“I don’t know that,” Neal counters softly. “Never in my life have I had any reason to believe I mattered to someone else as much as they mattered to me except for June and Sarah. And one of them left, because I said she should. I don’t know how to feel about any of this and I can’t turn off the fear that it means I somehow failed to be as valuable as someone who wants to change a piece of who you are.”

He massages the bridge of his nose, then takes a sip of cold tea. “It’s impossible for me to be objective about this. I’m trying, I really am. Why can’t Lark love you the way we do without bringing you into his pack physically? What I’m hearing is that you want to know what it feels like to be chosen. Special. Different. You’re the one who wants the exclusivity of that. It doesn’t feel good.”