by Zoe Chant
They pulled up at the house, and Teri just stared at it for a minute, taking deep breaths.
Zach squeezed her hand. "Okay?"
“Okay,” Teri said firmly. She opened her door. "Let's go."
At the front door, she hesitated, and then rang the doorbell. She didn't live here anymore and she wanted that to be clear.
Her mother opened the door, and stared. "What are you doing ringing the doorbell? Where have you been? And who's this? Were you with him all night?"
Teri said, "This is Zach. He's my—" she hesitated. Boyfriend didn't sound right, but mate wasn't a word her mother would really understand, and husband wasn't quite accurate. Yet. "—fiancé," she tried, and then glanced back at Zach to see how he felt about that.
He gave her a furtive smile. "Where's my ring?" he murmured. "And why aren't you down on one knee?"
Teri stifled a giggle and turned back to her mother. "We're engaged.”
"You're what?" Her mother grabbed her arm and yanked her inside. Zach followed quickly and shut the door behind him.
"Let go of her," he said flatly.
Her mother stared at him, but when Teri jerked her arm away, she let go out of reflex.
Teri took a step back until she could feel Zach as a warm presence at her back and said, "We're here to get my things. I'm moving out."
"And in with him?" Her mother stared at Zach.
"That's right." Teri kept her voice as neutral as she could.
"No. I forbid it. You are not moving in with a man you just met. A man who isn't even human!" Her mother's voice rose to a shriek on the last word.
"Mom?" Lillian came down the stairs. "What's—oh." She stopped short, eyes fixed on Zach.
"This is Zach," Teri told her. "He's helping me move out."
"But you can't," Lillian said, as though it was automatic. She was still staring at Zach. "It's not safe."
"I can decide what's safe and what isn't." Teri walked past her mother and into the little den where she'd been sleeping. Zach followed her, and stopped short when they were in the doorway.
"This is where you live?" he asked her, in a quiet, disbelieving voice. "This is it?"
Teri looked around the room, trying to see it with new eyes. Her bed had been crammed in around the existing couch, chair, and entertainment center, and her clothes were folded in boxes instead of in a dresser, because there wasn’t room. Her weights and equipment for physical therapy were stacked neatly into a corner along with a few books.
“It’s been fine.” It came out sounding weak, and she cleared her throat and continued, “They didn’t want me moving back upstairs to my old room until they thought I was well enough to manage stairs.”
Zach turned to look at her. “But you could manage stairs even when I met you.” Before you changed, he meant. “You went hiking in the Park by yourself!”
“And freaked everyone out,” Teri reminded him. “Anyway, I have some more things in storage—furniture and so on—but most of the stuff I really need is here. I have a suitcase, there in the closet.” She went to get it.
Her mother appeared behind her; she’d been having a viciously low-voiced conversation with Lillian. “Teri,” she said. Her voice was soft and conciliating. “You can’t move out. You have to understand that. You’re not well.”
“I am well.” Teri dragged her suitcase down the hall from the closet to the den.
“You’re not even thinking about anyone else. How do you think we’d feel if we let you leave and then you fell or had an accident that we could’ve prevented if you were here?” Her mother’s voice was rising in volume a little, but still had a coaxing tone to it.
Teri set the suitcase inside the den—Zach picked it up and went over to start transferring her clothes into it—and turned to face her mother. “How do you think I’ve felt the last few weeks? I’m better! I can walk! I am an adult and I can go places on my own! But you talk down to me, you act as if I’m not capable of making decisions for myself, you don’t let me go anywhere and you yell at me if I try. You’ve tried to make me a child again, and I’m not allowing it any longer.”
“How dare you speak to me that way.” Her mother was righteously furious now. “How dare you accuse me of doing anything but trying to help you? You almost died. You had to recover for months. I nursed you, I took care of you, I gave you money—”
“I will pay you back.” Teri kept her voice flat. “Thank you for taking care of me. I’m grateful and I appreciate it. But that doesn’t give you the right to dictate my life and my choices.”
“Obviously I need to, if you’re accepting a marriage proposal from a man you just met two days ago!” Her mother took a step forward. “Who is this man? What’s he done to you? Are you in trouble, Teri? I’ll call the police—”
“You will not call the police.” Teri had never spoken to her mother in such a commanding voice, and she almost startled herself with it. Her mother was certainly startled; she took a step back, her mouth open in a wide O.
Inside of Teri, her snow leopard growled in satisfaction.
“You will not call the police,” Teri repeated. “You will respect my choices. You will allow me to leave your house with the man I’ve chosen to live with. And I will never ask you for anything again.”
The shock was slowly fading from her mother’s face, to be replaced by fury. “You arrogant little—” She started forward, reaching for Teri.
Before Teri could even process what was happening, Zach was there. He interposed himself smoothly between Teri and her mother, a solid wall of muscle that no human, let alone a not-very-fit older woman, could hope to dislodge.
“Don’t touch her,” he said. His voice was cold.
“Or what?” Her mother’s voice trembled, but she lifted her chin and said defiantly, “You’ll assault me?”
“No,” said Zach. “I’m just not going to let you touch her.”
Teri took advantage of her mother’s complete bogglement at a person she couldn’t control in any way, and darted back into the den. Zach had worked quickly; her suitcase was almost packed. She threw in the last few things, grabbed her messenger bag and ran to the bathroom to dump all of her toiletries in it, and came back into the hallway to hear her mother shouting, “—filthy violent animal!”
Teri felt a hot blush spreading over her face at the fact that Zach was hearing her own family yell insults about his kind. “He’s not an animal,” she snapped, coming up beside him. “He’s a person like you or me, and name-calling isn’t going to change that.”
Abstractly, she registered Lillian in the background, watching the scene with one hand over her mouth. It was strange, Teri thought. She was talking to her mother as though she was the child and Teri was the adult, rather than the other way around. No wonder Lillian was shocked. Neither of them ever talked to their mom like this.
She’s acting like a child, Teri reminded herself. Throwing a tantrum when she doesn’t get her own way. And all Teri was doing was stating the truth.
“You don’t understand, Teri.” Her mother had calmed down again, but her face was adamant. “You’re putting yourself in danger by being with him. He’s obviously done something to you already, or you wouldn’t be moving in so quickly. He’s a savage! He’ll bite you, he’ll do unspeakable things—”
What was funny, Teri thought, was that a lot of that was true. Zach had done something to her just by meeting her. He had bitten her, and she guessed they’d done a few ‘unspeakable things’ over the last couple of nights. She stifled a grin.
“This isn’t funny!” her mother shrieked. “You’re throwing yourself into the power of a vicious animal! I will not have it in my house any longer!”
At the it, Teri’s blood went cold. “Well,” she heard herself say, “I guess I’ll be leaving too, then. Since you don’t want vicious animals in your house.”
Behind her mother, she saw Lillian’s face change as she realized what Teri was saying. Her mother didn’t get it right away, th
ough. “What’s that supposed to mean? Teri, you’re still welcome here, you can come back any time!”
“No, I don’t think I can.” Teri handed her bags to Zach, and went past her mother into the more open area of the living room, then turned back to face her.
Then she changed.
It felt like coming home, which was ironic, because she was supposed to be standing in her home. But this house wasn’t home any longer, if it ever really had been.
This form, her snow leopard, Zach’s mate—this was her home. And it was better than anything else could’ve been, because she carried it with her always.
When she settled into her leopard self, all four legs on the floor, and looked up, her mother was wearing an expression of unspeakable horror.
Then she turned to Zach. “You! What did you do to my daughter?”
Teri didn’t want to change back. She felt safer and more secure as a leopard, especially here with her mother screaming. But she made herself shift to human again and she said, “This is what I want, Mom. This is who I am. I think it’s who I’ve always been.”
“No.” Her mother shook her head. “I know this isn’t you. You’re my sweet baby girl, Teri, not this disgusting thing.”
Teri looked at Zach. “We’re leaving.”
Zach nodded and hefted her bag and her suitcase, walking past her mother, who was fortunately too shocked to try and physically assault him or something. Teri opened the door for him and then turned to her mom. “Goodbye, Mom,” she said. “I would love to see you again, but I won’t unless you can get past your prejudices and be kind and polite to both me and Zach.”
“Teri, get back here.” Her mother’s voice was like a whipcrack. There was a time when she would’ve hunched her shoulders and hurried to obey, but that time was over. Teri walked out the door and followed Zach to the car.
Just as she was letting out a shaky breath, the door opened and closed again. Teri felt her shoulders tense up in preparation for one last confrontation, but the voice that called out wasn’t her mother’s.
“Teri, wait!” It was Lillian.
Almost against her will, Teri turned around. “What?”
Lillian ran down the walk to stop in front of her. She looked desperate. “Are you really never coming back?”
“Really,” Teri said.
“But, Teri, you have to understand.” Lillian’s voice was shrill. “Then it’ll just be me, and Mom will be—”
“You don’t have to stay either, Lillian,” Teri pointed out.
“I do. Mom needs me.”
“Lillian...” Teri rubbed her eyes. “Do what you have to do.”
Lillian looked back at the house. Their mother’s face hovered angrily in the window. “I have to go.” But she hesitated, and looked back at Teri. “What’s it like?” she asked in the quietest whispered voice.
“It’s perfect.” Teri could hear the utter confidence in her own voice. It was strange, she thought. Lillian was supposed to be the confident one, the older sister. But now she just looked lost and upset, while Teri felt strong and brave. “It’s like finding your true self.”
The door opened again. “I have to go,” Lillian said. But she grabbed Teri’s hand and squeezed it. “Take care of yourself, Teri. Really.” She looked up at Zach. “You take care of her.” That was the fierceness that Teri knew from her older sister.
“We will,” Teri promised her. “Goodbye.”
Lillian turned around to go stop their mother at the front door, while Zach tossed Teri’s bags quickly into the backseat of his car. They got in and drove away, and Teri watched the figures of her mother and sister grow tiny in the rear window.
“Are you okay?” Zach asked. “That was...more intense than I was expecting it to be. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
Teri turned back to look at him. “No, I’m sorry you had to hear my mother call you such awful names! You shouldn’t have had to go through that.” It was true, she realized—she was furious at her mother for insulting Zach. Otherwise, she mostly felt...free.
“I’m fine, Teri,” Zach said. Then he smiled. “I got a marriage proposal out of it, didn’t I?”
Teri blushed. “Sorry. God, talk about the worst possible place to bring up marriage! Maybe we can have a do-over...”
“Nope,” said Zach resolutely. “That was my marriage proposal, and I’m keeping it.” There was a pause. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t do something for you in return.”
Teri thought about Zach on one knee with a ring, and couldn’t contain her smile.
***
Zach couldn’t believe how Teri’s mother had treated her.
Well, he could believe it; he knew that some people were controlling and intolerant, and some of those people had children and were controlling and intolerant of them. But he’d never witnessed it quite so up close before.
He’d tried to stay strong and supportive of Teri, but not say anything that could’ve made it worse. He thought he’d done okay, but he couldn’t help but hope he’d never have to do it again.
“I’m proud of you,” he said to Teri as they unloaded her things and brought them into the house.
She was stronger now that she’d changed, and delighted in lifting the heavy suitcase by herself. Zach smiled at how happy she was about it—and there was also a part of him, a very growly part, that thrilled at having such a strong, capable mate.
She turned to look at him after they’d gotten inside. “Proud?”
“The way you stood up to your mom. You were so strong. It was amazing.”
She blushed. God, he loved that pink flush. “I’m...proud of myself,” she said after a minute. “It’s weird to think that I’m proud of myself for getting into a fight with my mom, but I really am.”
“She made the fight,” Zach said firmly. “You just stood your ground. I could tell it was hard, and I admire you for doing it so well. I don’t know if I could’ve done something like that.”
“Sometimes you just...have to,” Teri said quietly. “I put up with everything for months and months, because I had to do that. And now, I have to be away. I have to be with you. So that’s what I told her, and here we are.”
She set down the suitcase, and Zach kissed her. He kissed her, held her close, and breathed her in. Her scent had changed subtly since she changed, taken on an earthier tinge, and he liked it. A lot.
He had to tear himself away, because it was time to go to work. “Unpack wherever,” he told her. “If you have anything you want from storage, we can go get that, too.”
But she said, “I don’t want anything else. I like your house, and your things. Most of that stuff is just crappy secondhand furniture from my old apartment. This,” she patted her suitcase, “is the stuff I really wanted.”
“Put it wherever makes you happiest, then,” Zach said. He hesitated, lingering at the door. He didn’t want to leave her for hours and hours. “I wish you could come with me to work.”
It slipped out—he hadn’t meant to say that. It was weird, wasn’t it, to want to be with someone every minute of the day?
But Teri nodded, making a face. “The end of the day seems like forever. Maybe...” She hesitated. “Maybe I could come meet you for lunch?”
Zach could feel his face light up. “Yes!” he said. “Although you don’t have a car...maybe I could come pick you up.”
Teri shook her head. “I’ll take the bus. It’s easy and that way we don’t lose out on time together when you’re driving both ways.”
That was fair. Zach took her hand and squeezed it. “Okay. See you at noon, then?”
She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “See you at noon. Have a good morning.”
“You too.”
It hurt to leave her, but the simple little domestic exchange sent a feeling of warmth through him. They could do this every day now. When he came home, Teri would be there, and when he woke up in the morning, she’d still be there.
It was everything h
e could ever want.
When he got to work, he checked in at headquarters and found a message from Cal to go meet him in his office.
What could it be? He didn’t think he’d done anything wrong. Maybe something to do with Joel’s disappearance the day before?
When he knocked on the open doorframe, Cal motioned him in. “Sit down, sit down,” he said.
“You wanted to see me about something?” Zach took a seat across from Cal’s desk.
“That’s right.” Cal set his pen down and leaned back in his chair. “You seem pretty satisfied with working the visitor’s center.”
Zach nodded immediately. “I like helping people appreciate the park. Kids, tourists, locals—it’s nice to give everyone an idea of what we have for them to see and how to get the most out of it without risking their safety or the environment’s.”
“Good. Then your rookie rotation is officially over—you’ll be working there full-time from now on.”
Zach smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”
“No charge. And another thing. Amber quit today.”
Amber was one of the assistants at ranger headquarters. “I’m sorry to hear that,” Zach said. “I hope she’s okay.”
Cal waved a hand. “Moving away with some boyfriend. Last-minute decision, and now I’ve got to hire someone. I thought of your girl, Teri. I remember her volunteering here back when she was in high school—hard worker, really cares about the Park. Maybe she’d want the job.”
Zach listened with dawning amazement. “Sir, that would be—yes, I’m sure she would want the job. She loves the Park, and she’s been looking for work.”
Cal scowled. “Don’t call me sir.”
“Sorry. She’s meeting me for lunch today—do you want me to bring her by so you can discuss it with her?”
“Convenient,” Cal grunted. “Do that. I’ll see you at twelve-thirty.”
Zach nodded. “Thank you for this.”
“Let her thank me. Now get out of my office and go do some work.”