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Tomorrow she’d look for a job This would be a fresh start, and if she was alonewell, at least she was used to it

Teeks later

Joel had scented the strange leopard again

This o for a run near his cabin

Mr Walton’s cabin, rather It wasn’t his yet He’d been fixing it up for a couple ofto think of it as his He’d gotten the roof all finished just last week, so that it was snug and dry enough to sleep there as often as he wanted

And since he shared his house with his brother Zach, and Zach’s newly-found mate, Teriit was often

Joel wanted to be happy for Zach, and grateful for a new fa at each other, kissing in the kitchen, holding hands while they watched a movie, and just smile, too

But he couldn’t Their past made it too hard

Plus, there was the more practical problem Shifters had extra-sharp senses, and there were plenty of things he’d rather just not know about his brother

Last night, he’d heard a tell-tale groan drift out froh-tailed it out of there like his ass was on fire Apparently being newly mated meant it was hard to control yourself around each other

But it wasn’t a hardship to spend the night at the cabin now There wasn’t a bed yet, but he’d brought up sos and blankets and pillows He’d been plenty coone for a run through the ht outside his door The cabin was just outside Glacier National Park, where Joel worked

He’d spent the first severalthe Park’s territory like the back of his hand He had to, in case there was an e hiker But he also enjoyed it; after livingall his ti home

Noas venturing further, away froet a sense of where he was living, for one thing, and the stark wildness of the mountains drew him out His human side and his leopard side both relished the endless miles of raw forest and rock that surrounded him He spent as much time out here as he could

And it was a good thing, too, because he’d caught the scent of a leopard he didn’t recognize, one that wasn’t part of the loosely-organized Glacier pack He hadn’t been able to track the leopard down, but the scent trail had stayed well clear of the Park Joel had to guess that that was on purpose Someone didn’t want to be found

Who and why: those were the questions

Joel didn’t want to get into anyone’s business if all they wanted was to be left alone He understood wanting to be left alone As far as Joel was concerned, even his brother Zach could be too much company sometimes

So if there was a leopard out there who just wanted to live in the mountains and not be bothered, Joel had no problem with that He could live and let live Better than most people could, even

But if someone was out to cause trouble

In that case, he should warn Cal, the head ranger at Glacier, and the de facto leader of their pack

But he didn’t want Cal deciding to chase off so their business Joel respected people who minded their own business and

he didn’t want to mess that up for anybody

Probleuess what he’d choose to do Which was the downside ofyour own business