He loved that surprised-happy blush she had. He thought he was probably going to be working to see it again as much as possible over the years to come.
"Did you have a good day at the Park, then?" he asked, wanting to know how she’d spent her time. Hiking? Sitting in the sun?
She looked up. "Yes! Actually, your brother and I spent some time talking."
“You and Joel?” Zach let out his breath. God, that was a relief. Maybe this would work out fine after all. "Was it good talking? You look like it was good."
"It really was. I understand a little better why he was standoffish at first. And I don't want to step on his toes if he's uncomfortable with the idea of mates—"
"He can learn to live with it," Zach said firmly. He would never force Joel into a situation that was actively bad for him, or unsafe, but this wasn't that, and it wasn't going away. "I know Joel, and he might not like the idea of mates, but that doesn't mean he can't handle it. He'll come around."
To his mild surprise, Teri nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I was going to say, it seems like he’s got a handle on it, especially since it’s not happening to him.”
“Good. I’ll talk to him about it later, but I think he’s going to be fine.”
Teri smiled at him. “I agree.”
“Great.” Zach kissed her again, keeping it quick because if he lingered, he wasn’t going to want to stop. Possibly ever. “Now, how about dinner? We can go out, and then pick up something for Joel to eat when he wakes up.”
“Sounds good.” Teri grinned. “Oliver’s?”
Look at that: they had a regular place to eat. Zach couldn’t contain the happy grin. “Oliver’s.”
***
Once they’d been seated at a booth and placed their orders, Teri leaned forward. Zach responded by leaning in as well, and when Teri spoke across the few inches separating them, it was in a low voice. Secretive.
“Joel mentioned something about shifters to me that I hadn’t known before.”
Zach’s eyebrows went up. “Oh? What was it?” He tried to think about what Joel and Teri might have wanted to discuss.
“He said shifters can bite humans and change them.” Teri’s voice was almost inaudible.
Oh. He hadn’t been thinking about this at all. “Theoretically, yes.”
“Theoretically?”
“Well, I’ve never done it, or seen it done. But I know someone who has.” Grey’s mate, Alethia, had been born human and changed into a snow leopard. She was cheerfully open about it, so even though he’d only met her once, he’d learned that she’d been changed.
“Life is so much better this way,” she’d told him, at the Park staff Christmas party where they’d met, just after he’d been hired. “I can’t imagine going back to my old life. Being a shifter is how I was meant to be, and Grey knew that.”
As though sensing he was being talked about, Grey had looked over at them from across the room, and Alethia had given him a knowing smile. And Zach might have been imagining it, but it had almost looked like Grey blushed slightly.
“So it’s not theoretical,” Teri said now. Zach shook himself out of the memory, although he couldn’t help but wonder if he and Teri would be sharing across-the-room connections at the next Glacier Christmas gathering.
“You know someone who changed someone else?” Teri pressed.
Zach nodded. “One of the rangers—Grey Landin, you met him yesterday. His mate, Alethia, was born human. He changed her.”
Teri looked him in the eye. “I want that, Zach,” she said. “I want you to change me.”
His first, instinctive reaction was, Yes! His leopard snarled in satisfaction at the idea of their mate shifting alongside them, running with them, hunting with them. Vanishing up into the mountains together, just the two of them, alone in the wilderness as mates...
Zach forcibly reined his instincts in. He knew better than to just go along with whatever his leopard thought was best. He needed to think about this.
But all of his thoughts were Yes. From the determined expression on Teri’s face, she felt it as strongly as he did.
“Are you sure?” he asked finally. “I want you to be sure.”