Zach's eyes were bleak. Teri had tears in her own eyes, thinking about it. Zach was clenching her hand in a hard grip, almost painful.
Teri welcomed it. She wanted to be there for him while he remembered this, because she knew he hadn't had anyone to be there for him when it happened.
"After that...things changed. Joel was more wary of going out and shifting, he was more willing to talk to me about stuff. It became more 'us against the world,' than him against me." He quirked a little half-smile. "Still took me a while to convince him to actually do his homework, but he got around to it in the end. And once he started putting some effort in, he was better at school than I'd ever been."
Teri could hear the pride in his voice, and the love. "I'm so sorry that happened."
Zach nodded. "For all it brought us closer together...it wasn't worth it. He had nightmares for years afterward, and...” He hesitated. "So did I. Seeing my little brother all twisted up and wrong, bleeding on the street while those kids threw rocks at him..." He shivered, and pulled Teri closer. "I would've taken a hundred screaming fights with him over that."
Teri hugged Zach hard, feeling the pain and sadness in his tight embrace. It was an awful story, but she was glad to be here for him while he told it, glad to be a source of comfort or strength for him.
“Anyway,” Zach said into her hair, “that’s one of the things that’s made working at Glacier so strange. Everyone knows about shifters, here. Joel and I are both so used to keeping it an absolute secret, because we know what could happen if someone found out, if someone saw us. Even talking about it with other shifters is weird, because we never knew any other shifters except our parents.”
“I was always taught that shifters were dangerous.” They were wrapped up so close that Teri was speaking against Zach’s shoulder, and it felt like she was whispering the words directly into him, against his skin. “I never thought about how dangerous humans could be to shifters as a kid, but as I grew up, I realized that the shifter kids had been told to avoid my family. Their parents were probably afraid of what might happen.”
Zach’s arms tightened around her again, and Teri kissed the warm skin in front of her. “I’m sorry you had to grow up away from other shifters,” she said. “I’m so, so sorry about your parents, and about what happened to Joel. But I’m glad you came here as an adult, not as one of those kids who was told to stay away.”
Zach’s hold relaxed a little, so that Teri could pull back and see his face. He was smiling again. “I wouldn’t have been able to. Shifters feel the pull to their mates. I don’t think I would’ve been able to tell as a kid, but by high school...I wouldn’t have been able to stay away, even if I didn’t know why.”
Teri tried to picture that. “We would’ve been star-crossed lovers.”
“Romeo and Juliet,” Zach agreed.
As romantic as that sounded, Teri knew how Romeo and Juliet ended. “This is better.”
Zach nodded. “I liked being able to take you on a date without having to worry about a family feud getting in the way. I’m looking forward to doing it again.”
“Although I’m still stuck sneaking out of the house.” Teri looked away. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but it felt embarrassing. “I had to hold off on mentioning I was going out until I was halfway out the door, earlier.”
Zach kissed her forehead, and then her mouth, gently. “Teri, I know this is probably too sudden, and it’s just a suggestion, but I want to ask you. It doesn’t sound like you’re very happy at home. Would you like to stay here instead?”
Teri’s immediate gut reaction to the question was, Yes! When can I move in? But she made herself take a few minutes to think about it, knowing that there were more issues to think about than her feelings for Zach, which were screaming at her to get as close as possible, as soon as she could manage it.
“I want to,” she said slowly. “But...it’s so fast. And your brother lives here. I can’t just suddenly move in without even asking him first, or giving him some time to get used to the idea.”
There was a long pause. Then Zach said, “You’re right.” He sighed. “I shouldn’t have offered without asking him first. It wouldn’t be right to do something like that without talking to him.”
“Ask him, then,” Teri said. “Because I want to—I want to so badly. But make sure he understands that I won’t just invade his home. I don’t want him to feel like he has to say yes. I’m not in danger of being homeless, after all. I’ve lived at home for months already, I can keep going. And now that I can walk around just fine by myself, or catch the bus to the park, it’s going to be easier to handle it.”
“I’ll ask him tomorrow,” Zach said firmly. “And don’t worry—Joel’s never had any trouble speaking his mind. Especially to me.”
The wry tone made her laugh. “That sounds like a pair of siblings, definitely.”
“What about you and your sister?” Now he sounded tentative. “It sounds like she’s, um, difficult.”
Teri laughed again, but this time it came out sounding a little too short and sharp. “She’d say that I was the difficult one. I don’t listen to Mom, I don’t do everything I can to smooth the way with her, I don’t make myself disappear so that I can become her perfect little clone...”
“Somehow, I find it hard to picture you doing that,” Zach said.
The hint of a laugh in his voice calmed Teri down a lot, and she found herself able to smile at him. “Nope. I’ve always had to go my own way. Lillian doesn’t understand that. She puts family first, before everything. And I know that’s a good thing to do, but...” She couldn’t quite articulate what was wrong with how Lillian did it.
“But it’s not right if your family’s also putting themselves first,” Zach said softly.
“That’s it.” Teri could hear how fierce she sounded. “That’s it exactly. Of course I want to help my family. Of course I’m grateful that they gave their money to help me recover, and of course I want to pay them back. But I’m not doing it at the price of my own identity. I’m not letting my mother walk all over me, and force me to dance attendance on every whim she has. I won’t. I just won’t.”
Zach kissed her hard. “You shouldn’t. And I...” he hesitated. “Is it wrong to say I’m proud of you? I don’t want to sound like I’m being condescending.”
Teri shook her head fiercely, blinking back the tears prickling behind her eyes. “You don’t. Thank you. It’s hard work sometimes, being the only person who’s proud of me.” She blinked again.