The Snow Leopard's Pack (Glacier Leopards 5)

Teri’s curly head popped back into the room. She was holding her phone in one hand. “Hi,” she said. “Everything going okay?”

“Teri!” Lillian broke away from Cal’s embrace—and then hesitated. Then, to Cal’s quiet delight, she stepped back toward him again. He put his arm around her shoulders, and felt her tremble again.

“We’re mates,” Lillian said to her sister.

Teri’s face transformed into a gleeful grin. “I knew it!” she said. She put the phone back up to her ear. “Guess what, I was totally right—” She faded back into the hallway. Talking to Zach, Cal assumed.

Lillian was watching with a bemused expression. “I can’t believe she knew before I did,” she said. “I guess because the same thing happened to her.”

“My fault,” Cal told her. “I should have said something right away.”

Lillian frowned at him. “I agree. There I was, going crazy because I couldn’t believe I’d done something so impulsive as sleep with a man I’d only just met! I was wondering what you must think of me, falling in bed with you like that.”

“I did exactly the same thing as you did,” Cal pointed out. “So it would’ve been pretty hypocritical of me to judge you for it.”

Lillian shook her head. “There are a lot of hypocritical men out there.”

That was true. Cal had definitely known men, both shifters and human, who would’ve called a woman some unsavory names for sleeping with a man she’d just met, but would’ve been proud of themselves if they managed to do the same thing with a strange woman. A double standard, and not one he admired at all.

“I should’ve told you,” he repeated. “I thought it might be too much, on top of the problems you’re having with the mountain lions. Especially since you’re just learning about shifter culture for the first time. Some humans find the concept of true mates to be off-putting.”

Lillian sobered. “I guess I can understand that,” she said. “It could’ve been overwhelming. But...it isn’t.”

“It isn’t?” He was curious about her perspective, having this dropped on her without any previous knowledge that the mate-bond even existed.

She shook her head. “It’s—comforting,” she said slowly. “It took me a few minutes to believe it, you saw, but now it feels...real. It feels like something I know, deep in my bones, that I’m meant for you and you’re meant for me.” She laughed a little. “It’s happened so fast. But at the same time, it’s really sunk in. And knowing that you’re going to be with me forever—that I can count on you, that I can rely on you from now on—”

She broke off, blinking back tears again. Cal tugged her in closer, wrapping his arms around her.

“You can,” he said softly, bending his head to touch his lips to her hair. “I don’t ever want you to feel like you’ve got to take on the world all alone. Because I’m going to be right here beside you.”

Lillian’s arms wrapped around him, and they held each other for a long moment.

Then she pulled back and looked him in the eye. “And the same goes for you,” she said firmly. “You’re going to have someone in your corner too, from now on.”

That struck him unexpectedly hard. He’d been focused on Lillian, on making sure that she was all right, and on how tough her life had been. He’d wanted nothing more than for her to know that it wasn’t going to be like that any longer.

But...the same was true for him. Sure, he’d always told himself that he was happier alone. That his cabin and his job and what he privately thought of as his Park were more than enough for him. That he had plenty to do wrangling the kids into being real, solid rangers, and he didn’t need a relationship or a family to fill out his life.

But he’d known, deep down, that he was lying to himself. There’d been an emptiness there.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else there,” he told Lillian now. “You—you’re just what I need.”

He was realizing as he spoke how true that was. If there was anyone he’d trust to tell him he was making the right decision, reassure him that he wasn’t going too far as a pack leader, advise him on what to do about the kids, it was Lillian. Thoughtful, smart, and no-nonsense, an expert already at dealing with difficult people, tough family situations...Lillian struck him as a wise, wise woman already, and he knew she’d only get more so as she grew older.

“I want you by my side in the pack,” he told her. “I need you there, if I’m going to be any better at leading them.”

Lillian’s face was hesitant, but thoughtful. “I’m not a shifter,” she said for the second time.

“That’s fine,” he said. “They’re not going to respect you any less, believe me. And—” Now it was his turn to hesitate. But he wanted her to know. “If you ever decide you want to be one, we can make that happen.”

Lillian’s eyes flew wide. “Me?” she said, startled. “I couldn’t—I don’t think—”

“It’s one hundred percent up to you,” Cal assured her. “There’s no requirement. Like I said, everyone will respect you just as much. And if you want to wait a while, make the decision later on, that’s fine too. Completely your own choice.”

“Hm.” Lillian’s eyes were distant. Imagining what it would be like to be a snow leopard?

Cal thought about going out hunting with her at his side—teaching their children how to roam safely through the forest together—