“So far, it just sounds like love to me,” Teri confessed. Real, true, love, of the kind she’d never been sure quite existed. Love like it was described in books and movies.
“I’ve never felt it, just heard my parents describe it, so I guess I can’t do it justice.” Zach shrugged, although it didn’t look cavalier. More...sad. Teri wanted to reach out, comfort him somehow, but he kept talking before she could decide what to do.
“Anyway, losing his mate was too much for my dad to take, I think. He was a welder, and he died in an accident at work a few months later. They said it was his own fault, and I’ve never been sure if it was just carelessness, because he just couldn’t focus as well after, or...something more deliberate.”
“God, that’s terrible,” Teri said. “And then you had to raise your brother on your own. I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
Zach picked up his fork, looking a little sheepish. “Thanks. It’s kind of heavy stuff for a first date, though. I didn’t mean to just lay it all on you like that.”
“No,” said Teri. “I’m happy to know. Really.” She found that she meant it. She wanted to know everything about Zach, even the bad stuff.
That was surprising. Teri didn’t usually want to learn anyone’s deeper feelings and secrets right away. It was similar to how she usually wasn’t mouth-dropping-open, panties-on-fire attracted to men like she was to Zach. She also usually wanted to take it slow, spend time getting to know a guy on a friendly, casual basis before they got too heavy—physically or emotionally.
Zach was different. Looking into his silvery eyes, seeing the way his mouth set when he remembered something painful...it felt special.
“Anyway,” Zach was saying, “my point was that I grew up far away from any other shifters. My parents were the only ones we knew, and none of us ever told anyone else what we were. I always thought it was a complete secret from every non-shifter, everywhere...and then Joel and I moved here.”
Teri leaned forward, intrigued. “How did you and Joel find out it was different here?”
Zach grinned. “We got called into our boss’s office for a very serious, confidential discussion about how Glacier was a little different and some of our coworkers had unusual abilities. We about lost our minds.”
“I can only imagine.”
“And it turns out that Glacier is home to most of the snow leopard shifters in the US. That’s what Joel and I are, snow leopards, and we just happened to be posted here?” Zach shook his head. “It’s almost enough to make me believe in fate.”
“I thought you did,” Teri pointed out. “What with the destined mates, and all that.”
Zach looked thoughtful. “Huh. I never thought about this being related to that. Maybe it is. Maybe shifters just get drawn to their rightful place, eventually, whether that’s where they live, or who they’re with.”
Teri was still a bit skeptical about the mystical destiny idea, but she kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t going to argue with the soft, happy look on Zach’s face.
And if fate had brought him and his brother here, after the hard life that they’d had, well, more power to fate.
***
Zach was a little embarrassed.
He hadn’t meant to spill almost his entire life’s story to Teri before they even started eating. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t go on a date with a woman and start out, Hi, my parents died tragically when I was a teenager and left me all alone to raise my little brother! Not only was it a surefire way to kill any chances of another date, it just wasn’t his habit to talk about private things like that so easily.
He and Joel had had to undergo some questioning from Cal and the other ranger shifters when it came out that they were snow leopard shifters, also. The shifter community was pretty small and tight-knit, especially around Glacier, and most of the guys had a hard time conceiving of shifters who had grown up in a big city, far away from any others of their kind.
Cal had eventually ordered everyone to get back to work and stop shoving your noses into other people’s business! and the curiosity had quieted down a bit. But it still hummed around in the background.
It made work a little awkward, sometimes, knowing that people were dying to know his private history. Especially since Zach and Joel, as the two new guys, mostly weren’t assigned to work together. Zach had found that he preferred working with Grey, who was quiet and minded his own business out of habit, or Jeff Hart, who was cheerfully good-natured and wouldn’t dream of asking any questions that might make someone else uncomfortable. Tyson was another quiet one, although Zach got the sense that he never asked any questions because he was too wrapped up in his own tensions to want to take on anyone else’s problems.
Zach had appreciated the respect for his and Joel’s privacy, even as he tried to make friends. It seemed like basic courtesy, after all.
And now he’d gone and told most of the story to a woman he’d just met without thinking twice. What was go
ing on with him?
The conversation had paused while they both paid some attention to their food. Zach’s fish was delicious, and Teri was attacking her burger and fries with gusto. Zach wondered when the last time was she’d had a chance to come out to a restaurant, if her mother never let her leave.
Well, hopefully this wouldn’t be the last time he took her out, and she’d have a lot more chances to enjoy restaurant food in the near future. Watching her eat with such enthusiasm was extremely satisfying—she deserved to enjoy life more than she’d been able to recently.
When conversation started up again, they stuck to lighter topics. Teri had read a ton of books while stuck in bed, and had watched as many classic movies as she could find, and Zach found himself intensely interested in what she had to say about them. He’d never had the time to watch many movies, and he’d definitely never been a big reader, but hearing her talk made him want to go check them out.
In return, Zach told her about what it was like working at the Park. “Cal’s a great boss,” he said. “He’s definitely a man of few words, and he can be abrupt, but that’s just because he’s focused on getting the job done. He has confidence in us, but he still checks in regularly to make sure we’re doing a good job, and that we’re satisfied with the job we’re doing.”