The Snow Leopard's Pack (Glacier Leopards Book 5) by Zoe Chant (2)

Lillian woke up slowly, feeling suffused with the kind of well-being she’d forgotten was even possible on waking. Normally, she woke up tense and anxious, already anticipating what the first challenge of the day was going to be.

She stretched slowly, luxuriating in the way her limbs all radiated comfort. The bed was so soft...had she replaced her mattress or something?

Then she remembered where she was. Her eyes flew open.

Oh God, she’d slept with Cal Westland.

Teri’s boss. She’d slept with her sister’s boss. Whom she’d only known for twenty-four hours.

Lillian had never in her life slept with a man she’d just met. She’d thought that only desperate women did that, women who needed to fill some kind of emptiness in their lives and chose physical satisfaction because it was the easiest. She’d always thought it must be incredibly sad, to have sex with a stranger.

But last night hadn’t felt like sex with a stranger.

Lillian had certainly lost any inhibitions she might’ve had with a stranger. Oh God. She blushed fiery-hot at the memory of the noises she’d made, the absolute shamelessness of how she’d cried out for more.

She wasn’t like this. She’d never been like this. How could she have—and what must Cal think of her now? She knew men didn’t respect women who just fell into bed with them. What on Earth had she been thinking?

Lillian pushed the covers back, noting with mild horror all of the marks on her body. She had little bruises on her inner thighs from Cal’s mouth. And despite the cold light of—well, of later in the afternoon—putting good sense back into her, the sight still gave her a bit of a thrill.

She clamped down on that. It was time for damage control. She had to try and re-establish herself here. Make it clear that she really wasn’t the kind of woman to just throw herself at any man who fixed her lunch.

Not that she’d met many men who’d fixed her lunch. Lew might’ve made her a sandwich once or twice during their marriage, but that was it.

Focus. She grabbed her clothes, tugging them on despite the wrinkles, glad that at least she wasn’t...sticky.

That resurrected the memory of Cal and his warm washcloth, tenderly cleaning them both up so they’d be more comfortable napping for a bit. Lillian blushed harder.

At least Cal wasn’t the sort of man to insult her or say crude things because of this. She was certain of that. But—even though she had just met him the day before—she found that she couldn’t bear to lose his good opinion.

Which was silly, because he’d done the same thing she had, hadn’t he? Slept with a woman he’d just met. It was a double standard, clear as day. But that didn’t change the squirmy, shameful feeling that what she’d done was worse.

When she was dressed, she tentatively started down the stairs. Cal was moving around in the kitchen, she could hear him.

Oh God, what was she going to say?

She didn’t know. But she wasn’t going to hide upstairs all afternoon, either, so she kept going.

When she got to the bottom and saw him, rummaging in the refrigerator for something, she was struck by a bolt of desire so strong it startled her.

What on Earth was this? She was still—she blushed again—still a bit sore between her legs after what they’d done earlier. How could she want to climb him like a tree again?

He straightened, closing the fridge, and smiled at her. “Hi. Sleep well?”

Lillian nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

Cal studied her, his smile slowly fading. “Are you all right?”

Lillian was decidedly not all right. In fact, she was torn—on the one hand, still shamefully disbelieving at what she’d done earlier, and on the other hand, wanting to do it again right now.

And the latter half was slowly overwhelming the former. Lillian made a quick decision.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and felt a pang in her chest as his smile faded away entirely. She didn’t want to make him look like that—but this was important. “I think I need to go somewhere else for a bit.”

Cal stepped forward immediately. “It’s not safe,” he said. “If you’re regretting what we did, I promise it won’t happen again. You can go into the guest room and close the door; I swear to you I won’t even knock unless it’s an emergency. You don’t need to worry about me, Lillian.”

“I’m not worried about you,” Lillian said to him, which was at least true in the context she meant. She knew Cal was a good, honorable man, and would never do anything she didn’t want.

The problem was, she did want it. And what did that say about her? What did Cal think of her now?

She could ask him, but she was sure he would say something kind. And what she really needed was the chance to get away and sit somewhere by herself and work out what it meant that she’d done something like this.

“I just need to get away,” she said. “I’ll go to my sister’s for a little while. That’s safe enough, right?”

Guiltily, she remembered that she hadn’t wanted to bring Teri into this whole conflict in the first place. But she couldn’t stay here. Not with Cal right there, looking all...handsome and kind and thoughtful.

She couldn’t stand all of that right now. She just couldn’t.

Cal hesitated. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. But your safety—”

“I’ll call Teri and tell her I’m coming,” Lillian interrupted. “You can watch me get into my car. I’ll drive straight there, and if I see any mountain lions, I’ll just hit the gas. Teri can call you when I get there to tell you I’m safe. Does that sound like a workable plan?”

Cal was quiet for a long minute. “I don’t like it,” he said finally.

“How likely do you think it is that I’ll be ambushed in a moving vehicle?” Lillian pointed out. “I’ll drive fast.”

Cal sighed. “Well, I’m not going to tell you that you can’t do it. Teri should be off work soon.”

“I’ll call her now.”

Lillian found her purse on the couch, pulled out her cell phone, and dialed Teri, briefly said she’d been at Cal’s place but would be coming back to Teri’s very soon. Teri assured her that she was leaving work now and would be home before Lillian would, and that Zach would be there an hour or so after she would.

Lillian hung up and met Cal’s eyes. “All right? I’ll be safe.”

“All right,” Cal said reluctantly. “Listen, Lillian—if I’ve done something you didn’t like, please tell me. If I’ve made you uncomfortable in any way...”

Lillian shook her head immediately. “It’s not you.”

“I’d rather you didn’t leave,” he said simply.

Lillian nodded. “I understand. But I can’t—I can’t stay here right now.”

Cal nodded unhappily. He stayed where he was while Lillian collected her bag from the guest room, but followed her to the door, stopped her, and preceded her outside.

She could see him scanning the woods around the cabin, until finally he turned and nodded to her, and she walked down the drive and got into her car. He was still standing there by the doorway as she drove away.

She was struck then with a deep misgiving, a certainty that she was making a mistake.

It probably came from the knowledge that she was worrying Cal, she told herself. He was a good man, and concerned about her safety, and she probably should’ve stayed right there and let him protect her like he’d promised to.

But she couldn’t. Not with how her stomach thrilled when she saw him.

Not with the deep ache that was building in her chest as she thought about him.

Lillian let that thought come to the surface with a bleak realization. She hadn’t just slept with him because she thought he was attractive. There was some kind of deep feeling developing inside her. Not just desire, but—something more.

Did that make it better, or worse?

Because it meant that it was more than sleeping with a stranger. But it also meant that she wanted—

There was a man in the middle of the road.

Lillian slammed on the brakes, screeching to a halt inches before she hit him.

She narrowed her eyes at him, studying his face. He definitely wasn’t the man she’d seen shift out of his mountain lion form yesterday. He was bald, for one, and his beard was very neatly trimmed. He was cleaner and better dressed.

But Cal had said there was a whole mountain lion pack living here. Could this be one of the others?

He was waving at her, holding his phone. He came to the window. “Excuse me, ma’am?” His voice was faint through the glass. He made a rolling-down motion with his hand.

Lillian shook her head. “Do you need help?” she called.

“My car ran off the road just ahead, and my phone’s dead. Could you give me a ride back to town?”

Lillian hesitated. He looked sincere.

But for this to be happening right now, with everything else that was going on...

No. It was too suspicious. “I can call 911 for you,” she called through the window. Although if she took out her phone, focusing on it instead of what he might be doing...”I’ll drive up ahead and do it,” she amended. That should be safe enough. “But I won’t let you into my car. I’m sorry.”

His face twisted, and there was a flash of movement. Instinctively, Lillian stomped on the gas, and as she screeched off, her brain processed what the man had been doing—pulling back his fist.

To try and punch through her window?

Lillian’s heart was beating a mile a minute. She must have broken some speed records getting to Teri’s house.

She’d been wrong. They would ambush her in a moving vehicle. And it was clear that they weren’t going to just give up.

As she pulled into Teri’s driveway, her phone rang. Unknown number. She stared at it, and answered.

“Don’t think that just because you’re hiding with the snow leopards, we can’t make you pay,” a voice snarled. “They’re not a power like we are. They can’t protect you.”

The phone went dead. Lillian took it away from her ear and stared at it.

They must have gotten her number from Lew. They must have gotten all of the information about her from Lew—where she worked, who her sister was, all of it. Damn him.

Pardon my language, she thought, and choked out a laugh that almost turned into a sob.

She blinked her burning eyes furiously. One tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, but she swiped it away and took some careful breaths.

It was fine. She was fine. She’d talk to Teri, and they’d decide what to do together.

As if summoned by her thoughts, Teri’s car pulled into the driveway behind her, and Teri jumped out.

“Lillian!” she called. “Sorry I didn’t get here before you, I thought for sure I would—are you okay?”

She was staring at Lillian through the window. Lillian wondered what on Earth she looked like to be putting that expression on her sister’s face.

Slowly, she opened the door and got out of the car, retrieved her bag and purse, and said, “How about let’s go inside.”

Teri nodded immediately and led the way. They made it inside without any further attack or harassment, fortunately for Lillian’s composure.

Teri pulled her into the living room and sat her down on the couch. “What’s wrong? Apart from the obvious, I mean.”

Lillian took a deep breath. “I only—I was at Cal’s, and I had to come back because—” She stopped.

Teri frowned. “Did something happen at Cal’s? Is Cal okay?”

“He’s fine!” Lillian rubbed her forehead. “It’s nothing.”

Teri put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey. It’s not nothing. You’re really upset about something, what is it?”

“I just—I think I made a stupid mistake,” Lillian whispered.

Teri rubbed her shoulder, still frowning. “You? You never make stupid mistakes.”

“Are you joking?” Lillian snapped. “I married a stupid mistake!”

Teri jumped. “Wow, okay,” she said slowly. “I never really thought about it like that, I guess? Marriages don’t work out sometimes. I just figured you and Lew grew apart or something.”

Lillian shook her head, blinking hard. “No, he was—it was dumb to marry him. If I hadn’t, none of this would be happening.”

“None of this,” Teri repeated. “You mean the mountain lions? What does Lew have to do with that?”

Slowly, haltingly, Lillian explained. Her cheeks burned as she talked. She’d never told Teri about Lew’s faults, about the debt, and the real reason she’d moved back in with their parents. Neither her mother or her father ever spoke directly about Lillian’s financial troubles, and Lillian knew it was because they, like her, were ashamed that she’d been so stupid as to land herself in this situation. So Teri had never learned what really happened.

As she spoke, Teri’s eyes went wide with shock, and then her expression turned to outrage. “That jerk! I can’t believe he’d do that! How could he possibly—what an asshole.” The last word was savage. “I ought to go find him and teach him a lesson. Where does he live?”

Lillian was surprised into a choked laugh at Teri’s sudden protectiveness. “You can’t go teach him a lesson!”

“Why not?” Teri asked. “He deserves it.” She was wearing a furiously determined expression that Lillian recognized from past confrontations with their mother.

“Because—” Lillian suddenly wasn’t sure what reason would convince Teri that this was a silly idea. “Because you have to stay here with me right now,” she finally said.

“When Zach gets home, I am out that door, then,” Teri amended.

“No, Teri—it was my own stupid fault for not realizing what was going on,” Lillian said. “I’m an adult, I chose to marry him, and these were the consequences. I’ve accepted that.”

Teri seemed to be barely listening. “Wait, so that’s why you moved in with Mom and Dad? It is, isn’t it? You don’t even want to be there. You’re just putting up with all of her bullshit because you have to, because of the money.” She frowned. “No way. You should come live with us. We have a spare room now that Joel and Nina are up in the cabin full-time.”

“Teri, I cannot move in with you and your fiancé!” Lillian insisted. “Zach doesn’t even know me. That’s ridiculous.”

“I didn’t know Joel,” Teri pointed out. “We made it work. Sort of.”

“Sort of isn’t good enough,” Lillian said dryly.

Teri frowned. “Okay, well, we’ll talk about this when Zach gets home, then. I’m so sorry I never knew.”

“I didn’t want you to know,” Lillian said heavily. “I was too ashamed.”

“Screw that,” Teri said emphatically, and Lillian had to laugh again. “That’s a dumb reason. You didn’t do anything wrong, and there’s no shame in asking for help. You had to help me do literally everything after my accident, remember? I should pay it back somehow.”

“I’m the older sister,” Lillian said. “That’s how it’s supposed to work.”

Teri shook her head firmly. “Nope. I’m vetoing that. I want to help you. Come on, what other deep, dark secrets do you have? Let’s get them all out in the open. It’s time to share.”

Lillian was planning to shake her head and demur. But somehow...what fell out of her mouth instead was, “I slept with Cal.”

Teri’s eyebrows hit her hairline. “You what?”

Oh God, she shouldn’t have said that. Why had she said that? The blush came back full-force, and Lillian turned away. “Never mind. Please forget that.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, no. No. I am not forgetting that. You and Cal? Cal never dates! I’ve never seen him with a woman outside of doing his job. No one has. Not once, not ever.” Teri tugged at her shoulder until Lillian turned back around. “And you never date! What happened?”

“I don’t know!” Lillian realized her voice had gone high, almost a wail, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “I only met him yesterday! I don’t understand why I—I never do anything like this. And you’re right, he didn’t seem like the kind of man who does, either! I just don’t understand.”

Teri’s shock was turning into a frighteningly thoughtful expression. Lillian wasn’t sure what was going through her head.

“You felt a connection with him right away, didn’t you,” she said slowly.

“Well—I suppose so.” Lillian thought back to the meeting in Cal’s office. “I mean, I suppose I could see that he was a kind man. A smart and sensible man.”

“An attractive man,” Teri said pointedly.

“Well, yes. Of course, yes! Considering what happened. Please don’t rub it in, Teri,” Lillian could hear her own voice; it sounded almost despairing.

Teri’s eyes widened. “No! I mean—I just mean—look, shifters sometimes move quickly,” she said carefully. “Remember, Zach and I got engaged super-fast?”

“I do remember that.” Their mother’s high-volume ire echoed through Lillian’s head.

“So sometimes stuff goes very quickly. But usually that means it’s really...really serious. That there’s a kind of—connection. That shifters get.”

“I’m not a shifter,” Lillian pointed out.

“I wasn’t either,” Teri said. “Not at the time. I think this might mean that Cal is...very interested in you. In a serious way.”

Surely that couldn’t be it.

Lillian was a thirty-three-year-old woman living with her parents. A staid, buttoned-up librarian, who lived an incredibly boring life. Who was in debt up to her eyeballs and had a pain of an ex-husband who kept dangerous company.

In short, she was not anyone’s idea of a catch. Not a good long-term partner to be sure.

Besides, who on Earth picked a long-term partner after one day of knowing each other?

Of course, Cal would be a fantastic partner. Strong, caring, thoughtful, intelligent, a wonderful cook...a good man with a good job that he loved. No impossible ambitions, no unrealistic ideas. Just a man who wanted a happy, comfortable life in the Park that he clearly adored.

A fantastic partner. For...somebody. Somebody else.

“I think you should talk to him about it some more,” Teri insisted.

Lillian suddenly didn’t want to talk to anyone about this anymore. She cast around for a distraction—and then she remembered the other reason she’d been upset when she arrived.

Talking about Cal had driven the man in the road right out of her head, somehow.

“I can’t focus on that right now,” she told Teri. “Something else happened on the way here.”

Teri immediately leaned forward, concern filling her face. “What?”

Lillian told her about the man with the supposedly broken-down car, how she’d been sure he was about to try and come through her window at her. Then she recounted the phone call she’d gotten in the driveway.

Teri’s expression turned even more serious. “We have to talk to Cal about this, Lillian. I know it’s probably awkward right now, but he needs to know.”

Lillian remembered Cal talking about how everyone brought their problems to him. How she’d been sure he was a good leader, as much as he’d seemed afraid of the possibilities of abusing power.

It was so clear, though, that he would never do anything like that. Teri’s absolute trust in him was just another sign. Her sister had always been a good judge of character.

“All right,” Lillian said. And then, ashamed of her cowardice, “Can you call him?”

“Of course,” Teri said immediately, and pulled out her phone.

She had a quick conversation that Lillian tried not to listen in on; she couldn’t hear anything that Cal was saying, anyway, just the deep bass rumble of his voice, powerful even over the tinny cell phone speakers.

Teri hung up after only a couple of minutes. “He’s coming over,” she said. “He asked me to apologize to you, but tell you that your safety is the most important thing. Why’s he apologizing?”

“I told him I needed some time alone to think about what happened,” Lillian sighed. “Which I do. But this is more important, I agree.”

“What are you worried about, exactly?” Teri’s eyes were compassionate. Lillian wasn’t used to seeing a look so...adult, from her seven-years-younger sister. “You can tell me.”

“It’s just—all of it!” Lillian swept an arm out in a gesture that encompassed everything that had just happened. “I can’t believe I did something like that. Especially in a situation as serious as this. It was irresponsible at the very least.”

“In the safety of Cal’s home?” Teri asked skeptically. “If you were doing it out in the woods, maybe—”

“Teri!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Teri said, laughing a little. “Just kidding. I only meant—you didn’t do anything wrong! Even if it isn’t anything serious, you didn’t do anything wrong. You just had a good time—I’m assuming it was a good time?”

Teri was looking at her expectantly, eyebrows raised. Lillian pressed her lips together and refused to comment. But she could feel herself blushing.

“Okay, it looks like it was a good time. A good time with a good man. There’s no reason to be—I don’t know, embarrassed or ashamed, right?”

“I don’t do this,” Lillian insisted.

Teri sobered. “That’s why I think it might be...a shifter thing. A serious thing.”

“That’s ridiculous, though.” Lillian took a few steps away, turning to look out the window instead of at Teri’s earnest face. “There’s no reason for it to have been serious. We only met yesterday. The reason he’s helping me is my ex-husband’s debts, because of which I’m living with my impossible mother! I’m the last person anyone should be getting serious about.”

She felt a small hand on her shoulder, and turned a bit to see Teri standing beside her.

“Hey.” Teri’s voice was warm. “Don’t talk about my sister like that.”

Lillian found herself speechless. She and Teri had had a distant relationship at best for so long...hearing something like that from Teri’s mouth was overwhelming.

“You are a catch,” Teri asserted. “You’re smart, and pretty, and you work harder than anyone I know, and you have this—” She waved her hands at Lillian.

This what? Lillian didn’t ask out loud, because she wouldn’t stoop so low as to fish for compliments.

Even if she did kind of want to hear what Teri meant.

“You’re always put together, and poised, and—graceful and stuff. Anyone looking at you knows you’ve got it together.”

Lillian shook her head. “But I don’t have it together. I just explained that.”

“Yeah, you do,” Teri said seriously. “Come on. You live with Mom. And of all the people in the world, I know what that’s like. You handle it like a freaking pro—I watched you do it, while I was there. If you can manage Mom, you can manage anything.”

Lillian had never really thought about her situation in those terms. To her, it had always been a sign of failure. She had to live at home, after all.

“It’s an accomplishment,” Teri insisted.

Not a failure, but an accomplishment?

“Any man would be lucky to have you,” Teri said firmly. “And I bet Cal thinks the same thing.”

That was going a step too far. “You can’t speak for him,” Lillian reminded her. “Only for you. But I’m—grateful to hear that from you. Thank you for telling me that.”

Though Cal had said the same thing, about living with her mother. He’d almost seemed to admire her for it.

Teri gave her a tiny smile. “I always looked up to you, you know. That’s never changed.”

Lillian blinked back a sudden prickling of tears. “I don’t know,” she said. “I think it might be my turn to look up to you.”

Teri hugged her. Lillian hugged her back, and thought that if nothing else, she had to be grateful to Lew for helping her find a relationship with her sister again.

However inadvertently.

The hug lasted a long time, but was eventually broken up by a knock at the door. Teri sprang away to answer it, and Lillian was struck by how much energy her sister had. She’d always been like that, especially as a kid, but then the car accident had stolen it from her for a while. Lillian remembered how painful it had been to watch Teri exhaust herself just by walking a few steps.

She’d ended up feeling overprotective. And she realized that that had been a mistake. But now, she was so happy to see Teri bounding around the room again, like she’d never met a physical challenge she couldn’t face.

It was Cal at the door, of course. Teri let him in, and Lillian tensed up all over—and still wasn’t prepared for the way she felt at the sight of him. He seemed to fill the whole room, so tall and broad, radiating concern and protectiveness. Warmth flushed through her. She wanted to run to him and let herself be caught up in his arms—

No. If nothing else, Teri was right there. And they had bigger concerns at the moment than whatever attraction she was feeling for this man.

“What’s this about the mountain lions threatening you?” Cal asked, striding immediately over to her side. He was close enough to touch, which was not helping her resolve at all.

So Lillian focused on the situation. She recounted the phone call once again. This time, she mentioned how the mountain lion had said that the snow leopards weren’t enough of a power to stop them. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Teri’s eyes narrowing.

“If he’d actually broken your window, we’d be going to the police,” Cal said grimly. “As it is, I don’t think there’s enough evidence for them to do anything to anybody yet. But—I’m sorry, Lillian, I don’t think you should drive anywhere alone again, until this is all resolved.”

Lillian nodded. “I agree. I’m not so reckless as to want to put myself in danger, I promise. I honestly thought that I’d be completely fine if I was in my car.”

“And you were, because you were smart,” Teri put in. Cal turned to her, and she said, “The guy tried the whole, ‘oh no, my car broke down and my cell phone’s dead’ trick on her, but she didn’t fall for it.”

Pride was evident in her voice. Lillian felt strange, hearing it. It was so long since anyone had been genuinely proud of her.

Cal had turned back to her. “Of course she didn’t,” he said warmly.

That was somehow even better—the expectation of competence.

Maybe Cal’s opinion of her hadn’t taken as much of a hit as she’d thought it would, after this afternoon.

“Hey, so,” Teri said, and Lillian was alerted by the note in her voice, which she recognized from when Teri was a teenager—it was the I’m up to something voice. “I’m going to go call Zach and get him up to speed on what’s going on, okay? And you guys should talk. About—shifter stuff.”

Lillian narrowed her eyes at Teri, and Cal turned to look at her. “Shifter stuff,” he echoed flatly.

“Yes!” Teri said. She motioned back and forth between them. “Shifter...things. That might be happening. Right now. With you. Okay, I’m calling Zach, bye.” She disappeared off to another part of the house.

Cal turned back to Lillian. “That sounded suspicious.”

“It was.” Lillian sighed. “I have to apologize. I told her about—what happened this afternoon.”

Cal’s face did something complicated.

“I know that you’d probably rather your employees didn’t know about your private life,” Lillian rushed forward. She was realizing for the first time that she’d put Cal into an awkward position by telling Teri. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Cal said slowly. “No, she’s your sister. You shouldn’t have to hesitate over telling your sister something personal. But now I think I know what she might’ve meant about...shifter stuff.”

Hearing Cal echo Teri’s millennial-speak in his deep, thoughtful voice was unexpectedly funny. Lillian stifled an inappropriate giggle and instead said, “She has some idea about shifter—connections, I don’t know. Something about what happened with her and Zach. I tried to tell her that the situations are different, but—”

“No,” Cal interrupted. “No, she’s right.”

Lillian stopped. “What?”

“She’s right.” Cal drew her over to sit down on the couch. “I should’ve told you this right away. I thought it might be better to wait until the situation with the mountain lions was taken care of, but that was a mistake. You deserve to know.”

“Deserve to know...what?” Lillian had no idea what he might be leading up to, and it was making her nervous.

Cal took her hand in a gentle grip, then put his other hand on top of hers. “Shifters don’t just have relationships and marriages like humans do. Some of us—the lucky ones—have what we call true mates.”

Mate. That was the word Cal had used before to talk about a partner. “What’s the difference?” Lillian asked cautiously.

“A mate is more than a husband or wife. There’s a...connection. Some kind of instinctive bond between the two of you. You feel it as an attraction first, but after you—uh—” Cal coughed, “spend the night together, the shifter knows it for certain. That relationship is meant to be permanent, and supposedly the existence of the mate-bond means that you’re...suited to one another. As partners.”

Lillian could hardly understand what this might mean. Unless he meant...but surely that was impossible, wasn’t it?

“You’re speaking very impersonally,” she said slowly. “Is this—relevant to us somehow?”

Maybe Cal had a mate, somewhere, and he was telling her that nothing else could happen between them because of it. If that was the case, though, he wasn’t the man Lillian had thought he was. And she was sure he wasn’t the type to cheat. It just didn’t make sense.

But what else could it be? Surely not...

Cal’s hands tightened on hers. “It is. Because you’re my mate, Lillian. You and I are meant to be together.”

“But I’m not a shifter,” Lillian said blankly.

“You don’t have to be a shifter,” Cal said. “Shifters can have human mates.”

“But—but—” She tugged at her hands, and Cal immediately let them go. She stood up, taking a few steps away and staring blindly out the window.

It seemed, she thought a little hysterically, that all she did in this house was flee difficult conversations.

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” she said finally.

“Why not?” Cal asked. He was staying on the couch, she could tell without even looking. He wouldn’t want to crowd her, she thought.

God, he was so wonderful. Which made this even more strange and painful. That he would say something like this to her, when it was just—it was just impossible.

“I’m not—this sort of thing doesn’t happen to me.” As she said it, she was aware of how silly she sounded. But it was true.

“It’s not happening to you,” Cal said. “It’s happening to us.”

Lillian turned around. “But how can there be an us? We just met yesterday.”

“That’s how it works,” Cal said. “The mate-bond doesn’t need time. It knows.”

Lillian shook her head. She couldn’t seem to come up with any other objection, but...it couldn’t be real. Not for her.

Cal stood up, and came slowly over to her. Watching her carefully, she thought, looking to see if she tensed or startled.

“Let me ask you a question, Lillian,” he said. His eyes—how could she have ever thought they were hard like iron? They were warm, warm and silvery-soft.

“All right.” Her voice hardly trembled at all.

“Do you want to be with me?”

So simple.

Did she want to be with Cal? Well, of course she did. She thought about living in that cabin, cooking with him, hearing about Glacier Park at the end of the day. And being part of Teri’s snow leopard family, then, getting to know her fiancé and all the rest of them as an insider, instead of someone poking her nose in from outside.

And going to bed every night with Cal. Waking up every morning with him. Having hot, delicious, overwhelming sex with him...

Lillian shivered.

The idea of saying it out loud, though, admitting she wanted it, was daunting. Putting that vulnerability out there and waiting for it to be taken away from her...

But Cal wasn’t threatening to take it away from her. He was offering to give it to her.

So the question, she supposed, was how much she trusted him to keep his word.

“Yes,” she whispered. It was almost inaudible, but from the way his eyes kindled with a silvery fire, she knew he had heard her.

Seeing that gave her the confidence to repeat it more loudly. “Yes. Yes, I want to be with you. I can’t think of anything in the world I want more.”

“Good,” Cal said, stepping closer and catching her hands again. “Because I can’t imagine going ahead without you. Lillian, I want you with me, in my home, in my life. I wanted you even before I realized you were my mate. Now that I know we’re meant to be together, though...it means I’m looking forward to our future and I can see so much unfolding.”

Lillian felt tears rising again. She swallowed them back...but somehow, this time they wouldn’t go away. Her chest hurt, and her eyes were hot, and the next thing she knew, they were spilling down her cheeks.

Cal’s face—blurry now—went sharp with concern, and he pulled her into his arms immediately, holding her tight. “What is it?” he asked softly. “What’s wrong?”

Lillian shook her head, aware that she was probably getting his shirt all wet but unable to care. At least she’d washed most of her makeup off of her face after waking up this afternoon. “Nothing’s wrong,” she managed. “I just—I never thought that I’d—I thought I was going to live with my mother for years and years, and then just—be alone.”

She choked on the last part, and then she was crying openly into his shoulder.

Lillian had been so sure that her future was this empty, bleak wasteland, where she slowly paid off debt, went along with her mother’s demands, and eventually, someday, moved back out on her own. And then kept living a passionless life, going to work, coming home, and doing the same the next day. This time, maybe with enough money for takeout now and then, if she was conscientious about saving for her retirement.

She’d tried not to think about it too much. To take it one day at a time. But the knowledge creeped in now and then. The realization that she wasn’t doing this for anything, really. There was no prize at the end.

“You don’t have to be alone anymore,” Cal was murmuring into her hair. “You have me now. You have me forever. And more, if you want. We can fill the house with children.”

That made her pull back, blinking tear-filled eyes at him. “Really?”

“Only if you want to!” Cal said hastily. As always, watching him a bit flustered melted her heart a little. It was easy to see, even through her tear-blurred vision, what he really wanted. “That’s a bit down the line, anyway.”

“I want to,” she told him. The amount of love she could feel rising in her chest—it didn’t seem real. Could she feel this way? Could it mean something, instead of just wistful castles in the air?

Then Cal pulled her in tight again, and there was no denying the reality of his arms around her.

Mates. They were mates. Lillian tasted the word silently in her mouth. It felt real.

***

Cal was internally berating himself for not telling Lillian that they were mates the second he’d realized it. The way she was trembling in his arms, the disbelief on her face that had slowly transformed into stunned joy...how could he have kept this from her, even for an hour?

The fact that she’d resigned herself to being alone broke his heart. Lillian deserved all the love in the world.

He’d have to do his best to give her his share, at the very least.

And she’d said she did want children. He suddenly wanted to get started as soon as possible.

“Will you come back home?” he asked her.

She mouthed the word home, as though to herself. Cal wondered if he’d been presumptuous in calling it that so quickly. But then she broke into the sweetest, happiest smile he’d ever seen.

“Home,” she said. “Yes. Yes, I would love to come home.”

Teri’s curly head popped back into the room. She was holding her phone in one hand. “Hi,” she said. “Everything going okay?”

“Teri!” Lillian broke away from Cal’s embrace—and then hesitated. Then, to Cal’s quiet delight, she stepped back toward him again. He put his arm around her shoulders, and felt her tremble again.

“We’re mates,” Lillian said to her sister.

Teri’s face transformed into a gleeful grin. “I knew it!” she said. She put the phone back up to her ear. “Guess what, I was totally right—” She faded back into the hallway. Talking to Zach, Cal assumed.

Lillian was watching with a bemused expression. “I can’t believe she knew before I did,” she said. “I guess because the same thing happened to her.”

“My fault,” Cal told her. “I should have said something right away.”

Lillian frowned at him. “I agree. There I was, going crazy because I couldn’t believe I’d done something so impulsive as sleep with a man I’d only just met! I was wondering what you must think of me, falling in bed with you like that.”

“I did exactly the same thing as you did,” Cal pointed out. “So it would’ve been pretty hypocritical of me to judge you for it.”

Lillian shook her head. “There are a lot of hypocritical men out there.”

That was true. Cal had definitely known men, both shifters and human, who would’ve called a woman some unsavory names for sleeping with a man she’d just met, but would’ve been proud of themselves if they managed to do the same thing with a strange woman. A double standard, and not one he admired at all.

“I should’ve told you,” he repeated. “I thought it might be too much, on top of the problems you’re having with the mountain lions. Especially since you’re just learning about shifter culture for the first time. Some humans find the concept of true mates to be off-putting.”

Lillian sobered. “I guess I can understand that,” she said. “It could’ve been overwhelming. But...it isn’t.”

“It isn’t?” He was curious about her perspective, having this dropped on her without any previous knowledge that the mate-bond even existed.

She shook her head. “It’s—comforting,” she said slowly. “It took me a few minutes to believe it, you saw, but now it feels...real. It feels like something I know, deep in my bones, that I’m meant for you and you’re meant for me.” She laughed a little. “It’s happened so fast. But at the same time, it’s really sunk in. And knowing that you’re going to be with me forever—that I can count on you, that I can rely on you from now on—”

She broke off, blinking back tears again. Cal tugged her in closer, wrapping his arms around her.

“You can,” he said softly, bending his head to touch his lips to her hair. “I don’t ever want you to feel like you’ve got to take on the world all alone. Because I’m going to be right here beside you.”

Lillian’s arms wrapped around him, and they held each other for a long moment.

Then she pulled back and looked him in the eye. “And the same goes for you,” she said firmly. “You’re going to have someone in your corner too, from now on.”

That struck him unexpectedly hard. He’d been focused on Lillian, on making sure that she was all right, and on how tough her life had been. He’d wanted nothing more than for her to know that it wasn’t going to be like that any longer.

But...the same was true for him. Sure, he’d always told himself that he was happier alone. That his cabin and his job and what he privately thought of as his Park were more than enough for him. That he had plenty to do wrangling the kids into being real, solid rangers, and he didn’t need a relationship or a family to fill out his life.

But he’d known, deep down, that he was lying to himself. There’d been an emptiness there.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else there,” he told Lillian now. “You—you’re just what I need.”

He was realizing as he spoke how true that was. If there was anyone he’d trust to tell him he was making the right decision, reassure him that he wasn’t going too far as a pack leader, advise him on what to do about the kids, it was Lillian. Thoughtful, smart, and no-nonsense, an expert already at dealing with difficult people, tough family situations...Lillian struck him as a wise, wise woman already, and he knew she’d only get more so as she grew older.

“I want you by my side in the pack,” he told her. “I need you there, if I’m going to be any better at leading them.”

Lillian’s face was hesitant, but thoughtful. “I’m not a shifter,” she said for the second time.

“That’s fine,” he said. “They’re not going to respect you any less, believe me. And—” Now it was his turn to hesitate. But he wanted her to know. “If you ever decide you want to be one, we can make that happen.”

Lillian’s eyes flew wide. “Me?” she said, startled. “I couldn’t—I don’t think—”

“It’s one hundred percent up to you,” Cal assured her. “There’s no requirement. Like I said, everyone will respect you just as much. And if you want to wait a while, make the decision later on, that’s fine too. Completely your own choice.”

“Hm.” Lillian’s eyes were distant. Imagining what it would be like to be a snow leopard?

Cal thought about going out hunting with her at his side—teaching their children how to roam safely through the forest together—

Then he clamped down on those thoughts. Like he’d said, it was completely Lillian’s decision, and he didn’t want to pressure her one way or another, even inside his mind.

Teri poked her head back in. “Hi,” she said. “Zach’s on his way home. But I just did a quick circuit around the house, and it looks like no one followed you. So it should be safe to head back to Cal’s place, if you want.”

“Thanks, Teri,” Lillian said, before Cal could speak.

Which was probably for the best. He wanted to insist that Teri didn’t need to put herself at risk on their behalf, didn’t need to scout around her own home looking for hostile shifters. He wanted to tell her to forget about the situation, he’d handle it on his own.

But the truth was, Teri was already involved—because her sister was. And she was clearly proud of herself for taking the initiative and contributing; it was all over her face and her posture. She wanted to help.

And it was better if she helped under Cal’s eye than she decided to run off and fight mountain lions on her own. And if there was anyone in his pack who would do something like that, it was Teri for sure.

“All right,” Cal said. “We’ll head back to my place, then. Tomorrow we’ll have a pack-wide meeting at the Park to see what we’re going to do about these mountain lions who think they can threaten one of our own.”

Teri’s face hardened into fierce determination. “Good,” she said.

Cal took Lillian’s hand, enjoying the way Lillian immediately twined their fingers together, and led the way to the door.

The drive back was tense, both of them keeping an eye out for possible attackers. They’d left Lillian’s car at Teri’s place (“I’ll drive it into the Park tomorrow,” Teri had assured her) because Cal wanted the two of them in the same vehicle, and Lillian had agreed.

However, they made it back to his cabin without incident, and Cal did a quick perimeter search around the place and didn’t scent any mountain lions.

He wondered if they didn’t know where he lived, or if they weren’t quite prepared to stake out his home. He hoped it was the latter. The more intimidated they were by him, the less likely they would be to bother Lillian once they realized that she truly was under Cal’s protection, and that his protection wasn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Or ever.

He joined Lillian inside and found her sitting on the couch, looking around the main area. “Thinking about redecorating?” he asked her, trying for a teasing note. Humor had never been one of his strengths, but he found that he wanted to make Lillian smile if he could.

And she did—a slow, sweet smile just for him. “Actually, yes I was,” she said. “It makes for a good distraction, and I can see all sorts of possibilities here. Some new furniture, flowers on the mantle, throw pillows...”

Cal grinned. Looked like the woman’s touch was coming.

Lillian trailed off, then looked up at him, eyes going wide. “Nothing you don’t want, of course! I don’t want you constantly afraid you’re going to come home and not recognize your own living room. We can decide on it together.”

“I want you to decide,” Cal said with gentle determination. “Run it past me before you do anything, sure, but the bones of this place are mine already. The forest and the mountains are mine. I want the rest of it to be all yours.”

Lillian’s smile sharpened a little. “How do you know I won’t make it all pink and frilly? You could end up living in a fairy princess castle. Canopy bed, the works.”

Cal laughed at the image. “That’s why I said run it past me. But I trust you, Lillian. I don’t think you’d do anything you thought I wouldn’t like.”

Lillian nodded. “I wouldn’t. Although...” She hesitated.

“What?”

“I don’t want to be a downer,” she said slowly, “but I don’t think I can redecorate anytime soon. Or, well, maybe a few small things. But—well.”

Cal frowned. “What? Why not?” He’d understand if she didn’t quite feel like this was her home yet—she hadn’t even spent one single night here yet, after all—but she’d seemed ready to go a minute ago.

“My...financial situation,” Lillian said quietly. “Furniture is expensive. It’ll be a couple of years before I can start saving up for anything other than debt payoff, I think.”

Cal felt a rush of relief. “Hey,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

Lillian frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Being mated is like being married,” Cal explained. “That means what’s yours is mine, and vice versa. I have a lot of savings. I took home a good nest egg from Iraq—combat pay for a high-level non-com is nothing to joke about. Since then, I haven’t spent much of it at all. This place was the biggest purchase I’ve made by far, and it wasn’t anything like expensive, out here in the middle of nowhere. Most of my paycheck has just gone right into the bank or safe investments, and that builds up. We can talk over the specifics, but you don’t have to worry about what things are going to cost anymore.”

Lillian was frowning. “No—Cal, no, I can’t ask you to take this on. It doesn’t belong to you.”

“It doesn’t belong to you, either,” Cal pointed out. “And if there’s anything I can do—anything at all—to get that jerk out of your life once and for all, you’d better believe I’m going to do it.”

That made her crack a smile. A tiny one, but it was there. Still, she said stubbornly, “I have a job. And I chose to marry Lew. I can pay the consequences myself.”

“How about we talk about it later,” Cal suggested. “Once the rest of this business is cleared up. We can sit down at a computer and look over all our finances together, work out specifics.”

Lillian relaxed a little. “That sounds best.”

That would give Lillian a little time to get used to the fact that they were, for all intents and purposes, married, and that everything that was Cal’s belonged to both of them now. And give him time to muster his arguments—for example, most of their money going forward would be dedicated to building their lives together, taking care of their future children. And there was no way Lillian could argue that they wouldn’t be united as one in that effort.

“Anyway, even if we’re keeping separate finances, I can pay for my own furniture,” Cal added. “So you’ll be buying all the throw pillows you want.”

Lillian raised her eyebrows. “So there?”

“If that’s how you want to hear it.” Cal came over to her, reached out a hand. Lillian took it, and he drew her up to her feet and kissed her deeply. “How’s that for an argument?”

“Mmm, very convincing.” Lillian wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

Cal was just starting to enjoy all her curves and softness pressed against him when she drew back. “Cal?”

“Hm?”

Lillian bit her lip. “I have a request.”

The formal phrasing caught his attention, and he stepped away, trying to marshal his brain back online. “Anything you want.”

That made her make a dubious face. Cal decided not to tell her that the little wrinkle in her forehead was—no way to use any other word—cute.

“You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”

“I know you’re not going to ask for anything I don’t want to give you.”

“You can’t possibly—never mind. Please feel free to say no. But...” She hesitated. “Would you shift for me?”

Cal let out a surprised laugh. “Why would you think I might not want to do that?”

In fact, he should’ve thought to do it before. It seemed impossible that Lillian had never seen him shifted, but, he realized, it was true.

She shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t know. It seems like a very private thing.”

He took her hands. “Lillian. You’re my mate. Even if it was the most private thing in the world, I would still be happy to show you.”

She nodded slowly, and then smiled. “All right. Keep telling me things like that, and I promise it will start to sink in someday.”

He kissed her softly, and then stepped back to the center of the room. “Ready?”

She nodded, looking eager.

Cal reached down inside himself and drew out his leopard.

The room blurred around him. He felt his fingernails lengthening to claws, his tail growing out, his fur rippling over his body. He fell down to all fours as his teeth sharpened and his core thickened into the body of a snow leopard.

When he was fully changed, he looked over at Lillian. She had a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.

“Wow,” she breathed. “I’ve never seen anything like that—well, I saw my sister change once. But this was...different.” She took a few hesitant steps forward, then stopped. “May I touch you?”

Cal couldn’t speak out loud as a snow leopard, but he didn’t need to; he walked over to Lillian and butted his head against her hip.

Mate, echoed through his body. Lillian’s scent was much more powerful as a leopard; a sweet but musky feminine aroma that Cal wanted to keep breathing in forever. Her hand lit softly on his head, and he nosed forward, encouraging her to pet.

She ran her fingers over his ears, which tickled, although he stayed still to keep from startling her. Then she grew bolder, digging her fingers into his fur and petting down his back. She touched his tail very gently, and he couldn’t keep it from twitching; she laughed.

“Oh, you’re beautiful,” she said.

Beautiful was not a word Cal had ever thought to apply to himself, but hearing it from Lillian was...surprisingly nice.

He sat back on her haunches and let her look and pet to her heart’s content. Feeling his mate’s hands on him, her fingers scratching his ears and burying themselves in his fur, was soothing, like all was right with the world. He felt his eyes go half-lidded.

Above him, Lillian laughed. “You look exactly like a satisfied cat right now,” she said.

To be fair, a satisfied cat was exactly what Cal was.

Eventually, Lillian let her hands fall away from his fur—reluctantly, Cal thought. He wanted to tell her that she could keep going as long as she liked. Maybe sometime they could take a nap together like this, with him keeping her warm with his fur.

Maybe someday, if she could shift too—

He cut that thought off. Speculating on his own wasn’t going to help Lillian make the right decision for herself.

“All right,” Lillian was saying. “You can shift back now.”

Cal shifted, and immediately caught Lillian up in his arms, wanting that same closeness. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled; her scent wasn’t as strong in his human form, but it was still all kinds of intoxicating.

Lillian had made a little surprised noise at first, but now she was melting against him, shivering as he kissed her neck, little kisses that moved up to behind her ear. Her hair was caught up in an elegant twist as always, but little tendrils were starting to escape and curl around her ears, tickling his face.

Cal kissed her temple, her cheek, the bridge of her nose, and then finally her sweet, sweet mouth. She tasted delicious, and she opened for him immediately with a little moan.

Cal couldn’t get enough of the way Lillian was so open physically. Most of the time, even in private, she was very controlled and careful—in her appearance, in her speech, and in her movements. But when they’d first made love, he’d been struck by how that care and control fell away under his hands, his mouth.

It was gorgeous. And he loved that it was only for him.

He kissed her mouth until she was pressed up close against him, her hips shifting. He cupped one of her breasts in his hand and felt the hardness of her nipple under her shirt. He loved what a generous handful her breasts were—he’d always been attracted to curvy women, and to him, Lillian was the embodiment of a feminine ideal, the breasts and hips of a woman who could be the mother of a whole brood of children someday. The feel of her curves under his hands drove him wild.

“Mmm,” Lillian said, as he stroked his thumb over her nipple. “You’re so good at this.”

“Don’t think it’s that,” Cal said, caught up in the feel of her. Then he slid his other hand down the curve of her waist to her hip, and got distracted.

“What do you think, then?” Lillian managed after another couple of minutes. Cal’s hand had moved back, and he was enjoying the curve of her behind, slipping his fingers forward a bit to discover a hot dampness building between her legs.

“Hm? Oh.” He’d said something. What was it? Oh, right. “I think we just match,” he said into her mouth. “What I want and what you want. It’s the same. It’s not any fantastic skill on my part.”

His fingers explored a bit further down the seam of her jeans, and she gasped. “Maybe it’s both.”

“I could get behind both, I guess,” Cal agreed with a grin.

Lillian’s own hands were going exploring in the meantime. She’d unbuttoned his shirt down to the waistband of his pants, and was busily undoing his belt even as she panted into his mouth.

Cal was about to suggest they move it upstairs, but then she got the belt off and slid a hand down his pants. Those soft fingers wrapping around his cock sent any ideas straight out of his head. He groaned.

Lillian made an appreciative noise. Cal thrust forward into her hand, unable to keep his hips still in the face of her obvious enjoyment.

“I think we should be more naked,” she offered.

“Good idea,” Cal managed.

They had to separate to make it happen, which was difficult. Cal kept coming back for one more kiss. But finally she pushed him away, laughing, and pulled her shirt over her head.

That focused him in a hurry. The sight of her creamy breasts, pushed up by her bra to form the most enticing cleavage...he got his pants off fast.

Coming back to pull Lillian in close without anything between them, feeling her naked skin against his, sent a shock of pleasure through him. He kissed her deeply and walked them back toward the couch.

She overbalanced when the backs of her knees hit it, but he eased her down gently. She pulled his head down with her, kissing him fiercely. He had to tear his mouth away after a minute, because he needed to kiss her all over.

She moaned as he started down her body. His leopard purred inside him, and Cal shuddered in pleasure when his mouth reached her breasts. He focused his attention first on one nipple, licking and biting very gently, and then on the other. Her noises sharpened, and he slipped a hand between her legs.

She parted her thighs for him, and his fingers found a slippery wetness. He slid them down, and his index finger found her opening, pushing inside with hardly any effort at all.

Lillian’s fingernails dug into his neck as her head fell back. “Inside me,” she whispered in his ear.

Cal had been intending to go down on her again—his mouth had been watering in anticipation of the taste—but hearing her demand that he get inside her made his cock throb hard, and all other plans fall away.

Lillian turned sideways so she could lie back on the couch, one of her legs coming up to rest on the back of it. Her face was flushed red.

“God,” she whispered. “I feel so...shameless.”

“Good,” Cal said back. “Because we’re not doing anything to be ashamed of.”

He knelt over her and stroked her inner thigh. God, her skin was so soft. He let his fingers drift inward to touch her clit, and she made a strangled noise.

“Come on,” she said. “Now!”

Lillian’s wish was his command. Cal braced himself over her so he could go slowly, and pressed the head of his cock against her entrance.

The hot, soft, wet sensation was overwhelming. But he had to hold himself back. Cal knew that there were men out there who wished they were very well-endowed, but practically speaking, it meant that he had to have a lot of self-control during sex, because it would be easy to hurt Lillian if he wasn’t careful.

She didn’t seem like she was afraid of being hurt right now, though. Lillian arched her hips, pushing him further inside under her own power, and gasping in pleasure.

Well, Cal trusted her to know what she wanted. He got a hand under her hips—distracting himself briefly with the softness of her curved behind—and pressed inside.

She felt like nothing on Earth. Cal wanted to stay inside her forever.

Lillian’s eyes had fallen closed as he pushed inside. Her chest was heaving with her panting breaths. Cal would’ve been worried, but she reached for him, pulling him forward, tilting her hips for him until he was seated completely inside.

Cal could feel his control starting to slip away. “All right?” he asked her. His voice came out rougher than he’d expected, desire stealing away any polish and leaving only rawness behind.

Lillian nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Yes. Move.”

Cal let himself go. For once, he wasn’t keeping himself leashed, watching every movement, holding himself back. Instead, he moved.

Lillian cried out as he pulled back and thrust into her. Her legs wrapped around his hips, and she moved to meet him. Cal felt a fierce joy rushing through him—here was someone who could match him, who saw his desire and smiled. Who wanted him, but didn’t want...danger.

That was something Cal had always feared. That anyone who wanted him, wanted his leopard, wanted the leashed power and primal need that he knew lay beneath the surface, would also be dangerous. His animalistic side had always been balanced by a desire not to hurt anybody.

And now, he was learning that those two things didn’t have to be incompatible.

Because he was driving forward now, thrusting powerfully and without any reserve, and Lillian was making high-pitched noises of pleasure. She was starting to clench around him, somehow spiraling Cal’s pleasure even higher than before. The fluttering contractions of her inner muscles made him groan, his grip on her hips tightening, his thrusts speeding up.

Everything was slick and hot. The scent of sex permeated the air, filling Cal’s head until he couldn’t think of anything else. He put his head down and licked at the sweat between Lillian’s breasts, shuddering at the hot taste of it. He could feel the orgasm building inside of him, his cock twitching inside of Lillian as he drive forward. There was the slightest resistance at the end of each thrust—he was big enough to fill her completely, he thought—but far from hurting her, it seemed to bring her to even greater heights of pleasure. Every time he bottomed out, he could feel her muscles clench, her fingers tighten, a pleasurable moan jolt out of her.

Cal thrust in as far as he could and stayed there for a long moment, pressed in tight and close, and felt Lillian’s breath speed up, her moans change pitch.

“Oh,” she said. The syllable barely had any air behind it at all, but Cal heard it anyway. “Oh, can you just—don’t, don’t move, just stay right, stay right there—”

He lifted his head to look at her. Lillian’s beautiful face was wracked with pleasure. Her lips were parted, her eyes closed, her face shining with sweat. Her hair was curling in little damp tendrils around her face, and Cal felt almost blinded by the sight of her. The love that welled up in him was overwhelmingly fierce, like he was holding the light of the sun inside himself.

Her voice had risen in pitch, and now she was trailing off. Her back arched, and Cal finally pulled back and thrust again, hard.

She shrieked. He did it again, slow and powerful, and then started to speed up once more, but this time the thrusts were deliberate and forceful.

It couldn’t be contained. His love and his desire twined around each other as he moved inside of his mate. And she clawed at his back, thrust her hips along with him, and finally shuddered over the edge and came.

Cal’s vision whited out at the desperate clutching of her muscles. His own orgasm spilled out of him without any warning, following immediately on hers as though they couldn’t be separated. His muscles shivered, pleasure coursing through his body and overwhelming him with joy.

When he came back to himself, he was wrapped up in Lillian’s body, their limbs all entangled, smelling like sex and each other.

Cal thought it might be nice if he never had to move again.

Lillian’s eyes eventually blinked open. The crystal-blue was surrounded by damp lashes. Her pupils were enormous. “Wow,” she husked, laughing a little.

“Take that as approval, then?” Cal asked, raising his eyebrows.

She laughed a little more. “Approval is a bit weak. Awe, maybe. I’ve never—I’ve never felt like that. Ever.”

Cal reached up and caught a rogue tendril of hair, smoothing it back so that it wasn’t falling into her eyes. “Me, neither.”

Her delicate eyebrows went up. “Oh, really? This isn’t just another evening for you?”

There was a teasing note in her voice. Cal smiled. “Nope. One of a kind.”

Her eyes closed for a minute. “One of a kind,” she whispered. The words resonated with longing and the echoes of loneliness.

Cal pulled her close, tucking her head against his shoulder. “You’re the one,” he murmured into her ear. “All mine.”

This time, her laugh sounded like part of a sob. “All yours,” she agreed. “And—and you’re all mine.”

That was something to hear. His mate wasn’t just someone who belonged to him...but that he belonged to her. He thought about being Lillian’s. Lillian’s mate, Lillian’s leopard...Lillian’s husband. All hers.

It brought a deep, slow pleasure into his chest. A sense of love and safety that he’d never imagined for himself.

It was what he wanted to give to her, of course. But it looked like she was giving it to him, too. And that was more than he’d ever thought he’d have.

“All yours.” He could hear his leopard’s rumble in his voice.

It was right. It was all so right. Cal’s arms tightened around his mate and he held her as her breathing slowly evened out into sleep.

***

Lillian was nervous.

She and Cal had arrived at Glacier Park early, an hour or so before the snow leopards had planned to meet. Cal had told her that in addition to Teri and Zach, there was Zach’s brother Joel and his mate Nina, and two other couples, Grey and Alethia and Jeff and Leah.

“Leah isn’t a leopard,” Cal told her. “But she’s part of the pack just the same.”

That was a bit reassuring. Lillian thought that being the only human faced with a whole crowd of shifters would be nerve-wracking as hell. This way, at least there’d be one other non-leopard there.

Maybe she wouldn’t feel like so much of an intruder, that way.

As much as Cal and Teri had assured her that it was normal for shifters to form quick bonds like this, Lillian couldn’t help but suspect that it would take a while for her to be welcomed. After all, this was a group of people who had to hide from most of the world, who shared a magical, strange secret. Who had a whole separate form—with a separate identity, perhaps?

It was something she could never quite be part of. And sharing it would’ve made them quite close, surely.

But right now, Cal was distracting her from the prospect of the meeting by showing her around some of his favorite spots in the Park.

Lillian had been to Glacier before, of course, since she’d grown up right next to it. There had been endless class trips back in school, and she’d visited one or two times on her own. But Lew hadn’t been very outdoorsy, and somehow even after they’d split, she’d forgotten that this gorgeous natural wonder was practically on her doorstep.

Now, she stood on a rocky crag overlooking an endless mountain lake, and she thought she might never catch her breath again. The sunrise lit everything on fire, leaving her feeling as though she and Cal were alone here at the beginning of the world.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

Cal’s arms came around her from behind. “If I’m ever upset about something, if I can come stand in this spot, it just...recedes. I’m reminded of how big the world is, how powerful nature can be, and I remember that my problems are all small in comparison.”

Lillian just nodded. The sun’s rays rippled on the water. The sky was a bright robin’s egg blue; the morning felt full of possibilities. Like everything was new.

She leaned back into Cal and they watched together until the sun rose enough that the light faded from the lake. When it was done, Lillian felt infused with such a calm and peace, she was sure she could handle anything.

She turned back to Cal. “Let’s go to this meeting.”

They took Cal’s truck back to his office in the main building. Cal sat behind his desk, pulling a chair up next to him for Lillian. She took the seat beside him with a confidence that she hadn’t had an hour ago. Somehow, the glorious sunrise had melted her trepidation away.

It wasn’t long before the other leopards started to appear. First was a tall, quiet man whom Cal introduced as Grey, his “top man,” and his mate Alethia, a beautiful and stylishly-dressed woman. Lillian watched Alethia covertly as she took a seat, with Grey standing behind her, his hands on the back of her chair. Somehow, she’d imagined that all female snow leopards would be like Teri: tough and outdoorsy, not too concerned with fashion or make-up. Alethia looked like she’d just stepped out of the pages of a magazine.

Then there was Jeff and his mate Leah. They’d brought a sleepy toddler, an adorable little girl with beautiful dark eyes whom Leah introduced as Emily. “I don’t think she’ll make any trouble,” she told Cal, who assured her it wasn’t a problem.

Leah was the human woman, Lillian remembered. She looked like any mother of a young child, tired but happy. Jeff, her mate, gave off an aura of cheerfulness that was somehow immediately reassuring. He rested a hand on Leah’s shoulder when she sat down, then moved his hand to stroke over Emily’s fine-looking hair.

Lillian tried not to be jealous. But the sight of the baby sprawled trustingly in her mother’s arms...

She glanced at Cal. He was looking back at her, and somehow she understood that they were thinking the same thing. That will be us one day.

Teri and Zach were the next to arrive, followed soon after by Joel and Nina. The office felt crowded with all of them in there, but there was a sense of energy, Lillian thought. Purpose. They were all coming together to accomplish something, and they knew it.

“All right,” Cal said, once everyone was present. He didn’t raise his voice at all, but everyone immediately fell silent. “A few points of order. First of all, let me introduce Ms. Lillian Lowell to all of you. She’s Teri’s sister. And my mate.”

Lillian could almost feel the indrawn breaths from most of the people there. Teri was wearing a self-satisfied smile, she noticed. Everyone else was suddenly regarding Lillian with great interest.

“That much is your business, but nothing else about her is, so keep any questions to yourself,” Cal continued. Lillian wondered if she should feel offended at the presumption there, but she didn’t at all. Instead, she felt a rising warmth at the protectiveness in his voice.

“Lillian’s been threatened by Gordon Hennessey and his crowd of mountain lions,” Cal said, “and I’m not putting up with it anymore. It’s time to take action. But I won’t strong-arm anybody into a fight. Anyone who wants to sit this whole thing out is welcome to leave, or stick around and hear all the news and then step aside. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is obligated to put themselves in any kind of danger on my behalf. Do you all understand?”

Nods all around the room, but not one person made any motion towards leaving. The pack was all wearing identical fierce expressions. Lillian was struck especially by fashion-model Alethia, who was wearing a gorgeous dress and heels and a full face of makeup, but looked like she was ready to shift and launch herself at the nearest mountain lion any minute.

“All right,” Cal said. “Here’s the situation, then.”

He started detailing what had happened so far. As he was talking, Lillian felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it out of her purse.

It was Lew.

She excused herself with a murmur, holding up her phone; Cal paused, but Lillian didn’t look at him, not wanting to interrupt. She slipped out of the office quickly and answered it.

“Lew?”

“Lil?” His voice sounded panicky. “Lil, oh God, you’ve got to help me! I—”

Then his voice cut off, and it was replaced by a deep, growling one. “There you go, Ms. Lowell, you’ve heard his voice. So you know we have him. And I think you can guess what we’re going to do to him if you don’t show up with our money, and soon.”

“I don’t have any money,” Lillian tried to explain.

“Tough,” said the voice. “From what I’ve seen, you’ve got the smarts to get some. Unlike this loser.” There was a thud and a yelp; Lillian flinched. Had he hurt Lew?

“Come to the Hennessey cabin today with the cash,” said the voice. “If you’re not here by dark, you don’t want to know what’ll happen to your little hubby here. Bring your snow leopard boyfriend and both of you will face some consequences, believe me. Five against one isn’t pretty.”

The line went dead.

Lillian stared at the phone. Terror had risen in her during the call, but now it was being replaced by something else.

Determination. And anger.

Lew wasn’t going to get her in any more trouble. It wasn’t going to happen. She was going to make sure it didn’t—and this time, she wasn’t alone.

***

Cal frowned after Lillian as she slipped out. But surely she would’ve said something if the phone call was urgent. Maybe it was just her mother wanting some kind of reassurance.

He finished outlining the situation, looking around the room for input. If he was honest with himself, he felt hesitant about what to actually do. Starting an all-out war with the mountain lions would involve everyone in this room, whether they wanted to be involved or not. And he couldn’t help looking at Leah’s little daughter, aware that consequences might spiral out of control.

He wouldn’t involve anybody against their will. But maybe if Grey or Zach participated, they could give Gordon and his brother a bit of a thrashing, teach them a lesson...

But it probably wouldn’t stick. That was the problem. How to make them understand that they had to back off for real? They were the type that if they lost a fair, one-on-one fight, they’d retreat and then come back with something mean and underhanded, and Cal didn’t want to risk any of his people against dirty tricks.

The door opened, and Lillian came back in. Cal instinctively sat up straighter at the sight of her white face and the determined set of her mouth. Everyone turned, following his gaze.

Lillian squared her shoulders under their eyes and held up her phone. “That was my ex-husband,” she said quietly. “He’s being held by the mountain lions in their cabin. They’re hurting him, and they’ve given me until the end of the day to show up with their money. They said that even if I bring Cal, I won’t get anywhere, because it’ll be five against one.”

“Screw that,” Teri said immediately. The tension broke as people chuckled.

Lillian’s mouth turned up slightly at the corners. “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” she said. She looked calmly at Cal.

And slowly, one by one, everyone’s eyes came back to him. “Well?” said Grey finally. “Got a plan?”

In that moment, Cal realized something.

Every person there wanted him to make a decision. They were all waiting to hear what his plan was, how he thought the situation should be handled.

None of them was afraid of what he might say. None of them thought that he’d lead them down the wrong path.

They wanted him to lead them.

And for the first time, without any reservations, he was willing. Because his mate needed help.

“Listen up,” he said quietly. “These mountain lions think they can make the rules. They think there’s enough of them that they can hurt people, threaten them, and no one can stop them. Because they’re shifters, the police are wary to get involved, and they’re taking advantage of that.”

He took a deep breath. “They don’t think we’ll band together to stop them.” He met everyone’s eyes. “That’s my fault. I’ve kept this pack as loose as possible, because I don’t want any of you to think you’re being forced to do what I want.”

Disagreement and disbelief was obvious on their faces. In fact, with every word Cal spoke, he realized further how misplaced his fears had been. These people trusted him, and they trusted him because he’d always wanted to do right by them.

And he was suddenly certain that this was the right thing. Sure, the mountain lions were sneaky and vicious, but they were also cowards. If they realized what a force they’d reckoned with...

“So I think it’s time to show them what being a snow leopard means,” he finished. “There’s only five of them. They think they’re facing five against one, but they’re wrong.”

“They are so wrong,” Teri said fiercely, to another round of chuckles.

“Same rules apply,” Cal said. “No one’s coming against their will. Anyone wants to stay behind, there’s no consequence and no one is upset with them, am I clear?”

“You’re clear,” Alethia spoke up. “But I’m in.”

The chorus of agreement filled the room.

***

Gordon Hennessey’s face was as eloquent as any words. It was easy to see that he hadn’t expected this.

They’d come as a group. Lillian had insisted on joining them; Cal had deeply wished to tell her to stay behind and safe, but she’d squared her shoulders, looked him in the eye, and said, “I have a right to see what happens.” And he’d acknowledged that she did.

So now Lillian was standing several yards back from the cabin alongside Leah, who’d dropped baby Emily off with her in-laws. Between the two humans and the cabin were Cal, Grey, Alethia, Jeff, Zach, Teri, Joel and Nina.

Gordon stood in the doorway, flanked by his brother and with three scruffy figures vaguely visible behind them. They clearly were not prepared for eight angry snow leopards.

Still, Gordon put on a sneering face. “What’s this?” he asked, gesturing at their group. “Your kindergarten class?”

Cal glanced over at Grey and nodded once. Grey blurred and shifted. Around him, the rest of the group did the same.

Now Cal was standing amid seven powerfully-built big, gray cats. Teeth bared. Claws flexed.

Gordon swallowed, but kept it up. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “Charge us? We can get to the human before you do, no matter how many of you there are.”

“That’s not what I’m here for,” Cal said calmly.

Gordon raised his eyebrows. “No?” He pointed at Lillian. “She sure showed up here fast after we threatened him.”

Cal shook his head. “He’s not the issue.” He took a step forward. “You’re not going to kill him, anyway.”

Gordon took a step forward too. “Oh, I’m not?”

Cal met Gordon’s eyes; they were a pale yellowish-brown, and fear lurked in them. “You’re not a killer,” he said.

He knew that to be true. He’d seen plenty of real killers, back in the Marines, and Gordon didn’t have that coldness to him.

He was a slimy little lowlife, a petty dictator who reveled in his small-time power, but he wasn’t a murderer. He wouldn’t even hurt the man beyond a little roughing, Cal would bet all his money. There’d be too much trouble coming his way from the law, if so.

“Besides,” he added, “if you kill him, you’ll never get any money from him.”

Gordon smiled a little. “That’s a problem, all right. That’s why we’re calling his wife, isn’t it?”

Cal could hear his voice sharpen, could feel his leopard growling in his chest. “That is why I’m here.”

“Oh, right.” Gordon shook his head. “She’s part of your little commune. Your peace-loving hippie pack. You snow leopards just hang out and do your own thing, don’t you?”

A growl started emanating from someone’s throat. Cal thought he recognized Teri. Then it was taken up by someone else—Zach, probably—and it spread, until he was standing in the center of a deep wall of threatening sound.

He saw it. Gordon flinched back.

“It doesn’t matter what you think about us, Gordon,” Cal said quietly, his voice carrying over the growl. “It doesn’t matter what you say. We are stronger than you are. We are more than you are. And from here on out, you will mind your own business and leave us alone.”

His voice cracked out sharply on the last word, like a whip. As if on cue, his pack’s growling evaporated, leaving his own voice the only sound ringing through the air.

From the look on Gordon’s face, he could tell that they’d already won. It was turning resigned.

His next words confirmed that. “And somehow this includes the lady we’ve been after, does it?”

“It does,” Cal said. Anger vibrated through his voice—how dare Gordon keep implying threats to Lillian, even while he was in the process of backing down? “Because she’s my mate.”

Gordon’s eyes went wide. Cal could hear one of the other mountain lions muttering, “Shit,” behind him.

That’s right, he thought, his leopard growling approval. They hadn’t known what sort of can of worms they’d opened, before. Now they did.

Gordon nodded slowly. “Your mate. Why didn’t you say anything before?”

Cal just stared at him.

After a minute, he dropped his eyes. “Fine. All right. Matter’s closed, then.”

His brother Wayne’s whiny voice rose up in the air. “But how am I going to get my money, then?”

“Shouldn’t’ve gambled with a loser like that, should you?” Gordon snapped at him.

The irritation was evident in his voice. Wayne had caused a whole lot of trouble for him, and Cal knew he’d realized that he couldn’t take this any further without risking too much for too little gain.

Wayne, Cal thought, would be held on a tight leash for a while going forward.

Cal felt a hand on his shoulder. Lillian had come up beside him—further up than he wanted, but she was still surrounded by seven alert snow leopards, at least. And he doubted anyone was going to attack now. “It’s over?” she breathed, as though she couldn’t quite believe it.

Cal nodded. “It’s over. You’re safe.”

And he hadn’t, of course, expected Lillian to collapse sobbing into his arms or anything silly like that, but he had to admit to being started when she took a long breath and shouted, “Lew?”

There was a moment of startlement that hung over the whole group, and then suddenly a face popped up behind the crowd of mountain lions at the door. Disbelievingly, Cal watched as Lillian marched forward to the front of the group, and the lions actually parted to let Lew through to talk to her.

“Lil,” Lew gasped, coming forward. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on, but you gotta—you gotta...” He trailed off, staring out at the array of snow leopards, most of them now sitting tall and alert around Cal.

Alethia, however, had padded forward, and was now pacing a careful circle around Lillian, both eyes on the mountain lions.

Cal, who had been debating shifting himself, just to be extra-sure no one sprang at Lillian, stayed human. But he came forward to stand behind Lillian’s shoulder. Grey followed, and so it was the two of them standing stock-still, facing the mountain lions, flanked by the slow movements of his most capable leopard and his mate. And behind them, their pack.

It felt...right.

“What the hell are you mixed up in?” Lew gasped, his eyes fixed on Alethia’s prowling form. She was eying him with the same mistrust as she’d given all the lions, for which Cal could only approve.

Lillian lifted her chin. “I’ve found a place, Lew. This is for me, and from now on, I’ll thank you to stay away from me.”

“But—but—” Lew’s eyes darted back and forth to the mountain lions on either side of him. But then they inexorably traveled back to the arrayed snow leopards.

Cal would have almost found it funny if he hadn’t hated the man so deeply.

“Stay away, Lew,” Lillian repeated. Her tone brooked no argument. She hesitated for a second, and then her lips firmed and she added, “Or you won’t like the consequences.”

Lew’s chest heaved with his rapid breaths. He nodded vigorously. “Got it. I got it.”

“Good.” Lillian’s eyes shifted to Gordon. “I am not connected with him in any way. Any trouble he gets himself into is none of my business. Is that clear?”

Gordon nodded, and Cal was amazed to note the respect that the gesture contained. “That’s clear, ma’am.”

Lillian nodded once, and then turned to Cal. “Let’s go.”

Cal felt the smile starting in the muscles of his face, even if it hadn’t made it to his lips yet. “All right,” he said. “Let’s.”

And the pack turned and left as one.

***

“And then she said, ‘Is that clear?’ and I thought, hell yeah, that’s my sister!” Teri waved a French fry triumphantly.

“All right,” Lillian spoke up. “We were all there. I think we can do without a third recap of everything that happened.”

Teri grinned, unrepentant. “Are you kidding? I’m going to be telling that story until you’re ninety-three and I’m eighty-five. Your grandkids are going to be hearing all about it, believe me.”

Lillian shook her head, smiling, and leaned into Cal’s encircling arm. Grandkids.

It was amazing to think that she might actually have grandkids for Teri to tell exaggerated stories to.

But Cal squeezed her shoulder, and she believed it.

They were all out at Oliver’s, the local diner, seated in an enormous circular booth in the back. Lillian almost never went out to eat, and never to diners, but Nina, who worked here—though not tonight—had recommended her favorites.

The food, as it turned out, was delicious. But that had nothing on being out as part of a big group like this.

Lillian’s friends had all somehow melted away from her over the years, first drifting off after college, and then driven away by the discomfort of witnessing the messy, awful divorce. Her life had become such a small, circumscribed thing, with her co-workers at the library, her parents, and no one else.

And now, here she was, in this circle of laughing, happy people. Tucked up against her mate’s side.

“Mmm,” Cal said into her ear. “This is fun.”

She twisted to smile at him. “That’s just what I was thinking.”

“They do this sort of thing a lot,” he murmured, with a jerk of his chin that indicated the rest of the group. “I never come along.”

“Because you’re the boss?” Lillian guessed.

He nodded, his stubble rasping along her cheek. She shivered a little. “Never felt quite right. And I didn’t want it to be—just me, sitting here alone, and then the rest of them all young and excitable. But now...”

Lillian smiled. “We can be boring old people together?”

“Hey,” Cal said, his eyes lit with laughter. “We just told off a whole group of mountain lion shifters together. You got to give your jerk ex the what-for. I’m reliably informed that this story’s gonna be told to your grandchildren. Don’t think we’re that boring.”

Lillian laughed, the sound going through her like a shiver. “Fine. Terribly interesting old people.”

“Better.” Cal snugged her up tighter, and Lillian turned again to face the rest of the group.

Across the table, Alethia caught the movement, and leaned forward. “So,” she said. “Lillian, you have to tell us about yourself! You’re a woman of mystery so far. Teri’s revealed nothing.”

Lillian found all eyes on her. She would’ve thought it would be uncomfortable, but somehow, with Cal next to her, she didn’t feel self-conscious at all. “Not much to say,” she said. “I’m a librarian.”

“Which any of you would know already if you ever went into the library,” Teri broke in.

That got a couple of napkins thrown at her, but no one disagreed. “We are not intellectuals,” Zach agreed sadly.

“You’ll have to help us fix that,” Alethia said, smiling. “I could use some books on small business.”

“Oh, are you starting a business?” Lillian leaned forward, interested.

“She is!” Leah spoke up, and then suddenly there was a whole discussion starting about Alethia’s business, and how Nina’s mother might be somehow involved, and how Alethia felt about clothing and fashion, and then Lillian thought to bring up interior design...

The men mostly sat back and smiled, or chatted softly with one another, and Lillian realized that even in addition to Cal’s steady presence, the possibility of a partner, she also had something else. Something just as valuable—a whole group of women, including her sister, to be friends with.

She reached out and took Cal’s hand, squeezing hard, and he squeezed back. I love you, Lillian thought fiercely, and then he squeezed again, and she was sure he’d felt it.

She was so happy. She’d never thought this could be possible. But it was.