.”

Stella frowned. “You’ve sat still with me a bunch of times.”

He stopped short. Then his brows came together.

“I suppose you’re right,” he said slowly.

“I mean, I don’t expect you to change your entire personality for me or anything,” Stella said hastily. “I don’t mind if you’re up and around all the time. I can be like that sometimes, too. Eva hates it, though.”

Nate laughed. “I could tell. I drove her out of the kitchen earlier, being too active.”

“Especially in the mornings,” Stella agreed. “She just wants to take some time to sit with her caffeine and slooowly wake up. Even when she was little, it was better to wait until she was done with breakfast before you tried to have a real conversation with her.”

“I’ll remember that,” he said solemnly.

Which suddenly struck Stella with its impact—the idea that Nate might be around to remember that.

“Oh, God,” she said, feeling the edges of panic creep up behind her. “Are we going to live together? You, me, and Eva? Here in town? Or somewhere else—where do you even live, anyway? If we move, what am I going to do for work? But if I stay here, what about your job?”

“Whoa, whoa!” He held up his hands. “I don’t know! I really...don’t know.”

And at that, she saw the first hint of uncertainty edge into his expression.

Paradoxically, though, that made her calm down. She wasn’t used to being so anxious about the future, anyway. Normally, she threw herself headlong into new opportunities, and let the risks sort themselves out later, the choices be made when they happened.

Of course, normally she chose the new opportunities, rather than waking up and realizing that they were happening to her no matter what she might say or do.

And normally, she wasn’t coming to a new opportunity in the middle of this whole...Todd situation. There had been a lot of sleepless nights in the last month.

“I don’t want to uproot your life,” Nate was saying, with real concern. “I love my job—okay, the non-paperwork parts of my job. I love doing security consults, solving the puzzle of how a certain place is vulnerable, stopping someone from committing a crime. I don’t want to give that up. But I don’t want to drag you along anywhere you don’t want to go. I live in Chicago, but if you want to stay here—if you don’t want to be in a city all the time—or if Eva would rather stay here and do her senior year here—we can make it work, somehow.”

“We will make it work,” Stella said firmly. “If you knew how many times I’d totally uprooted my life—for much worse reasons than this—we can make it work.”

The anxiety was receding. It had come, Stella thought, from the feeling of being out of control, of not being able to make her own decisions. She’d always struggled with that.

But that feeling was being replaced by something else. The knowledge that the decision that the Universe had made for her was...Nate.

And she wasn’t going to say, Screw you! to a good thing just because she hadn’t thought it up herself.

She wasn’t going to flounce off in a huff from something that promised to lift her up, bring her more happiness than she could ever have dreamed off.

Lynn would hardly recognize her, Stella thought with a private smile.

“There’s waitress jobs in Chicago,” Stella told Nate. “Eva will hit the roof at the idea of moving to a real city. She’s always told me that—how does she say it—optimum nerd concentration is in places with a ton of people already living there.”

Nate still looked concerned. “But—your family’s here, and the Park just seems so...important to you.”

Stella had to admit, at least to herself, that the idea of leaving Montana entirely, moving somewhere with endless stretches of suburbia that led to endless stretches of flat plains—no mountains, no rugged wilderness to lose herself in—

It was strange. Strange, and a little uncomfortable, to think of not just visiting a big city, exploring it and learning its culture, but living there.

Something occurred to her. “Can we—are there places to shift?”

Nate’s concern deepened. “Out in the forest preserve. But there’s only small areas where you can be really sure you won’t run into hikers. I mostly wait until I’m traveling, just because it would be hard to explain a panther away. A lynx would be easier, but you might be more vulnerable if anyone thought you were dangerous.”

A big city. A forest preserve. Stella had never lived anywhere too urban for too long—Missoula was the biggest city that she’d really called home for any length of time.

“The other thing to consider,” Nate said quietly, “is that if you leave town, the Todd problem will be taken care of.”

Stella thought about that for about four seconds before she felt a hardening of reserve, of determination that she thought might’ve run out in the last month.

Well, maybe having a mate was bringing some of it back.

“I’m not running away from my own goddamn house,” she said fiercely. “We can talk about where we want to live, but no way am I deciding because I’m afraid of that loser.”

Nate’s face broke into a wide smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Then forget it. We’re going to show him who’s boss. And I have to make a phone call soon.”

Stella frowned. “To whom?”

“To—hm. To Connie, I guess, although she’s going to tell me that all of my people are out on assignments.” Nate frowned thoughtfully. “But I need to pull someone else in.”

“Why?”

He took her hands. “Because I can’t do a good job bodyguarding you right now. I’m paying attention to all the wrong things, I’m distracted all the time, and I won’t make the right choices in the heat of the moment because I’m listening to my heart instead of my head.”

That was...dizzying. “To your—”

There was a hint of red on Nate’s cheeks. “You know,” he said ruefully, “I’ve read out that lecture to half a dozen starry-eyed youngsters on bodyguard duty over my life, but I’ve never had to use it on myself.” He kissed her hand. “My heart.”

It was strange to think that Nate—competent, calm Nate—was feeling the same kind of swoopy overwhelmed feeling that seemed to have permanently lodged itself in Stella’s chest.

But somehow, she knew he was.

Nate continued, despite the blush, “If we’re going to keep protecting you effectively, I have to call in some backup.”

Now Stella was having second thoughts. “I’m not going to disrupt someone else’s life—”

“Do not worry about it,” Nate said firmly. “I know exactly who I’m going to call, and it’s someone who could really use a break from his job.”

“Okay,” Stella said dubiously.

Nate’s eyes softened as he looked at her. “Hey,” he said quietly. “This is not going to be a problem for much longer. We’re going to take care of Todd, and your house is going to be safe for you again. And we can go to Chicago, see how you like it, and then go somewhere else if you don’t.”

“But your business,” Stella protested.

Nate leaned in and kissed her softly. Sweetly. It was warm and loving and it made her want to melt. “We will figure it out,” he promised.

And somehow, despite her history of totally failing to figure things out, Stella believed him.

***

Nate

Nate had no idea what they were going to do.

On the surface, the future didn’t seem like an insurmountable problem at all. Stella liked to travel, had picked up and moved dozens of times throughout her life, and had as much as confessed that she didn’t really enjoy working at the diner here, but was doing it for money for Eva’s college.

Nate wanted nothing more than to go to her and say, seriously and without any hesitation, I will pay for Eva’s college. I will support you. Quit your job right now, and we can travel the world together.

And he could. He wasn’t a billionaire or anything, but he ran one of the top security companies of its size in the Chicago area. If he’d wanted to expand, become a big business, he probably could have become a billionaire.

He didn’t. He couldn’t stand the idea of losing the personal touch, being totally out of the loop about what was happening on the day-to-day.

But he had plenty of money. Most of it was securely invested, based on his buddy Carlos’ recommendations. Carlos had gone into the business world after getting out of the Marines, determined to never have to want for anything, and had made a killing.

Nate hadn’t wanted a killing. But he had wanted to be totally covered for retirement—which he hoped was still a long, long way away—and for any crises that might come up, plus a comfortable cushion for living large, if he ever decided to do so.

Carlos had laughed at that idea. Nate had never been much for luxuries. But he’d given Nate solid advice, and now Nate had more money than he really knew what to do with.

He donated some of it to charity, and otherwise ignored it. But using it to pay for Eva’s education—bright, thoughtful Eva, who Nate could already see was so like and so unlike her mother at the same time—well, that would be worth it.

He just didn’t know how Stella was going to react. Carlos had talked to him, once, about how money could be used for control.

“People think, oh yeah, free money, that sounds awesome,” he’d said. “They think, I totally want a sugar daddy or a sugar momma. Rich parents. But when someone gives you money, even if they don’t want to attach a string—that string is there. And it’s not going to go away.”

Nate didn’t want Stella to feel that string.

He was going to have to figure out exactly the right way to offer. But meanwhile...he was calling Carlos.

“Nate,” Carlos answered, sounding pleasantly surprised. “What’s happening?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to take a break from work and come help me on a job,” Nate said.

Carlos made an explosive noise. “Would I. I will be on the next plane, my friend. Where am I going?”

“That was fast.” Nate had expected to be put off by claims of responsibility to his job. High-level businessmen like Carlos usually couldn’t just take off from work without notice, no matter how much they—or, at least, Carlos—seemed to want to.

“I’ll tell you about it when I get there. Where to?”

“Glacier National Park,” Nate said, and waited.

Sure enough, he could almost hear Carlos’ eyebrows go up. “What are you doing working a job in Cal’s hometown? Is he in trouble?”

“No, nothing to do with him—I haven’t even seen him since I got here, actually.” Nate was going to have to look Cal up once the Todd situation was taken care of. Cal had married his mate Lillian only a few months ago, and their old Gunnery Sergeant would surely have some solid mate-related advice to impart.

“No,” Nate continued, “this is Ken’s new sister-in-law. She’s in trouble.”

“In trouble, huh?” Carlos was quiet for a second, and then said thoughtfully, “I guess Glacier Park is the place to be, since everyone seems to be congregating there. I’ll be there as fast as I can. Don’t suppose they have an airport.”

Nate smiled to himself. “Don’t think they allow those in national parks, buddy.”

“Right. Well, I’ll figure it out. Be there soon. And I’ll explain some things once I’m there.”

“Same here,” Nate said, and hung up before Carlos could demand to know what sort of things he had to explain.

Then he went back to the dishes. Everyone had a lot of figuring out to do, and they might as well do it in a clean house.

***

Stella

Stella went to talk to her daughter.

She’d migrated off the porch back up to her room at some point, so Stella knocked softly and waited for the, “Come in.”

Eva had been about ten when she’d started insisting that her mom knock and wait. It had been one of the first real signs of her growing up and wanting independence, and it had made Stella wistful for her babyhood—even though Eva’s babyhood had been the hardest time of her life.

Now, her baby was all grown up and getting ready to apply to college, and the wistfulness was back.

“Hey, mom.” Eva was dressed now, coffee consumed, munching on a granola bar and scrolling through her phone again.

Eva was too supernaturally good to ever really need punishment—frankly, she was more mature than Stella was, some days—but if Stella had ever needed to punish her, threatening to take away her phone would probably make her willing to do anything in the world. She was practically surgically attached to it.

“Hey,” Stella said, sitting down on the bed next to her. “Can I talk to you about something?”

Something in Stella’s tone must have alerted Eva to the fact that this was serious, because—wonder of wonders!—she set her phone aside and looked up. “What is it?”

“Well,” Stella said, “Nate and I...” She hesitated.

Eva only took a second to get it. Or, at least, to get something. “Mom! He’s supposed to be bodyguarding you!”

“No—I know—it’s not like—” Stella had to take a deep breath to compose herself.

Meanwhile, Eva was rattling on. “I know he’s nice and, like, I guess pretty good-looking for an old guy, but Mom, you can’t just mack on your bodyguard—”

“I know! And if you’ll let me get a word in edgewise, I’ll explain why this is different,” Stella said, with some I’m-Your-Mother snap to her voice.

Eva subsided, looking mutinous.

“It’s more than what you’re thinking,” Stella said carefully. “Nate and I have discovered that...we’re mates.”

Eva’s eyes went round and huge. “Mates?”

Stella nodded.

“Like Aunt Lynn and Uncle Ken? Like Mavis and Colonel Hanes? Like—”

“Yes, Eva, like all of those.” Stella wasn’t going to let herself think about the number of picture-perfect mates pairs there were in Glacier Park, all happily living here, quiet and domestic, many of them raising families...and how much she didn’t really want her life to look like that.

“So,” Eva said, hesitatingly, “you’re going to be together...forever?”

“That’s the idea,” Stella said on a long exhale.

“Can you—uh, can you do that?”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Stella said dryly.

Eva flushed. “Sorry.”

“No—no, I’m sorry, honey. That’s totally fair. I know I haven’t seemed very interested in settling down before now.”

Eva smiled a little. “I guess you could put it like that. But being mates is...different?”

“It really, really is.” Stella was surprised to realize that she meant every word of that. The idea of leaving Nate, ever, for any reason, sent up a screaming sense of wrongness in her chest. Before now, she’d always been in the moment during her relationships, living with a sense of I’m here for the now.

But now, she was here for the long haul.

Eva was ahead of her, though, as usual. “Are we going to move again?” she asked tentatively.

“Do you want to move? Nate lives in Chicago,” Stella said leadingly.

Eva smiled a little. “I—Chicago would be awesome.”

She didn’t sound as excited as Stella had thought she would. “I would’ve guessed you’d be jumping for joy at the thought of living in a big city for once. I thought all the nerds lived in big cities.”

Eva laughed. “Not all of them. I just—I have this cool job here, and Aunt Lynn and Ken are here, and this house is really awesome, and the Park is right there, and we can shift whenever we want. And...I made a couple of friends.”

Stella raised her eyebrows. “Friends, or friends?”

Eva blushed. “Mom! Stop it.”

Stella held up her hands. “Okay, okay. Stopping. But you haven’t said anything about this before.”

Eva made a face. “Didn’t want to jinx it. I thought they’d think I was weird or something. But they’re pretty weird, too, so.”

“Good,” Stella said firmly. “The world needs more weirdness.”

Although...this made everything more complicated.

“So I don’t really want to move...right now,” Eva finished. She made a worried face. “Do we have to?”

“No,” Stella said immediately. “Of course not, honey. We can absolutely stay here.”

“Or, if you wanted to go live in Chicago, maybe I could live here with Aunt Lynn and Uncle Ken?” Eva asked tentatively.

That idea tore at Stella’s heart. “No way,” she said. “You’re going off to college somewhere fabulous next year. I’m not leaving you behind for a whole year before I absolutely have to.”

Eva smiled softly. “Okay. Thanks, Mom.”

Stella leaned in and hugged her. “No charge.”

Eva hugged her back, and Stella thanked her lucky stars for such a fantastic daughter.

Eva pulled back, and said, with a kind of a light in her eyes, “Hey, do you still have to keep working at Oliver’s now?”

“Eva!” Stella said, putting as much shock and admonishment in her voice as she could, to disguise the fact that the idea had, actually, crossed her own mind as well. “That’s not the sort of thing you can assume. We’re not going to be freeloaders on Nate’s generosity for the rest of our lives.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Eva sat forward, hugging a pillow. “You always say that you don’t have time to focus on your drawing because you’ve gotta put food on the table. You’re always working these crappy jobs for long hours because we need money. But now maybe you could just...be an artist? That’s a job.”

“That’s a job that takes a lot more effort that just making drawings sometimes,” Stella said tartly, “and isn’t likely to make me any money anytime soon.”

She knew because she’d tried it, here and there—selling drawings at local craft fairs, talking to tiny art galleries in Missoula, seeing if there was any way to build herself a website that didn’t involve a lot of tears or a lot of money. She’d come up essentially dry every time—even if she sold a drawing or two at a fair, that didn’t make her enough money to be anywhere near worth it.

“That’s my point, Mom,” Eva said patiently. “Now you could take some time to do it. To build up a customer base.”

“I don’t—I don’t know anything about doing that,” Stella said, because she couldn’t quite say, Nate wouldn’t put up with that.

She’d dated plenty of guys who’d been disdainful about the idea of trying to make money from art, but even though they hadn’t discussed it, she knew Nate wasn’t going to be one of them.

“Talk to Nina’s mom.” Eva looked really excited now, possibly because she’d brought this up before but this was the first time Stella had entertained the idea past the first sentence or two. “She consults with small businesses, remember? She taught Aunt Lynn how to turn her guide business into something that really makes a profit. She’d know what to do.”

“I—” I can’t. Stella only knew Mavis a little bit. She was Colonel Hanes’ mate, and Lynn’s friend, and she’d helped them all drive Todd’s pack off when they’d shown up at the house.

She was also a beautiful, graceful, capable, professional woman, who always seemed to know what to say, and who had a track record of helping all sorts of local businesses around Glacier Park get back on their feet.

Stella found her intimidating as hell. But she couldn’t admit that to Eva, not when her daughter was looking at her with those hopeful eyes.

“I’ll...see what I can do,” she managed.

“Great!” Eva said. “I’ll let Nina know that you want to talk to her mom.”

Wait, don’t— But it was too late: Eva had already grabbed her phone and was texting.

“I didn’t know that you and Nina were close,” Stella managed. It looked like Eva was having a whole social life that Stella hadn’t even known existed.

Eva shrugged. “She’s nice. She’s moved around a lot, too, although she was by herself and it sounded like it really sucked, not like us.” She looked up. “She told me that meeting Joel and finding a pack here with the snow leopards was the best thing that ever happened to her. Does Nate have a pack?”

“I...don’t think so.” Stella hadn’t asked. Nate hadn’t mentioned anything, though. Just his job.

Eva’s face fell. “That’s too bad. Maybe he could move here and make a pack with us, instead of us moving to Chicago to be with him?”

Stella hated to disappoint her, but she had to object with, “His job’s in Chicago, honey. His whole security company is based there. I’m sure there’s all kinds of work for a security consultant in Chicago that there isn’t up here in Glacier.”

Although Nate did say he traveled a lot for work. That made Stella wistful in the way that living in a big city didn’t. If there was one perk she was going to demand in this relationship, it was that she get to tag along at least sometimes. When Nate was going somewhere particularly exciting.

In this relationship.

Jeez.

“Oh,” Eva said softly. “Well, um. I guess we can move, if we really have to.”

Eva was putting a brave face on. She’d done that before—there had been times when she was younger, when Stella had picked them up and moved them even though Eva really, really hadn’t wanted to. When she was very little, she’d thrown tantrums and told Stella, in all seriousness, that Stella was ruining her life. After she’d gotten older, she’d bitten her lip and insisted that she understood, that it was fine.

But those had been the times when they had to. When Eva had liked the house they were living in or the boyfriend Stella had been dating...but that relationship was over, so they couldn’t stay there. When she’d lost a job, and so they’d had to move somewhere where there were different ones.

When wanderlust grabbed her, she’d sit down with Eva and say, “Should we go somewhere else?” and wait. And if Eva’s face scrunched up and she shook her head...well, Stella would wait and ask her again later.

This...was something in between. But Stella knew one thing for sure: they didn’t have to move. She had a job and a place for them both to live, and Eva had a school to go to and, apparently, friends to spend time with.

And that, more than anything, made her want to stay. Because Eva had always had such a hard time making friends in the real world, instead of just on the Internet. Stella couldn’t quite bring herself to make her daughter abandon them, now that they were here.

“So,” she said, settling herself more comfortably on the bed. “When do I get to meet these friends of yours? Want to have them over sometime?”

“Mom,” Eva said, the song of the embarrassed teenager everywhere. “But we’re so weird.”

Stella laughed. “But weird is good. Didn’t you say so yourself?”

Eva subsided with a grumble, and Stella smiled to herself, despite the disquiet in the back of her mind.

Her daughter was happy. She and Nate would just have to work everything out for themselves.

***

Nate

“Eva doesn’t want to move to Chicago.”

Stella looked nervous. Nate set the broom aside—he cleaned when he was nervous, all right, it was a leftover habit from the Marines and at least it was something useful to do—and went over to take Stella’s hands.

It was becoming a habit: reaching out to take her small, birdlike hands, pulling them up to his lips, pressing a kiss against the soft skin. He was already starting to memorize the way they felt against his mouth.

He pictured doing this every day for the next forty years, until he knew her hands better than he knew his own. It was a nice thought.

“She has friends here,” Stella continued. “She has a hard time making friends. And she loves Lynn, always has. So I don’t think...I don’t think I should make her.”

“Then you don’t have to,” Nate said immediately. “I told you before. I’m not going to insist that you totally uproot your life for me. There’s no reason you should automatically have to do that.”

Stella made a face. “Well, I don’t want you to totally uproot your life for me, either. You have a job and a company that you love.”

That was...mostly true. Nate did love his company. And he loved—parts of his job.

An idea was starting to percolate in his head. “I might be able to think of a way to make this work,” he said slowly. “But I’d have to make some phone calls, talk some things over with people. Can we wait a couple of days?”

“A couple of days to think about totally uprooting our lives?” Stella opened her eyes comically wide. “You stick-in-the-mud. Where’s your sense of adventure?”

Nate laughed at the sight of her.

She relaxed her face after a second, and laughed with him. “The terrible thing is, at nineteen I would’ve said exactly the same thing, but it would’ve been serious.”

Nate waved his hand. “We’re all idiots at nineteen.”

“Except my daughter,” Stella said, rolling her eyes. “Who is seventeen going on forty sometimes.”

“All the more reason to take her opinion seriously, then.” Nate kissed her beautiful mouth. “I should go talk to her, too, actually. I want her to know that I’m going to respect the both of you, and that she doesn’t have to worry about me whisking you guys away somewhere.”

“Hurry up,” Stella said, glancing at the clock. “She has to go to work pretty soon.”

And in fact, Eva’s footsteps sounded on the stairs. “Hey, Mom, I have to leave in like fifteen minutes, is there any food?” she asked.

Nate glanced at Stella as he said, “Hey, Eva, why don’t I drive you to work? We can pick up some breakfast on the way.”

Eva gave him a measuring look. “Okay,” she said. “I guess you want to talk to me about the whole mates thing.”

Nate laughed. “I was trying to be subtle, but I guess that doesn’t fly, huh? Okay. Yeah, I want to talk to you about the whole mates thing. Are you game?”

Eva nodded. “Ready when you are.”

So Nate stole one last sweet kiss from Stella, and went with Eva out to his rental car. She hauled herself into the seat without any trouble, and told him where her coffee shop was.

“We could go to Oliver’s for breakfast, though,” she said. “There’s plenty of time. Normally I walk to work, and it takes like half an hour.”

“Oliver’s it is,” Nate said, and put the car into gear.

Eva studied him as they drove, but didn’t move to start any conversation, so Nate waited until they were at the diner, and Eva had ordered an enormous spread of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns. Nate approved.

“So,” she said at least, crossing her arms on the table and leaning forward. “The whole mates thing.”

“Well,” Nate said, “first of all, I’m with your mother for good. That means that I’m committed to making her happy, and taking care of her and you as much as you need me to. Or want me to. I’d like to get to know you, too, although I get it if you’d rather I butt out of your life, since you just met me a couple days ago.”

Eva regarded him with a considering look. “Huh,” she said. “That’s different.”

Nate frowned. “What is?”

“Usually my mom’s boyfriends either ignore me totally, or try real hard to be a dad-like...thing. One of them tried extra-hard when Mom was around and then ignored me when she wasn’t, but I told her about that, and he didn’t last very long.”

She sounded like she was thinking aloud, so Nate stayed quiet and appreciated the fact that she seemed to trust him enough to do so.

“They don’t usually ask me what I want,” she said musingly. “Huh.”

“So,” Nate offered, “what do you want?”

Eva frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t want an instant dad. That’d be weird.”

“Agreed. I don’t have any dad experience, anyway, so I’d need some time to learn how.”

“I don’t mind having a guy around,” she continued, still thinking. “Ken’s pretty cool. Mom’s super...feminine, you know?”

Nate thought about Stella’s flowing skirts and graceful movements. “She is.”

“Which is fine!” Eva said hastily. “Nothing against it. Just...one thing I always liked about Aunt Lynn was having someone who was less girly. Because I’m not super girly, even if Mom is.”

Eva tended to wear jeans or cargo pants and a hoodie, not dresses like her mother. She was dressed for work, now, but all that seemed to entail was a button-down shirt instead of the sweatshirt. She didn’t have any makeup on. Nate hoped that that wasn’t...a problem for her at school, or anything. Weren’t teenage girls famously judgmental of clothes and stuff?

“You should be as girly as you want to be,” he said firmly. “No more, no less.”

Eva gave him a scathing look. “I know that. That’s why I’m saying it’s nice to have different examples around.”

Well, that showed him. Nate was really enjoying how much Eva was simultaneously very adult and incredibly teenage.

“Anyway,” she continued, “let’s keep it cool for now. You’re not my dad. But we can talk and stuff.”

“Sounds great.” We can talk and stuff. Well...it was probably better to ease into the responsibility of parenting a teenager, especially when she had an experienced mother and aunt already in place. He’d step up wherever he was needed, and if Eva ever wanted to call him her dad, he’d be there with bells on, no matter how terrifying it sounded right now.

“And I want to promise you something,” he added. “I’m not going to make you move, and I’m not going to take your mom away from you. I live in Chicago right now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t move, or we can’t work something out long-distance until you leave for college.”

The idea of living a thousand miles or more from his mate made his chest ache. But he couldn’t separate her from her daughter.

Whether he could separate himself from his job, at least geographically, was something he still needed to work on.

“Thanks,” Eva said quietly. “I know you could convince her. She doesn’t like waitressing here. And I know it’s kind of a crappy job, and she’s doing it to make money so she can help me pay for college.” Now Eva looked guilty.

Nate pounced on that immediately. “This is something else I wanted to talk to you about. I don’t want to make you or your mom uncomfortable. I don’t want you to feel obligated or unhappy. But I do have some money saved. I’m not doing anything with it right now. A college fund seems like the perfect place to put it.”

Eva’s eyes went wide, and their food arrived. Nate busied himself with being pleasant to the waitress—Pauline, her nametag said—to give Eva time to get herself together.

“You’re Stella’s new guy, aren’t you?” Pauline said. “Keeping that Todd asshole away from her?”

Nate reflected that one nice little side benefit of the mate thing was that he wouldn’t be trying to protest that he wasn’t Stella’s new boyfriend anymore. “That’s me. He’s not going to get away with bothering her any longer.”

Pauline nodded thoughtfully, giving him an assessing eye. Then she glanced at Eva. “Drew should be in here later, if you’re sticking around.”

Eva bit her lip. “I have to go to work. He could come by the shop, if he wants.”

“I’ll let him know. Enjoy your breakfast.” Pauline walked off.

Nate thought about asking Eva who Drew was, but that might come off a touch...paternal.

Besides, there was something else on the table right now. Besides breakfast, which smelled delicious. “Well?” he asked her quietly.

Eva sat up straight. “That’s a very kind offer,” she said in a polite and grown-up voice. “But I couldn’t possibly accept so much money from you.”

“If your mother and I got married, it would be her money, too,” Nate tried.

Eva gave him a pointed glance. “Then when you get married, we can talk about it again.”

Nate had to smile. “Fair enough.”

He wondered if Stella would want to get married. Would it conflict with her free-as-a-bird life? Surely being mated was the same thing.

Although the mate-bond was more...natural. Inward.

“Besides,” Eva was saying, “I’m going to apply for every possible financial aid that there is. Maybe...if you wanted...” She hesitated. “If I get a scholarship somewhere, or enough grants or loans or something to cover tuition, maybe you could help with living expenses. I was going to ask Mom if she could help some with that, anyway, and I know that she doesn’t make enough here for it to be easy. Maybe you could help with that.”

“That sounds like a fair deal,” Nate said solemnly. “I’ll talk it over with your mother and see if she agrees.”

Eva nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” he said, with absolute sincerity. “Now let’s eat. This looks delicious.”

They tucked in, and Nate was right: it was delicious.

Eva stayed quiet during the meal, inhaling her food. Nate approved; it seemed like too many teenage girls were starving themselves these days.

It was only after she’d soaked up the last bit of maple syrup with the last bite of pancake that she spoke again. “Has my mom showed you any of her drawings yet?”

“Her drawings?” Sensing something important here, Nate leaned forward.

Eva bit her lip. “Whoops. Probably shouldn’t have said anything.” But her eyes were conspiratorial.

“Well,” Nate said thoughtfully, “cat’s out of the bag now, so...”

She grinned. “Mom draws. She’s really, really good. She used to paint, sometimes, but we moved too much and Todd and Barry—the guy before Todd—both didn’t want art stuff cluttering up their houses. So mostly she just draws now.”

“And she’s really good.” Nate could imagine it. Stella’s careful, graceful hand, sketching out a landscape or a person’s face... “What sort of things does she draw?”

Eva shrugged. “All sorts of stuff. Real stuff, not abstract or anything. She’s been drawing the Park a lot since we came back here. You should get her to show you.”

“I’ll try.” Would Stella be shy? Sometimes she was so bold, so brave, that it took his breath away, but sometimes hesitation took over her, and she’d drop her eyes and blush and fidget a little, and Nate would be overwhelmed by the desire to take her in her arms and say that she didn’t have to worry about anything.

“But also, I told her she should go talk to Mavis about it,” Eva continued, and Nate made himself refocus.

“Mavis?” The name was familiar.

“Nina’s mom. Or, uh, you don’t know Nina. Oh, Mavis’s mate is Colonel Hanes—did you serve under him like Ken did?”

“I did.” Colonel Hanes’ mate. Right. Because Colonel Hanes lived here now. Nate had to stifle the urge to sit up a bit straighter, check the entrances, in case the Colonel was about to walk in and see him out of uniform, slouched in a diner booth.

“Yeah, so, his mate Mavis is a financial counselor for small businesses? And she helped Aunt Lynn start really making money with her guide business, instead of just scraping by. I want Mom to go talk to her about trying to really get going with her art. And she said she would, but I think she’s going to chicken out.”

Nate choked on a laugh, and Eva nodded firmly. “So you have to make sure she goes, okay?”

“Why now?” Nate asked. “Does this have something to do with me?”

Eva bit her lip, looking guilty. “Um...”

“So it does have something to do with me.”

“Well—I just—maybe Mom won’t have to work as many hours as a waitress as she did before?” Eva said hopefully. “And maybe she’ll be able to take some time to see if she can make some money off of her drawing, instead of having to worry about getting money fast?”

Ah. Eva had absolutely refused to take any significant sum of Nate’s money for herself, but she was hoping that Stella might be able to benefit. It was more selfless than Nate would have expected from a teenager.

“That’s very thoughtful,” he said after a second. “Thinking about your mom’s happiness like that.”

Eva shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “I mean, it’s all the same, right? If one of us isn’t happy, the whole family is sad for them. It’s not like some crazy altruistic thing.”

If one of us isn’t happy, the whole family is sad for them.

The words struck Nate much more deeply than he could’ve expected.

The whole family.

Meaning Stella, Lynn, Ken, and Eva.

And now Nate.

Nate was part of this family now.

It wasn’t just being Stella’s mate, and Eva’s...not-dad. It was more than that.

“Sorry,” Eva said. “I didn’t meant to assume that you’d be, like, paying for everything for my mom or anything like that. That’s not what she’s like, anyway. She’s had a lot of boyfriends, and sometimes we lived at their place, but she always worked too, she didn’t just...lie around and do nothing.”

Eva looked anxious. “Don’t worry,” Nate assured her. “I never thought that. It’s obvious your mom’s a hard worker.”

“Good,” Eva said, relieved. She checked her phone. “Speaking of work, I gotta get there soon.”

Nate nodded and caught Pauline’s eye, paying the check quickly.

On their way out, a boy about Eva’s age came in. He looked agitated. “Hey, Eva!” he said, and then cast a fearful look at Nate.

That look was a little suspicious. Nate backed off, out of normal hearing range. But his shifter ears picked up most of what the kid was saying to Eva in a low voice.

“...going to kick me out if I don’t...not sure what we’re gonna...the little kids can’t...”

That was all, though. Eva gave the kid a hug, and then Pauline the waitress came over. “Hey, Drew,” she said. “Let’s get you some breakfast, okay?”

She led him away, while Eva watched with wide, worried eyes.

“Everything okay?” Nate asked gently.

She jumped. “Fine!” she said, too quickly. “That’s just my friend from school. Come on, I gotta get to work.”

Something more was going on there, but Nate left it alone for now. It looked like Pauline had a clue, at least.

He drove Eva to work, dropped her off, and came back to the house, automatically scanning the perimeter for any sign of Todd. Nothing was evident, so he went inside.

“Hey.” Stella was waiting for him with a smile and a kiss, and as he inhaled her scent, Nate wondered dazedly what it would be like to have this kind of welcome every time he came home.

“Hey,” he said, kissing her back. Once. Twice—then he made himself break away. “So Eva says I should be asking you about your drawings.”

Stella’s mouth dropped open. “Why, that little—she thinks she’s sneaky.”

“She’s right,” Nate said with a grin. “I’m just not interested in sneaking with her, so I’m coming right out and asking. Can I see one?”

“One...of my drawings?”

Nate nodded. “Are they private?”

“Well...no...” Stella seemed to be having a hard time deciding whether no was really the right answer.

Although he was absolutely dying to see what sort of art Stella could make, Nate made himself say, “Really, if you’d rather not show me—”

“No, no, it’s okay.” Stella collected herself, and smiled. “Come on upstairs.”

It was the first time Nate had seen the inside of Stella’s bedroom. Stella seemed to realize this as she was opening the door, and gave Nate a self-conscious smile. “Not much has changed since I was in high school,” she admitted.

The room struck him at first like a little wooded glen, someplace a fairy might live. There were hangings on the walls, the sort of thin, machine-printed things a teenager might get at the mall, but they were beautiful rich colors, with big, twining trees printed on them in black. A little wire-metal tree stood on the dresser, with necklaces and bracelets hanging off of it, twinkling in the light from the window.

The bed had a gauzy canopy. Stella caught him looking at it and blushed. “I put that up myself when I was fifteen,” she said, sounding a little defensive.

“It’s you,” Nate said. “Don’t apologize for it.”

It really was. He wouldn’t have chosen to decorate a room like for himself—it was feminine to the core—but it was kind of like stepping inside Stella herself, and he could feel a rush of warmth at the idea.

“Anyway,” Stella was saying, “I have a sketchbook, it’s over here—”

Nate’s attention was instantly drawn to the book lying on the bedside table. Stella picked it up and then stood there, holding it a little awkwardly. Then, she seemed to make a decision, and thrust it out towards Nate, abruptly sincere. “Here.”

Nate took it with careful respect, and opened it to the beginning.

He was struck almost immediately by how bright the picture seemed. It took him a moment to realize that the drawing was done in pencil, nothing else, and the impression of light was just a clever manipulation of shading and empty white paper.

But he could swear that this pencil sketch of a sunrise had actual light pouring off the paper. It was astonishingly well done.

“This is amazing,” he said honestly.

Stella’s breath caught. “You really think so?”

“Of course I do,” he said, flipping to another fantastically detailed landscape. The trees looked almost real. “You have to know that you’ve got a talent.”

“Well...” Stella trailed off. Then she lifted her chin. “Yes,” she said. “I know. I just don’t—not everyone has an appreciation for drawings like this, that’s all.”

Nate wondered if anyone she’d dated in the past had put down her skill, and had to breathe deeply to keep from clenching his fists and wrinkling the nice paper. “Even if it’s not someone’s thing, it’s obvious that these are really good,” he said quietly. “I can’t imagine why anyone would say anything bad about them.”

Stella smiled a little. “Thanks.”

Nate flipped to another page, and was faced with—himself.

It was his panther form. Stella had only seen him shift the once, but she’d somehow still managed to draw him exactly as he knew himself, with hints of the blue highlights on his sunlit coat. He had no idea how she made that so clear without any color at all, but he could see it.

His panther form was crouched, ready to leap, and there were sleek muscles coiled under the fur. The motion was there, in potential, prepared to jump off the page. Nate looked up again, and now Stella was watching him intently, all shyness gone. She obviously wanted to know what he thought.

So he let a smile tease at his lips as he said, “You got me exactly right.”

And if there was a hint of smugness in his voice—well, his mate had drawn him as a beautiful, graceful, powerful creature. What wasn’t to be smug about?

Stella’s self-consciousness was melting away. She gave him a little flirtatious smile back, and said, a little breathlessly, “I know.”

Nate snorted a chuckle and flipped to a different page.

This time, it was himself in human form. It was an excellent likeness—he wouldn’t have expected anything less, at this point—but what really caught him was the eyes.

The way he was looking out of the page...he reached out before he could stop himself, brushed his fingers against the corner of one of those eyes.

“That’s what I see when you look at me,” Stella said softly. “Tenderness, and this kind of...fierce joy. I don’t know how to describe it better than that.”

“You don’t have to,” Nate said, still looking at the picture. “That’s what I’m feeling. That’s exactly right.”

He set the sketchbook reverently aside, and then, once he didn’t have to worry about keeping it intact, he used that intense strength that Stella had drawn him with.

Stella made a startled-but-happy noise as he caught her in his arms, carrying her three steps to the canopied fairyland bed. He tasted the sweetness of her lips just for a second, then pulled away and laid them both down. Then he lost himself in another kiss, in the softness of her body and her bed.

She tasted intoxicating, and she felt like heaven. Nate devoured her mouth, then pulled back to brush kisses against her cheek, her temple, the soft skin of her neck. He buried his face in the join between her neck and shoulder and inhaled, then bit lightly.

Stella gasped, her fingers clenching on his shoulders. Nate smiled against her skin and bit again, delighting in the feeling of her full-body writhe, the way her body moved under his.

Her legs parted, and he settled into the space between her thighs, her skirt riding up until his cock, hard in his jeans, was pressed right up against her panties. He rolled his hips and she moaned; he caught the sound with his mouth, tasting it.

Nate had intended to get their clothes off, maybe settle in with his tongue between Stella’s legs for a while, but this felt too impossibly good to let go of. The heat built in the little spaces between them, the air dense and heavy and smelling like sex. Stella was making little noises that caught something deep in Nate’s chest, a fierce and powerful hunger.

He devoured Stella’s mouth as he worked his hips against the soaking fabric of her panties. His cock was leaking in his boxers, throbbing and jerking with every rub against Stella’s sex.

Stella wrapped her legs around his hips, lifting to meet him, and a blinding wave of pleasure overtook him.

Nate had to break the kiss to drag in air. “Hold on,” he said raggedly. “We have to—God—I’m going to come in my pants like a teenager.”

“Okay, then—” Stella gasped, reaching between them. The feeling of her fingers brushing up against the front of his jeans did nothing to help his desperate need, but then she caught the button, undoing it one-handed, squirming down until she had the angle to tug down the zipper and slip her hand into his boxers.

Nate groaned as she took his cock in her hand. She ran her hand down the length and back up once, then said, “Don’t think I can do much good at this angle.”

“You’re doing plenty of good, believe me,” he said, but didn’t protest her taking her hand away. Especially since her fingers retreated back between her own thighs, rubbing her clit over her panties a few times. “Oh,” she said, shuddering at the touch of her own hand. Nate thought he might spontaneously combust at the sight.

Then she bit her lip. “Getting distracted,” she gasped. “Here.”

And she pulled the lace of her panties to the side. They were close enough that once her hand was out of the way, the head of his cock was already kissing the wetness of her opening.

“Come on,” she breathed.

Nate surged forward, burying himself inside her in one long, smooth stroke. They groaned together, and he started up a rhythm, feeling her silken heat tighten, her muscles clench and jerk. He held onto her with all of his strength, grinding them together, losing himself in the blinding pleasure that was making love to Stella.

Lost in sensation, he thrust again, and again. He couldn’t last, and he knew it, not with her inner walls clutching at him like that. A moment later, the wave rose up and tipped him over: climax roared through him, and he spent himself inside her as she shuddered around him.

She was still moving restlessly, though, so the moment Nate had control of his muscles again, he pulled out and slid down, getting two fingers inside her, and then adding a third when she moaned for more. He found that slightly rougher spot inside her and rubbed hard against it as he took her clit in his mouth and sucked.

Stella shrieked as she clenched hard enough to almost hurt his fingers, coming in pulses against his face. Nate drank her down, wishing he was young enough to go again.

When she was sensitive enough that she was twitching away from his tongue, Nate pulled back and crawled up the bed to collapse next to her.

“Mmm,” Stella sighed. “Naptime.”

“Sounds good. Do you work today?”

She nodded, yawning. “Later. Dinner shift. Sleep for now.”

That sounded just fine to Nate. He gathered her sated body close, breathed her in, and closed his eyes to the fairy glen of her bedroom.

***

Nate went with Stella to work, finding a seat at Oliver’s for the second time that day. He surveilled while she waited tables, and proved without a shadow of a doubt that he’d made the right decision calling Carlos in.

Stella was just so...distracting. Her graceful movements, her musical voice, the glint of her silver-blonde hair under the lights. The way she laughed with Pauline over some joke. Once, Nate caught himself admiring how well she memorized the food orders instead of keeping an eye on the perimeter.

He forced himself to pay attention to the building’s vulnerabilities, but he simply wasn’t as effective as he would’ve been with a regular client, and he knew it.

So he spent the last couple of hours outside, walking the perimeter and inspecting the cars in the lot. He ducked inside occasionally, to check on Stella and make sure she was all right, that Todd hadn’t called her—from someone else’s phone, since Stella had said she’d blocked his number long ago—or otherwise managed to insinuate his presence.

All right, he checked on her a bit more often than he should have.

But as it happened, he was out in the parking lot when, just a few minutes before the end of Stella’s shift, a truck pulled up with a screech and parked right by the door. Nate’s eyes narrowed: he recognized that truck.

He was standing casually by the door when Todd got out. There was a moment where the man clearly didn’t notice him; Nate was dressed in dark clothes, and had automatically positioned himself in the shadows.

Todd produced a very satisfying double-take when he finally saw him. Then his eyes narrowed. “You’re that guy who’s hanging around Stella.”

“I’m her mate,” Nate corrected, keeping his tone even.

And regretted it immediately—God, he’d told Stella that the presence of a new romantic interest could cause things to escalate. His judgment was impaired as hell. But there was no way he could’ve faced down this asshole without telling him that Stella wasn’t alone anymore.

Todd’s eyes went wide. Then he snorted. “Bullshit. You’re just saying that because you feel threatened and you want to scare me away. Forget it. You’re not Stella’s mate. She belongs with me.”

Nate took a step forward. “Believe it,” he said softly. “But even if you don’t want to hear that, hear this: I’m not going anywhere. Stay the hell away if you want to stay the hell intact.”

Todd was looking nervous, but he covered it with bravado. “You can’t keep me away from Stella. She loves me.”

“She’s afraid of you,” Nate said. He could feel his voice wanting to get louder, to shout, to roar. He controlled it with an effort.

Todd’s face turned ugly. “You’re making her afraid of me. You’re telling her lies about me—twisting her mind—”

Nate saw red. The way Todd talked like Stella could only dislike him if someone had brainwashed her, like she couldn’t make her own choices or have her own thoughts—it sparked a burning rage inside him.

Enemy, his panther hissed. Wants to hurt our mate.

He stalked towards Todd, who scrambled backwards, fear on his face. As they circled the diner, coming around to where it backed onto the forest, out of sight of the road, the whole area deserted at this time of night, Nate let his panther rise inside him. His fingernails lengthened, his teeth sharpened, and he gave into the shift, falling onto all fours and snarling.

Todd went white as a ghost, shivered, shifted, and hit the ground running. His medium-sized wolf form would be no match for a panther, Nate noted analytically, especially not one his size.

Chase him, his panther yearned. Once we catch him, he won’t be coming back again.

No. Nate pulled himself together.

This wasn’t a job for his animal instincts. Attacking Todd wouldn’t actually help the situation—in fact, it might drive him to do something desperate and dangerous. And God forbid Nate actually seriously injure or kill him. If the police got involved...no.

He made himself shift back to human.

This was why he couldn’t bodyguard someone he loved.

***

Stella

Stella clutched the mug of tea, letting it warm her hands as she sat in the kitchen.

Nate was writing up a full report of his encounter with Todd, touching base with his friend who was coming in the morning, and otherwise doing his job. Like he did every day.

Stella couldn’t imagine having things like this happen every day.

She supposed it was different when it wasn’t happening to you.

This was different for Nate, too, she knew. When she’d shivered at the thought of Todd waiting for her to come out alone at night, Nate had pulled her into his arms, and she’d heard the anger in his voice as he’d sworn that she’d be safe with him.

She’d told him to take care of his work, that she’d be fine in the kitchen. She thought that some boring, routine paperwork would probably help him calm down. And she just wanted to...sit, safe in her own kitchen, with a mug of tea.

She heard a noise in the hall and started, slopping chamomile over the side of the mug and burning her hand a little. She hissed and sucked at her knuckles.

“Sorry.” Lynn hovered in the doorway, looking guilty.

Stella relaxed. “No, I’m just jumpy. Come in. Want some tea?”

“Sure.” Lynn took a seat at the table with her. “Couldn’t sleep.”

Lynn usually wasn’t an insomniac like Stella. “Something wrong?”

“Apart from a stalker going after my little sister?” Lynn asked wryly. “Nope, nothing. Ken’s out overnight, is all, and I don’t sleep as well when he’s gone.”

Her voice grew gruffer as she finished the sentence, and she looked away, a little flush rising in her cheek. Lynn hated admitting to weakness, and for most of their lives, Stella would’ve said she’d rather die than be dependent on anything or anyone.

But she’d changed, since being with Ken.

“Nate and I are mates,” Stella blurted, her hands tightening on her mug.

Lynn stared at her.

And despite all of her anxiety about—everything, about Todd and the future and telling her big sister something so profoundly important—Stella felt a little twinge of satisfaction at having blindsided Lynn so thoroughly.

They’d come a long way in their relationship, but Stella was always going to have a tiny bit of the bratty little sister inside her.

“You? And Nate?” Lynn managed.

Stella nodded. “Believe it or not.”

Lynn went to the kettle and poured herself some tea. She stood there for a long minute, then shook her head, and came back to sit down. “And here I was trying so hard not to lecture you on sleeping with your bodyguard.”

Shifter senses meant that Lynn couldn’t have missed what was going on. Stella refused to be embarrassed.

“Nate’s calling in a friend,” she said instead. “So he’ll have some backup that isn’t so...involved. He said that was best.”

“Well, good,” Lynn said stridently, her normal self starting to come back. Then she shook her head, wonderingly, and started to laugh. “What are the odds? Me and Ken, and you and Nate?”

“Maybe we’re all meant to be together,” Stella said, smiling. “A big family.”

Lynn softened at the thought. “That might be nice.”

“Lynn, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Stella said in a rush. “Nate works in Chicago. And I should be dying to get out of here for good—I always was, before—but somehow it’s different now. Eva wants to stay, and I like—I like living here with you.”

She and Lynn felt more like sisters than they ever had before. Stella had to admit to herself that she really didn’t want to lose that, not when they’d just found it.

Lynn was thinking, her brows coming together in a frown.

“Does he have to be in Chicago all the time?” she asked finally. “Could you spend some time here, and some time there? If Eva wants to stay here all the time, she can stay with us.”

Stella considered that. “I guess...it depends on our jobs,” she said finally. “I couldn’t just flake out on the diner all the time.”

But if you were an artist, you could work anywhere... said an earnest voice in her head that sounded a lot like her daughter.

“And I don’t know what his work would put up with,” she finished firmly.

“Well,” Lynn said, “talk to him about it, I suppose.” She took Stella’s hand in a solid grip. “You should be happy. I want you to be happy.”

Stella smiled helplessly. Yes, she was so grateful for this new relationship with her sister, she could hardly put it into words. “Thanks,” she said quietly. “I am happy. I’ve never met a man like him before.”

“I know the feeling,” Lynn said, heartfelt, and they laughed together.

***

In the morning, Nate’s friend Carlos arrived.

Stella was struck immediately by how he was dressed—nothing like Nate’s habitual casual look of jeans and a T-shirt, nor like Ken’s standard outdoorsman wear. No, Carlos Gonzalez was wearing a slick, expensive-looking suit.

He smiled winningly at her, shook her hand and murmured something about being delighted. Stella couldn’t help but say, “I hope we’re not taking you away from your job, Mr. Gonzalez.”

“Carlos,” he corrected immediately, and then went on with a charming grin, “and I’m welcoming the opportunity to get away. My job’s just moving money around, nothing too interesting. I’m not a professional security specialist like Nate is, but I have the same Marine training and I’ve kept my hand in here and there over the years when he needed an extra body. I’ll keep you safe.”

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“Now.” He actually clapped his hands together in a let’s get going motion. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

What was on the agenda was bowing to her daughter’s whims, in fact.

Eva’s texting had borne fruit: Mavis had left Stella a message this morning, mentioning that she had a free hour after lunch if Stella wanted to stop by her office.

And Stella was off work today, so there was really no excuse.

“I’m so nervous,” she confessed to Nate, as they were in her room ‘getting ready to leave,’ which really translated to, ‘hiding in the hopes that everyone would just forget about it.’

“Why?” he asked, looking honestly curious. “Is Mavis that intimidating?”

“No—yes—ugh.” Stella sat down on the bed and ran her fingers through her hair. “No. She’s a very nice person, very polite. Never has a bad word to say about anybody. She’s just...”

“Just what?”

“Just an incredibly accomplished, intelligent, professional woman, that’s all.” Stella flopped backwards into the pillows. “She went to college. She runs her own business. And she’s—” She waved a hand. “You’ll get it when you see her.”

“I met her briefly, at Cal’s wedding,” Nate said thoughtfully. “I guess she has a lot of...poise.”

Stella sat up and pointed at him. “Yes. That’s it exactly. She’s so poised that whenever I’m around her, I feel like a bit of a mess.”

Nate caught her pointing finger, brought her hand to his mouth, and kissed the knuckles. “You are anything but a mess. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. And now you’re going to talk to someone about pursuing your incredible talent.”

Stella tried unsuccessfully to tamp down the burst of pleasure in her chest at his praise. “I don’t know if it’ll work at all,” she prevaricated. “I’ve tried to make some money from art before, and it’s never gotten off the ground.”

Nate squeezed her hand, looking serious. “We haven’t talked about this yet,” he said, “and you should do whatever you think is best for you. But if you want to make this your full-time job—dedicate all your efforts to making progress as a professional artist—that would be fine with me. I could—well, you might not have to worry about Eva’s college.” He grinned ruefully. “Assuming I can convince her that accepting money from me is okay.”

Stella blinked, staring at him.

“It’s time for you to go!” Eva hollered from out in the hall, and they both jumped.

“Okay!” Stella called back, suddenly ready to get out, if it meant she didn’t have to give an answer to Nate right away.

Quit her job, that’s what he meant, she thought as they went out to her car together, collecting Carlos along the way.

Work full-time as an artist.

Stella hadn’t let herself really consider quitting her job, even though Nate had hinted around the idea that he had enough money to support both of them without any trouble. Because Stella wasn’t a layabout. She’d bounced around enough relationships to be very sensitive to the potential for freeloading off of any of her boyfriends—just because she found a man who could support her, she wasn’t going to just sit around and do nothing. She could work too.

But this wouldn’t be sitting around doing nothing.

They drove to Mavis’s place, Stella’s head still in the clouds.

When they got to her little office in town, an older, distinguished-looking man was just leaving. Stella blinked as Nate and Carlos both snapped to attention, postures straightening, and murmured, “Sir,” in unison.

The man—Colonel Wilson Hanes, Stella finally recognized him—stopped, a dawning surprise on his face. “Gentlemen,” he said. “What on earth are you both doing in town?”

Nate glanced over at her. “Well, sir...”

He explained the situation more neatly than Stella could have managed, very short and to the point—this is my mate Stella, she’s having some problems with a stalker, and Carlos is here as backup—

Wilson was frowning. “Stella,” he said. “Of course, I remember you. Lynn Davidson’s sister. You’re still having trouble with that man and his crew?”

“The crew are frightened off,” Stella said firmly. “Thank you so much for your help with that.” Wilson and Mavis had come to help drive off the wolf pack, back when she’d first gotten away from Todd and moved back in with Lynn.

He waved a hand. “My pleasure. Why didn’t you call on me again?” He glanced back and forth from her to the men. “I would have been glad to help you. Mavis as well, I’m sure.”

Mavis was a snow leopard shifter like her mate and daughter. Stella stammered, “I didn’t—want to impose on you both again.”

Last time, it had been an emergency. There’d been a whole wolf pack to deal with, and they’d had to get help right away—no time for calling in out-of-state security specialists. Stella hadn’t even considered bothering Wilson and Mavis over something like Todd refusing to leave her alone.

Wilson’s brows drew together. “No imposition. I don’t like to hear that people are being intimidated or threatened. I’d much prefer to be allowed to be part of the solution. In the future...”

“Understood, sir,” Nate said quickly. “We’ll let you know if you can help us any further.”

“See that you do,” Wilson said firmly.

He left with the same purposeful step he used to go everywhere, and they turned to go inside. Carlos insisted on going first, which made Stella feel like some kind of famous celebrity.

And then Stella was on her way to sit down and talk about becoming an artist.

Mavis smiled when she knocked, inviting her in with a wave. Stella closed the door behind her, motioning Nate and Carlos back to sit in the hall—she wanted this to be private, especially if it turned out that the whole idea was a non-starter.

“Stella,” Mavis said, getting up to shake her hand. “It’s lovely to see you again. I trust the wolves of the area have learned their lesson?”

Stella winced. “Well...all but one of them.”

So then she had to explain the whole situation again—and, startlingly, she got the same reaction.

“I wish you’d called us!” Mavis looked angry. “I can’t believe that worthless young man is still following you around. Though, well, I suppose if you’d only called on us, you’d never have found your own mate, so it’s all working out for the best, but if you have any more trouble in the future, please let us know.”

“I will,” Stella promised, feeling a bit dazed. It was strange how many more connections she had than she’d realized. She’d been feeling alone, before Nate arrived, always waiting for Todd to catch her by herself or just with Eva. But really...she was anything but alone.

“Good. Now.” Mavis sat back down behind her desk, attentive and businesslike. “Let’s talk business. What brings you in?”

“I want to be an artist.”

Hearing the words out of her own mouth was a shock. She hadn’t said those words since...maybe not since she was a teenager. Certainly not since well before Eva was born.

Because back then, she had wanted to be an artist. She’d thought about painting the Montana landscape, selling her work, becoming well-known enough to make her living traveling the world and painting the beautiful things she saw in foreign countries.

Maybe now she was getting a second chance. It seemed dangerous to hope so much, but...maybe it was really going to happen.

Mavis was smiling. “Professional art, hm? I think we can start you off in that direction. Let’s talk audience.”

And just like that...it was starting.

For the first time in a long time, Stella could feel something lock into place inside her.

Purpose.

When was the last time she’d had a real goal to work for? It had been so long. She’d been drifting from place to place, from person to person, idea to idea, job to job.

Well, now she had a place, and a person. And here was her idea. Hers.

And with the help of these connections she hadn’t realized she had...she was going to work for it.

***

Nate

When Stella came out of the office, she was smiling. Nate relaxed internally at the sight.

Unlike Stella, he’d been sure that the meeting would go well. No one could see Stella’s raw talent and not think she could make something of it. But he’d still wondered how Stella would feel about whatever Mavis said—whether she’d be afraid, intimidated, worried.

Instead, she looked...triumphant.

Nate tugged her close and dropped a kiss on her lips. “Hey. Did it go well?”

She nodded, grinning. “Yes. I think—no. I know. I’m going to do this. I’m going to be an artist.”

“You are an artist,” Mavis said from behind her. “You’re going to be a professional artist.” She was smiling as well. “I was about to go meet Wilson at Oliver’s for lunch,” she said. “Would you all like to join us?”

So they went together to Oliver’s. Nate was getting more and more used to the comfortable diner, the surprisingly good food, the small-town ambiance. There weren’t any places like this in Chicago, and he was realizing how much he liked it.

Stella was newly excited about career possibilities, and she expounded on all the ideas Mavis had had for her through the meal. Mavis chimed in occasionally, smiling warmly, but Stella did most of the talking. Nate was captivated. He’d only seen little flashes of this energetic, happy, youthful Stella so far, and every time, he felt the same—he wanted her to be this joyful all the time.

He was smiling like an idiot, he knew, but that was fine. Occasionally he transferred a bit of that smile to Mavis, to make sure she understood how grateful he was to her for bringing this out in his mate. Her knowing return smile suggested that she did.

Carlos, seated nearest the door, kept a watchful eye on the place throughout the meal. Nate was grateful for his presence—he couldn’t imagine maintaining sufficient awareness of potential threats right now, not with the laughing vision that was Stella taking up every ounce of his attention.

Eventually, they collected themselves—Nate tried to steal the check, but Colonel Hanes got there first—and moved toward the exit. Stella caught Nate’s hand as they walked, and he twined their fingers together. He couldn’t wait to get her alone back home and—

“Wait.”

Carlos’ voice stopped them in the doorway. Carlos glanced at Nate, then nodded toward a figure waiting by a beat-up old truck in the parking lot. “That him?”

“That’s him,” Nate said grimly.

The weaselly little bastard took a step back when he saw the size of the group Stella was with. But then he seemed to gather himself, coming forward. “Stella!” he called.

Carlos stepped up to put himself between them. Nate was grateful once again, because it meant that he didn’t have to choose between focusing on Todd and focusing on his mate. He put his arm around Stella and tugged her close, relishing the way she pressed up against his side. Stella wasn’t going to have to face this guy alone ever again.

“She’s not interested in talking to you, buddy,” Carlos was saying.

“Who the hell are you?” Todd asked.

“A concerned third party,” Carlos shot back.

Todd’s eyes flicked from Carlos, to Nate, to Colonel Hanes, who was a silently intimidating presence behind them. “Where did all these goddamn men come from, Stella?” he demanded. “I didn’t realize you were such a slu—”

“That’s enough.”

The steely voice cut through Todd’s words and Nate’s growing, red-tinged rage alike. For a second, he wasn’t even sure where it had come from. Then Mavis stepped forward.

“I don’t know what sort of insecurity is driving you,” she said. Her voice was quiet, but it seemed to penetrate the silence more thoroughly than if she’d shouted. “I don’t know why you’re harassing an unwilling woman like this. I don’t know whether your feelings are real and you just can’t deal with them like a man, or whether you’re simply taking some kind of malicious revenge.”

Her voice hardened. “And I don’t care. Stella won’t stand for this, and neither will I. Take your nasty, unwanted presence away. Or there will be consequences.”

Nate was more than prepared to be those consequences, and from the way Todd’s eyes flicked nervously to him, the man knew it. Then he looked over at Carlos, and back at the Colonel, and his shoulders hunched.

“Stella...” he tried once more. Nate’s arm tightened around Stella’s shoulders.

Mavis took another step forward, until she was shoulder-to-shoulder with Carlos. “Get out.”

Todd stumbled back involuntarily. His face twisted into an ugly expression, but at last he turned and fled back to his truck.

“That,” Colonel Hanes said after a moment, “is my mate, gentlemen.” He sounded smug.

“Oh, be quiet with your nonsense,” Mavis said, and turned to Stella. “Are you all right?”

Stella nodded, standing straight. Her side wasn’t pressed to Nate’s any longer, but she reached for his hand, and he took it. “Thank you,” she said, sounding a little dazed. “I didn’t realize—I appreciate that. Your words. Thank you.”

“Believe me when I tell you that it was my pleasure,” Mavis said firmly. “Now, how about Nate takes you home?”

“We can follow you, if you’d like,” the Colonel rumbled from behind her.

“We have it covered,” Carlos said. “But thank you, sir.”

“Well, do call on us if you need anything at all,” said Mavis. “And whether you need something or not, let’s all have dinner soon. I’m realizing that we haven’t been keeping up with you as well as we should, have we, Wilson?”

“Not if one of my men can be in town to deal with a problem like this, and I didn’t even know about it,” the Colonel said wryly. “Come over Friday night, all of you, and bring Ken and Lynn, too.”

“We will, thank you,” said Stella. Her eyes were bright, and she came forward to hug Mavis.

Mavis embraced her back. “We’ll talk more about your business then, too,” she said.

Stella smiled all of a sudden. “I almost forgot about that just now,” she confessed. “Thank you for everything.”

“And Sanders,” the Colonel put in.

Nate straightened automatically. “Yes, sir?”

“Deal with that man.”

He fought the urge to salute, and just nodded instead. “Yes, sir.”

***

Stella

Stella tried to thank Carlos also, in the car on the way back to the house. Carlos waved it off just like Mavis and Wilson had, and Stella was left thinking.

It was crazy how...isolating this whole thing with Todd had been. Stella had been embarrassed at first, and then ashamed—first that she couldn’t just make him go away, and then that she’d dated someone like this in the first place. Didn’t it demonstrate that there was something wrong with her? That she could have found Todd attractive, even sweet, back when they first met?

Stella hadn’t wanted to admit how bad it was getting. If Lynn hadn’t been paying attention, if Eva hadn’t started getting concerned...how long could it have gone on, how bad could it have gotten, before she asked for help?

She didn’t know.

But now this—this was almost the complete opposite. Not just Nate by her side, not even just Carlos, but also Mavis and Wilson, acting like Stella had nothing to be ashamed of. Like Stella was worth protecting. More than that. Like they wanted to protect her, and even have her around for other reasons. Even if Todd might show up. That dinner invitation...

Stella blinked back tears. She’d always thought of herself as someone who liked people, who was happy to have them around. But somehow, in the last couple of months—maybe even before that, maybe since she’d gotten together with Todd, and he’d wanted to have her all to himself, all the time—she’d withdrawn. Made herself smaller.

Well, no more. She had a gorgeous, amazing mate. She had a new career to think about. And she had a group of friends. A little quasi-pack. And she was going to make the most of all of it.

“Are you okay?” Nate asked her quietly.

She found a smile for him, and it felt real. “I’m just fine.”

***

Nate

Back at the house, Stella went to go spend some time with Eva, so Nate sat down with Carlos in the front room, where he’d been bedding down—and where Carlos would be setting himself up.

“He’s going to escalate,” he said quietly.

Carlos nodded. “Did you see his face? He’s furious. But that kind of guy isn’t man enough to get furious when someone might be a match for him. He’ll do something sneaky.”

“Tonight, you think?”

“Probably. Since Stella’s off tonight, we’ll all stay in, stay close, see what he does. If nothing happens, maybe start thinking about drawing him out, finding some way to catch him doing something criminal where there’re witnesses. Law enforcement, even. This place have any to speak of?”

“Sheriff has a good reputation,” Nate said. “According to the locals, at least, she’s likely to be sympathetic. Only problem has been that the asshole hasn’t done anything even slightly illegal yet.”

Carlos nodded grimly. “We’ll just have to make sure he does.”

Nate grinned. “Glad you’re here.”

Carlos’ expression held for a second, and then he broke and grinned back. “Same.”

“I’ve been too close to this,” Nate said thoughtfully. “I knew it’d just keep drawing out until there was some clear violation of the law, something that could take him away. I knew he wasn’t just going to give up. But I just...I want to protect Stella. I don’t want him to scare her, or do anything violent or dangerous. I haven’t been thinking long-term.”

Carlos shrugged. “What you’ve got me for.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“You said you’d explain why you were so all-fired-up to get away,” Nate remembered.

“Yeah.” Carlos ran a hand through his hair. “I’m getting fed up with the job. All that fast-paced, high-powered crap...I don’t need it anymore. I won the game already. I have more money than I’ll ever use, you know? And once I realized that...the whole thing started to seem just...like a pointless game. Played by a bunch of rich assholes.”

“Don’t talk yourself down like that.”

Carlos didn’t laugh. “You’re kidding, but you’re right. I’m late to the game, but I figured it out: I’m one of the rich assholes. That’s what I’ve become. So I’m getting out.”

Nate’s eyebrows rise. “You’re—”

“Retiring,” Carlos said firmly. “Got a few more loose ends to tie up, and then I’m out of there. No idea where I’ll go.”

Nate processed that for a second. “Well. I have to recommend beautiful Glacier National Park. You never know what you’ll find here.”

Carlos’ sober expression broke into a broad smile. “You sure found something. Can’t believe you finally got caught. Bet you didn’t see that one coming.”

Nate shook his head, silently wondering. “Not in a million years. Neither did she. We’ve both been kind of blindsided by it all.”

“In a good way, though,” Carlos said, half a question.

“The best way possible.” He sighed. “I should’ve known right from the beginning. Normally, I come to a new place, I start thinking about which women might be fun to get to know, who might want to get taken out and shown a nice time. But from the second I laid eyes on Stella...” He shook his head. “Didn’t notice a single other woman.”

“And there are some pretty ones here,” Carlos said thoughtfully. “Our waitress, the dark-haired woman, she was really something. Nametag said Pauline.”

Nate thought about it. It was funny—he could realize that Pauline was an attractive woman. In her late forties, probably, pretty features, a deft hand with her makeup. But he didn’t feel a thing. “Guess so.”

“I wonder if...never mind.”

Carlos’ voice trailed off, and Nate waited a second to see if he had anything else to say, but it seemed like he didn’t. So Nate stood up. “I’m going to go see if Stella needs anything.”

Carlos shook his head, smiling. “Go on. Be with your mate. I’ve got security covered.”

Nate went off, a warm feeling in his chest. He’d forgotten how it felt to be with his buddies like this. When Ken got back from whatever he was doing in the Park, maybe the three of them could catch up a bit.

***

Stella

Stella woke up to a sharp noise.

She and Nate had gone to bed together, in her own room, the two of them pressed close together under her gauzy canopy. They’d made love slowly, gently, Nate moving inside her and Stella feeling as though their hearts were commingling along with their bodies. Her orgasm had been a slow, sweet thing, rolling through her body and leaving her poised on the edge of sleep.

She’d been sure that she was going to sleep the night through, solid and restful, with no bad dreams.

But something had woken her up.

Beside her, Nate sat up. “What was that?” Stella whispered.

“Stay here,” he said, slipping out of bed. He’d insisted on taking the outside, even though Stella had pointed out that she did tend to wake up in the night and she didn’t want to disturb him by crawling over him while he was asleep.

“I’ll wake up if you get up no matter what,” he’d replied. “And I want to be between you and anything that might happen.”

So he was sleeping on the outside. And it looked like something had happened.

Stay here. But what about Eva?

Suddenly caught up with worry about her daughter, Stella got up and followed Nate out into the hall. Eva’s door was closed, thankfully, and when she eased it open, she could just see her daughter sacked out in bed, hair a messy tangle on the pillow. She breathed easier.

Another noise downstairs. Then a sudden male shout: “Stop right there!”

What Stella did next probably wasn’t smart. She should’ve stayed up in her room, waiting until everything was safe. A few days ago, that might have been what she did.

Because she would’ve been afraid.

Well, she wasn’t afraid anymore.

She went downstairs—slowly, paying attention, and ready to shift and run if she had to, but purposefully.

She thought she knew what she’d find.

There was a crash. Stella bolted the rest of the way and almost tripped as she burst into a scene of utter chaos.

Todd had broken in, all right. But he hadn't come alone.

Stella had thought that they'd scared Todd's wolf pack away, last time. But he must have done something to convince them to come along, because there were three—four—five of them here, and Carlos and Nate were caught up in a full-on brawl.

Everyone was in human form, for now. Stella held back, staying on the stairs. She didn't know how to fight, and even her lynx form was too small to be really effective if everyone else shifted.

Nate, on the other hand, clearly knew exactly what he was doing.

He and Carlos were standing facing away from each other. Todd was yelling something—staying back from the very fight he’d started, Stella noticed; why hadn't she ever realized what a coward he was?—and three of his buddies rushed Nate all at once.

Nate ducked smoothly under a wild roundhouse punch, and caught one of the men with a solid blow to the solar plexus. He fell back, groaning. The other two lashed out simultaneously, but Nate suddenly wasn't there—he'd shifted! His panther form was well below their blows, and they were teeteringly off-balance for a second. One of them actually clipped the other one with his fist.

Nate shifted back in a flash, rather than staying as a panther and attacking with his teeth and claws. Stella was glad. A fight with the shifted wolves would be serious and damaging, and she didn’t want Nate to get hurt.

Not that it looked like there was any danger of that, actually.

A quick movement that Stella couldn't follow, and one of the wolves was staggering back, his hands to his throat. Nate turned slowly to face the remaining pack member, whose name Stella vaguely remembered as Ryan.

Ryan called over his shoulder, while keeping careful eyes on Nate, “Todd, get your useless goddamn ass over here. You said this would be easy!”

Carlos, meanwhile, had dispatched the wolf he'd been fighting with, and had turned to stand at Nate's shoulder.

“I thought it would be,” Todd growled. “The sister and her boyfriend are out tonight, there weren't any stupid snow leopards around at all—”

“Clearly there's someone around.” Ryan glared at Nate. “I'm gonna teach you a lesson.”

“Sure you are,” Nate said easily.

In a flash of movement, Ryan leapt at him, shifting in midair. Stella gasped at the sight of the teeth appearing, claws lengthening, all headed straight for Nate—

Who somehow seemed to catch the wolf and toss him backwards, with only his bare human hands. Ryan slammed into the wall behind Nate. Stella had a moment to be grateful for their old house's solid construction as he crashed to a stop and slid down to the floor, groaning.

“None of you ever studied any real fighting techniques, did you?” Nate asked conversationally. “Using your opponent's weight against him is rule number one. Do you want to try again?”

There was a long pause as Ryan slowly picked himself up and shifted back to human. “Goddammit,” he said. “Todd, you brainless idiot. We're getting out of here.”

The rest of the pack groaned agreement. Nate watched them go, making no move to stop them stomping out the back door that they'd broken into.

But he caught Todd by the collar before he could join them. “You,” he said, “aren't going anywhere.” He nodded to Carlos, who came forward and caught Todd in a tight hold. Nate took a step back and faced him.

“Breaking and entering,” Nate said in a low voice. “What were you planning to do, Todd?”

“I need to see Stella,” Todd was saying.

Stella came all the way down off the stairs and stepped forward. “Here I am.”

Nate caught her eye, and glanced subtly upward. Stella saw the webcam perched on top of a shelf.

“Stella, I can get you away from this guy,” Todd was pleading. “I just want to help you.”

Stella took a step forward, and spoke loudly and clearly. “Listen to me, Todd. I don’t want you here. I don’t want you following me. I don’t want you around. I definitely don’t want you and your pack breaking into my house and attacking my friends! Do you understand?”

He looked at her imploringly. A long time ago, that look might have made her sympathetic. A short time ago, it would have made her uncomfortable and scared.

Now, though, it only made her angry. He thought he could break in and attack, and then turn around and manipulate her like this? Forget it.

“I just want us to be together,” he whispered.

Stella thought carefully. “Todd,” she said, “if Carlos lets you go, will you go home and never come back?”

“I can’t leave you alone here, Stella!” he said urgently. “I’m not leaving while these guys are here!”

“Todd, this is my home,” she said. It was amazing how calm and reasonable she could sound, when inside she was absolutely furious. Nate’s presence by her side helped a lot. “You can’t stay here.”

“It could be our home,” he said stubbornly. “I’m not leaving until you see reason, Stella. You saw already that I can get in whenever I want. I’ll come back, I’ll bring more guys—”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” She felt her confidence building. She was suddenly certain, absolutely sure, that Todd wouldn’t be coming back after tonight.

As if he could sense that too, Todd’s face twisted into an ugly sneer. “You won’t get away from me,” he said, and lunged.

His body shivered and wavered, and suddenly there was a wolf in Carlos’ grip. The change in shape was enough to dislodge his hands, and then Todd was leaping for Stella—

But she wasn’t afraid. She didn’t have any doubt about what was going to happen next. She didn’t jump, scream, or even startle.

Because there was a panther between her and the wolf.

Todd howled in rage, but Nate snarled back, and it was almost comical, the way the wolf cringed away.

There was a flurry of movement behind her, and Eva appeared at Stella’s shoulder. “Mom, are you okay?” she panted. “How did he get in?”

“Broke the lock on the back door,” Carlos answered, as Todd seemed to realize that he was well and truly trapped, with Nate in front of him and Carlos behind him.

Stella still wasn’t afraid. She couldn’t imagine how she could be afraid, with Nate between her and danger, and with so many other people all ready to step in if there was any problem at all.

It was like a huge weight had finally lifted off of her shoulders. Todd couldn’t do anything to her anymore.

Todd seemed to realize that, too, because slowly, he sat back on his haunches. Then, with a shudder, he shifted back to human, looking slumped and pathetic.

Nate transformed a second later, and came back to stand with Stella. “Okay?”

She nodded, leaning against his broad warmth—not for comfort, really, but just for the joy of standing with her mate.

“Is that enough?” she asked. “For the cameras?”

“Is the sheriff a shifter?” Nate asked dubiously.

“She is,” Stella said. “If there’s any need to do anything legal with the footage, I bet she’ll cut out anything where anyone’s shown transforming.”

“Then absolutely,” Nate said. “We won’t even need the footage of the fight. Breaking and entering, threatening, confessing to stalking, trying to attack—there’s plenty. He’s not wiggling out of this one.”

“Good.”

Carlos had his phone out and was dialing. He spoke calmly to the person on the other end, and hung up. “Sheriff’s on her way.”

Stella let out her breath. “And let’s hope that’s the end of it.”

Nate pulled her into his arms. “It will be,” he murmured into her hair. “Now, our lives can really start.”

***

The next day, after breakfast, Nate gave Stella a kiss and held up his phone. “I’m going to go make a call,” he murmured.

Stella kissed back and watched him step outside, then curled her hands around her mug of tea. Eva was still asleep. After the sheriff had taken Todd away, Stella had spent a while reassuring her that it was all over. But Eva hadn’t wanted to go back to bed, so Stella had sat with her on the couch until her head slowly tipped over and she was breathing softly into Stella’s shoulder. When Stella had shaken her awake, she’d finally agreed to zombie her way back to bed.

Then Stella had curled up in Nate’s arms and drifted off to sleep, more easily than she ever would’ve anticipated after something like Todd’s intrusion. And dreamt of being warm and safe.

Now, she sat in her kitchen and watched Nate, out in the backyard, have what looked like a serious conversation on his phone. It took a while, and Stella was finished with her tea by the time he came back.

He was smiling, so she smiled back. “Good call?”

Nate sat down next to her and took her hands. “Very good. I was talking to Connie, my assistant.”

“Oh?” Stella asked, curious. She didn’t know much about the day-to-day work Nate actually did for his business. “Work stuff?”

Nate nodded. “I was thinking about something you said to me a few days ago.”

Stella frowned. “What did I say?”

“I said that Connie could basically do my job for me, and you asked why I didn’t just pay her to do my job. At least the paperwork part of it.” Nate’s smile widened.

Stella felt her breath catch in her chest. “And?” she whispered.

“I just offered her a promotion,” he said. “From now on, she is going to be doing my job. We’re going to hire her an assistant to do her old job, and I’m going to be taking more of a...consulting role.”

“What does that mean, a consulting role?” Stella asked. She could feel hope rising in her chest.

Nate grinned. “It means I’ll be traveling around to take on trickier jobs, on my own schedule, when I think a job needs my expertise. It means I can otherwise live where I want, and Connie can email anything over that I really need to personally look at. It means that I can stay here, with you, and when I take a job, I can take a few extra days before or after, and we can see the sights together.”

Stella jumped him.

She hadn’t meant to be quite so sudden, but Nate easily caught her around the waist, laughing, and settled her in his lap. She kissed him fiercely. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He shook his head. “Don’t thank me. I don’t want you thinking I did this only for you. These days I’ve spent here in Glacier, with you and Eva, and Lynn and Ken, all in this house together...it’s the most like a pack I’ve ever found.”

Pack, Stella mouthed. She’d never thought of her and Lynn like that. But now that it was her and Lynn and Eva and Ken, and Nate...

Nate’s arms had tightened around her. “I always thought I didn’t want to settle down in one place,” he murmured. “But I never realized how it would feel to have...a home base. A real one. I want that with you.”

“I do, too,” Stella said wonderingly. A home base. From which they could go...wherever they wanted.

It was funny, to finally realize exactly what she wanted, only to discover that she already had it. Right here in her own home.

She kissed Nate again, warm and happy. “I love you,” she whispered.

He pulled her close. “Stella. I love you, too.”