My eyes snapped open, and I bolted upright in bed. A moment ago, Sinclair had been inside me—in more ways than one. My hand flew to the spot where my neck meets my shoulder. I could still feel Sinclair's fangs sinking into my flesh, but there was no wound.

I wasn't bleeding, and it didn't hurt—though it hadn't hurt in the dream, either. Suddenly, I remembered Sinclair's ominous words about a mating mark not hurting if timed correctly, and it all clicked into place.

I was still riding the emotional high of the dream. I couldn't believe I'd become a wolf! It had been incredible, unlike anything I'd ever imagined. And then there was Sinclair. My body flushed with heat; my heart pounded. It felt so real, and I was so glad we'd shared that moment.

At the same time, I wondered if the sex had been so amazing because it was a fantasy. It had to be; no one could be that amazing in real life, right?

The more I thought about it, reliving every touch, every word, the faster I came crashing back to reality. I was grateful and ecstatic it had happened, but quickly became depressed that it was over. Before those feelings could fully take hold, however, I heard pounding footsteps. In a blink, Sinclair was there, standing in the doorway, his eyes raking over me with concern.

"Ella," he breathed, relief evident in the sound of my name. He must have fallen asleep in his study instead of coming to bed—but he was here now. He crossed the room quickly, reaching for me as soon as he was close enough. "Are you alright? You disappeared from the dream so quickly!"

I nodded weakly, my face framed in his hands. I was still sad our stolen night had ended, but I didn't want Sinclair to see how pitiful I felt. "I don't know what happened; one minute we were…" I trailed off, flushing, "and the next I was here."

"Goddess, I can't believe this. Come here," Sinclair said, settling on the bed and pulling me into his lap. He pressed a lingering kiss to my lips, then rested his forehead against mine, gazing lovingly into my eyes. "My poor little mate, you didn't even get a chance to come down to earth."

Pain blossomed in my chest at the term "mate," but I snuggled in, eager for a few more moments of affection. "Well, maybe if you hadn't ravished me so completely, I wouldn't need so much recovery time."

"Surely you aren't complaining about too much pleasure?" Sinclair teased, kissing me again. "If you weren't such an insatiable little thing, I wouldn't have had to work so hard to satisfy you."

I laughed, but it quickly verged on a sob. "Don't," I pleaded. "I'm already struggling with the fact that it's over."

"Over?" Sinclair repeated, pulling back to stare at me in disbelief. "What are you talking about? Stars, Ella, don't you realize what this means?"

"It doesn't mean anything," I argued. "It was just a dream; that was the point. A way for us to get closure without complicating things in the real world."

"Ella, you shifted, you became a wolf! That wouldn't have been possible if you were truly human," he reasoned, as if it were obvious.

"But I am human," I reminded him, feeling increasingly frustrated.

To my utter shock, Sinclair's face lit up like a firework. He grinned down at me so widely I couldn't help but return the expression. "No, baby, I don't think you are. I was too caught up in claiming you in the dream, but now that my wolf is satisfied, I can think more clearly. Don't you see—this would explain everything: why I was so interested in you before you became pregnant; why you were able to conceive my child; how insistent my wolf has been about claiming you; your smell; your wolfish behavior." He continued excitedly. "I've been attributing everything to the baby because I didn't have another explanation, but now it finally makes sense."

"What makes sense?" I exclaimed, completely lost. He seemed to possess far more information than I did. "And what do you mean you were interested in me before, and that your wolf wanted to claim me?"

Sinclair chuckled, and I fought the urge to growl at him. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I forgot you didn't know. Yes, I always noticed you—it was annoyingly distracting every time I saw you in the neighborhood. Every time, I'd end up thinking about you for hours afterward, and I even started hoping I'd run into you and the kids. I never did anything about it because I thought you were human."

"Then why the hell were you such a jerk to me about Cora, and when we found out I was pregnant?" I demanded grumpily.

Sinclair exhaled heavily. "I was in a bad place. I'm not proud of how I acted, and I know there's no excuse for it. I can only say I was an idiot. But my wolf is the reason I agreed to your plans in the first place; that's what I meant when I said I'd been holding him back. He wanted you long before I was willing to acknowledge my feelings for you."

"I still can't believe you love me," I whispered, feeling shy. I'd told myself those sentiments would stay in the dream, but a silly, insecure part of me needed to hear it again. As if I feared the dream was just my imagination, even though I knew it wasn't.

Sinclair's expression softened, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "How could I not?" he crooned, making me melt. "You're everything I could hope for in a mate, Ella." I was thrilled to hear these words, but also confused. I knew I was being slow, and it was hard not to feel stupid, but I simply didn't understand what he was talking about. I would know if I wasn't human, wouldn't I? Seeing my expression, some of the elation faded from Sinclair's features. "I should have looked into this ages ago… but hindsight is 20/20. In very rare cases, it's possible for wolves to be hidden, buried so deeply a person doesn't even know it's there."

"How?" I pressed eagerly, needing this answer as much as I needed air.

Sinclair removed a hand from my body to rub the back of his neck, and I glared at the movement, affronted by the loss of his touch. Sinclair caught the look on my face and raised a foreboding eyebrow, forcing me to soften and avert my gaze. It felt the way it had when I showed him my belly in the dream, and I understood that something inside me instinctively responded to his dominance.

Only after I submitted did he continue. "The strange thing is that normally, when a wolf is dormant, it manifests in children separated from both their family and their pack. They grow up thinking they're human, but when they reach puberty and go through their first shift, their wolf drives them to find their own kind." He grimaced. "We call it dormant, but really it's just when a child is too disconnected to know why they're different. When they eventually figure it out, a young teenager shows up at a pack's doorstep—confused and traumatized, to be sure, but finally understanding why they've always been an outsider among humans. I've never heard of a case where someone reached adulthood without their wolf manifesting."

"But you think that's what's happened to me?" I clarified, needing to hear him say it. "You think I'm a wolf, and somehow that part of me just hasn't been able to come out?"

"Yes, trouble," Sinclair beamed, the confusion and mystery forgotten for a moment. When he looked at me like this, I felt like I was the center of his universe, and I'll be damned if it wasn't addictive. "I don't know how or why yet, but it's clear to me that you're the one I've been waiting for. The Goddess sent you to carry this pup because you're my second-chance mate." His hand moved to my belly, and Rafe kicked in reply. "You can be my Luna. We can finally be together—and not only in our dreams."

"Really?" I squeaked, hesitant to believe my ears.

"Really," he confirmed. "We're going to figure out how this happened, and then we're going to wake your wolf for real."