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Ebs would know where Iris was. The pup had taken a shine to my mate and Nia, but she didn’t come running, not even when I called her a second time. I strode down the hall, checking the rooms beside mine—no Iris.

I took the stairs to the great room and searched the tables. The room was fairly full. It was Sunday, and Sally made a big breakfast for the whole pack on Sunday. “Have you seen Iris?” I asked Ash.

Asher looked up at me and frowned. “She’s gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?”

“Ebs saw her get in her car and leave right after she took out that feral.”

What the fuck? I pulled out my phone and checked for messages or missed calls. Nothing. “Why would she do that?”

Ash tilted her head to the side, her expression gentling. “You know why.”

“The hell I do.” But even as I said it, my gut twisted tight.

“Drave, you looked at her like you thought she was coming for you next.” Ash’s gaze grew sympathetic. “You lost it there for a moment, I saw it in your eyes. You were back there, in Salem, in that woods. I get why it happened, but your mate won’t.”

Oh fuck. Ash told me I needed to work through what had happened since we got free. I hadn’t, desperately holding onto my hate, and now I’d hurt Iris.

I knew she wasn’t anything like Charity or Selene, I did. I’d just…I’d lost my damn mind for a few moments. I’d been so on edge for days. I hadn’t slept, afraid whoever was behind all of this would try to snatch Iris from my bed again. My adrenaline had been through the roof, and we’d almost lost Tammy to one of those ferals. I hadn’t been thinking straight; I hadn’t been thinking at all.

Seeing her use the same spell Charity had used to trap me and my warriors had shocked the fuck out of me. Ash was right, I’d been slammed back to that time, trapped, filled with hopelessness. It took me a moment to shake that off.

Ebony marched over and scowled up at me, her face reddened with fury. “You made Iris cry.”

I’d made her cry? Oh fuck. I felt sick to my stomach. “Ebs—”

She stormed off.

Goddammit. I strode away, out the door, trying to call Iris as I went. She didn’t pick up. I jumped in my truck and headed down the mountain.

My wolf paced and whined on the drive to her mother’s house, feeling Iris’s absence strongly. Her words from the day in the field, when she’d been unable to tell me anything but the truth, were on repeat in my head.

“If I let myself care for you, it will hurt so much worse when you finally betray me, just like Brody did.” Her lips trembled. “I don’t want to care for anyone like that again.”

I’d done what she’d been most afraid of. I’d betrayed her trust.

Every day Iris had been growing closer to the pack. My pack mates were more welcoming, including her more often.

And she and I… During the night, we fucked and talked, and she’d nap, then I’d reach for her or she for me and it started all over again.

I’d grown to love the talking part of our night as much as I loved being inside her.

Fuck, I’d held myself back, hadn’t I? Waiting for something to happen, expecting it because I was a fucking idiot.

But Iris was goodness and light. She was giving and strong and loyal. I knew she was all those things, because she showed us every day.

She never asked me for anything. She never offered false smiles or faked her true feelings. When she was pissed off, she told me, showed me, and when she was happy, her entire face lit up.

Iris was exactly what she put out to the world.

I hit the steering wheel hard, so fucking angry with myself.

Christ, furry little animals were drawn to her, trusted her, wanted to be close to her. Charity had never had that. She may have had an affinity with animals, but they didn’t come to her of their own free will, she demanded it of them. My petal had stray cats following her, wild rabbits lying against her—birds flying around her head like she was a princess from a goddamn fairy story. How could I not have seen that? Seen her? Seen Iris for all she was.

How could I have allowed, even one moment of doubt, to creep into my mind?

I needed her back. I needed her with me.