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Willow planted her hands on her hips. “Iris…”

“I don’t know why you have this obsession with finding me a mate, but you need to cut it out. I’m not you, and Relic isn’t Warrick. I promise you, Relic isn’t going to see me across a bloody battlefield and suddenly realize that I was there all along, and that he can’t live without me.”

Relic threw his head back and laughed.

“I knew Willow was my mate as soon as I met her,” Warrick said, slathering butter on his piece of toast.

“See,” I said to Willow. “Thank you, Warrick.”

Warrick shrugged. “You still need someone to take your back. You don’t want Relic, we’ll find someone else.”

I hated owing people, and I didn’t want my brother-in-law to force one of his brothers to follow me everywhere against their will. “It’s not that I don’t want Relic…” Relic winked, and I shook my head at his brazenness. “But I want to find someone myself—”

“You’re running out of time,” Willow said.

She wasn’t trying to freak me out, she was worried, but this wasn’t helping.

Relic’s flirty grin slid away. “I’ve got no ulterior motives, Iris. Happy to take your back, babe, if you need me.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that, and I may take you up on the offer, but it feels important to work this out myself. The mother wants all of us to prove ourselves, not get our big sister, the Keeper, to fix it all for us. Besides, help from family or coven is forbidden, and Willow finding backup for me could be construed as help. That seems too close to crossing the line, and I won’t risk it.”

Willow cursed, “I guess you’re right. Shit.”

“What about the wolves?” Else said. “We’ve been without a pack here so long, we’ve overlooked ’em. The local pack and the witches here in Roxburgh have always worked together.”

The look in Draven’s eyes from the night before filled my mind, and my belly clenched. “I don’t know about that…”

“Silver Claw is a solid pack, good, honorable people,” Warrick said. “Draven is a strong alpha, trustworthy, and I know he’s looking to increase their power. I think they’d be open to some kind of exchange.”

Witches had exchanged magic with the packs for protection in the past—incantations, healing, or wards to protect their territory. But I doubted Draven would want to do that with me, not after the things he’d said at the bar.

“I’ll think about,” I said, lying through my teeth.

Mags cursed suddenly, and we all turned to her.

She looked up from her phone. “Amy Sartori and Imogen Lewis have gone missing.”

We all froze around the table. “What do you mean, missing?”

“It’s all over Nightscape,” she said, face pale. “They never came home last night. They found Amy’s car not far from Oldwood Forest, but no sign of either of them. Someone said they saw Amy walk into the woods. They thought she was alone and called out to her, but she ignored them.”

Nightscape was a social media app used mainly by witches and shifters and was magically hidden from humans. It was also our main source of news and information.

Unease filled me. Both girls were Rose’s age, and both had fathers on the witch’s council. Cesare Sartori was fairly powerful and a major asshole. I didn’t know much about Imogen’s family; I’d never spoken to councilor Lewis.

“That forest is swarming with demons, do you think they could have…” Mags trailed off, the thought too horrible to say out loud.

“Both of their fathers are on the council,” Willow said, saying out loud what I’d been thinking.

Mags leaned forward. “Do you think that means something?”

Willow shook her head. “I’m not sure. I just hope they’re found…and quickly.”

CHAPTER 3

Iris

The bar was busy again tonight, and he was back.