“You want to break that, too?”

I wince but stubbornly don’t retract my arm. Koen never gives over his car keys, but he does reach for my hand and pull me into him.

He has held me many times, but never like this— so close, it almost hurts, like he’s trying to swallow me inside his body. “There’s always something with you, huh,” he mumbles, for the fifth or millionth time. And for the fifth or millionth time, I melt into him and forget that there’s a whole shitty world out there.

“I’m sorry,” I say. It comes out muffled against his flannel.

“About what?”

“I don’t know. Everything?”

“Hmm.” The sound reverberates through me. “The thing is, I don’t think any of what happened is for you to feel sorry for. Aside from the toaster.” He picks me up, one arm under my knees, and carries me outside to sit us on a chair on his porch. My head fits perfectly under his chin, my legs drape across his thighs, and this is a terrible idea. Anyone could see us.

But I’ll be gone in what, twenty-four hours? If it’s all going to shit anyway, let it go to shit while I’m in his lap.

“Can I tell you something?” I force myself to say before I lose the courage. “And it’s not . . . I’m not asking for anything. I just want you to know, because . . . I just think that maybe you’d enjoy knowing?”

His chin bumps against the crown of my head. A nod.

“I was wrong. When I said that you weren’t my mate, even if I was yours. And I know what you’re thinking: ‘No, you idiot, you just fell in love with me like any regular person would, that’s what happens when two people who like each other spend time together,’ but this is . . . more. I liked you from the very start, in a way that had never happened to me, and all these feelings . . . I don’t think I have the words to explain, but I . . .”

His chest bounces under my ear. I pull back to find that he’s laughing silently.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m just glad you figured it out.”

“You mean, you knew?”

“Not for sure. But there were signs.”

“Oh.” I blink. “Really?”

“Serena, our first meeting sent you into Heat.”

I flush. “Well, we don’t know that. It could have been a coincidence.” He looks doubtful. “Seriously. Maybe Alex the IT guy sent me into Heat.”

“Yeah. Except, you couldn’t bear to be touched by anyone but me.” A smile plays at the corners of his eyes. “People without mates are much less discerning when they’re in that situation, believe me.”

“Oh.” I stare into the distance, then back at him. “So . . . you are my mate?”

“We might never know, since your biology is different from a full Were’s. I don’t care very much, because . . .”

“Because?”

“Because you’re perfect.”

I lower my eyes, feeling too full of . . . of everything to hold Koen’s gaze. “Well. I guess it doesn’t matter much. I didn’t tell you, because . . . I wasn’t trying to give you a reason to step down.”

“Good. Because I’m not stepping down.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat. It’s fine. Better than fine, it’s exactly what I wanted. Koen, staying with the Northwest. The right thing to do. “Good,” I echo. I need to change the topic, before I beg him to do something he really shouldn’t. “Were the huddle leaders fuckwaffles about . . . stuff?”

“No more than usual. They said that I’m emotionally compromised over you. Which is true.” His thumb traces my lower lip. “Has been true for a while, really.”

“Maybe. So you have— so you have feelings. Big deal.” I might be indignant on his behalf, which is ridiculous. Koen doesn’t need me to protect him or advocate for him, and yet here I am. “It changes nothing. Every single decision you have ever made has taken into consideration the good of the pack.”

“Yeah. They would agree with that.”

“Good. Because it’s bullshit. You can— you can be in love with someone and still be a fantastic Alpha. The thing is, I love you, and mate or not, I wouldn’t love you half as much if you weren’t the kind of person who deserves it. And one of the reasons you deserve it is that you care.” My stupid eyes are leaking. And Koen . . .

Koen is failing, abysmally, to bite back a smile. “Everybody agrees with you, killer. Including the Assembly.”

“Good. They fucking better.”

“That’s why they rescinded the covenant.”

I don’t get it. Not at first. “What?”

“They know what happened. They know how you stood up to me. They know that I let you be our bait. They know that you saved my life. They said exactly what you said.” His hand runs through my hair. His eyes follow its path. “That your presence doesn’t influence my ability to do my job. But I think they’re wrong.”

“Wrong?”

He nods. “I think it does affect me. I think you make me a better leader.” His smile widens. “You make my world better, for sure. And mate or not, I wouldn’t love you half as much if you weren’t the kind of person who deserves it.”

My own words, thrown back at me, and it’s like my entire life reorients. The breeze, the trees, the grass, the moss, the seals, the waves— they stop, immobile, for a fraction of a moment. Then they resume blowing, rustling, swishing, whispering, splashing, lapping, but in a slightly, enormously different way.

“Does it mean that . . . ?”

He nods.

“We can . . . ?”

“If you want to.”

“If I— ” My laugh is thick. Watery. “If I want to? Do you want to?”

He laughs, too. “Let me think about it.”

I lean forward and bite him on the jaw, hard. I feel his smile grow between my teeth. “So we can just . . . stay here? In this cabin? And I’ll find some job? And you’ll do your Alpha stuff? And we’ll . . . we’ll go for runs together? And be boring?”

“That sounds like a dream, actually.”

“And I’ll cook? And we’ll see Misery and Lowe? And you’ll build me more chairs and let me decorate the cabin?”

“Whatever you want, sweetheart.”

“And we’ll have Twinkles as our wolf dog who sometimes sleeps on our bed?”

“Is that why I nearly walked into a water bowl earlier?”

I nod. Burrow into him.

He sighs. Tightens his hold on me. “Such a fucking nuisance.”

I wonder why it took me until this very moment to realize that it’s been his way of saying I love you all along.

EPILOGUE

HE MANAGES TO HOLD IT TOGETHER FOR A LITTLE OVER SIX weeks.

As feats go, this one is so Herculean, so strenuous, so immensely exacting, Koen is certain that it’ll make up for every single shitty thing he’s done during his wretched, questionable life. He is able to control his instincts and deny himself the one thing he wants with an all-consuming, ferocious, overwhelming passion. That, if nothing else, will guarantee him a place in his particular brand of Were heaven.

Which, he’s come to realize, requires only one single thing: Serena.

“ARE YOU BORED YET?” SHE ASKS HIM A MONTH OR SO AFTER MOVING in for good. It’s an absurd question. And yet, in a rational, detached sort of way, Koen understands what she’s getting at.

They had a rocky start. The near murders and the kidnappings and that other bullshit. The medical scares. The fact that he had to push her away over and over, even as keeping his distance tore him apart. Bottom line, their first few months were very eventful. Compared to all that, the last few weeks have been strikingly low stakes.

They wake up in the morning. He leaves for his job. She does hers— remote, for Karolina, something about money or stocks that reminds Koen every day how much smarter than him she is and fills him with glowing, besotted pride. He returns home. The end.

Taken at face value, it does seem boring. But there’s so much hidden in the crevices of their daily rhythm, Koen can’t imagine ever finding his time spent with her anything less than thrilling. Not that he’d be caught dead admitting it to anyone, but he’s just fucking . . . enamored, that’s the word. The way she needs to be coaxed out of bed with tea and kisses in the morning. Her unabashed joy at discovering every corner of their territory. The fact that every mundane little action feels new and shimmery and magic when she’s around.