"Why are you so stuck on Alex?" I looked at him closely, as if I could tell what was going on in his drug-addled brain by squinting hard enough. Even if he was that upset over a little bit of flirting, what he was saying was nonsense. It wasn't just his morphine-induced obsession with Alex either. He could be stone cold sober and his words about us wouldn't make sense. We couldn't be together, no matter how badly I want it.

"I’m not stuck on Alex. You are. No more," he said with a growl.

"Well, what about Sophie? Or, well, whoever your mate is?" I asked him in a quiet voice, trying to mask my hurt. "You can't forget her."

"What about her? My mate's fine. I think about her all the time," he said, drawing out the last word as he clumsily waved his tubed hand in the air.

I groaned and reached out to stop him. Again. He was going to hurt himself before this topsy-turvy conversation was over, I just knew it.

I sighed. "Then you have to stop talking about us like that. You understand that, don't you?"

"I don't . . ." He suddenly seemed to lose all his energy as he flopped back to lie down on the bed. "I don't think I do."

Maybe he didn’t understand me because I was going about this all wrong. I sat down and gnawed at my bottom lip as I thought things over. He may not have woken up when I talked to him, but I loved pretending to be his mate for the time I tried. It felt so right. Determination started to swell in my chest, slowly at first, but built rapidly as the seconds ticked by.

I had never heard of a shifter mating with a non-shifter before, but maybe I could be with him anyway. I might not be his mate on some primal, destined level, even if Meghan thought I was. But I could love him as if I was. I knew I could, because I already did. We could find a way to work through it. We would figure out how to deal with the mate situation somehow. What I couldn't do was bow out and hand him over to someone else.

"I'm going to fight, Maddox," I said suddenly, maybe a little too loudly for such a small room. "I'm not giving in that easily."

I was a little shocked to see Maddox bristle visibly, even with his heavy sedation. "I won't let you." He shook his head, his own determination clear in the tight set of his jaw. "I won't."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I felt myself bristle as much as he was. "I'm a grown woman and I can make my own decisions, thank you very much. If I want to fight for you, I will."

"Wait, what?" Maddox tried to lift his head again and actually managed to meet my eyes. He looked as confused as I was.

"Grown or not, you both really suck at this," I heard Meghan say from the doorway for the second time today. She waddled over to me and clasped a hand around my shoulder, her grip a little too tight for comfort. "I'm so tired of having to pop in like your sage love guide all the time, so knock this off already."

"What?" I blurted out.

"What?" Meghan mocked, then gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry, contractions have me feeling a little grumpy."

"That's okay, I—wait . . . contractions?" I gave her a wide-eyed look. "Meghan, are you—"

She raised her other hand to silence me.

"You two," she pointed a finger at me, then at Maddox, "need to realize that you're mates. Everyone else has known for years. I mean, c'mon, even our parents know. Now—" She suddenly clenched her teeth and grimaced, her hand tightening like a vice around my shoulder.

"Are you okay?!" I was about to jump to my feet when a frazzled nurse rushed into the room and gently took hold of Meghan, even though it looked like she wanted to strangle her.

"There you are!" The nurse sounded exasperated, as if she had been searching high and low for Meghan.

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"No, you're not," the nurse scolded, her nostrils flaring. "You need to get back to your room!"

Room? I tilted my head to the side, then my eyes widened and I gasped. She really was having her baby.

"Meghan, go!" I shooed her away from me.

Meghan narrowed her eyes, but let the nurse lead her way. She looked over her shoulder at us as she slowly headed to the door.

"As I was trying to say before I was so rudely interrupted, you two need to sort yourselves out. I expect happily ever after by the time I'm done giving birth." She stepped out the door and before it closed behind her, I heard her finish with, "It's about damn time."

I stared at the door after it shut and didn’t say a word. Maddox was quiet, too. I had a feeling that if this was overwhelming for someone who was sober, Maddox's stoned brain must have been thrown for a loop.

My first instinct had been to deny it, but I started to think that Meghan, her parents, and God knows who else might be right. It would explain so much. We've been inseparable all our lives. I never felt right with any man but him. I couldn't bear the thought of him with someone else. He was my Maddox. I've had that thought so many times before, but never let myself follow it too deeply. It seemed too risky. But now? I was ready.

I turned to him with tears welling in my eyes. Even though I could see the same realizations dawning in his expression, I started blubbering and asked, "Do you think it's true?"

He seemed stunned at first, unable to give me an immediate response. His eyes were slightly more alert when he finally brought them to mine. "I think I've known for years, Red." He shook his head. "Not me, but the cat inside me. It knew. It always knew that you were my mate. That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"Really?" I asked, for no reason other than I wanted to hear it again. The tears were flowing freely now and I couldn't help but laugh a little. I couldn't believe that this was what he was trying to tell me and I was arguing with him. Serious conversations should not involve morphine.

He squeezed my hand as tightly as he could manage. "Really."

A knock at the door interrupted our moment.

"Come in," Maddox said.

I turned to the door with a smile, sure it was Maddox's parents, but my smile quickly faded as the tourists from the diner filed in. The woman and two men who were here to hunt. Why would they bother coming to see Maddox? My answer came the moment I saw Sheriff Kobayashi step in behind them. It was easy to connect the dots.

"It was you," I hissed.

One of those three shot him. I wanted to jump up and claw their eyes out, but then I saw it. The guilt on their faces. The rage inside me reduced to a simmer as I regarded them with wary eyes. I didn't think they had done it on purpose, but still, they were idiots.

"We coulda sworn we were shootin' a cat," George said. "We were shocked as hell when we saw a man lyin' there. We really didn't mean to."

Maddox was strangely quiet. They must've seen him in his panther form. Maddox had a habit of taking long runs when he was upset. That wasn't normally a problem in Fayoak. Most people here had something a little different about them, so it wasn't all that risky for a shifter to roam.

"Not that you should've have been hunting around here anyway," the sheriff added with a reproving tone.

"Right, but we coulda swore we saw a big, dangerous cat with crazy eyes," Emery added as he twisted his fingers together at his waist. He looked so remorseful that I almost felt terrible for being so angry at him. "We called the ambulance the second we saw what we did. We're real sorry."

The woman shook her head, her lips pressed into a thin line. "My brothers are morons, but they're well-meaning morons. I hope you can forgive them."

"Nadine's right, we're real idiots," Emery agreed. "Don't think things through sometimes."

"I don't know 'bout idiots, but . . ." George started, and Nadine shot him a look that silenced him in an instant. She arched a brow at each of them, then they nodded back at her.

"I'm sorry for this," Emery said. "We're happy that you're alright."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, too." George motioned at Maddox's shoulder and grimaced.

Although their apologies seemed sincere, I could tell that they also worried about charges being pressed. They kept giving Maddox worried looks. I gave them a reassuring smile.

I had no idea what Fayoak's law enforcement would do to them, but we weren't in the business of making a big stink over things around here when it involved the otherworldly. We dealt with things quietly for the most part. We didn't need to draw too much attention and end up with people waving pitchforks and torches around in Fayoak. As long as they were genuinely remorseful, I didn't think Maddox would press charges. Maddox was okay, and that was all that mattered.

"Apology accepted," Maddox said from his bed, as if to confirm my thoughts. "Just promise me you'll be more careful in the future." I could tell from his tone that he wasn't only chastising them, but forgiving them, too.

"You best bet we're turnin' over a new leaf," Emery said with an eager nod.

I laughed a little to myself. They seemed so earnest. It must've been horrifying to shoot at a cat, then find an unconscious, naked man in its place.

Hopefully, it really was a turning point for them. I didn’t doubt for a second that the brothers had already run into a fair bit of trouble here and there. They're exactly the type that would try hunting out of season and in a place they shouldn't.

I wished I had given it more thought when I overheard them in the diner. Maybe I could've stopped them. I knew it was weird for someone to be staying in Fayoak for that sort of thing, but I had been too distracted to put it all together. If I was going to find my way into a shifter family, this was probably the sort of thing I should pay more attention to.

I smiled at that thought. I was going to be an actual part of their family. Not just a close friend. Family. I was Maddox's mate. Warmth spread through me. The rest of my life would be spent with him, his parents, and Meghan, plus her growing family. I had always known that they would be a part of my life, but I hadn't ever realized exactly just how—Wait. Meghan's growing family. Meghan.

"Oh my God." I suddenly stood up as shock hit me. "I have to go! My best friend is having a baby!"

"Err, we sure aren’t gonna stop you," Emery said as he shared a look with George and Nadine. "Thank you for hearing us out." His siblings nodded their agreement. They all looked incredibly relieved.

I leaned down to press a quick kiss to Maddox's lips. "I love you. I'll tell you all about it."

Maddox smiled up at me. "Good."

I was at the door when him I heard him say, "Red?"

I turned around.

"I love you, too," he said.

His words wrapped around me like a hug as I ran out to find Meghan.