by Zoe Chant
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.
Zach finally started the car again and pulled away from the curb. He’d call her on his lunch break—to make sure she was all right, and just to hear her low, musical voice in his ear—and then this evening, he could pick her up again. He’d talk to Joel today, so he’d be able to tell her honestly that it was completely all right for her to come stay with them.
It was all going to be fine. There was no reason to get anxious. Teri was safe, she was all right, and they were going to be together forever.
Zach drove to the Park on autopilot, parked, and went into the main office to check in.
Cal was there waiting for him. “Zach,” he said. “Have you heard from your brother?”
Zach frowned. “Not since he left last night.” He pulled out his phone to check—sure enough, no messages. “Why?”
Cal looked him in the eye. His voice was dead serious. “Joel went missing overnight.”
***
“I cannot believe you would be so thoughtless.” Teri’s mother was raging around the living room, walking in circles as though she couldn’t contain all her feelings while standing in one place. She’d started repeating herself twenty minutes ago.
“You could’ve been hurt! You don’t even know this man, and you let him pick you up in his car and take you wherever he wanted to go?”
Teri rubbed her eyes. “Yes, Mom. It’s called a date.”
“Don’t get smart with me!” her mother flared. “We were ready to call the police and have them start looking for you?”
Teri had watched enough TV to know that a person had to be missing for 48 hours before the police would look for them. On the other hand, given her mother’s performance to the Glacier Park staff, she could probably convince the cops that Teri was brain-damaged and had seven broken bones, and had been kidnapped off the street by an unknown man.
“I was fine, Mom.” She was hoping that if she kept her voice absolutely toneless, her mother would get bored more quickly than if she’d managed to provoke Teri into a real emotional reaction.
“You couldn’t have known that! You’d just met this man. And Lillian tells me that you knew he was a...one of those unnatural creatures.” Her mother’s lip twisted in disgust. “An animal.”
“Yes, Mom.” Deadpan. No emotion. She could do it.
Her mom’s face was a parody of disbelief. “I thought Lillian had to be mistaken. You knew, and you went on a date with him, and...you stayed out overnight?” Suddenly, a light seemed to dawn on her mother. “Did he do something against your will? Did he keep you somewhere even though you wanted to leave? You can tell me, Teri. I won’t be angry. I’m calling the police right now.” She reached for her phone.
All at once, Teri lost the tenuous thread of control she’d been hanging on to. Anger seemed to suffuse her body like a miasma, like she’d just lost her identity as Teri Lowell, and just become Woman Furious At Her Mother. Her hands clenched into fists and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears.
“How dare you.”
Her mom froze, one hand on her phone.
Teri took a step forward, amazed at how her usual wariness of her mom had just melted away. “How dare you say something like that about him? About a man you’ve never met? How dare you assume he’s a criminal just because he’s a shapeshifter?”
The moment of shock was gone. Her mother lifted her chin, unrepentant. “If you knew the sort of things those animals were capable of...”
“Things you made up! Things that have never happened. You always told me they were dangerous and they hurt people. Where are the people they hurt? Who in this town has ever been...mauled by a shapeshifter? Name one person.”
“Are you saying that I lied to you?” Her mother’s entire body took on an offended posture. “I would never lie to you, Teri! Do you really believe I’d—what, make up stories to get my way? I can’t believe you.”
This was the sort of thing that always worked on Teri. Her mother would get upset, or offended, or angry at something Teri had supposedly done, and Teri would immediately back down to keep from making it worse.
Well, it was already worse. And she wasn’t backing down. This time, she cared about something else more than she cared about whether her mom was angry with her.
“You did lie,” she insisted. “Shapeshifters are just like normal people!”
“They’re dangerous, Teri, and you’re going to get yourself in trouble. I don’t believe that you haven’t already. You were out with that man all night!”
“You can’t even listen to me! I told you exactly what happened. I went on a date with a man, I chose to stay out overnight with him. I’m telling you now that all of that was one-hundred-percent my own choice, because I liked him and I wanted to. And you can’t even hear me, can you?”
“You don’t know what you’re saying.” Was that a hint of panic in her mother’s eyes? Was she worrying that her control was slipping away?
Well, good.
“I know what I’m saying. I’m saying that I’m an adult woman who can make her own choices, and I chose to go out last night, and I’m going to go out with him again. And short of getting Dad and Lillian together and all of you sitting on top of me to keep me here, there’s nothing you can do about it!” Teri was breathless with anger.
She knew that she should be staying calm, that it was better to be the rational adult in the face of her mother’s rages, but God, it was so hard.
“Listen to me, young lady.”
But Teri never learned what she was supposed to listen to, because her phone rang.
The noise startled them both. She looked at her phone—it was Zach.
Was something wrong? Suddenly Teri was absolutely certain that something was wrong. She answered. “Hello?”
“Don’t you ignore me!” her mother shouted, but somehow the noise seemed to recede into the background.
“Teri.” Zach’s voice was ragged. “I’m sorry. Can you come to the Park?”
“Why?” Her mom was coming closer, probably to try and listen in—or maybe even snatch Teri’s phone away. Teri backed up.
“Joel’s gone missing.”
A chill gripped Teri. “What happened?”
“We don’t know. No one knows. I don’t know if you’re busy, if you can get away, but if you have a chance...”
“I’m coming now. I’ll see you soon.” Teri hung up the phone and grabbed her bag. “I have to go.”
“I forbid you to leave this house!” her mother said in a thunderous voice.
“I’m twenty-five years old,” Teri reminded her. “You can’t forbid me anything anymore. Goodbye.”
Her mom started forward, but Teri
snatched her jacket, threw open the door and ran down the steps, thankful that she’d taken the time when she first came in to change out of her dress and into jeans and a T-shirt.
Her mother had been yelling at her the whole time, but Teri had experience doing things while being yelled at. She’d also put sneakers on, with the vague idea that she might want to leave quickly and it would probably be best to have shoes already on her feet. Looked like she’d been prescient.
Hefting her bag over her shoulder, she started down the road to the bus stop. She hoped it would come quickly. She needed to get to Zach.
***
Zach was standing behind a chair in Cal’s office, hands clenched on the back of it so hard that his knuckles were white.
Missing. Joel was missing. Out in the mountains somewhere all night long—it had been cold enough to be dangerous without the proper gear, and if he was stuck somewhere and couldn’t get to safety...
He would shift. It would be fine, because if he had to spend the night somewhere without any gear, he’d shift. A snow leopard could sleep out in the cold without any problem. Their thick fur and heavy tails were specifically designed to keep them warm even in the bitter cold of the Himalayas.
But what if he’d hit his head somehow, and been knocked out in his human form? What if he’d fallen into water? What if a group of tourists had seen him changing, freaked out, and attacked him?
That last one was a nightmare from the past, Zach reminded himself. Joel had just been a kid when that had happened, with no idea how to take care of himself.
But the image still haunted him. As did the idea of his brother blue and still in some icy mountain lake, or unconscious at the bottom of a ravine, or limping and bloody after an encounter with a real wild cat.
He needed Teri. He’d called her on instinct—and then he’d almost hung up before it rang. He wasn’t used to asking for help, and part of him had insisted that no, he shouldn’t depend on her for this.
Zach was the strong one. The big brother. He should be able to stand alone.
But his leopard had been crying out at the loss of their brother, needing their mate. So Zach had given in. And...he wasn’t sorry.
“Tell me again,” he said to Grey, who had been partnered with Joel the previous night out on the mountains.
“We split up to make the rounds of the campsites.” Grey’s voice was calm and even, showing no signs of worry, or of irritation that Zach was making him repeat the story for a third time. “I went east, Joel went west. He didn’t show up at the place we’d planned to rendezvous, and I couldn’t raise him on the radio. I called it in and then I combed the area for a couple of hours until dawn. No sign of him, and I lost his scent crossing a river.”
Once again, there was nothing in Grey’s story that miraculously revealed to Zach where Joel might be. No indication of what he’d been doing when he went missing, of any specific dangerous piece of territory that might have caught him up. Except the river. The mention of the river brought back his mental picture of his brother underwater, still and cold and blue.
Cal was on the phone at his desk, finishing up a call. When he hung up, Zach told him, “I need to be out there.”
Cal nodded. “I’ll be sending everyone out, but we have to coordinate the search pattern first. I’m calling in all the off-duty guys, and we’ll get everyone combing the area as soon as possible. Meanwhile, you need to stay calm. You understand me?”
Zach nodded. He felt anything but calm.
Then something touched his awareness, a feeling of warmth and support that seemed to come out of nowhere. Zach turned around, wondering if the sun had just come out or something.
Teri was standing just outside the office.
Zach wasn’t aware of the steps he must have taken to reach her, just that all of a sudden, he had her wrapped up in his arms and was inhaling her scent. Just having her there grounded him. “Thank you. You didn’t have to come.”
She was hugging him tightly back. “Of course I came,” she said. “Is there any news?”
He took a deep breath. “No. We’re going to be heading out as a search party soon.” Guilt struck him. “I’m sorry, you came all the way out here and you’re just going to have to wait while I go looking for him. I didn’t think.”
He’d just wanted his mate by his side, wanted her strength with him to help get him through the terror he felt. Did that make him weak? Shouldn’t he be able to help his brother on his own?
He’d done it for years, after all. And yes, it had been hard and lonely and he’d been sure he was screwing it up half the time...but he’d done it.
But Teri pulled back and shook her head firmly. “Don’t apologize. Of course I want to be here. I’ll wait as long as it takes. I know you’re worried to death, and I’d rather be here, as close to you as possible, than waiting at home.”
The words filled him with warm reassurance. How did she do that?
Zach kissed her. “Thank you,” he said quietly.
Then he took a step back and realized that half his coworkers were there watching. Some of them with obvious raised eyebrows.
Jeff, of course, was the first one to step forward and hold his hand out to Teri. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Jeff Hart, I work with Zach.”
“Teri Lowell,” Teri said, shaking his hand with a calm confidence that Zach admired, given how embarrassed he was to have been caught kissing at work. “Nice to meet you, although I wish the circumstances were better.”
Jeff’s face was sober. “Me, too.”
“Teri’s my mate,” Zach interjected.
Jeff brightened. “Hey, congratulations!”
“What is going on out here, people?” Cal barked from the door of the office. “We have a situation. Get in here, all of you.” He frowned at Teri. “I recognize you.”
“I volunteered here for a few summers while I was in high school,” Teri said. “I remember you ran the group for a while?”
“Huh,” said Cal. “That’s right. Little blonde thing, best one in the group. Sad when you stopped coming. Well, get in and help out, then.”
Teri’s eyes went wide, but she hurried into the office with the others.
Zach went to follow, but Jeff caught his arm first.
“Hey,” the other ranger said in a low voice. “I know you’re probably freaking out. But I’m sure it’ll be okay. My mate, Leah? She was lost in the mountains in a full-on blizzard with her baby daughter last fall, and they both got through it, got out, and they’re just fine now.”
He gave Zach a warmly sympathetic version of his usual cheerful smile and then went to join the others listening to Cal. Zach followed him, coming up next to Jeff, with Grey and Tyson on his other side. Both had their eyes fixed on Cal and their postures suggesting they were ready for action.
And right up by Cal, frowning at the map of the Park he had laid out on his big oak table, was Teri.
With a team like this, Zach knew they’d find Joel. If he was still alive, they’d make sure he was all right.
Please God, let his little brother still be alive.
He stepped up to the table and focused. He wasn't going to get Joel back by falling into a haze of anxious imaginings.
Cal was saying, "So he was last seen here," one thick, calloused finger resting on the map.
"There's that ravine here," Teri said thoughtfully, her finger looking incongruously small and delicate by Cal's as she traced a line away up the mountain. "That's a tough spot. If he fell..."
Cal nodded. "It's a possibility."
"I went along it for a ways," Grey put in. "But it splits off here and there, with smaller crevasses along the mountainside. There wasn't time to check every spot someone could've fallen, it would've taken all day."
"All right," Cal said, "then you get a marker and show us every spot you already checked. With the understanding that if he's mobile, he could've ended up somewhere Grey already looked."
Grey nodded and picked up a Sharpie. But befo
re he could set it down, a panicked voice echoed in the hallway. "Help! Help, excuse me, I need help! My son is missing!"
The rangers turned as one to look at the woman shouting out in the hall. She seemed to catch the movement from the corner of her eye and darted into the office. "Hello, can you all help me? My son is missing!"
"Ma'am, please stay calm," Cal said, coming forward immediately. "We'll help you find your son. How old is he?"
"Eight," the woman said, sniffling. "He ran off yesterday evening, we looked for him but we couldn't find him, and our radio was out of batteries. A ranger stopped by our campsite, but we haven't heard from him since!"
Cal exchanged looks with Grey. "What was the ranger's name? What time did you see him?"
"His name—God, I can't remember. Joe? I think it was Joe. And it was about eleven PM. He said he'd find Andy and bring him back as fast as he could, but then he didn't come back! The second it was light I started back here to get help. My husband's still up there at the campsite in case he finds his way back. Please, you have to find him!"
"We'll do our absolute best, ma'am," Cal assured her. "Can you come up to this map and show me where your campsite is?"
The woman came and stared at it. "I'm not sure..."
"Here's the road," Teri told her in a soft voice. "You probably came up from the main road here, right?"
The woman nodded, visibly calming down as Teri talked to her. "Yes, that's right," she said. "We left our car here and started hiking..." She put a finger on the map and slowly traced her way up. "This is the path."
"Good," Teri said encouragingly. "Where did you make camp?"
"Right here." The woman's voice was more confident now. "I'm sorry, I do know how to read a map. I'm just so..."
"Don't worry about it." Teri's voice stayed warm and calm, coaxing the woman along. "So you camped here and the ranger came by at eleven. Did he say anything about where he was going to look?"
“Yes, he said there was a rocky area just up the slope that was exactly the sort of thing a kid would want to run around in. But we looked there when it got light this morning, and we didn't see anything!"
Teri traced her finger up the slope. "There's a crevasse in there, I think." She looked at Cal for confirmation.