I didn’t know how I made it through the barbecue without attacking Alexander. Every time he touched Red I wanted to rip his throat out. When he turned his smarmy smile on her, I could barely restrain myself from marching over there and punching it off his face. At one point, I caught myself growling low in my throat. I’d gotten lucky and my parents had already left, and my sister was in a deep discussion with some other ladies.

Sophie had been close enough to hear and had looked at me in concern.

"You okay?" she asked, her eyes wide as she glanced around for the threat that had me growling.

I managed to smile at her and cleared my throat, as if that was the noise she heard.

"No, all’s fine, just something in my throat," I said as I forced a smile.

She reached over and touched my arm. I had to fight to stay still. She was my sister’s midwife, but that didn’t mean I welcomed her touch. It didn't feel right.

"You sure that’s it?" The look she gave me said she didn’t buy it, but what could she do? Tell my sister she heard me growling?

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. I was in no mood to be social. My sister unintentionally saved me when she asked Sophie a question. The midwife removed her hand and turned to talk to Meghan.

I moved my attention back to Red and Alexander. I watched them and my anger grew. But I couldn’t look away. Every time he touched her I became more enraged. When she smiled at him, my vision blurred and my fists clenched.

The urge to go over there and physically separate them was strong. The only reason I resisted was because the instinct to protect my sister was stronger. The cat inside me wouldn’t let me leave Meghan’s side until her mate arrived. I also knew that I was capable of seriously injuring that handsy fae in this frame of mind.

I couldn’t figure out why Red hadn’t come over and said hello. My only guess was that she was too involved with Alexander. Much like that morning she cut off our conversation to go greet him at The Peach. I had tried to ignore it, but now I had to wonder if there was more going on between them.

I didn’t understand why that thought had me so edgy. By the time Joseph finally arrived, I was so tense that I had to get out of there. Red was drunk and sat on the ground with Alexander. Then they started singing. Poorly. I still wouldn’t have been able to leave, except when Meghan saw what was going on, she got that look on her face. The one that said she was ready to raise some serious hell.

When she headed over to lay into Red, I booked it out of there. I couldn’t stand another moment of hearing Red laugh at Alexander’s jokes and comments. I was either going to be physically ill or hurt someone. I knew if I didn’t get out of there, I’d do something I’d regret.

I made it to my cabin in record time. When I arrived, I raced inside as if it was a safe haven. But once I was within the four walls, all I did was stomp around. I picked up a book, but couldn’t bring myself to read. I opened my laptop and immediately closed it. I had no interest in checking my e-mail or surfing the web. I turned on the television only to turn it off right away. I was restless, agitated, and couldn’t get myself settled.

I tried to remember what I told Meghan when I left, or even if I had said anything at all, and my mind was blank. I looked out the window and the darkness called to me. I needed to run. My panther needed out.

I walked out the cabin door and shut it firmly behind me. One of the reasons I always rented one of these cabins was the location. The woods nearby were extensive and gave my cat plenty of land to roam. Having enough space to run was a rarity in my daily life, one that I only truly found in Fayoak.

I jogged until I was deep in the woods. I stripped and stashed my clothing in the branches of a tree, then let my cat free. One moment I was a man, the next I walked on four feet instead of two. Suddenly, everything was sharper, my vision expanded and I could see better.

Scents bombarded me from all directions. There was a mouse hiding in the bushes to my left. A deer had recently brushed up against this tree. The pungent odor of a possum hit me. The bite of pine mixed with softer aspen. The breeze ruffled my fur, filled with information about the world around me.

All this information was processed by my cat within seconds. I arched my back and dug my claws into the soil, then sprang into a run as my primal nature rose to the surface and my cat took over. It didn’t understand all the emotions that ran through me. Its needs and wants were simple, and I was able to escape into the moment.

I ran and hunted. I didn’t catch the rabbit or the deer. I tracked them and could have caught them. But I wasn’t hungry. It was the joy of the hunt, the thrill of the chase. I don’t know how many hours I ran, but it was deep into the night when something caught my attention and caused my cat alarm.

My human self swam to the top of my consciousness. An odd scent came to me on the breeze. It smelled like gun oil, but it wasn’t hunting season, not that anyone should be hunting in Fayoak anyway. There shouldn’t be anyone with guns around here. The wind shifted and the scent went away. I tracked around a bit, but couldn’t find it again.

Now my mind was active with circling thoughts once again. I was no longer just a panther who ran free. It was probably a sign for me to head back to the cabin. I couldn't stay out here forever.

I wanted to go see Red, but the way she acted with Alexander made me hesitate. She’d seemed so happy as she laughed and joked with him. I’d never seen her behave that way with another man. Oh, sure, I knew she’d dated. We’d talked about it on our daily calls. But it was one thing to know in abstract, and another to see her talking to another man. Touching and smiling at him.

My feet pounded the ground and my stomach churned. We had been friends with benefits for years. It started one time when I came home and had been so starved for intimate touch I was going nuts. Shifters needed touch and intimate contact. But I couldn’t stand the thought of another shifter touching me while I searched for my mate. Somehow, Red knew I was in trouble. She was there for me. One thing led to another, and we became lovers.

Was I being fair to her? This wasn’t the first time I asked myself that question. Was our relationship stopping her from finding happiness with someone else? The thought of giving her up made my vision cloud up with anger, rage, and sorrow. But the thought of hurting her was worse.

My mouth opened and a roar emerged. If I’d been human, it would have been a cry of anguish. But in my cat form, only another shifter would have recognized the emotion. Anyone else would hear the primal sound of a great cat and shiver in fear. The sound promised something dire.

I couldn’t stand the thought of never being able to laugh with Red again. No more calls at night when we would talk for hours about nothing. The only touch shared would be that of a friend. To have to look at her and force myself to feel nothing was too terrible to contemplate. But if she had a chance of happiness with Alexander, I couldn’t stand in her way.

I made my way back to my stashed clothes, shifted, and dressed quickly. Despair sat on my shoulders, and my feet dragged as I walked back to the cabin. On autopilot, I locked the door behind me and slipped into the shower. I’d just gone for a hard run. I needed to wash off the sweat, and if my cheeks happened to get wet, I could blame it on the shower. As I crawled into bed, I fell asleep to the thought that this was the first time in years that I went to bed without telling Red goodnight.

* * *

The next morning my phone rang at seven o’clock. Who the hell calls at that ungodly time? I rolled over and grabbed the phone without looking at the screen.

"Yeah?" I snapped.

"Hey, Maddox, did I wake you?"

It took me a moment to place the voice on the other end of the line.

"Daniel?" I said as I woke up.

"Yeah, man. How’ve you been?" His voice was ridiculously cheerful for a call to a practical stranger at seven in the morning.

"I don’t mean to be rude, but why the hell are you calling me this early?" I tried to keep the growl out of my voice. But, seriously.

"Oh, sorry, dude. I know you’re in construction and you guys get going early. I saw you at the barbecue last night, but didn’t get a chance to say hi."

"So that’s a good reason to call someone this early? How did you get my number?" I grumbled as I sat up and rubbed my face. Daniel and I went to school together, but we weren’t close.

"I got it from Meghan. I tried to call you yesterday and left a message when you didn’t answer. Look, we need your help. We’re building a raised bed garden at the school. The guy who was going to move the soil, run the equipment, and direct the volunteers ended up in the hospital yesterday."

"Is he okay?" I asked as my mind cleared.

"He’s going to be okay—bad case of food poisoning. I got the call from his wife last night while I was at the barbecue, and then when I went over to talk to you, you’d already bailed."

"Let me guess," I said as I went to the coffee maker in the cabin and started it brewing. "The event is today, isn’t it?"

"Yeah." Daniel’s voice was full of anxiety. "The volunteers are all gonna be there this morning, and the soil and equipment were delivered yesterday. We might be able to muddle through, but your experience would be great."

I sighed. Well, what else did I have planned for today? The stuff I was doing on my house wasn’t critical, and it sounded like this was an emergency. And at least it would keep my mind off Red.

"Sure," I reluctantly said.

"Great, can you be at Oakside Elementary in an hour?"

"Yeah, I’ll be there."

Daniel thanked me and hung up. I shook my head. I hadn’t planned to work this week, but what the hell? I was here until Meghan had her baby, and I needed the distraction.

It didn’t take me long to get ready. I scrambled some eggs and drank my coffee, then I was ready to go. I glanced at my watch and noted it was seven thirty. It would only take about ten minutes to get to the school, but I decided to head out anyway. It would be better for me to arrive early to check out the equipment and supplies. I’d taken over many projects in the past that were short on something. Better to find out early.

The school parking lot was tiny, and I knew the busses would block any vehicles when they came to pick up the kids. I parked in the church lot next door and pulled my toolbox out of the cab before I closed the door.

I walked through the fence opening and down the stairs. In a glance, I saw the bobcat with the loader bucket next to the giant pile of soil. A pile of wood, which I hoped was cedar, sat nearby. But the greenhouse caught my full attention. I didn’t know a lot about greenhouses. As I walked closer, I saw someone standing in the double door entrance.

Recognizing the blond hair, I schooled my expression to be pleasantly friendly . . . even if I wanted to snarl at him. If Red decided on him, I should be nice. I could manage that. Really.

Alexander looked over his shoulder as he heard my approach. He smiled at me in that smarmy way of his. I thought he might look a little green around the gills. He and Red had been tossing them back something fierce at the barbecue.

"Hey there, Maddox, right? They rope you into volunteering, too?"

I nodded and managed a small smile. "I know construction, but not greenhouses."

"Oh," Alexander said with a smile of pride as he patted the door of the greenhouse. "This beautiful high-tunnel greenhouse is my doing. They reached out to my granny . . ."

My mind zoned out for a moment, trying to reconcile Mrs. Greenhaven as granny, but I couldn’t do it. I’d known her since I was a child, and she’d always been a little scary. As I grew up, my opinion hadn’t changed. I brought my focus back to Alexander and he didn’t seem to notice my brief check-out.

". . . and I said I’d help them out. With this greenhouse, they can grow plants all year round. We had to get the electricity and the water run. Now we’re able to pull it all together."

"So why did they say they needed me to run the equipment? Isn’t that something you can do?"

The smile Alexander gave me was otherworldly for a moment and I felt a chill. There was a reason people didn’t always trust the fae. Just as quickly, it was gone, and his happy-go-lucky expression was back in place.

"I don’t drive the equipment," he said with a shrug.

I pondered that for a moment. Why wouldn’t he drive the equipment? I glanced over at the bobcat and back at Alexander. He kept his smile in place, but his eyes watched me shrewdly. Suddenly it clicked. He was fae. Some were rumored to be sensitive to steel. I wondered if he was one of those.

"Afraid of the big bad machines?" As soon as the words left my mouth I felt like an ass. I knew better than to ask. I was being childish.

He blinked slowly, that friendly smile still on his face. "Nope, not afraid. It's just not what I do."

I studied him, but he made no aggressive move, even though my question was in no way polite. Alexander stood there as if he had all day. The silence started to get awkward. I turned my gaze to the piles of lumber and soil.

"Right. So they also asked me to help build the raised beds," I finally said. I glanced at him and noticed a pinched look at the corner of his eyes. The type you got with a hangover.

Alexander nodded slowly. "That’s great. I’m aces with the plants, but all thumbs when it comes to building stuff."

I had to admire his honesty. Many guys I knew would try to come off as knowing more than they did. I turned my attention back to the greenhouse to study the space. I knew building, but I didn’t know plants. I could do flower beds, but that was different. This was a greenhouse full of plants. I had no idea how much space each plant needed or what the optimal size for the beds should be. Did it depend on the plants grown?

As much as I hated to admit it, I was going to have to ask him for help. Maybe I’d get lucky and this task would be over in a day. On the bright side, he wasn’t off flirting with Red while he volunteered here.

I saw an ice chest in the corner of the greenhouse and walked over to it. When I lifted the lid, I saw it was full of ice and bottles of water and cans of soda. I reached in and pulled out two bottles of water.

"Here," I handed one to Alex. "You should keep yourself hydrated."

He gave me a slight smile as he took the water. "Thanks."

I nodded and looked around and saw a man rush over to us from the school. The moment he reached us, I recognized Daniel. He hadn’t changed much over the years. I remembered him as easily excited and flustered. I wondered if he had grown out of that.

"Hey, Maddox, thanks for coming on such short notice. Alex, we really appreciate your help and support."

I nodded to Daniel. Alexander did the same.

"The volunteers will be arriving shortly," Daniel said with a glance at the clipboard in his hand.

"Do you have plans?" I asked.

"Oh, sure. We’ll give them their T-shirts, and have them sign the waivers, then—"

"I meant building plans," I interrupted him.

"What building? The greenhouse is built," he said with a wave at the structure and a baffled look.

"How big do you want the beds? Do you want them evenly spaced? Do you want them all the same size? Same height?"

By the dazed look in his eyes, I realized he hadn’t thought of any of this. I glanced over at Alexander and saw him look at Daniel in annoyance before his pleasant expression returned.

"Did you decide what you want to grow?" Alexander asked in a gentle tone I'd used before myself. It was the same one I needed when I had a client who couldn’t make a decision and we were at the make or break point.

"Oh, yes," Daniel said with a wide smile of relief. He pulled a piece of paper from the clipboard and handed it to Alexander.

"Thank you," Alexander said as he scanned the paper. He looked up and met my gaze. "I can answer all your questions. Give me five minutes to make some drawings and I’ll give you a rough plan. Daniel, do you have a piece of paper I can have?" Daniel handed him a pad of paper and a pen and Alexander walked into the greenhouse.

I was wary about what he’d give me. I was used to drawings made by architects, not sketches on paper. My head started to pound. Today was turning into a cluster. Somehow, I was going to have to figure out how to wrangle a bunch of clueless volunteers into making raised planter beds of unknown size and shape with untested equipment. Great. Just great.

"What about the irrigation?" I figured I’d hear more of the same, but I asked anyway.

Daniel's face lit up. "Alex had one of his people take care of that." He seemed pleased that he actually had an answer this time.

Alexander walked back over and clipped a measuring tape I hadn’t noticed onto his belt. He handed me the notepad. As I looked at it, my respect for him reluctantly grew. His plans were detailed and exact and included notations for different beds. I looked at the second page on the notepad and saw dimensions for the planting beds that corresponded to the notations on the first page.

"Done this a few times, huh?" I asked in an absentminded tone.

"Well, I’m not just a pretty face," he said with a grin. But I saw something in his expression, a tightness around his face, that suggested he actually cared about what I thought.

"Great plans," I said. "I can work with these." As much as I wanted to dislike him, Alexander’s competence was clear.

The volunteers arrived in a rush, and they were as inexperienced as I feared. Alexander had them marking off the areas for the beds, and I directed them in the construction. I quickly found a couple of the volunteers who had some basic DIY know-how and as soon as the first bed was finished, I had them start on the next.

It was a grueling day, but as I interacted with Alexander and watched him work with the volunteers, I reluctantly grew to respect him. I also realized his smarmy ways weren’t really smarmy, they were just . . . him. So when I thought he was fake, I’d been wrong. It was just his way of interacting with people.

One of the female volunteers flirted shamelessly with him, and I saw him gently rebuff her time and time again. When he turned away from her, he frowned in annoyance, but his expression was always pleasant when he dealt with her.

I came to see why Red would be drawn to him. If she hadn’t been interested in him, I might have even called him a friend. By the end of the day, I had to admit that if I had to give her up, at least it was to a decent guy. But my stomach ached with the thought. I wasn’t sure I could give her up.