“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.