Her mother would’ve had paramedics on their way by now. She would’ve insisted that Teri couldn’t get up and walk on her own ever again.
“I’m really glad you came with us,” Zach said quietly. “I wish you could’ve been up on the mountain, but it was good to just know you were out here with the family.”
And that was another difference. Zach accepted her help. Teri had never in her life appreciated what it meant when someone allowed you to help them.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.” She snuck a quick kiss, and he made a satisfied sound deep in his chest. The kiss lingered longer than she’d meant it to, soft and warm, until they had to pull away before it became obvious what they were doing.
They kept their hands entwined, though, until the rest of the group caught up with them, and then they joined them on their way down the mountain.
Teri noticed Zach keeping an eye on her...but he was also keeping an eye on his brother, and on Andy, and checking in with the rest of the rangers every so often.
He was a natural at this job, she thought fondly. Always aware of how things were going, making sure that everyone was all right, but with a good-natured confidence that wouldn’t get anyone’s back up. Not anxious, not interfering, not controlling...just a good, helpful man.
She still couldn’t quite believe he was hers. God, she was lucky.
After a little while of hiking, Zach’s brother Joel dropped back from wher
e he’d been walking beside Andy to settle beside her instead.
“Hi,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Do you know the Morrisons?”
“Actually, no,” said Teri, suddenly nervous. The stakes were much higher now than they’d been when she met Joel last night. What if it turned out that he didn’t like her, or she didn’t like him? That would make things so difficult.
“Zach called me when he heard you were missing,” she said. “I came as fast as I could and, well...I used to volunteer here, and I kind of got conscripted back into service.” She offered him a smile.
Up ahead, Zach glanced around, probably looking for the two people he was most concerned about. He turned to see Joel and Teri together, and immediately dropped back.
“Joel.” Was Teri imagining the wary tone in his voice? No, she decided, he wasn’t sure how this was going to go. Her nervousness hiked itself up a notch. “I need to introduce you.”
Joel frowned. “Uh, we met last night? Did you forget already?”
Zach shook his head. “No. I mean—Joel, I’d like you to meet my mate, Teri.”
Joel stopped short in the middle of the trail, staring.
Teri stopped too, and smiled tentatively. “Hello,” she said. “This is just as surprising to me as it is to you, I promise.”
Joel was frowning. “But—are you a shifter?”
She shook her head. “Just human.”
“You’re not just anything,” Zach intervened quickly. “You’re Teri, and that’s the only thing that’s important.”
Even though the moment felt fraught somehow, Teri couldn’t help the prickling behind her eyes at those words. It was the sort of thing people who loved each other were supposed to say—the sort of thing she’d always wanted to hear from her family, and had never gotten.
Now she had it. And she had to hope that Joel was okay with this, because she wasn’t giving it up for the world.
“Mates,” Joel said slowly. Like the word tasted weird. “You’re mates. Like Mom and Dad.”
Zach nodded. “That’s right.”
“Hey!” Cal’s bark echoed back along the trail. “What’s keeping you three? Something wrong?”
“No, sir,” Zach called back, already turning around.
“Then hurry it up!”
Joel took the opportunity to speed up until he was near the front, walking beside Andy again. Teri couldn’t hurry quite as fast, and Zach stayed beside her.