For one thing, he’d thought that she would have to be a shifter, and he hardly knew any shifters. Even in Glacier, there weren’t that many young, single, female shifters around, or at least Zach hadn’t met them.
It hadn’t occurred to him that his mate could be a human. He hadn’t thought that he’d just see her on a sidewalk one day and ask her for directions.
It seemed too impossible to be a coincidence, and it made him wonder what had led him to Glacier after all. Fate? Something innate? Something greater? He didn’t know the answer.
But he was grateful. He was so, so grateful.
Teri was everything he’d never thought he could have. Cheerful, smart, funny, strong, courageous, beautiful...she was absolutely perfect, and he couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have found her.
It was even harder to believe that he was getting ready to get in his car and drive her away from his house, and leave her with people who didn’t seem to understand anything about her.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” he asked for at least the third time. It was probably becoming obnoxious, but he couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut. “You could just spend the day here. I’ll be at work, and Joel might not even come home; he likes spending the day out in the Park. Sometimes he even sleeps up there.”
But she shook her head. “I have to face my family sometime,” she said firmly. “The longer I put it off, the worse it will be. And I’m not staying in your house when your brother doesn’t even know I might be there, Zach!”
If Zach hadn’t already loved her with every bit of his heart, her careful concern for Joel’s comfort in his home would’ve tipped him over the edge. Plenty of people thought it was a little strange for two adult brothers to live together, and he didn’t think it would’ve occurred to
most people to be so careful of Joel’s feelings.
And Teri was right; Zach had to talk to him before inviting anyone to stay with them, even if it was only for a little while.
Although Zach wanted it to be for more than a little while. If he’d thought Teri would say yes, he would already have suggested that she move in permanently.
Instead, he was taking her back to her parents’ house, where she was miserable.
But it was her choice, he reminded himself. And she was probably right about facing her family sooner rather than later.
“I just don’t like that you’re going to be there without any means of getting away,” he grumbled as he put the car into gear.
She smiled brightly at him, her eyes twinkling. “Aren’t you forgetting? There’s a bus to the Park. I can come find you if I need you.”
That did reassure him a little bit. “I wish I could just be there with you, though. Or at least wait in the car in case you need to leave.”
“You have to go to work,” Teri said. “They’re not monsters. They’re not going to hurt me.”
Not physically, at least, Zach thought privately. Teri’s family had already hurt her. Zach remembered the hunch of her shoulders when mother had been on the phone, and he thought that they’d probably hurt her worse, and more permanently, than the car accident itself had.
But Teri was right again, of course—Zach had to go to work. And even if he didn’t, he couldn’t imagine that confronting her family with her shapeshifter mate at her side would make them any better-disposed toward her.
He still wished he could park outside the house and wait, just in case she needed him. But he had to get to the Park, and he knew Teri could take care of herself.
Still, his leopard growled deep inside him, wanting to protect their mate.
All too soon, they pulled up outside Teri’s family home. She stared out the window at it, taking a deep breath.
“You’re sure—” Zach started, completely unable to help himself.
Teri laughed, breaking the tension. “Yes. I’m sure. Give me a kiss and go to work.”
Zach had to laugh a little at that, too, although a large part of him just basked in the little sign of domesticity. Maybe someday Teri would say that to him every single morning.
He kissed her—she tasted amazing—and watched as she got out of the car and walked determinedly up the steps. There was no indication of weakness or pain in her stride, and he wondered how her family could just fail to see how strong she really was.
Teri opened the front door of the house and disappeared inside. Zach waited for a minute, and then another minute, wanting to be sure that she wasn’t going to come running back out again.
Of course she wasn’t. She’d told him herself. She could handle her family.
And she had his phone number, Zach reminded himself. If there was any real, awful problem, she could call him, and he’d come get her. He was suddenly, intensely grateful that his boss and all his coworkers were shifters, because they’d understand if he had to take off work to go get her. They’d know that Teri wasn’t a girl he’d just met, she was his mate.