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Then I look at Karloff. “I assume that one means something.”

“Oh, very much.” He puts the device down and begins pacing.

Hewit groans under his breath.

I squeeze his hand again as Karloff mutters to himself and circles the lab, occasionally stopping to scribble something in his notebook.

Finally, Hewit’s patience gives out. “Karloff. Explain.”

“Yes, yes. The simplest explanation is usually preferable.” Karloff stops pacing and looks at us. “You are bonding.”

Hewit looks at me, then back at Karloff. “We know that.”

“No.” Karloff lifts a finger. “You suspect attraction. Mate recognition. Emotional attachment. Those are not necessarily the same thing as an active magical bond.”

“And this is?”

“Oh, yes.” He sounds far too pleased.

I glance at the abandoned device. “The clicking thing says so?”

“The clicking thing, as you call it, detects magical resonance. Separately, Nora registers almost nothing beyond ordinary environmental exposure.”

Hewit’s head snaps toward him. “Nothing?”

Karloff raises a hand. “We will come to that.” He points the pen at Hewit. “You, naturally, carry a considerable magical signature from the Frankenpunch transformation. But when the two of you are close, both readings change. Significantly.”

I look down at our joined hands. “And touching makes it stronger.”

“Yes. The magic recognizes the connection.” Karloff studies us both. “Mate bonds are not something I can reduce to chemistry alone. I have tried. Repeatedly. Very frustrating.” He taps his notebook against his palm. “But there are patterns. Recognition. Heightened awareness. Increased scent sensitivity. Emotional bleed-through. Physical mirroring in stronger bonds. Occasionally, dream-sharing. Rarely, thought impressions.”

I think about answering Hewit’s wolf. “Thought impressions?”

“Not mind reading in the usual sense.”

“Good. I don’t need to know everything he thinks.”

Hewit looks at me. “You’d get bored.”

I smirk. “Unlikely.”

Karloff continues as though we haven’t spoken. “More often, it is intent. Emotion. A word or image carrying sufficient weight to cross the connection.”

Hewit’s thumb stills against my hand. “Can it get stronger?”

Karloff looks at him. “Yes.”

“How much stronger?” I ask.

“That depends on the bond.”

Hewit’s jaw tightens. “Why now?”

“Because you have been reinforcing it with proximity.” Karloff looks between us. “Touch, sex, emotional intimacy, shared sleep, repeated shifts in one another’s presence. Trust.”

He pauses and tilts his head. “And restraint.”

That gets Hewit’s attention. “What does that mean?”