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Bridget colored and stepped forward. “Hey…so I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the other day. What I did, it was a dick move. I’m sorry. You seem cool. But some of us still remember what happened with Draven and the others back then...all the things that happened after, and I took that out on you. Start again?”

I smiled. “I’d like that.”

And just like that, the ice broke.

Three hours later, the room was full. Hannah and Linus were back, and I was dancing with all my new friends. We’d had a few drinks, but I wasn’t drunk, just tipsy. I thought it wise to keep a clear head. I looked over at Hannah and Linus again. Draven had brought them over to meet me after they’d arrived, and the way they were with each other made my heart hurt.

I’d wanted that once, that kind of love.

Hannah was sitting in Linus’s lap, and they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Hannah was glowing, and Linus looked as if he’d won the lottery.

“Sickening, right?” Ash said, grabbing my hand and spinning me.

I laughed. “You’re the most cynical person I’ve ever met.”

Her smile slipped.

“Ash? What is it?”

Her gaze came back to me. “I was mated once.”

I stared at her in shock. “What?”

“He died,” she said. “While I was trapped with Draven and the others. Boone was one of only a couple of fighting-age males left with the pack. He was trying to keep everyone safe. Demons came, a lot of them.” Her jaw tightened, and she looked away. “You want another drink?” She strode to the bar.

I followed and grabbed her arm. “I’m so sorry, Ash. I had no idea. God, you must…you must hate me.”

“Nah, unlike some of the idiots here, I know you’re not a crazy bitch like Selene or her nutbag sister.”

“But still, just looking at me must remind you of what happened.”

“It’s okay, Iris.” She smiled gently. “I miss him every fucking day, and I wish he was here with me now, but life can be shitty sometimes, you know that as well as I do. We either roll with it or get flattened. We’re rollers, yeah?”

“Yeah.” I smiled back, but I ached for her. And even though I wasn’t the one who’d hurt this pack, I still felt that guilt. My family was the reason she’d lost her mate.

A hard, warm body pressed into my back, and a muscled arm snaked around my waist. Draven pressed his face into the crook of my neck. “Hey,” he said against my skin. Asher winked and went back to the dance floor.

“Hey.” I turned in his arms and looked up at him. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“A lot more now,” he said, his gaze searching mine. “You wanna go for a walk?” There was no missing the rough yet hopeful note to his voice.

“Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see.” He grabbed a couple of beers in one hand, wrapped his fingers around mine with the other, then led me from the room.

His grip was gentle yet sure, and I found myself clinging to him, soaking in his warmth. There was a full moon, and Draven led me along a pebbled path around the side of the keep and into a small wooded area.

I’d never been back here. “Is it safe?”

“Yeah, it’s demon free and patrolled regularly.” He glanced down at me. “I told you I’d keep you safe, Iris. You didn’t believe me?”

“I believed you,” I said and meant it. I knew he’d keep me safe. I just wish I knew how he felt about me. I wasn’t the mate he would have wished for himself; I knew that much. And although he might want to, he didn’t trust me, not fully.

We broke through the trees, and I stopped in my tracks. “Wow, this is…beautiful.” A small lake surrounded by trees glistened as moonlight danced across the surface.

“You really like it?”

I turned back to him. He sounded…unsure. “I really do.”