Even deeply asleep, Ash knew he was dreaming.

It felt so real, but it was the same dream that had visited him every night since the phone call that had shattered his life seven months ago.

He knew every bit of it by now, but that didn't stop his dream from turning into a nightmare.

The dream always began the same way: Ash was sitting in his home office. His dream house was displayed on his realtor's website, and he was preparing to make an offer on it. Then his phone rang, and it was Nika.

I'm sorry, Ash. But I don't think we should see each other again. Her voice sounded hoarse, as if she'd been crying.

Even now, her words felt like the first seconds after you'd hurt yourself badly with a chainsaw. Numbness, followed by disbelief…where did all that blood come from?

And finally, overwhelming pain and the realization of how badly you'd been injured.

He'd still been at the numb disbelief stage when he replied. But, last night…you're my mate now! You can't dump me like I'm just some guy you've been dating!

And then the blood and pain arrived with her next words. I—I made a mistake. I'm so sorry. But I had some time to think after you flew home yesterday, and…I just don't think it's going to work out. I'm sorry, she repeated.

What the hell is going on, Nika? he demanded. She didn't sound like herself at all. Talk to me. I'm your mate. Whatever's going on, just tell me. I'll find a way to fix it.

A long silence. Over the phone line, he could hear her breathing. It sounded ragged. Panicked. The sound of it roused his protective instinct. You can't shift. Mating you would be too dangerous. My family has made a lot of enemies, Ash.

I thought you didn't care about that. And I can protect you! As always, the stark reminder of his biggest failure felt like acid burning against his pride.

Another long pause. Then her voice had gone soft and very gentle. No, you can't. And you know it. Please don't contact me again.

And with that, his mate cut the connection and abandoned him.

His dream kept following the well-worn path of that day, making him relive his agony over and over again.

Once again, he tried calling her the following morning, hoping that she'd just suffered a temporary derangement or cold feet or something like that, only to discover that she had blocked his number on her phone.

All of her social media accounts had blocked him as well.

In desperation, he had chartered a flight to Seattle in an attempt to reason with her, only to find that she had abruptly broken her lease and moved out of her student apartment.

He could have tracked her down, of course. He was very good at finding anything with an online presence.

Wounded and desperate, he had contemplated it. But he hadn't done it, not in real life.

She had made it clear that for whatever reason, she'd had a change of heart and wanted no further contact with him.

As bewildered and wounded and worried as he'd been, he had respected her decision, even if he didn’t understand it. Even though he suspected something very wrong had happened.

But in his dream, his desires always won out. Again and again, he relived the fantasy of tracking her down. Of finding her and confronting her.

And in his dreams, she always challenged him to shift for her. Do it, and I'll come back to you, Ash. But it's too dangerous for me to be with a shifter who can't shift.

Again and again, he would call on his bear, but it always remained firmly asleep deep inside him. Desperation and anger couldn't rouse it. And it was deaf to negotiation.

And in every iteration of his dream, Nika just stood there, watching him fail over and over again, wearing an expression of the deepest sadness and disappointment. See, I was right. A bear shifter who can't shift could never protect his mate or his children.

I'm sorry Ash.

Usually the dream ended there, with Ash defeated and abandoned. He'd wake up, sweating, his heart pounding as if he'd just returned from a fifteen-mile run.

This time though, the dream didn't end. It changed.

Ash found himself in his bed. With Nika.

Somehow, even though he hadn't been able to shift for her, she had still come back to him.

He felt her lush curves against his side, and the soft tickle of her hair against his face. Her presence felt so clear. So real.

Ash could even smell her, a sweet and musky scent, achingly familiar, that rose all around him and filled his nose. It was richer somehow, with new, deeper notes that made his sleeping bear stir.

Her pulse brushed the inside of his wrist like the flutter of butterfly wings.

Ash's nightmare had turned into the sweetest dream imaginable. He didn't want to wake up and lose these precious moments.

Then he did wake up.

And Nika's presence didn't fade away.

Am I still dreaming? Or is this the worst nightmare I've ever had?

His head was throbbing with pulses of pain that echoed his heartbeat, and his side ached with bruising that went straight down to the bone. All his muscles felt sore, and he felt disoriented.

Reluctantly, Ash opened his eyes and squinted painfully against the bright sunlight streaming into his room.

Yep, I'm pretty sure I'm awake.

But he could still smell his mate. Still feel her softness pressing against his side.

Then he felt her move. She rolled towards him, her glossy black hair an unruly tangle around her pale face, and reached for him without opening her eyes.

His heart pounding with joy and disbelief, Ash hungrily drank in the sight of her.

She's come back! She's really here!

Then his gaze fell on her midsection, and he felt like someone had just punched him in the gut.

All his anger and betrayal and pain came flooding back, dousing the pure flame of joy that had rekindled inside his chest.

She's pregnant? I'm going to be a father? Why didn't she tell me?

Ash saw Nika's eyes opening. Their gazes met.

"You're awake. Good," she mumbled sleepily. "Dr. Jacobsen said you'd be okay."

"What the hell are you doing here?" he croaked. The inside of his throat felt as raw as if it had been sandpapered.

He hadn't meant for his first words to her in seven months to come out like that. He'd rehearsed the moment of their reunion over and over again.

But he had never thought that she would just magically appear in his bed one morning.

Nika flinched at his harsh tone and suddenly looked wide awake. Her expression suddenly wary, she wriggled away from him, putting a cautious distance between them.

He hated himself for scaring her. But he had to know.

"Why did you come back?" he demanded, and began coughing.

Instead of answering him right away, she sat up with a visible effort and reached to pour him a glass of water from a pitcher on his nightstand.

He couldn't tear his gaze away from the sweet rounded bulge of her belly, where she was carrying a baby. His baby.

Nika handed him the glass, and he drank thirstily, his eyes never leaving her.

He was convinced that she might vanish if he looked away, even just for a second.

She was wearing a pair of long flannel pajamas decorated with various types of sushi. He remembered those pajamas were her favorite. Now, with her body blossoming with new life inside her, he saw how the pajama top was pulled taut over her belly and breasts.

Ash longed to release those generous curves from their tight fabric prison and run his hands over and touch every part of her, over and over again, until she was flushed and shaking with need.

Nothing had ever been better than making love to her. He had loved his ability to wring loud moans and cries of pleasure from her as he tasted her willing, oh-so-responsive body.

When he was finished drinking, and the glass was empty, she took it from him and put it back on the nightstand. He noticed how carefully she avoided his fingers, and he clenched his hands into fists to keep from reaching for her.

"Well?" he demanded, his voice rough with need.

She bowed her head, letting her hair slide forward to hide her expression. "You weren't answering your phone or replying to text messages. I came to warn you. I think my parents are going to send a hit man to kill you. Or Papa might come to do it himself."

What the hell?

He knew he was gaping at her. Of all the things he'd expected her to say, that hadn't been on the list.

"Kill me?" he asked, wishing he didn't feel so fuzzy. "Why?"

None of this was making any sense.

He tried to remember why he'd woken up feeling like he’d been on the losing end of a brawl. The last thing he could remember with any certainty was standing on the roof of the Ornelas family's home. Everything after that was a jumbled mass of fragmentary impressions and bits of conversation.

I don't even know what day this is.

Nika looked up, her face twisted with anguish. She put protective hands over the mound of her belly.

"After we mated…when you went home…," she began, still not looking at him.

"I had to go," he protested, stung at the unfairness. "We talked about it, remember? It was just going to be for a week or two. I just needed to pack up my stuff before moving out to Seattle. When you dumped me, I was in the middle of putting in an offer on that house you liked, the one with a view of Union Bay."

He wished he could read the expression on her face, but she had bowed her head once more, and her hair formed an impenetrable veil.

She shook her head. "I know that," she said impatiently. "It wasn't anything you did—it was my parents. Mama phoned right after you left and ordered me to break off my relationship with you. She said she'd decided to arrange a match with someone else…a real shifter, she called him."

"And that's all it took?" he asked, trying to keep his voice normal despite the emotional gut-punch that felt like it had driven all the air out of his lungs. "Your mother told you to dump your mate, and you just obeyed her?"

Months of pain and bitterness welled up through the cracks in his voice.

"Of course not!" Nika protested. She sounded angry. "I was just trying to protect you! I knew my parents would have you executed if they found out that I'd mated you without their permission. Breaking up with you and making them think that things hadn't gotten as far—as far as they did was the only way I could keep you safe from them!"

When she lifted her head to glare at him, he saw hints of shifter gold shimmering through the tears welling in her luminous gray eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said incredulously.

All those long months of painful separation, and it was because she had secretly been trying to protect him?

Because she thought he was a pathetic bear shifter who couldn't be trusted to protect his mate and family?

His initial disbelief quickly shifted to hurt…and a growing determination to prove to her that he could keep her safe, no matter what threats the Medved clan made.

"They found out anyway!" Nika continued, sounding frantic now. "I've known for months that my parents would try to break our mating bond the only way they knew how! I had to warn you!"

"So if I'm understanding you correctly, you've been pretending to your family that you're not actually mated to me?" he asked, just to be sure.

She nodded, and he saw a flush tinting her pale, smooth cheeks.

"It was working too," she said defiantly. Then her shoulders slumped. "At least until Dimitri showed up at my place and saw that I was pregnant. He said he wouldn't tell my parents right away, but he could only stall for a short while."

"So presumably your parents know about our mating by now? And the baby?" Ash asked slowly. "You don't have any secrets left to hide?"

She shook her head. "And that's why I can't stay. I can't let them find me, Ash. And you have to—"

"Protect you," Ash interrupted firmly. "As a mate should."

He saw conflicting emotions in her face and sensed her uncertainty.

Deep inside, did she want to stay with him?

Hope sparked in his chest. And deep inside, his sleeping bear stirred, in the way it did whenever he was close to closing a deal for his company.

"I…don't know," she whispered.

He smelled her fear, and it riled up every protective instinct he possessed.

He couldn't let her leave. He resented the hell out of her right now for what she'd done to them both. But she was his mate, and she was carrying his child. He would find a way to protect them…and to win her as his mate all over again.

* * *

"I'll protect you," Ash repeated. "And you're not leaving me again." His voice dropped to a growl on his last word, and Nika saw his gaze lighten to green-gold.

During their brief time together last summer, she had never seen any sign that his bear was as close to the surface as his eyes now indicated.

"But—" Nika didn't get a chance to finish explaining why staying here at this isolated ranch would be a very, very bad idea.

Ash was leaning over her. His strong, sinewy hands cupped her face, and his fingers slid into her hair as he pressed her back against her pillow.

Nika's heart hammered frantically as he stared deep into her soul with gilded hazel intensity.

All of the feelings and desires she had tried so hard to push down came roaring up and over her like a tsunami. Waking up next to him this morning had felt so natural, so right. His proximity had undermined the walls she had built up to protect herself.

Now, cradled between his strong hands, Nika felt frozen in place by the strength of her yearning for him. He was so close now that she felt his breath against her lips like a warm caress.

An instant later, his mouth crushed against hers in a hungry, demanding kiss. Nika felt the invisible snap against her soul as their mating bond snapped back into place like a piece of stretched rubber regaining its original shape.

Ash froze against her, and she felt his sharp inhalation against her lips. Apparently, he had felt it, too.

His hands tightened in her hair, keeping her firmly captive as he resumed kissing her. His lips caressed hers with the fierce sensuality she remembered so vividly, and his tongue stroked hers, exploring, teasing, and arousing her.

Heat seared through her, racing down her spine, kindling an urgent throb of desire between her thighs. Her skin prickled as her bear came surging to the surface.

Our mate! At last!

She threw her arms around his broad shoulders and pulled him down against her. The hard press of his erection against the taut curve of her pregnant belly made her arch and press her hips eagerly against him.

The overwhelming desire she felt right now went beyond anything she had ever felt before. Every part of her craved his touch. She wanted him to possess her, cover her in his scent, and fill her with his thick, rigid cock.

The bear inside her wanted to be reminded that she was his, body and soul.

"I want you," Ash growled against her mouth.

"Oh God, yes!" Nika kissed him with frantic intensity as her hands slipped down to the waist of his boxers.

He wasn't wearing anything else.

Ash's hands left her hair. An instant later, she felt his big, callused hands slip under her pajama top and slide upwards over the skin of her waist, pushing the fabric up to expose her belly.

She had just hooked her thumbs beneath the wide elastic waistband of his boxers and was preparing to yank them down when she heard a quick knock on the bedroom's partially open door.

Startled out of the passionate haze, she stopped what she was doing and glared at Raymond Chang. Above her, Ash turned his head and gave the intruder a glare of his own.

The snow leopard shifter crossed his arms, leaned against the doorway, and grinned cheerfully back at them.

"I overheard you guys talking, so I was going to ask Ash how he was feeling this morning," the nurse said with a laugh. His gaze swept over their compromising position, and his grin deepened. "But I guess I don't have to. Picture's worth a thousand words, eh?"