After Serena admits that she cannot shift, Koen presses her for specifics instead of accepting a vague answer. Serena reveals that the problem began about a week after she moved to the Southwest, around the day after Ana returned, and that it came with nausea, poor sleep, and physical discomfort. She claims a physician, Dr. Henshaw, blamed stress, but Serena still withholds the full truth because she does not want to burden others or expose her worst secret.

When Serena asks Koen not to tell Misery and Lowe, Koen explains that Were custom does not let him hide this from Lowe because Serena is affiliated with the Southwest and would otherwise be treated as a rogue Were. Serena then tries to solve the problem by asking to affiliate with the Northwest instead, which would place her under Koen's authority. Koen sees that Serena is maneuvering him, but he accepts the arrangement because it gives him the right to control her movements and safety.

Serena admits that she feels safer with Koen, which unsettles him. In response, Koen bluntly says he does not want Serena to feel safe; he wants her frightened enough to obey him without argument when her life is at risk. Even after that threat, Serena responds with tenderness rather than fear, touching his cheek before he pulls away and dismisses her as a nuisance.

Before leaving, Koen tells Serena that every Were already knows she is his mate and that this was done deliberately to protect her, because other Weres will avoid someone important to him. He also makes clear that everyone knows they are not actually together, and he refuses to treat that as humiliating. Left alone, Serena goes to sleep.

During the night, Serena has another of her increasingly sexual, fragmented dreams, but the pleasant dream ends the way it always does: with violent physical distress. She wakes in agony, crawls to the bathroom, vomits, and fights a feverish pain that feels unbearable. To survive it, she forces herself into a cold bath and waits for the heat, pain, and convulsions to ease, revealing how severe her hidden illness has become.