Jason perches on the edge of the coffee table, facing me, careful not to knock over the ice cream.
"Shifters," he starts, then stops. Tries again. "Shifters hook up a lot. Especially unmated shifters. It's... it's physical. It burns off energy. It feels good. But it doesn't mean anything. It's like—" He searches for a comparison. "It's like scratching an itch. You do it, it feels good, you move on. No feelings involved."
"Great. That's really comforting. Thanks for confirming that I was just an itch Knox needed to scratch—"
"That's not what I'm saying." Jason leans forward, earnest. "Knox has had a lot of people in his bed. That's true. I'm not going to lie to you about that. But he's never claimed any of them."
"He said mine to me approximately seven hundred times. You're telling me he's never said that before?"
"Not like that. Not—" Jason struggles for words. "When Knox fucks someone, he's in control the whole time. He doesn'tlet go. He doesn't let his lion out. He definitely doesn't let anyone mark him."
Something cold prickles at the edge of my awareness. "Mark him?"
"Your marks are all over him, Toby." Jason's voice is quiet now, serious. "Not just sex scratches. Claim marks. On his back, his shoulders. You bit him hard enough that it's going to scar on a shifter, and his lion let you. Do you understand how huge that is? We've never seen him let anyone touch him like that. Never."
I remember biting him. In the heat of it, overwhelmed, lost—I'd sunk my teeth into his shoulder without thinking. He'd groaned and pulled me closer, not pushed me away.
"That doesn't—"
"And the bath," Jason continues. "Did he run you a bath? After?"
I don't answer. The memory of that bath—the hot water, Knox feeding me strawberries, the soft way he'd looked at me—makes my chest ache.
"He's never done that for anyone. Never done aftercare, never made breakfast, never cared if someone was okay after. Most of his hookups are out the door before sunrise. But you—" Jason shakes his head. "He wanted to take care of you. He wanted to keep you."
"But the drawer—"
"Is for hookups. Random fucks that don't matter. People who know the score, who aren't expecting anything, who are just there to burn off energy." Jason holds my gaze. "You're not one of them. You matter. You matter so much that Knox is currently four hundred pounds of miserable lion lying on his apartment floor, refusing to shift back because his human form hurts too much without you."
I pull the blanket tighter.
"I'm not his mate," I say, but my voice wavers.
"You are. His lion chose you the second you walked into the bar, soaking wet and scared and wearing that ridiculous cardigan with cats on it." A small smile flickers across Jason's face. "I've never seen Knox react to anyone the way he reacted to you. He nearly shifted right there in the bar." Jason runs his hands through his hair. "Look, I know it's fast. I know it doesn't make sense in human terms. A week ago you didn't know any of us existed, and now I'm telling you that a lion shifter has decided you're his forever person. That's insane. I get it."
"It is insane."
"But in shifter terms? Knox is completely gone for you. And we ruined it—me and Ezra and Silas—by not realizing you didn't understand the difference. We thought you knew. We thought—" He breaks off, frustrated. "We thought you were like the others. That it was casual. That you'd laugh about the drawer and the hookup stories because you knew you were different. But you didn't know. And we made you feel like you were nothing special, when you're—god, Toby. You're everything to him."
I stare at the TV. Moana is meeting Maui now, dealing with his ego, trying to get him to help her save her island.
"It doesn't change anything," I hear myself say.
"What?"
"Even if that's true—and I'm not saying I believe you—it doesn't change anything." I pick at a loose thread on the blanket. "I'm still just some human who stumbled into his bar. He's still this gorgeous, dangerous, powerful shifter who could have literally anyone. Shifters, humans, whoever he wants. Why would he pick me?"
"Because you're you." Jason says it like it's obvious. "Because you walked into a bar full of predators and asked if you could charge your phone. Because you didn't run screamingwhen you found out what we were. Because you wear cardigans with cartoons on them and read to kids at the library and you deal with Knox without flinching."
"That doesn't make me special."
"It makes you exactly what he needs." Jason leans closer. "Knox has spent his whole life being the biggest, scariest thing in the room. Everyone's afraid of him, even other shifters. But you—you looked at him and saw a person. Not a monster. Not a threat. Just Knox. Do you have any idea how rare that is? How much that matters?"
I don't answer. Can't.
"He wants you," Jason says quietly. "Not just for now. Forever. When shifters mate, it's permanent. It's not something we do lightly. And Knox's lion chose you. That's not going to change. That's never going to change."
"We've known each other a week," I whisper.
