Lou swore.

I slipped my hand under her tank top and cupped her other breast, brushing against the stiff peak with my thumb.

“Wait.”

I stopped, lifting my face so I could see her in the faint street lights edging around her curtains. I didn’t move, though, keeping my hands and body exactly where they were until I had a better understanding of what she wanted.

Because she hadn’t moved away from me either.

“Are you…” She huffed, frustrated. “You’re so sure. I can feel it through the bond.” She traced my face with her fingers. “How can you be so sure?”

Something in me relaxed—we were finally going to talk about it. “It feels different.”

“What does that mean?” Though she still hadn’t moved, I could feel her pulling away from me. “I don’t want to take advantage—”

I rested my chin on her stomach, smiling at her, though I wasn’t sure she could see it. Lou was so worried she was going to hurt me, she was practically cradling me like a baby chick. And it felt good, fucking great, to be cared for like that.

“I can show you, I think. The difference. But you’ll have to help.” I reached up and tugged gently at a lock of her hair. It felt like satin between my fingers. “I want this, Lou. If that’s all that’s holding you back…”

Her hands fisted in the sheets. “How can I help?”

I slid my hand through her hair, letting it glide over my fingers. I thought I could happily touch Lou, just like this, for the rest of my life. “I need to show you a longer memory, not just an image, but I’m not sure how. Can I do that? Through the bond?”

“Animal familiars can send images from their memory, so I don’t see why not. The bond would have to be open.” Lou reached out and tentatively pushed one hand through my hair. I leaned in to the comfort. If all she wanted to do was pet me, I’d take it.

“That’s it?”

Another soft brush of her fingertips across my temple. “No, then you’d have to concentrate on the memory. It might help to visualize yourself handing it over to me.”

“Like a present?”

A faint smile tugged at her lips. “Sure.”

“It’s going to be a real shitty present.”

“You don’t have to give it, Declan.”

“Yes,” I said with a sigh. “I do.” I laid a soft kiss on her stomach. “Because I want this, Lou. I want you.” I wrapped my arms up around her shoulders and put my cheek on her stomach, closing my eyes. After a few deep breaths—and getting slightly distracted by Lou’s scent again—I picked out the memory I needed to show her. Then I imagined me handing it over, wrapped up in a bow.

Lou unwrapped it and we were both plunged into my past.

For a second, the tall grass is Technicolor green, the scents of summer sharp in my nose. Then the memory snaps into place and everything normalizes. I’m standing in the tall grass, holding my sister’s hand. I’m supposed to walk her to my father. He’s over by the grill with a handful of men—strong alphas from other, smaller packs. They’re drinking beer, enjoying the summer weather. Each of the alphas has a boy with them—my age or older—and I don’t think too much of it until the wind shifts and I realize that those boys are related to the men they’re with.