The Snow Leopard's Pack (Glacier Leopards 5)

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt for this woman to believe that Cal had the authority to help her with her problem.

So he gave her a friendly smile—he saw Teri do a double-take out of the corner of his eye, which was not flattering; he did smile on occasion, and it didn’t even crack his face open—and said, “Nice to meet you, Ms. Lowell. Why don’t you tell me about your mountain lion problem?”

Lillian met his eyes steadily as she said, “It’s been two days now. Yesterday, I thought it was just a wild cat in the library parking lot, and I called Animal Control. But today he was waiting outside the store when I was running errands after work. And this time, while I watched, he shifted into a man. He followed me through the streets while I drove, and when I pulled over, he waited, and—appeared threatening.”

“Threatening?” Cal frowned.

Lillian smoothed her skirt in what looked like a reflexive motion. “Baring his teeth. Flexing his claws.”

Cal’s inner leopard was taking notice. Had taken notice, in fact, from the second she walked in the door. But now it was starting to growl. Misbehaving cats. Shouldn’t be threatening her.

Cal mentally caught his leopard by the scruff of its neck. No one benefited from flying off the handle without all the information. “Did he talk to you? Tell you why?”

Lillian shook her head. “I don’t know what he wants. Or even if he’s dangerous. Maybe he’s just playing some kind of game, and there’s nothing at stake other than making me uncomfortable. But—” She stopped, compressing her lips together.

But she’s afraid it’s more than that. Cal could fill in the end of that sentence without any trouble.

If he were a human woman being stalked by a shifter with no apparent reason, he’d be afraid too.

His leopard growled.

“Have you met any of the mountain lions before?” he pressed. “Or other shifters in the area? Any idea why this man is targeting you?”

Lillian shook her head without any hesitation. “My only connection to shifters is through my sister. So unless she has somehow gotten on the wrong side of this man—”

The sudden tartness of her tone caught Cal by surprise, and he had to suppress a laugh. Even more so when Teri sent back a trademark little-sister offended glare and said, “Excuse me, I told you I had no idea what might be wrong and I meant it.”

Lillian seemed to accept that, and turned back to Cal. “I don’t know anything about the local shifter community. I’ve never had any interaction with them at all. Is there some kind of—organization? Any governing body?”

Cal shook his head. “I’m afraid not. The leopards tend to cluster around the Park, so we’ve got a bit of a community here, but otherwise people keep pretty much to themselves. The mountain lions—well, they can be loose cannons. Not smart to cross them.”

“I haven’t crossed them,” Lillian said, with a bit of a steel edge to her voice.

“I believe you,” Cal said quietly.

She seemed surprised to hear that, though he couldn’t think why. But for the first time, she sat back a bit in her chair, losing some of the fear-tense posture.

“Can you help me?” she asked, her soft tone matching his.

Cal was struck by the sense that this was a proud woman in front of him—someone who rarely asked for help. He was surprised at the wellspring of anger that was rising in his chest. The idea that someone would accost Lillian Lowell, frighten her and send her here to his office, to sacrifice her pride and ask for help—

Well, he didn’t know why that was getting his back up so much, but it was.

So he met her deep blue eyes and said, “I can.”

Her posture relaxed minutely. Relief. Cal wondered what her life had been like, that she was so locked down. Especially when her sister was so expressive. It didn’t seem to make sense.

“I make it a point to know who all the local shifters are,” Cal said. It was an old holdover from the Marines: make sure you know the territory. He’d gotten to know everyone automatically when he’d first moved in, even though he wasn’t naturally a social man, just because it was good tactics. By the time he’d settled back in enough to remember he wasn’t on enemy soil any longer, the habit was ingrained. And it’d paid off a few times over the years. “Can you describe what he looked like as a man?”

Lillian gave a quick but detailed description—about six feet, longish brown hair and beard, narrow face and deep-set eyes, wearing jeans and a dirty white tank top.

“Okay. That gives me an idea or two. I can go ask around, confirm who the guy is and why he thinks it’s a good idea to be hassling you,” Cal continued. “With luck, it’s just a dumb prank. Someone’ll bring him in line, and you can go about your business without any more trouble.”

“And if it isn’t?” Lillian asked, her voice steady.

Cal felt a rush of protectiveness. What was it about her that was bringing this out of him?

“Then I’ll take care of it,” he said. “Meanwhile, why don’t you go home with your sister tonight. Teri, you and Zach keep alert, why don’t you. Just in case.”