My eyes fluttered in vain. My eyelids felt as if they were weighted. It wasn’t the only weight I was aware of. There was a weight on my chest. It wasn’t the magickal weight of my bond with Jules; it was an actual weight. I was pinned down. I inhaled before I had time to panic. My nostrils filled with the sweet smell of baked goods. Cheesecake, brownies, apple pie, and, if I wasn’t mistaken, Mrs. O’Malley’s famous carrot cake. For some mysterious reason, our pack had a tradition of bringing baked goods and sweet treats around whenever anything very good or very bad happened to a member of our pack. My childhood was filled with memories of eating entire plates of dessert for dinner whenever anything particularly memorable happened to me. The overpoweringly sweet smell gave me an inkling of where I was. I inhaled again and caught a deeper, more complex scent. Tree bark, fresh moss, and newly lit campfires: things that belonged in the woods. I breathed in again and caught a light note of sex and a deep, intense note of everything good in the world. I knew instantly where I was and who I was under.

“Jules, honey, are you sure you shouldn’t get off him? Are you sure you aren’t crushing him?” It was Jules’s mom, Tess.

The second I heard her voice breaking through the fog in my brain, my body reacted. I clenched my arms around Jules and even though I still hadn’t managed to open my eyes, I croaked the word, “No!”

The weight on me shifted. Jules must have lifted his head.

“Sully! I’m going to get your mom. Don’t move him, Jules. Don’t do anything. Stay right where you are." She sounded borderline hysterical. “Stella! Stella, Mark! Get in here! Sully’s awake.”

“Sully,” whispered Jules. “Are you okay? A-are you still you?”

I pried my eyelids open and looked straight into the beautiful eyes of my mate. “Yes,” I managed.

“But, but, how do I know? How do I know you haven’t changed? You were badly hurt. The shaman said you might not be the same.”

“You know ’cause I’m your Sully and you’re my Jules. You’re my mate. My first and best friend. You’re the thing I love more than anything else in the world.”

His eyes filled with tears that quickly spilled down his cheeks. “Well, if you only remember one thing, that’s not a bad place to start.”

“Are you okay?”

“Am I okay? Are you kidding me? You almost died, Sully.”

“I know, but you were so scared. I could feel it through the bond. Are you okay?”