The Snow Leopard's Baby: BBW Snow Leopard Shifter Paranormal Romance (Glacier Leopards Book 2) Read online

  The Snow Leopard’s Baby

  Glacier Leopards, #2

  By Zoe Chant

  Copyright Zoe Chant 2016

  All Rights Reserved

  Author’s Note

  This book stands alone. However, it’s part of a series about snow leopards who work as rangers at Glacier National Park. If you’d like to read the series in order, the first book is The Snow Leopard’s Mate.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  The Snow Leopard's Baby (Glacier Leopards, #2)

  A note from Zoe Chant

  More Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant

  Zoe on Audio

  If you love Zoe Chant, you’ll also love these books!

  The Snow Leopard’s Mate | by Zoe Chant | Special Sneak Preview

  Leah Sanders was starting to worry.

  When she’d left home earlier today, packing up her entire life into her ancient Honda, it had been a bright, sunny November day. She’d planned on driving all afternoon and evening, and getting through the mountains to reach her mother’s place, halfway across Montana, by nine or ten PM.

  But now it looked like winter had hit early. As Leah had driven further into the mountains, snow started to swirl down from the sky. Around four-thirty PM, night fell like someone had dropped it on her head. Thunk. It was dark.

  And not just dark, but snowy and windy. Driving became more and more difficult, and she slowed down to a crawl. When she’d pulled over to look at her phone, there was no reception and no Internet, so she couldn’t check the weather reports or try to find a place to stop. She hadn’t seen another car, let alone a gas station or other building, for more than an hour.

  At least Emily had finally fallen asleep in her car seat.

  Leah wished to God she’d chosen a better day to make this trip, but she hadn’t had much of an option. Her landlord had shown up at her door yesterday and told her that no, he couldn’t give her another extension on her rent. She had to go, or he’d have her evicted.

  Leah had bitten back a furious reply, smiled, and told him she’d be out as soon as possible. She’d gone inside and started packing, and flatly refused to cry about it. This was her life now, and she had to deal with it.

  Ten months ago, Leah had been happy. She’d had a fiancé and beautiful new baby, and she’d been cheerfully planning her future. She’d stay home with Emily for several months while Rob worked, plan their wedding, and when she was ready, she’d go back to work part-time at the nursery/landscaping business in their little town. They’d have a simple wedding with just a few people, but because it was the two of them, it would be the best wedding she could hope for.

  All that had changed one month after Emily was born. Rob had left her without any warning, disappearing one day and never coming back. Suddenly Leah was a single mom with no job, no plans for the future, and hardly any savings.

  Leah had tried. She’d worked hard at anything she could find to generate income. She’d shamelessly taken advantage of some of the older ladies in town who would agree to watch Emily for a couple of hours for free. She’d hired herself out as a gardener, and worked with Emily strapped to her back.

  But it just hadn’t been enough. As summer turned to fall and gardening jobs fell away, slowly, her money had run out.

  So now, she was taking her last option: going to stay with her mom.

  Leah wasn’t looking forward to living with her mother, especially since her mom’s tiny place was going to be a squeeze for two people, let alone two people and a baby. Also, her mom hadn’t made it a secret that she thought Leah was stupid for getting pregnant. Or that Leah and Emily would be a burden that she didn’t much want.

  But without rent to pay, Leah could start building up some savings again, and someday they could move out.

  And Emily was too young to remember anything. That was the real blessing. Leah could handle staying with her mom, even if they got into fights, even if it was hard. Emily was just a baby, and what she needed most was a roof over her head and food to eat. Leah would endure anything to make that possible.

  So Leah had spent the absolute last of her money on gas and food for the trip, loaded up her car with everything that could fit in it, strapped Emily into her car seat, and driven off.

  And then it had started to snow. And then it had gotten dark. And now her car was starting to make alarming noises as she struggled up the steep inclines of the mountain roads.

  And then, as she pressed on the gas to get over a particularly steep ridge, the engine stuttered and died.

  Leah watched in horror as the car coasted to a stop just at the top of the ridge...then started to skid backwards. She frantically hit the brakes, but the road was too slippery.

  Oh, God, Emily. They were skidding back down the hill, and Emily shrieked. Leah yanked on the steering wheel—was there any way she could direct the car so that Emily was safer? Turning the wheel seemed to have no effect at all. Everything was a blur of snow and darkness and skidding movement.

  The sudden stop threw her back in her seat and made her heart leap into her mouth. Glass shattered.

  Leah was out of her seatbelt and frantically twisting back to see the baby before the car had entirely stopped. If anything had happened to her—if she’d been cut by the glass, or hurt by the impact—

  Emily was crying, a high-pitched, terrified shriek, but when Leah crawled back between the seats, she was still securely strapped in. There was no blood, no obvious broken bones. The glass that had shattered was on the opposite side. A tree branch had come straight through the window, but it had stopped over a foot from the car seat.

  Thank God. Thank God.

  Leah sagged in relief, clutching the driver’s seat to stay upright. “Hey, baby,” she said in her calmest voice. “That was kind of a bump, huh? Everything’s fine, though. We’re okay.”

  She climbed into the backseat—avoiding the branch and the shards of glass—and unstrapped Emily so that she could make absolutely sure that she wasn’t hurt.

  Nothing seemed to be wrong, though. Her arms and legs all bent normally without any trouble, and as Leah held her, she slowly quieted down.

  “It’s okay,” Leah told her. “Everything’s okay. We’re both fine, isn’t that a miracle?” Cold wind was coming through the broken window, so Leah grabbed a blanket to bundle her up. “There, isn’t that better?”

  She held Emily close, kissing her forehead. She was okay. They were both okay. Everything was fine.

  But as Leah looked around, crouched awkwardly in the foot well of her backseat, the situation started to sink in.

  Her engine was dead. She didn’t have any car repair skills. She wouldn’t know the first thing about trying to figure out what was wrong, let alone fixing it.

  She was in the middle of nowhere, far away from any towns. She hadn’t seen a gas station in miles and miles. She hadn’t even seen another car.

  It was cold and dark and snowy.

  Her car window was broken, and the air inside the car was getting colder by the minute.

  Fear seized Leah’s heart. She looked down at Emily, resting peacefully against her chest.

  If we don’t get help soon, we’re going to die out here.

  ***

  Jeff Hart was feeling restless.

  His shift out in the park was over, and it had been a long, hard day, what with the unexpected snowfall. The rangers had been out and about constantly, surveying the area for any stranded hikers or stuck cars. He’d work
ed his butt off, alongside his boss, Cal, and the new hire, Grey.

  Grey had only started a couple of months ago, but it had been immediately clear that he had more ranger experience than most of the younger guys. But he wasn’t a jerk about it—he’d just tell you what you did wrong, or what you should be doing that you weren’t, and let you go about your business.

  Jeff was determined to be as competent as either of them, and he thought he was doing a pretty good job. Today, Grey had clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Good day today. Glad to be working at a park with guys like this.”

  He’d gone home with a sense of pride, and an eye to a hot dinner and an early night. Today had been satisfying, but tiring in the same measure.

  But for some reason, now that he’d cooked his dinner and cleaned up the kitchen, he was struck with the need to head out again.

  Normally after a day like today, he’d have been happy enough to veg out on the couch for a couple of hours. Even for someone as dedicated to hard work and the outdoors as Jeff, a break now and then was nice.

  Even though his house still felt too big and empty for him a lot of the time.

  Jeff came from a big family, and was used to a lot of brothers and sisters, and more recently a lot of nieces and nephews, all running around in the same space. He’d been itching to move out of his parents’ house the second he got this job, but now that he had his own place...well, there wasn’t much to do when he was at home.

  He’d started cooking more and more elaborate meals for himself, to pass the time. It was definitely a pleasure to sit down to a gourmet meal and know that he’d created it with his own hands. But it would’ve been even better if he’d had anyone to feed it to.

  Jeff had to admit that he was pretty envious of Grey, who had a gorgeous, nice, fun mate to come home to every night. Grey had said recently that he and Alethia were thinking about starting a family. Jeff had tried not to look too obviously like he wished he could think about doing the same.

  All right, that settled it. He wasn’t going to sit around his house feeling sorry for himself. Besides, his leopard was yearning to get out.

  So Jeff dressed for cold weather, in case he had to shift back for some reason, and stepped out into the blowing snow.

  This does not seem like a good time, he told his leopard dubiously, surveying the dark, cold landscape. Night had fallen for real, and visibility was way down.

  Out, his leopard insisted.

  While it would be dangerous for anyone else to go out in this weather, Jeff’s snow leopard form was ideally suited for heading into mountainous territory in the winter, and he knew the area around Glacier National Park like the back of his hand.

  He’d grown up right around here, shifting and running around the mountains from when he was a kid, and he’d always known he’d never want to live anywhere else. The park ranger job had been his dream.

  But it was still nice to head out after work sometimes, spend time up in the wilderness without being on the clock and thinking about his work responsibilities.

  Jeff shifted into his leopard form and bounded out into the snow. He’d run around a bit and tire his leopard out, maybe do a quick patrol of the roads outside the park to make sure no one was in trouble.

  Actually, that sounded like a really good idea. The areas outside the park didn’t get as much attention in situations like this, without a ranger service devoted to making everything safe.

  Jeff headed out with a purpose, trotting up towards the snow-covered mountain roads. His paws left footprints in the snow, but they were quickly filled up as he went. The storm was getting worse.

  ***

  Leah was out of options.

  She’d strapped Emily back in her car seat and tried to start the car. It wouldn’t start no matter how many times she turned the key.

  Then she’d gotten out of the car and opened up the hood. Sure enough, as she’d thought, she had no idea how to even start to figure out what was wrong.

  Finally, she’d stared at her cell phone, willing it to show just one bar, while icy wind howled in through the broken window and chilled her bare fingers. Nothing happened. She’d tried calling 911 just to see if it would go through, but it didn’t.

  Leah knew that in an emergency, it was better to stay put so that people could find you, rather than try to walk somewhere when you didn’t know where you were going.

  But no one was looking for her. No one knew where she was. Her mom wouldn’t start worrying until tomorrow morning, probably, and maybe not even then. She might assume that Leah had gotten too tired to keep driving and stopped somewhere to stay overnight.

  There was no guarantee any car would come by. She and Emily couldn’t stay warm in their own car, because of the broken window and the dead engine.

  She had to get out and start walking, and pray that she found shelter or another driver before she succumbed to hypothermia.

  And Emily...

  Leah’s eyes stung with tears, but she swallowed them down. She didn’t have time to cry. She was going to find help. She would make sure Emily was safe.

  So she got to work. She packed a backpack with emergency supplies, including her little first-aid kit, food, diapers, wipes, and a change of clothes for Emily, granola bars and bottles of water for herself, and extra blankets. She put the backpack on her back, and on her front she strapped a squirming Emily into her carrier.

  “Want to go on a walk?” she asked Emily, trying to keep her voice from shaking too much. “We’re going to go on a walk, doesn’t that sound fun?”

  Emily waved her arms and smiled. She loved being outdoors, although she liked it better when she was in a stroller and could look around.

  “Good!” Leah said. “Just one minute, and we’ll go on our walk.”

  Leah’s winter coat was still the maternity coat that she’d been wearing last winter while she was pregnant, so she was able to zip it up around Emily’s little body. When she had them both all bundled up, she took a deep breath and stepped out of the car.

  First, she needed to hike up the ridge that the car had slid down. The road was slippery, and her boots were old and the traction was worn down, so she had to concentrate to keep from slipping and falling. She grabbed onto tree branches when she could to help haul herself up.

  She reached the top...and surveyed the road going down, leading into what looked like an endless series of dim, snowy twists and turns.

  She looked back over her shoulder. For some reason, it seemed like it would be safer to go that way, even though she knew there was nothing there.

  No, she had to go forward, where there was a chance she could find a gas station or someone’s rural home. “Onward, adventurers!” she said in a cheerful voice to Emily, whose eyes were starting to droop with the rhythmic walking.

  She hoped Emily fell asleep. She didn’t want her to be scared or upset during the cold, dark walk ahead. She wanted her to wake up somewhere warm and safe. Leah was going to make that happen for her child.

  She marched determinedly forward.

  ***

  Jeff had run a long patrol circuit along the road just south of the park. It took a while; the road wound around the mountains with very little in the way of towns, gas stations, or rest stops, so he wanted to do a thorough job of checking it out.

  He didn’t know why it felt so urgent to him tonight. There’d been plenty of storms around here before, and he usually wasn’t so...anxious. Jeff normally prided himself on being calm in a crisis. He wasn’t one to get worked up about what might happen.

  But it didn’t hurt to check. And his leopard was happy to prowl through the forest by the side of the road, keeping an eye out for any prey as well as any drivers in trouble.

  Jeff wasn’t worried about being seen if there were any drivers, either. His leopard form was perfectly adapted to blend in with a snowy, mountainous environment. If he stopped moving, he’d become essentially invisible to human eyes. Snow leopard camouflage was the best of any of t
he big cats—hardly any leopards had ever been spotted by humans, even where people knew to look for them.

  Cal’s rangers were always careful to stay human where people might see them in the park, but they knew that if they had to shift, the environment was on their side. Glacier National Park was one of the absolute best places for a snow leopard to live in the United States, in terms of climate and of camouflage, and therefore it had the largest concentration of snow leopard shifters that Jeff knew of.

  Tonight, though, he was patrolling the road alone. A couple of hours passed without any sign of human activity anywhere, but Jeff’s leopard was not satisfied.

  Keep going, it insisted. Trouble.

  He knew better than to ignore his leopard’s instincts, so he kept going.

  After hours of patrolling through the snow, he was far enough from home that he was going to be low on sleep, because it would take him until after midnight to get back. He hadn’t seen a single soul in trouble. But for some reason, he still couldn’t turn away.

  Finally, though, he saw something.

  It was a car. It had crashed into the trees—slid back from the top of the steep hill, Jeff’s expert eye determined. He trotted over to it, but there was no one inside.

  The left rear window was shattered, but there was no blood. Jeff figured that the driver hadn’t wanted to stay with the car, even though that was the best solution in a situation like this, because there was no way to stay warm with the broken window.

  Then he noticed that in addition to shattered glass, the backseat also contained a car seat.

  Jeff’s blood ran cold. Could there be a parent and a baby out here in this storm? Please, please let the baby not have been in the car, he thought.

  But there was a diaper bag in the backseat. Actually, the car was packed absolutely full of stuff—blankets, pillows, bags, and there was a cardboard box full of dishes sitting in the footwell.

  It looked like the car was packed to move house. And there was no way the baby wouldn’t have come along for that.

  He leaned in, careful of the remains of the window, and sure enough: he could scent the baby in the car. The baby, and what had to be the baby’s mother—a feminine scent, mixed with the milky scent of her child.