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She screamed again and the fear gripped tighter.

Then I saw her.

She stood in a small clearing, in only my shirt. She’d put it on before she’d gone downstairs to get a snack. Had she left then? I’d been wiped. Christ, I hadn’t even known she was gone.

I rushed for her, searching the shadows for demons, scenting the air for danger. But there was nothing.

I grabbed her arm and spun her to face me. “Iris…” Her eyes were rolled back in her head, only the whites showing. “Iris?” Nothing. “Iris,” I said again, louder this time.

But she couldn’t see or hear me.

“No,” she screamed again. “Let me go!” Her hands lifted, and she covered her ears.

I shook her. “Iris! Look at me. Fucking wake up.”

Her arms fell to her sides, and her mouth opened, a scream of agony was ripped from her throat, and I watched in horror as the now healed slices in her forearms tore open. Blood instantly pumped from the fresh wounds.

“Oh fuck.” I shook her harder. “Iris.”

Nothing.

Fuck this.

I snatched her up in my arms and started running. I needed to call for help, and I couldn’t carry her if I went wolf. I needed to partially shift, something that was painful and only the strongest of the pack could do. I felt my head contort as I called the shift forward, bone crunching, reshaping into my wolf, while my body remained in my human form.

As soon as my muzzle elongated, I tilted my head back and howled.

The call was answered a moment later. They were on their way.

Fuck, she was losing too much blood. I stopped, lay her carefully on the ground, yanked off my shirt, and quickly tore it up. I wrapped her arms, trying to staunch the blood, then lifted her and started running again toward the road. She’d walked so far, if I carried her back by foot, I was afraid she wouldn’t make it.

Ash was waiting with the truck when I burst through the tree line. I jumped in the back, and Asher took off immediately. There was a tarp back here, and I pulled it over Iris to keep her warm and held her tight to my chest.

Her skin was fucking freezing. She could have hypothermia in this weather, walking around in only one of my shirts. “Stay with me, petal. I need you to stay with me.” Her eyes were closed, her skin white, lips bloodless. “Iris, open your eyes.”

She didn’t move.

“Iris!” I barked at her.

Her lashes fluttered, her eyes rolling back down before they slowly opened.

Whatever that was, she was back now. Her eyes were wide and deep brown again, and there was recognition in her gaze. “D-Draven?”

I held her tighter to me. “Don’t try to speak, okay? Just stay right here with me. Look at me.”

She nodded, her gaze not leaving mine, but she was scared out of her fucking mind, and I wanted to tear this forest apart and find whoever was doing this to her—and when I did, I would fucking destroy them.

Iris

I lifted my arms and stared down at them groggily. They were wrapped again, and I assumed stitched. Last night hadn’t been a dream.

“You’re awake.”

I turned my head on the pillow. Draven sat by the bed. He looked tired.

His eyes were darker than I’d ever seen them, and stress lined his face. “What the fuck was that? What happened last night?”

I closed my eyes and tried to think. It was hazy. “I don’t…know. One moment I was downstairs getting food, the next I was walking through the woods.”