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Karloff sighs. “You do enjoy repeating the least comforting portion of every answer.”

I almost smile.

Karloff doesn’t. “The bond is moving toward completion. The closer you become, the more the bond reinforces itself. Physical intimacy strengthens it. Emotional intimacy strengthens it. Scent, touch, sleep, shifting—everything you are already doing feeds the connection. The magic has already chosen its direction. You can delay it. You can refuse it. The choice remains yours. Always.”

My pulse speeds. “But the bite completes it.”

“That is my belief.”

“And if we don’t?” Hewit asks, his voice low.

Karloff considers him. “The desire to complete it will intensify.”

I swallow. “For both of us?”

“Yes.” Karloff’s attention drops to Hewit’s hand around mine. “You already feel it.”

Neither of us answers.

Karloff’s expression softens. “This is not an illness, Hewit.”

“That doesn’t make it safe.”

“No. But neither does uncertainty make it dangerous.”

Hewit’s eyes flash. “Reid thought he’d killed Scarlett when he bit her. That’s not happening to Nora.”

I turn toward him, my chest aching at his words. “Hewit⁠—”

“No.” He looks at me now. “I’m not gambling with you.”

Karloff watches us in silence for a moment. “There is another factor you are overlooking.”

Hewit doesn’t take his eyes off me. “What?”

“Nora. She also has a choice in this.”

Hewit finally looks at Karloff, his face hard. “I know that.”

“Do you?” Karloff tilts his head. “Because if you truly care for her, you must allow her to decide what level of uncertainty she is willing to accept.”

Hewit’s fingers loosen from mine, and I feel his instinct to retreat. I tighten my grip before he can.

“Even if I ran blood work and examined both of you again before any claiming occurs, it would not provide any more certainty than I have already given you.” Karloff meets Hewit’s stare calmly. “If I believed claiming Nora posed an unacceptable risk, I would tell you not to do it. But based on what we have established here today, I am not concerned about Nora becoming a wolf.”

Karloff’s gaze moves to me. “The longer you resist, the more… intense the desire will become to complete the bond.”

Hewit’s nostrils flare and his eyes snap toward me as heat pools in my core.

Karloff nods. “Like that.”

I press my palms to my burning cheeks. “This is humiliating.”

“Fascinating,” Karloff corrects.

Hewit stares at our joined hands. I know that look now. Thinking. Worrying. Trying to control an outcome no one can control.

Karloff gathers his equipment. “You don’t have to decide today. But you will have to decide soon.” He pauses with a syringe in his hand. “There is, of course, one other option.”