Max Reynolds felt like a million bucks.

His son was in his arms, his fiancée was by his side, and a swarm of happy people who considered him to be part of the family surrounded them.

Harkness kids were pouring apple cider, setting bowls of food down on the oak plank table until it groaned, and good-naturedly laughing their heads off at each other.

“Are you overwhelmed yet?” the one called Darcy asked him with a wink.

“Not even close,” he said.

“Good,” Darcy nodded. “You’re the only one of us to ever come home for your 300^th moon. Mom will never let us live it down.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” he said, having forgotten about the 300 moons thing.

“Oh, yeah, right,” Darcy teased. “Do you guys remember my 300^th moon?”

“Not this again,” Will groaned.

“I was nearly killed,” Darcy said.

“Things may be different nowadays if what happened down in South Carolina with my Adrian is any indication,” Kate said from where she sat. “So don’t let them scare you, Max. But still, I’m glad you’re home.”

Home.

It was a wild idea that this place where he’d spent a few hours when he was a baby was home, but it felt right.

He looked down at Sarah, who was slathering butter on a sweet potato roll. She looked right at home too.

“Sorry, do you want one?” she asked. “I can take Orson…”

“No, no, no,” he said. “Don’t even try it. Eat.”

“If you let him have his way, no one else will ever hold Orson again,” Mandy teased from Sarah’s other side.

“Mandy,” Sarah scolded happily.

“She’s not wrong,” Max said, stroking Orson’s tender cheek with his index finger.

“Actually I am wrong,” Mandy said wistfully. “Unhappily for you, Orson has a hot date with his Aunt Mandy tonight.”

“He does?” Max asked.

Sarah nodded.

“It’s your engagement present,” Mandy said in a stage whisper. “A night at Tarker’s Hollow’s most romantic bed & breakfast, and free babysitting to go with it.”

Nice.

“Mandy, that’s really thoughtful, but—” he began.

“Listen, you two have the rest of your lives to watch the baby sleep,” Mandy said. “Tonight is for you.”

“For Max and Sarah,” Kate announced from her place at the head of the table.

“For Max and Sarah,” everyone echoed, raising their cider mugs.

Mandy grinned. She knew she had won.

But it was the pink glow in Sarah’s cheeks that made Max feel he had won too.

God, he couldn’t wait to get her alone, now that he knew she was his forever.

“But your evening will start late,” Will said. “We’re going for a run first.”

“You have to go for a run on your three hundredth moon,” Evangeline said with a smile. “I’m glad there’s another bear. I get tired of running with nothing but wolves.”

“You do?” Will teased, pretending to be hurt.

“What the heck?” Darcy said.

“Jack is meeting us too, and he’s really going to be sad to hear this, Eva,” Will said.

“Another wolf?” Evangeline teased. “You guys just have to outnumber us, don’t you?”

“I can’t wait,” Max laughed.

“Don’t worry Sarah, those of us who don’t shift will be having a movie night with popcorn,” Kate said. “That’s me, you, Mandy, Tess, and Finn. And Orson, of course.”

“And I think Ethan is stopping by with baby Katie, too,” Evangeline added. “She’s going to love meeting Orson.”

A few hours later Max, Will, Jack, Darcy, and Evangeline headed into the woods on the far side of the farm.

“Do you guys do this often?” Max asked.

“Often as we can,” Will told him. “It’ll be fun around the holidays when everyone’s home.”

“There are more of us?” Max asked.

The others laughed.

“There are way more of us, buddy,” Darcy said, slinging her arm around his shoulder in a friendly way.

“Wait until Christmas,” Will said. “You’ll see.”

“Well you guys are going to need name tags or something,” Max laughed.

“Don’t worry,” Evangeline put in. “Hannah’s making you a family photo album. But it’s supposed to be a surprise, so, you know…”

“I will be surprised,” Max assured her. “That’s really nice.”

“Okay, everyone pick a tree,” Jack announced.

Max ducked behind a big maple, stripped down, wadded up and hid his clothes, and transformed into his bear.

He’d tasted the purity of the country air when he first got here, but with so much else going on he’d been distracted.

The bear was not distracted.

He lifted his muzzle to the snowy full moon and breathed deep. The air was delicious and the call of the moon was electrifying.

He lumbered out to find his friends.

A bear who must be Evangeline shook herself, her glossy pelt rippling in the moonlight.

Three wolves stood watching her.

While one was distracted, the second one pounced on him and bit his ear, causing the first wolf to yip.

Max saw immediately that this was Darcy attacking Will.

Jack looked on, too cool or too shy to join in. Max couldn’t tell which.

Then Darcy took off into the trees.

They all followed.

The wind ruffled his fur as he ran, the fallen leaves cool beneath his paws. The breeze in the woods was a melody to his sensitive ears.

Max had no idea how long they ran, how many times they stopped to drink from an icy stream, how many times Darcy came at him in the dark, ears flattened to her head in pretend attack, Will howling his amusement in the background.

It was incredible, wild and fun.

At some point, he noticed they were recovering ground they’d run earlier.

Then a sound pierced the air.

It was the cry of an animal, small and reproachful.

Max rose on his hind legs.

His body surged with a protective instinct that made his fur stand on end.

Mine.

Max froze, confused.

Instantly Darcy rose into her human form before him.

“That’s Orson, buddy,” she said. “He’s okay, just cranky. Are you ready to change back?”

Her words found their way home and he slipped into the form of a man once more.

The world looked different from his human eyes, but it was still beautiful.

He heard the others in the bushes nearby, so he grabbed his clothes and dressed too.

When they came out there was no more joking or roughhousing. The Harkness siblings seemed sleepy and content at last.

But as the moon caressed Max’s skin and the breeze tousled his hair, carrying with it the scent of his mate, he felt anything but sleepy.