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Iris pressed her mouth into a flat line, but she dipped her chin. “I’ve not purposely kept anything from you. Is there anything you need to tell me?”

I shook my head, still struggling with this, with the way she fucking looked.

She held herself rigid, distant. “Cool, then let’s get this over with.”

I inwardly cursed. I didn’t know what else to say to her. So I sniffed the damned sweater, tossed it back in the truck, and moved to the entrance of the forest.

I paced back and forth, scenting the air. It didn’t take long. A scent, sweet and floral, reached me. “Got it.” I stayed in my human form. I didn’t need to go wolf to follow the trail, and I needed to be able to communicate with Iris. “You can manage a jog?” I asked her as we headed into the forest.

“I’m a runner, even before I knew I could do this.” Her color was high, her wolf’s eyes bright with pleasure. “Start running, I’ll keep up.”

Nia looked ready to explode out of her skin.

I started slow and Iris kept up easily, so I picked up the pace. Again, my mate had no trouble keeping up with me in her wolf form. Exhilaration filled me out of nowhere.

“Is that all you’ve got?” she called from behind, pushing me like she loved to.

I glanced back at her and bared my teeth in a grin, then accelerated. The pounding of her feet hitting the forest floor stayed close behind me. Her laughter, the pure joy I heard, filled me with the same. I jumped a creek, and she was right there with me.

I never imagined we could have this. That we’d ever be able to run together like this. Her magic had given this to us. The realization twisted all up inside me. How could you fear something and be thankful for it at the same time? But that’s exactly how I was feeling.

She was beside me now, and I glanced at her again. Fuck, she was gorgeous—

A growl ripped through the woods, and I spun back.

Demons, several of them, moved out from behind the trees ahead of us. Nia snarled, baring her teeth.

“Go back,” I said to Iris. “Get out of the woods.”

Then I dug my feet into the packed earth and ran at them, holding nothing back.

More demons, more than I could fight alone, moved to block our way.

Fuck. I needed to hold them off until Iris got to safety. They weren’t getting to my mate. Nothing else mattered except keeping her safe.

I exploded into my wolf, my clothes shredding to the forest floor around me.

Then I ran at them.

CHAPTER 30

Iris

Demons surrounded Draven.

Nia jumped in front of me, barking and growling.

Nia help alpha. Nia fight.

She’d be killed. “No, Nia stay.”

Draven tore into a demon, but there were too many. One clawed him, another trying to take a bite out of his side.

I had to do something. There was no way I was going to just leave him here to be torn to shreds. Up until we were ambushed, the forest had been alive with the sounds of animals and birds, of the wildlife that lived here.

I closed my eyes and called on my power, trying to reach out to every beating heart around me. I knew I could control more than one animal after the rats. I’d never tried to call on more than one species, though. Kicking off my shoes, I dug my toes into the dirt and made a slice in my hand.

The growls and snarls grew. Draven was fighting for his life to protect me.