The alarm on my phone woke me from an amazing dream featuring Red. I ignored it, I wasn't ready for those images to slip away. In my dream, I spent all night playing with her, touching her, tasting her. I slipped into her, and she was tight and wet and perfect. She was made for me and I was made for her. We were starved for each other and I tried to hold back, but she wouldn’t let me. She wanted it hard and fast, so that’s what I gave her.

We explored each other’s bodies and joined again and again. I indulged myself navigating her body, and she ran her hands over mine. The next time we made love, it was playful. And the last time, before I woke, was soft and sweet.

My phone chimed again, an unwelcome reminder that I had things to do today that didn’t involve lusting over Red. I was used to it, though. Over the years it had become commonplace for me to wake up hard after a night of dreams about her.

I jumped in the shower. I hadn’t taken one when I got home last night. I wanted to keep her scent on my body for as long as possible. Now my sheets would smell faintly of her. Guilt hit as the water poured over me. I shouldn’t have visited Red last night. I should have left her alone. I saw how she and Alex hung on each other at the barbecue. The way she put her head on his shoulder; how he wrapped his arm around her waist. My gut clenched as I remembered it was highly likely I’d see Alex again today.

When I went to her place last night, I’d intended to talk to her. To find out if she was really interested in Alex. If she’d said yes, I would have backed off. Somehow. But when I leapt into her room and my panther didn’t smell Alex on her, all thoughts of talking to her fled my mind. Relief overwhelmed me. If they’d been serious with each other, I knew she would have carried his scent. When a couple was together, their scents started to mingle and would eventually entwine.

But I only smelled Red. My Red. My panther had moved forward to make sure I hadn’t missed it, and then she was in my arms. I couldn’t stop myself from kissing her, touching her. If her grandmother hadn’t come to the door, I would have been inside her.

I didn’t think it was possible, but I grew harder thinking about last night and turned the shower from cold to freezing. We hadn’t finished the beds for the garden at the school yesterday, and I told them I’d return today to complete the project. There was no way I was going back to the school like this. I tried to turn my thoughts to my task for the day, but they kept circling back to Red.

Why didn’t she have Alex’s scent on her? The way they were acting, it should have been all over her. As I dried off, I thought back to my interaction with him yesterday. If Red’s scent had been on him, I would have caught it. I might have missed it when I first met him at The Peach, but there was no way I could have missed it after working with him all day.

I frowned as I wondered what was going on. I quickly dressed and fixed myself breakfast. My mind went over her actions at the barbecue. I’d been so angry at how they touched each other I didn’t notice anything else. Like Red drinking. She never drank. Why would she suddenly start? And she hadn’t been relaxed like she was when she enjoyed herself. Well, not until she’d gotten herself good and drunk. Then they had that food fight. Followed by the singing.

Alex hadn’t been relaxed, either. He’d whispered in her ear, but hadn’t kissed her. As I replayed the night in my mind, I narrowed my eyes. Alex had behaved as if he was playing a part in a show. Why would they act that way? I racked my brain and tried to figure out what might have happened. Red was fine when I picked her up for our dinner. And last night, she seemed as desperate for me as I was for her.

My mind went in circles as I arrived at the school and parked in the same place as yesterday. I glanced at my watch, I was early. I got out of my truck and grabbed my toolbox. We had a couple more planters to build and fill, and then the planting. We should be done by early afternoon.

I reached the greenhouse and walked around, everything was as we left it. I always checked out of habit. Things often walked off on a construction site. I was happy this wasn’t the case today. I heard a car door slam and looked over to see Alex walk away from the car parked by my truck. He got trapped by the busses yesterday, and I’d told him where to park before we left.

"Hey," he said with a smile when he got close enough to me to talk.

I nodded. "Hello." I looked at him and he met my gaze.

"What?" he said and started to look uncomfortable as his smile faded from his face.

I still couldn't smell Red on him. It hit me. I wasn’t going to give up Red. If he wanted her, he’d have to fight for her. But I wouldn’t make it easy. If he couldn't see what was right in front of him . . .

"I’m not going to let her go," I said, a growl in my voice. I felt my cat in my eyes.

Alex raised his chin and looked like he wanted to take a step back.

"Who?" he asked as he studied me.

"You know who."

His eyes narrowed. "Does she know that?"

His question made me pause. "What makes you say that?"

"Well," he said calmly, "it seems to me she has a different impression."

Before I could say anything, three firefighters thundered down the stairs to head to where we were. I glanced over and saw they’d parked in the same lot that Alex and I had used. Two more climbed out of the truck. I didn’t want to continue this discussion with an audience, and Alex seemed to feel the same way.

"Okay, so . . ." I dragged the words out. God, this felt awkward. "How about three of the firefighters go with you, and the majority of any other volunteers who show?"

Alex nodded. "Sounds good."

The firefighters reached us and we told them the plan. They split up and got to work. I lucked out and one knew how to drive the backhoe. That left me free to work with the other to build the beds.

Four more volunteers showed up and one went with me, the others got to work with Alex. In no time everyone was busy with various tasks. We had one bed finished and my backhoe driver was about to fill it with soil. I had placed another box of screws next to those assembling the other planting bed when I heard my name.

"Maddox," Daniel called out, "I have three more volunteers."

I glanced up and blinked. He led three women I vaguely recognized from high school. I wondered what sort of work they expected to do. Two wore slacks and tight sleeveless dress shirts. The third wore a low-cut dress and sandals. At least the other two had close-toed shoes, although they still didn't belong on a work site.

I tried to wrap my mind around wearing those type of outfits to do construction and plant flower beds but couldn’t. As I made an effort to find something practical about their outfits, the woman wearing the dress approached me and touched my arm, a big smile on her face.

"Maddox, right? I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Heather. I’m here to help out." Her voice dropped on the last two words. She tilted her head and blinked her eyes slowly. She leaned forward, the invitation to look down her dress clear. Over the years, I’d seen enough sexual invitations to know what type of help she was offering.

A soft growl rumbled out of me and I shifted my body to move away from her unwelcome touch. I didn’t want any woman but Red touching me. I met Daniel’s gaze. His eyes grew wide and I saw alarm in his expression.

"Maddox," he said quickly, "Heather works for the school. She answers directly to the principal and wanted to participate."

I clenched my jaw as I read between the lines. Somehow Heather forced Daniel to let her volunteer. It was possible she even had a say over his job and could get him fired. I’d seen the paperwork he had sent all volunteers, and it clearly had a dress code. Country club visit was not it.

I couldn’t bring myself to smile but gave Daniel a nod. I got it.

"Construction sites are dangerous," I said.

"Oh, but you’ll protect me, won’t you?" Heather purred and took a step in my direction.

She raised her hand to touch me again and I gave her a flat look, my cat in my eyes. My expression clearly said it would not be a good idea for her to touch me again.

The primal part of her brain must have kicked in because she hesitated and her eyes widened slightly in alarm as she dropped her hand back to her side. She shot a look back at the two women behind her.

Daniel must have thought it was a cue for him to introduce them to me.

"This is Rachael and Paige."

Rachael gave me the same inviting smile Heather had, but Paige’s smile was more reserved and looked a little worried. She seemed to be the only one of the lot who realized Heather had stepped out of line . . . way out of line.

I turned my head slightly to the side. "Alex," I yelled.

A moment later I heard him behind me.

"'Sup?"

I didn’t take my eyes off the threat in front of me. "We have more volunteers." My voice was low and had a slight growl to it. I’d had women hit on me before but they didn’t make the primal core of me see them as a threat. There was something about these three that had my hackles up.

"I see," he said and I heard something in his voice as he drew out the words. Not quite a hesitation, but more an understanding that my panther saw a threat. He and I didn’t know each other well, so I found it impressive he caught that from me.

"Little late, aren’t they? All the others arrived a couple hours ago."

"Oh," Heather said as she shifted to the side and put distance between us, "what’s a few hours between friends?"

"Oh," Alex mimicked, "who said we were friends?" His voice was cold, and I tore my gaze from the women in front of me to glance at him. He had a polite smile on his face, but his eyes were flat. Something about them set him off, too. My attention snapped back to the women.

Heather laughed as if he told a joke. "You want to be my friend, trust me."

There was a threat in her words and I wondered about it. I’d have to ask Red or Meghan about them. From their scents, they were witches. When I left Fayoak years ago, there weren’t any problems with the coven, but I knew things could change over time.

"So," Daniel broke in, a nervous tension in his voice, "do you have something they can help with?"

Alex and I exchanged a glance. This was something we could clearly agree upon. They’d be more trouble than they were worth.

"The last bed is almost done," I said mostly to Alex. "All that’s left is to finish filling the other, and then place and fill this one."

Alex nodded, his eyes thoughtful. "Do you ladies know anything about gardening?"

Heather laughed and held up her hand. "With this manicure? I have people who do that." The other two women shook their heads, indicating they didn’t know anything about gardening, either.

"She has people," Alex said to me.

I nodded. "People."

"Well then," Alex said, "I have just the thing. You see, a newly planted bed needs to have compost."

I kept the grin off my face with an effort. "Right. Have you used all the donated compost?"

Unholy glee lit his eyes as they met mine, but he kept his face serious. He shook his head and turned to the women.

"Ladies, come with me. I have the perfect task for you."

I stepped to the side and watched as Heather and Rachael pranced past me. There was no other word for the way they moved. Paige moved more slowly and shot me a suspicious look. I thought she was the only one among them that had any brains.

"You'll want to get back to your office," I said to Daniel, "before Alex has them elbow deep in cow manure."

"Right," he said, understanding in his expression. "I have to finish a project. In my office. Now." Without another word he turned and practically ran back to the school.

A few minutes later, a feminine scream of outrage rang out from the greenhouse. I whipped my head around and saw Heather, Rachael, and Paige run out, with Alex right behind them.

"But the compost is important," he said, holding a handful of the smelly stuff.

"I don't think so!" Heather shouted in a shrill voice. "I’m not touching it. Get that away from me."

They ran past me and I held in my amusement. Behind me, Alex wasn’t so diplomatic. He roared with laughter. I met his gaze and he grinned as he held up the compost in triumph. With a nod, he went back to the greenhouse.

I smiled and turned back to help my volunteers. It wasn’t until hours later that I had a moment to think about what Alex said before the volunteers arrived. It had circled around in the back of my mind while we were working, but I couldn’t focus on it until now. It was only when we finished the construction on the bed frames and had them in place and full of soil that I had a moment to consider our conversation.

I could see where Red wouldn’t think we’d stay together. When we first started seeing each other, I hadn’t wanted to hurt Red. I made sure she knew that we were temporary. As soon as I found my mate or she found someone, we’d have to be done. I’d encouraged her to date other people and made it clear I would as well. We could look for our special someone and enjoy each other when I came home. And it had been okay at first. Looking back, I realized I’d lied to myself all these years.

In no way would I have been okay with seeing Red date someone else. She’d never once been serious about anyone else. The thought that she’d been even slightly serious about Alex had made me feral. I had been willing to tear his throat out for touching her.

If I felt this strong about her, could a mate ever replace that? No, I decided, it couldn’t. I couldn’t imagine a life without Red in it. Not simply as a friend, but as my partner. When I was away, I looked forward to our nightly talks. When I was here, I hated spending time apart. I was done being a part-time lover. I wanted to wake up with her every morning. Go to bed with her every night. No more sneaking around.

I checked the worksite. Alex’s volunteers were almost done planting the last two beds and others were cleaning up. I pulled out my phone and dialed Red’s number. I had to speak to her now. It couldn't wait any longer.

The phone rang and rang, and went to her voice mail. When it beeped, I said, "Hey Red, it’s me. Call me back." I ended the call and studied my phone, a bad feeling inside me. It wasn’t like her to not answer. Her employees used that number to let her know if they were sick or going to be late. She could have been screening my call, but she’d never ignored me before. Not even when I’d made her spitting mad.

I dialed The Peach and Rhonda’s cheerful voice answered, "You’ve reached The Honeyed Peach, Rhonda speaking."

"Hey, Rhonda, it’s Maddox. Can I talk to Red?"

"Oh, sorry," she said, her voice professionally friendly, "you just missed her."

"Alright, thanks," I said before ending the call.

I heard a whistle and glanced up. One of the firefighters stood by Alex and waved his arm in the air. The others looked up and when they saw his signal, they all stopped what they were doing and ran to the truck.

"What is it?" I heard one of the firefighters ask another.

"Bad accident on Aspen Lane near Post Oak Road between a small car and semi. Possible fatality."

A chill ran over me. Aspen Lane was the way Red went home. Post Oak Road was one of the streets she passed. She drove a small car and I couldn’t reach her on her cell.

Panic held me in its claws and I ran over to Alex. "Hey, I gotta go. Now."

Alex’s eyes widened with surprise. "Okay," he said, "I have this under control."

I nodded sharply and raced to my truck. The closest hospital was Fayoak General. Before I knew it, I pulled into the lot and slammed into a parking space. I had no memory of the drive. No idea if I followed the speed limit or stopped at any lights.

I raced into the hospital and ran to the intake counter. The rational part of my mind noted it was relatively calm and it was a good thing no one waited at the counter. In my current state, it was highly likely I would have shoved them out of my way.

A nurse in green scrubs looked up at me with a professional smile.

"How can I help you?" she said.

"There was an accident between a small car and semi. I think Roselani Bahl was the driver of the car. Where is she? Is she in the operating room?" My voice was fast and my heart raced. I couldn’t bring myself to ask if she hadn’t made it. My mind wouldn’t accept that she might be dead.

"And you are?" the nurse asked.

"Maddox Shepherd. I’m a friend."

"I’m sorry, Mr. Shepherd," she said, "I can’t confirm or deny anything. I can’t tell you the names of anyone who is in the hospital."

"I need to know if she’s okay," I said. I didn’t care if she heard the panic in my voice. I knew my eyes were cat-green and felt my claws dig into the counter.

She shook her head. "I can’t tell you anything. We can only talk to the immediate family."

"Can you tell me if she’s here?" My voice was desperate.

"I recommend you call her, try to reach her. Call her family." I saw pity in her eyes and my stomach dropped.

"Is there anything you can tell me? When will she be out of the operating room?"

"I can’t tell you anything," she repeated, her eyes full of sympathy. "Go, call her family. They are the only ones who can tell you anything."

I turned away, my heart frozen, frustration clawing at me. I had to find Red. I had to know if she was okay. I didn’t have the number for her grandmother, but I bet they had it at The Peach. I reached into my pocket to pull out my phone to call the restaurant as a couple in EMT uniforms walked past me.

"One of the worst accidents I’ve seen in a long time," the male said.

"That car didn’t stand a chance," the female replied, shaking her head. "Killed on impact. She was so young. Her family will be devastated."

I froze, stunned. Their words played through my mind. Killed on impact . . . She was so young . . . Killed on impact . . . she was so young . . .

"Hey, buddy, you okay?" A hand touched my shoulder.

My attention snapped back and I looked around. I stood in the middle of the room, my phone in my hand. The EMTs were nowhere to be seen. The shadows on the floor were different than they were earlier. A man dressed in scrubs had his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him, dazed.

"You need help?" he asked, concern in his face.

I shook my head and stepped back out of his reach.

"Buddy, you don’t look so good. Why don’t you come with me?" He took a step toward me and I turned and ran out the doors. I couldn’t believe what I heard. I was numb. I got into my truck and drove. My mind was blank. I moved, breathed, but inside, I was frozen.

The next thing I knew I was surrounded by trees. My cat took over and I ran. Maybe I could run far enough to make it all go away. It was an understood fact that mated pairs rarely lived long after one of them died. I’d always thought them weak for giving up.

Now I realized how little I understood. Red and I had never bonded on that level, but she was the only one for me. She was my love. My mate. Agony squeezed my heart and I wished I had realized it sooner. Before my feral side took over completely, I thought that maybe I would simply stay a panther and never shift back.