Six weeks after Serena moves in with him for good, Koen reflects on how happy he is with their quiet life in the Northwest. Their days are simple—work, shared routines, movies, music, runs, and life around the cabin—but Koen experiences even the most ordinary moments with Serena as thrilling. When Serena worries that the "boring, married routine" might not suit an Alpha who once lived through constant danger, Koen makes it clear that being with her is everything he wants.

At the same time, Koen has been forcing himself to delay one thing he desperately wants: giving Serena the mating bite that would fully seal their bond. He admits to Saul and Amanda that he told Serena about it, but he has held back because Serena only recently became Were and he does not want to pressure her into a painful, permanent mark for his own peace of mind. Saul and Amanda point out that the incomplete bond is making him miserable, even if he hides most of that misery when Serena is present.

Koen's restraint becomes hardest when he has to spend several days in Human territory for work related to the captured cult members. Separated from Serena, he becomes restless, angry, and unable to focus on anything except missing her. Maddie and Lowe quickly see that his new mating has made distance nearly intolerable, and Lowe implies that completing the mating ritual would make the separation easier. Koen accepts that he will eventually bite Serena, but he remains determined to wait until she has had enough time and space.

When Koen finally returns home, Serena runs to him before he has even parked, and their reunion immediately turns physical. Overwhelmed by desire, relief, and the need to reassure himself that she is safe, Koen takes her inside and starts undressing her. In the middle of kissing him, Serena suddenly bites Koen's neck hard enough to draw blood. Instead of upsetting him, the bite gives Koen intense pleasure and profound emotional certainty: Serena has claimed him, and he is ecstatic that the mark may scar.

Serena panics and apologizes, but then reveals that she has been thinking about biting him and has also been wondering why Koen never asked again to bite her. Koen explains that he was trying, in his own clumsy way, to be patient and respectful after everything she had endured. Serena tells him plainly that she wants him to do it. During sex, Koen bites Serena's gland and marks her in return, completing the mating ritual and sealing their bond in a way that feels final, mutual, and permanent.