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“What happened?” she asks, her voice soft. “Here.”

I don’t flinch, not with her. Not when I know she cares.

“An old lesson,” I say softly. “One forever etched into my skin.”

“What do you mean?” Her breath hitches as it dawns on her the extent of the lesson that would have caused a scar.

“My brother,” I say as my hand cups hers again. “thought pain would make me a better wolf.”

Her hand flies up to her mouth as she gasps. Her eyes were already shining with tears.

“I’ve always been different, quieter, more in my head. My father and brother would often point out how it made me weak and not fit to be a wolf. They would pull me into the woods, far enough away that nobody else would see. Both of them circling me, trying to provoke my wolf. Dad would have Asher shift and lurch at me. One night when Asher was furious that I still wouldn’t shift or protect myself, he swiped his paw at me catching my side before yanking it back. I thought that would have been the moment Dad would have stopped all of it. But, instead he let Asher pour salt into my wound.”

Her eyes are red and swollen as the tears stream down her cheeks.

“He stood over me and told me that I would forever wear the reminder of the time I failed to protect myself and failed to be the wolf I should be.”

As Asher and my father walked out of those woods, my father’s last words were the worst. He told me that he hoped I never found my mate because I would never be enough for her or protect her like a mate should. I don’t say this part to her. Not because I think she’ll look at me differently, but because I still feel as if he’s right.

Her hand trembles in mine as she quietly sobs behind her other one.

“It didn’t make me stronger,” I say. “It just taught me to hide better.”

I glance down at our fingers intertwined as her thumb sweeps back and forth across my wrist.

“I think the first time I really saw you,” I murmur, eyes watching a cloud move across the sky, “you were dancing around barefoot in your backyard. Your hair was a mess, arms out, as you spun your dress around. Laughter ringing out into the world, lighting up everything it touched.”

She blinks, her breath hitching.

“Our yards back up to each other, remember? I was only a few doors down.” My voice is soft, wistful. “I used to sit and watch you from my room. Not in a creepy way, more out of envy. I didn’t have anything like that in my life. I wanted to be as carefree, alive, and happy as you were. To laugh without holding back, to be so unapologetically me.”

I huff out a faint, almost bitter laugh. “I think I started falling for you the moment I watched you walk out with your mom’s massive flower book when you were far too young to read the words. I’ve been falling every day since then, I just didn’t know it.”

I reach across, brushing away her tears, “This little ray of sunshine that always brightened my day, even when she didn’t know it.”

She doesn’t speak. Can’t. The weight of my words sinking into her like the light onto the water. The sun shifts, just a little, catching the glass of the compass I hooked to my pants. The flare ran across her face, drawing her eye down to it.

The compass.

Hooked to my belt loop, her fingers slowly move toward it. Almost like she’s afraid to touch it. The leather-wrapped sides brushing against her skin as she unhooks it. Flipping it over in her hand, the engraved words are almost whispered as she mouths them.You know how to find me.

She lifts her eyes to mine. “This was you,” she breathes.

My smile is tentative. “It’s always been me.”

I reach out, my fingers ghosting over the compass laying in her hand. It’s as precious to me as she is. I flip it over as I whisper, “I knew I couldn’t tell you who I was, at least not then. I knew you weren’t ready for it.” My throat is straining around the emotion. “But I wanted you to know it was real, that you weren’t imagining me or the feelings you were having. I wanted you to know that there was a pull between us and you weren’t alone in feeling it.”

Selene’s breath catches as her thumb rubs along the side of the leather.

“I chose a compass because…you were always my true north. I knew as long as I had you, I would never feel lost again. You would always guide me home. Because my home isn’t a place, but a person.”

I watch as she swallows hard, the wind tugging at her hair.

“The symbol…” I flip over the compass before tracing the infinity symbol with my finger. “It’s math, sure, but it means farmore than that. Do you know why it’s used in love?” I quirk an eyebrow at her.

She shakes her head slowly, watching my finger trace along the symbol.

“It stands for endless. Unbreaking. Constant. For there is no beginning and no end. For eternity, your love shall exist.” My voice drops, raw words pulling from my soul. “You’ve always been a constant for me, even when you didn’t know it.”