The Snow Leopard's Heart (Glacier Leopards 4)

Joel’s anger was fading a bit, but it left confusion in its place. “So what are you saying?”

“Just that everything’s easier when you know who you’re relying on, and they know you. You don’t want to look up in ten years and realize you’re standing alone.”

Joel stared at the wall just behind Cal’s left shoulder. “Thank you for the advice, sir.”

Cal looked at him for a long moment, then waved a hand. “All right, you do what you want. Now get out of my office and get to work.”

“Can do.” Joel made for the door.

Out in the hall, he took a couple of deep breaths until his hands relaxed from his fists. He had to pull back from the knee-jerk anger of don’t tell me what to do before he joined up with Grey. The man was quiet, but perceptive.

As he and Grey headed out for the day, though, after he’d calmed down a bit, he thought about what Cal had said. It was strange to be singled out as the loner when he lived and worked with his brother. None of the other rangers were roommates with their family, after all.

But it wasn’t wrong.

Zach was the people person. He always had been. He made friends everywhere. Hell, even Grey, who was technically Joel’s partner, spent more time with Zach than with Joel, because Grey was teaching Zach some carpentry stuff so he could build a deck for their house.

Meanwhile, Joel and Grey rode up in their Jeep in silence, as always, and parted ways to go patrol the campsites separately, as always. Joel preferred it that way and Grey did too.

At least, he thought that Grey did.

Being partnered with Grey had made Joel figure that being a loner was normal for a ranger. Grey didn’t talk much, and like Joel he preferred spending his time way out in the farthest reaches of the Park. Not like Zach, who worked the visitor’s center and actually seemed to enjoy it.

But Grey had a mate at home, Alethia. Joel had met her a few times, and she wasn’t shy or quiet. Grey probably got plenty of conversation at home. And then he still came over to hang out with Zach in his free time.

Joel, on the other hand, spent his free time out in the mountains, or fixing up the cabin—alone. He’d never asked for Grey’s help, or anyone’s. And he liked that just fine. More than anything, he valued his independence.

And he sure as hell didn’t want a mate. Giving up that independence, being tied to another person without his consent, seemed like a nightmare. Maybe it was fine for other people, but it wasn’t for him.

Cal had said, You don’t want to look up in ten years and realize you’re standing alone.

He wondered suddenly if Cal was speaking from experience. As far as Joel knew, Cal didn’t have a mate, and he didn’t have friends among the rangers, because

he was always somewhat set apart, as their leader.

Well, Joel thought, if Cal was who he was going to be in ten or fifteen years, that was fine. A person could aspire to a lot worse than being like Cal Westland.

If there was one thing Cal had, after all, it was independence. He didn’t need anyone else; he stood on his own two feet. And that was what Joel wanted, too. Liking other people, even loving them, was just fine, but needing them just made you vulnerable. Best to avoid it, if at all possible.

Anyway, it was past time to start paying attention to his job. Making sure everything was copacetic over all the many, many square miles covered by Glacier National Park took his full-time attention. He didn’t have time to be worrying about made-up futures.

***

Ethel frowned at Nina over her glasses. “You’re almost late.”

Nina pointed at the clock on the wall as proof. “But I’m not.” It was 3:59.

“Well, you better get clocked in and get out there fast, then. You’ve only been here two weeks, you don’t have any leeway to be skating on yet, missy.”

“Getting out there now,” Nina said obediently, clocking in and tying on her apron.

She hadn’t meant to be late. Getting this job waitressing at Oliver’s, the local diner, so soon after arriving in town had been a godsend. If she saved carefully, she’d have enough money soon to get an apartment...instead of curling up in leopard form way out in the woods where no one could find her, and showering at the run-down local gym.

The problem was, she didn’t have a clock out in the woods. She had a little battery-powered alarm she kept stashed with her stuff in a hideaway hole in the rocky mountainside, but that didn’t do any good if she was running wild in the forest.

New rule, she told herself. No shifting so soon before work. She couldn’t afford to lose this job, that was for sure—especially since this was a small enough town that if she was fired for being unreliable, everyone would know, and it would be hard to get another job.

Nina didn’t normally spend much time in small towns, the sort of places where everyone knew each other’s business. With her secret, she couldn’t afford to.