His eyebrows shot up and his mouth pulled up on one side in a look that very clearly said, “Huh?” “But, Sully, I’m light footed. You know I am. You’ve been following in my footsteps since we were kids for that very reason.”

That was true. Whenever we walked in the woods, he led the way. He picked his path so surely I used to walk behind him and make sure I stepped in the same spot he did. He was right. He had me there. His eyes were sparkling in amusement. I was starting to suspect it was at my expense. I understood that Jules was going to need some convincing to understand the dangers that lurked all around him. I glanced up as I thought of a way to make him see it my way.

The sky. Dear God. The sky.

I pulled him close to me and raised my hands above him, forming a protective cage with my fingers above his head. “Something could have fallen on you.”

“Like what?” he demanded. He was looking at me as if I’d taken leave of my senses.

“Like a stick or a branch, or, or, you know . . . piece of a plane.”

“Piece of a plane?” he said incredulously. He pulled my arms down and guided them to his waist. He put his hands on my chest and looked up at me. Amusement faded to empathy. He seemed to know what was happening to me, even though I didn’t have a clue what had possessed me. “Easy, Alpha. Easy now. I’m here and I’m safe ’cause I’m with you.”

I sighed in relief. He understood. Thank God. “You just have to stay with me. You have to stay close.”

“I will.”

“You can’t go off on your own. You can’t do things like . . . cook, or make coffee, or walk, or . . .” Suddenly, everything I thought of Jules doing in his day seemed fraught with potential danger.

He started laughing from low down in his belly. I felt it rumbling through our bond. It felt good. I felt like I could breathe again. The tension in my head started to release.

“Hey, big boy,” he said, “just for the record, I agreed to stay close. I didn’t agree to pander to batshit crazy.”