Connor sat forward. “Seriously?”

I nodded. “She thought it would hurt her and her mother. I think, now that she’s told me, she feels . . . relieved.”

“Being vulnerable can do that,” he said with a sly grin, then rose and came to me, wrapped his arms around me.

And then it just blurted out of me.

“You’re going to die.”

That hadn’t been the subtle introduction to the topic I’d intended. He leaned back, his expression absolutely flat. “Are you going to take me out?”

“I’m serious,” I said, my voice softer this time. “I’m immortal, Connor. And you . . . aren’t.”

He looked at me for a long, quiet moment. “And?”

I blinked. “And what?”

“And are you ending things with me?”

“I—what? No.” That was literally the furthest thing from my mind.

“So you’re trying to tell me that when I’m gone, you’ll be devastated? You’ll mourn every day for the rest of your immortal life? You’ll constantly beat your breast and scream from the rooftops that no man could ever compare to me.”

It was my turn to give him a flat look. “You aren’t taking me seriously.”

“I am,” he said, and I saw in his eyes, which darkened with purpose, that he meant it. “I’m a shifter, Lis. We may live longer than humans, but we’re still mortal. We understand that and do our best to enjoy life for as long as we’ve got it. Thus, the partying.”

“Thus,” I said. I took his hand, running a fingertip across knuckles scarred by god knew how many fights with shifters and battles with motorcycle carburetors. “So, it doesn’t bother you that I’m immortal and, when you’re gone, I’ll have to take a series of really hot lovers?”

He flicked my ear. “Touch another man, and I’ll haunt you forever.”

“Can shifters become ghosts?”

“I . . . don’t actually know. You want me to talk to Ariel and figure it out?”

“No. She’d séance you on purpose.”

“I’m pretty sure she’s moved on. Neither of us knows what the future will bring, Lis.” A corner of his mouth lifted, probably because he’d seen the frustration in my eyes. “I know you prefer rules and deadlines. But we can’t control the future, as much as we’d like to.” He pulled me closer. “I plan on enjoying every moment that I have with you.”

But that didn’t loosen the fist around my heart.

He lifted our joined hands, pressed a kiss to my knuckles that lingered. “Shifters have a philosophy: You can’t control the world. You can only control your reaction to it. Sometimes that means we have to accept things we don’t like. So we drink and we grapple and we dance and we ride. And sometimes we fight.” He tipped up my chin with a finger. “I’m fighting for you, for us. I fight the Pack way. You fight the vampire way. And I bet we come out right where we need to be.”