by Zoe Chant
Panther’s Passion
Veteran Shifters, #3
By Zoe Chant
Copyright Zoe Chant 2018
All Rights Reserved
Author’s note: This book stands alone. However, it’s part of a series about Marine veteran shifters in Glacier National Park. If you’d like to start from the beginning, the first book is Snow Leopard’s Lady.
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Panther's Passion (Veteran Shifters, #3)
A note from Zoe Chant
More Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant
Zoe on Audio
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Prologue: Stella
Dawn broke silently over Glacier National Park. Stella sighed as the sun peeked through the mountains. Closing her sketchbook over a drawing of the shadowed mountain peaks, she pushed herself to her feet. It was time to to leave her little forest getaway and go to work.
Stella and her daughter Eva had been living by Glacier Park for just over a month now, back in Stella’s childhood home. Stella’s sister Lynn had—
—well, Lynn hadn’t taken them in, exactly. Stella had inherited half of the house from their grandmother. She had as much right to live there as Lynn did.
But Lynn had been the one to get Stella and Eva from her ex-boyfriend Todd’s house. Lynn had brought them back home, and Lynn and her mate and her friends had scared Todd’s wolf pack away.
Lynn had been the big sister, like she always was.
Stella, meanwhile, was doing her best to be as responsible as Lynn was, and part of that was having a regular job waiting tables at Oliver’s, the local diner.
Back when Eva was a baby, Stella had tried waitressing at Oliver’s for a while. But she’d been too flighty, back in her twenties, to work long hours on her feet and come home to a wailing child. Resentment had built up in her, and she’d missed too much work. Eventually, she’d found an out-of-town boyfriend and left without a backward glance, bringing Eva with her.
Of course, the boyfriend had been no-good, and the opportunities he’d promised had dried up. But it had taken her a long, long time to learn that men’s promises were like the sunrise: bewitching, endlessly repeating, but gone in an instant.
Now, in her forties, she still chafed at being told what to do, still got frustrated with tedious jobs. But she was older. She couldn’t justify shirking responsibilities just by saying, oh, I’m a free spirit, I can’t be tied down!
As much as she still sometimes wanted to.
So she worked at Oliver’s, she showed up on time, she did as she was told. She tried to enjoy it—making friends with her coworkers, chatting with the customers, getting to know tourists, sighing wistfully over all the exotic places they’d come from.
Well, that last one was somewhat bittersweet.
But she managed it, partly by keeping her daughter firmly in first priority. Eva was about to start her senior year in high school, and she was thinking about college. Stella was so proud she could burst—Eva would be the first one in their family to go to college.
Of course, Stella didn’t have the money to pay for an expensive school, and probably never would. But maybe if she worked her butt off at the diner, and lived at home with Lynn and Lynn’s mate Ken, she could get enough saved up to pay for something local. Part of something local.
Eva was a brilliant student, so she’d probably get financial aid.
And meanwhile, Stella would kick herself for not thinking about this earlier. She was terrible at planning ahead, always had been.
She shifted into her lynx form to run back down through the forest. That was something that was nice about living at home again—not every town was like where Stella and Lynn had grown up. Shifters were an open secret around here. Especially out in the forest, you never had to worry about being caught.
The run felt good, exertion burning through her lynx’s limbs. She pretended just for a second that she was running off to the horizon, seeking out unknown lands, and that she wouldn’t stop until she found happiness.
Then she came back to herself. Stop it. You’re happy.
She had a good job, a comfortable home, and family all around her. Her daughter was excited to start school. Her sister loved and supported her. She lived practically on top of one of the most beautiful parks in the world, for crying out loud! Every time she sat down to draw the landscape, it was like breathing in pure magic.
If all of that wasn’t happiness, what was?
She didn’t know. All of her life, she’d been looking for something, unable to stay in one place, and she’d never figured out what it was.
Stella shifted back to human in the forest just beyond the house, and sighed. If this wasn’t happiness, it was close enough.
And it was bringing Eva what she needed, and that was the most important thing.
Stella got herself ready for work in the silent house. Lynn was probably already gone; her wilderness guide business went from before dawn until after dusk in these summer months. Ken, Lynn’s mate, was out for several days doing some kind of environmental survey for his job. Eva was a teenager: still asleep.
Eva had a summer job at the local coffee shop, and Stella was struck, as always, by how different they were: Eva was always on time, never seemed to have a problem with the hours. Her least favorite part of the job was having to talk to all of the customers. Stella thought that if she didn’t have customers to chat with, she’d probably go crazy.
She got into her old clunker of a car, said a brief prayer, and turned the key. It started, thank God, and off she went to another day at work.
She parked in her usual spot, and took a deep breath. This is normal, she reminded herself. A normal job that normal people have. If you don’t like it, too bad for you.
She got out of the car—
“Stella!”
—and nearly jumped out of her skin.
Todd came forward from where he’d been standing behind his pickup. She hadn’t noticed it at all when she pulled in, too occupied with her thoughts.
“Todd,” she said nervously. “What are you doing here?” She’d seen her ex-boyfriend here and there since Lynn and Ken and their friends had helped drive him and his pack off of their property. He always had an excuse for being in town, though. Going to the Park for the day, had to pick up something they didn’t sell in his teeny tiny town, some kind of reason.
Now, though, he just took another step forward, his eyes fixed on her. “I had to see you.”
Stella took a step back. “We broke up, Todd, remember? We don’t see each other anymore.”
Todd shook his head. “I can’t stand being apart from you, Stella.”
Well, that was—a problem. “I’m sorry, Todd.” Stella got it. She’d felt it—that clawing desire, that need to be with a man all the time, always near him, always with his attention on her. “It’ll fade with time, I promise.” It always did.
“No, it won’t,” Todd said. “It’s been a month, and I still feel it. I need you. Come back home, Stella.”
It was funny. Usually Stella would be tempted by an offer like that. She’d fallen for this sort of thing before. Seeing so much emotion, so much passion, all directed at her...it was a weakness of hers.
But maybe she was getting too old for it, because this time, she wasn’t tempted. Or maybe Todd had crossed too many lines when they’d broken up. Taken the bad boy image too far, frightened Stella too much.
She’d been scared for Eva’s safety, in that house, with Todd’s pack. And Todd hadn’t done anything to keep his buddies in line.
“I’m not putting my daughter in danger again,
” she told him. “You couldn’t keep her safe, so I have to do it myself. Go home, Todd.”
“I won’t let them in anymore,” he promised.
Men’s promises. So bright, so brief. “No, Todd,” she said firmly, and started walking towards the diner.
He hurried after her. “I’m not going to leave.”
That sent a little bit of a chill through her. She tried to shake it off. Sure, it had been scary getting away from his pack, but that had been the pack, not Todd himself. Todd wasn’t scary.
“Well, we’re not open yet, so you’ll have to wait outside,” she told him, and unlocked the door, leaving him waiting.
Inside, she took a deep breath, and tried to forget about it. He’d get bored and leave.
***
Todd did not get bored and leave.
He sat in a booth, nursing a cup of coffee, and his eyes followed her. Stella ignored him as best she could, laughing it off with her coworkers—look, I’m irresistible! Most of them bought it, though Pauline, older and sharper than most of them, was giving Todd the evil eye all shift. For once, Stella was glad of a busy day with a lot of tasks to take care of.
At the end of her shift, he followed her out to the parking lot.
“No, Todd.” She felt like she was disciplining a puppy.
“Just one date,” he said. “One date. Let me remind you what it was like.”
When she was younger, she might’ve said yes just to get it over with, thinking that she could go on the date and he’d see that it really was over. But she was older and wiser now. One date did not mean one date.
“I have to go home,” she told him. “And you can’t follow me there—remember what happened last time?”
“You’ll see,” he said. He had a desperate tone to her voice that she didn’t like, and she hurried to her car. “I’m not going away!”
She said a prayer and turned the key. It started, thank God, and she pulled away as quickly as possible.
He didn’t follow her. But she hadn’t been sure whether he would or not, and that didn’t bode well at all.
When she got home, Eva was sprawled out in the living room, watching Doctor Who on their grandmother’s old television. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, baby.” Stella came over to give her a kiss on the forehead. “Is this a good episode?”
Eva nodded vigorously and started explaining about how the aliens on the screen were from the distant future, and the Doctor and the redheaded girl were about to make friends with them, except it was all going to go terribly wrong.
Stella listened, frowning. “I’ll never understand how you can watch these over and over again. Why, when you already know what’s going to happen?”
“Because it’s so good, Mom, you seriously don’t get it. Sit down and watch with me, you’ll see.”
Eva tugged on her arm, reminding Stella of when she’d been much younger, and Stella smiled. “Let me go change out of my uniform, and I’ll watch.”
“Really? Awesome! I’ll just go back to the beginning...”
Stella tried to protest that it didn’t matter, but Eva wasn’t hearing it, and finally she went to change out of her uniform and come back and watch the full episode.
Stella had never been that interested in sci-fi, or much into TV shows in general. But sitting in the warm living room with her daughter, curled up on the couch while Eva chattered about the characters on the screen, was just the antidote that she needed for the tension that had gathered at the back of her neck while Todd was talking to her.
After a couple of episodes, Lynn arrived home, Ken coming in after her. Stella gave Eva a hug, stood up and went to greet her sister.
“Hey,” she said. “Want to talk about what we’re going to throw together for dinner?” They all took turns cooking, although Ken was probably the best at it.
“In a minute.” Lynn’s face was serious, and Stella found herself automatically bracing for whatever was coming.
Lynn continued, “Nina mentioned to me that one of her friends from the diner was worried about you today.”
Stella blinked. Nina was Lynn’s assistant at her guide business, but when she’d first come to town, Nina had had Stella’s job as a waitress. She was still friends with some of the other servers.
And apparently, she’d been talking to them about Stella. Stella felt a little sick at the idea—she’d been so sure that she’d projected careless unconcern about Todd. What had given away the fact that she was actually worried?
“Why?” she managed.
Lynn bit her lip. “They said that there was a man there all day, watching you. Stella, was it one of the wolves? Was it Todd?”
Stella was caught by a sudden, fierce wish that she could just lie. Tell Lynn it was nothing, and have her believe it. She’d never liked the idea of her big sister running her life, and it was bad enough that Lynn had had to save her from Todd’s friends once already.
But lying about it would just be dumb. “Yes. It was Todd.”
But then Lynn surprised her. “I don’t want to interfere if you think you’re okay,” she said. “If you’re not worried, that’s fine. I’m not going to tell you what to do.”
Stella stared at her.
Lynn’s cheeks pinked slightly, and she said with a hint of defensiveness, “I’m trying to be better. I trust you to run your own life. I just want you to know that if you do need help, it’s here.”
It was weird. If Lynn had insisted, if she’d told Stella It’s not safe, or You have to let me do something, Stella would have argued.
She knew she would have. She would have seen it as babying, and she wouldn’t have been able to help herself.
But this—this trust. The way Lynn was stepping back, letting Stella make the decision on her own. Like she was an adult, and not the eternal rebellious teenage little sister.
It made her want to ask for help.
“I’m not...I’m not very worried,” she said finally. “Maybe this was just a last-ditch attempt to get me back, and he’ll give up after today.”
“But?” Lynn asked, leaning forward.
“But if he keeps it up...it would be nice to have help.” The words felt foreign in her mouth. She never asked Lynn for help unless it was the absolute last option available to her.
For so long, she’d been sure that coming to Lynn for help was just giving her big sister the opportunity to lord it over her, show how much more competent and together she was than Stella.
But right now, Lynn wasn’t doing any of that. Her face had softened with compassion, and after a moment of hesitation, she leaned forward and gave Stella a hug. Stella’s eyebrows almost hit her hairline as she hugged back. Lynn wasn’t really a hugger.
Maybe having a mate was softening her up.
“Thank you,” Lynn said finally, pulling back from the hug.
Stella frowned. “Thank you for what? You’re offering to help me.”
Lynn met her eyes, her gaze serious. “Thank you for trusting me to do it. That means a lot to me.”
Stella felt an unexpected lump in her throat. This wasn’t right. Lynn’s help was supposed to make her defensive and mad, not...touched.
It looked like things really were changing. “Thank you,” she said. “For trusting me.”
Lynn smiled. “My pleasure. Now,” and suddenly she was normal, businesslike Lynn again. Stella had to admit she was a little relieved. “Keep me updated on the situation, and if it looks like there’s a real problem, Ken or I can come talk to him. Or, if you think it’s serious, Ken can call in his old Marine buddy Nate. Nate runs a security agency, and he’ll definitely know what to do to keep you safe.”
A former Marine who was a security professional? Stella pictured some ramrod-straight, crusty old judgmental man. “I hope we won’t have to go that far.”
***
One Month Later: Nate
Slowly, former Staff Sergeant Nathaniel Sanders slid down in his office chair. When he reached the point where if he slu
mped any further, he’d fall off the chair underneath his desk, he forced himself to stop.
“Sir, you know that’s not going to get you out of doing the paperwork.” Connie stood in his doorway, one eyebrow raised.
Nate tilted his head back and stared at her. “Please allow me to pretend. Just for a short minute.”
Connie gave him a long look, then ostentatiously held up her wrist, looking down at her watch. She waited.
Nate sighed. Yes, all right, he was being juvenile, and Connie had every right to stand there like a schoolmarm counting through a time-out. In just a second, he’d sit up, remind himself that he was a professional and professionals had to take care of paperwork, and get back to work.
Just a second. And for that second, he could just imagine a new job, something that would take him out into the field, away from his desk and his office and his paperwork...
“Time, sir.” Connie’s voice brought him back to himself. He took a deep breath, sat up, and summoned his professional voice.
“What’s next?”
Connie set the forms in front of him. It was an enormous stack of paper. Security agencies generated a hell of a lot of forms.
Nate stared down at them. “How much would I have to be paying you for you to do all of this instead of me?”
“A lot more than you do, sir.” Connie’s voice was amused.
“That’s what I figured. I don’t suppose there’s any sort of security crisis out there that would require me to leap into the field immediately?”
Connie shook her head. “No, sir.”
“Great. Paperwork it is, then.” Nate picked up a pen and started in, while Connie left to go do her job without any further boss-related distractions.
Briefly, he entertained the fantasy of retiring. It was something he thought about a lot, and he had more than enough financial resources to do it, but he’d never been able to pull the trigger.
The problem was, he didn’t want to retire. He liked working security. He liked figuring out tricky problems; he liked troubleshooting; and he really liked being better than the guys who were trying to steal, harm, or otherwise mess things up.
He didn’t like being management. And that was the problem.