Max Reynolds was not himself today.

It had all begun with the birthday card.

It wasn’t even his birthday.

The return address was in Pennsylvania. And the letter tucked inside the card was obviously nonsense, but it gave him the creeps.

Dear Maxwell,

It has been so many years since we met you at the farm, and you were such a little fellow then.

Your mom and dad were lovely people. Many of the children I meet wind up staying on the farm, since their families can’t accommodate their special gifts, but your parents were determined to do whatever it took to keep you.

I wrote to your mother a few months ago, but my letter was returned. And when I took the liberty of asking one of the kids to “google” you, they came up with the address I’m writing to now. I suspect your parents decided to move your family away from the city to live, after that first visit with us here.

At any rate, I’m sure you know that the coming moon is the 300^th , and that you are also aware that my friend Gloria put a staying spell on your bear to help curb your shifting until you were old enough to control it.

I’m writing to warn you that as the spell wears off, it can release a bit of magic with it.

And magic can attract danger.

I’m sorry to say that several of the kids have had to fight off shadow demons during their 300^th moons, and chances are that you may have to as well. Though things have changed in the magical world this year…

Although you probably don’t remember me, I’ll tell you the same thing I’ve told my other children: I hope you’ll come home to Harkness Farms for your 300^th moon, and bring anyone you care about with you. We can help you face whatever you’re up against here at the farm.

And selfishly, I’d just love to see you again, Maxwell.

With love,

Kate Harkness

Max read it twice.

It wasn’t the shifter part. Max had always known about his ability to turn into a bear. He just didn’t think anyone else knew. And he certainly didn’t know anything about magic spells and shadow demons.

A normal person would have dismissed it as the ramblings of someone who had a few screws loose. But when you could transform into a giant bear, it was easier to suspend your disbelief about other things.

He picked up the phone to call his mom, and then put it down again when he heard the footsteps approaching.

That was fine. He could ask his mother about the weird letter anytime.

Right now he had work to do. They were on a deadline to make a decision about whether or not his company would be logging for the Rattle brothers. That decision had to be made today.

There was a light knock on his office door.

“Come in,” he said, shoving the card into his desk drawer.

“Hey, Max.”

His business partner, Angela, came in and sat across from him, tossing her long brown ponytail over her shoulder.

“Hey, Angela,” he replied. “Any thoughts on what we should do here?”

“The Rattle brothers have a good sized piece of land and there’s potentially a lot of money in it,” Angela said. “But the trees aren’t fully mature, and frankly, neither are the brothers. I don’t think it’s worth the headache, Max. What do you think?”

Damn, he loved that he had an investor who understood the community, the people, the trees.

He’d needed money for his parent’s bills during the long year his poor dad had spent going through cancer treatments. And lucky for Max, Angela was interested in his logging company and convinced her own father to help her buy a forty percent stake. He suspected they’d overpaid, but he was grateful and determined that he’d make that share worth far more than she’d put in.

“I agree,” he said simply.

“Then it’s settled,” she said. “Are you calling them or am I?”

“I’ll deal with them,” he said immediately. He had no intention of letting Angela get in those boys’ crosshairs. She wasn’t wrong about them being immature, from a behavior standpoint. Physically, Sam and Clyde Rattle were nothing short of enormous.

“That’s nice of you,” she said.

But she didn’t get up and rush off like she normally did.

“Something on your mind?” he asked.

She bit her lip and leaned forward in her chair.

“Max, I was wondering if you might like to have a drink with me this evening,” she said at last.

Shit.

He observed his lifelong friend.

Impartially, he knew she was beautiful - kind eyes, long pretty hair, athletic figure.

But Max had never seen her that way.

He wished he could.

Angela was the total package. She would be the perfect mate, and he knew instinctively that she would be okay with the shifter piece. He could pretend he didn’t know why he wasn’t into her, but that wasn’t true. He knew exactly why.

Sarah Bennett.

“Never mind,” she said, getting up quickly. “I had no intention of making you uncomfortable. I apologize.”

“Angela, I…” he had no idea what to say. “I respect you and I think you’re beautiful. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

“Thank you, Max,” she replied. “And thank you for not saying yes when you don’t feel the same. Honesty between friends means everything.”

He swallowed back the lump in his throat.

“Let’s pretend we never had this conversation, ok?” she asked and winked at him.

“Sure,” he managed.

She left the room, closing the door gently behind her.

Max lowered his head into his hands.

He wished more than anything that he could forget Sarah Bennett, but the more he tried to push her out of his mind, the more he found it impossible to think of anything, or anyone else.

At the thought of Sarah, the bear inside him perked up, flashing him an unhelpful image of the petite, curvy woman with the sparkly green eyes and floating him a remembered whiff of her enchanting scent.

Sarah had come out to buy a sizable chunk of land. And she’d met with Max, since his logging outfit was near the parcel she wanted.

More and more rich people had started doing that since the stock market crash. They bought land since it couldn’t disappear on them. And they met with loggers first, because they’d heard that loggers would take advantage of them at harvest time if they weren’t careful.

Unfortunately, not all of them realized that the loggers they’d met with might be dead and buried by the time the trees were ready to be cut.

Sarah was smarter than that, though. She’d engaged him in a deep conversation about where he thought the logging industry was going, and who was likely to be around and working when the time came for her trees.

She made him feel smart - hanging on his words, taking notes as if he were a college professor instead of a glorified lumberjack.

And there was something else between them too, from the very first moment, something that he couldn’t find the words for.

Sarah smelled like rain and tasted like heaven that night he’d been brave, or crazy, enough to make his move.

But she’d disappeared the next day without so much as a goodbye.

And now he probably wouldn’t see her again until the trees on her land were mature.

By his calculations they might both be nearing retirement by then.

Whatever his own feelings about Sarah, it was clearly just a one-night stand for her. He was a logger, and she was some kind of tech inventor, from what his furtive internet search had told him. It wouldn’t make sense for her to be interested in anything but his work-hardened body and maybe his expertise in this one small area.

If only his bear hadn’t latched onto her, he could get over that one night stand, he knew it.

Then he could marry a good woman like Angela, and have a family of his own with someone who actually cared about him.

If only he could forget Sarah Bennett.

But the bear had made his choice.