“Mother!” Zuri Primrose stomped through her front door, removing the jacket she’d worn for no reason when it was hot as balls outside, and tossed it on the nearest chair. “Mother, I know you’re in here. There’s no use hiding.”

This was it. Mother or not, she wasn’t letting her join them in girls’ night again. Nope. She was done for. Finito.

Her sister, Sage, glanced at her from the book she was reading on the sofa. Sage’s colorful hair hung over her breast in a pool of curls. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh,” Zuri growled, slapping her hands on her pants. She’d left the bakery shop and rushed to the house without even grabbing a bottle of water to cool down on such a hot day. She never knew what to wear since the weather was going bipolar and it was supposed to be fall. One day, it was hot, and the next, it could plummet to super cold. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong. She is crazy. She’s fucking off the charts insane.” She huffed. “We need to have her committed. That’s the bottom line.”

“Why?” asked her other sister, Isaline. She walked into the living room with a big bag of veggie chips. Zuri glared at her. Isaline had begged them to not keep the veggie chips around but she somehow always found Zuri’s stash. And of course, she ate them without asking. Isaline was always on some fad diet and that meant she was also always hungry.

“She signed me up to attend the Shifter Mate Gathering. I’m not a shifter. Does she not remember that?”

Isaline popped a veggie chip into her mouth, her eyes growing wide. “Oh, no,” she crunched loudly. “Once you’re signed up, you can’t back out.”

“Holy fuck,” Sage gasped, her eyes saucer-wide. She put the book she’d been reading, a dirty romance novel Zuri had recommended, next to her on the sofa and watched her with shock. “Isn’t that where shifters go to get mates?”

Zuri raised her hands as if someone had finally figured it out. “Thank you, Sage! Yes. Yes, it fucking is. And just because we live in a town full of shifters does not mean we are one of them.”

“You have to go,” Isaline told her between crunches. Her big blue eyes were full of concern. “If you don’t, it’s like a huge dishonor or some shit.”

“MOTHER!” Zuri yelled loud enough to make her sisters wince. “Get your ass out here, right now! You need to fix this.”

It was a few seconds before her mom, local baking legend Mirabel Primrose of Primrose Yummies, popped her head from around the wall that led to the kitchen. “Hello, darling. I had no idea you were home already. It’s so hot out, do you want some iced tea?”

Zuri growled again. She took a harsh breath and let it out slowly. Her mother did this all the time. Try to make them interact with people when they were not interested. “Mom, why did your assistant at the store hand me an invitation to the Shifter Mate Gathering?”

Mirabel’s blue eyes, much like Isaline’s, widened just a fraction before a frown covered her brow. “Hmm…I’m not sure I know what you’re referring to, darling.”

“Uh-oh,” Sage mumbled. “That’s her tell.”

Mirabel glanced at Sage, brushing her short blonde hair behind her ear. “What tell?”

“When you say ‘Hmm’ is when we know you did something bad. Really bad. Why did you sign Zuri up for the Shifter Mate Gathering?” Sage asked.

“Yeah,” Isaline said. “And why didn’t you sign us up, too?”

Zuri gave her sister a look. “Are you crazy? Would you really want to be paraded in front of shifters like you’re some kind of deli meat?”

“Mmm,” Isaline moaned, licking a chip and chewing furiously. “Now I want a sandwich.”

Sage shook her head at Isaline. “Focus on the problem at hand, Isaline!”

Zuri gave Sage a thankful nod. “Mom, you know you did it. We know you did it. The shifter community knows you did it. The question is why did you do it?”

“Because you need a mate,” Mirabel finally said with a shrug. “Excuse me for trying to help my oldest daughter find a man who will treat her right, love her, do anything for her, and finally give me the grandchildren I’ve been waiting for, for the past god-knows how many years!”

Zuri curled her hands at her sides. “No. No no no no no! You are not going to flip this on me. I can find a man on my own, thank you very much. Why you felt the need to set me up on some freak shifter mating thing is beyond me.”

Mirabel raised a brow and gripped her apron before letting it go. “You know very well that you’ve been so head deep in culinary school that you refuse to come up for air and meet a man or two. All you spend time with are those dishes you make and bring Isaline like she needs more temptation.”

Zuri gasped, hurt that her mother would say that about the only thing Zuri had going for herself. Were it not for her culinary classes, she would have no reason to leave her home. “If Isaline didn’t want my food, she’s more than capable of telling me that.”

Isaline’s jaw dropped open, a veggie chip hanging from her lips. “Wha-? Wait, I love your food, Zuri, don’t listen to Mom. She’s just trying to excuse her crazy.”

Mirabel rolled her eyes, folding her arms over her chest. “You need to stop all the dieting, Isaline. Every time you start depriving yourself, you want to eat everything in your path.”