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She sat, looking around the room, and Dirk brought her a drink. She smiled and thanked him, but going by the slight tremor in her voice, she was feeling overwhelmed.

My protective instincts went into overdrive.

I would make her love it here.

I had to.

“What happened to your arms?” Cleo, one of the older females, asked Iris when we finished eating.

Iris looked down at her forearms, then back up at Cleo. “I ah…had to perform a ritual.”

Cleo’s face screwed up. “You did that to yourself?”

Iris said nothing, just stared back.

The older wolf shook her head. “Why would you do that?”

“Cleo,” I murmured, low but gentle, the warning clear.

She flushed. “I’m sorry, alpha, but why would the fates do this to you…to us? That’s why I voted against this mating. You should be with your own kind, not—”

“That’s enough,” I said with more force, and this time there was no missing how over the line she’d stepped.

The room went silent, and all eyes turned our way. Cleo mumbled an apology and dipped her head. I understood their trepidation. I got why having a witch here would take some adjusting. Our pack didn’t trust them, for good reason. Even I wasn’t sure if I would ever trust Iris completely. That was something that would take time. But I couldn’t let my pack see any doubts.

“Iris is a witch,” I said, raising my voice so everyone could hear. “There are things you won’t understand about her, and I’m sure that goes both ways. We’ll all have to learn from each other. But Iris is my mate, and you will show her respect at all times.”

Cleo’s lips pressed into a thin line, not happy, and her expression was mirrored by several others in the room, but there were nods and, “Yes, alphas,” muttered around us before everyone got back to eating and drinking.

Iris’s discomfort was thick beside me. She didn’t want to be here either. I felt her anger, her fear, it sat around her like a cloak, a wall. I rested my hand on her knee. “I’m sorry.”

“The last twenty-four hours have been…they’ve been a lot,” she said. “I’d like to go upstairs now.”

“Of course.” I curled my fingers around hers and stood. She let me lead her from the room and up the stairs. We hit the hall that led to my chambers and she pulled on my hand.

“I’ve changed my mind. I want my own room,” she said, her eyes bright, that fear growing thicker by the moment.

This was all new, and she was afraid. How could she not be after how badly she’d been hurt in the past. Now she’d been forced from her home, her family as well. I stopped and turned to her. “Forget what Cleo said. They need time, that’s all.”

She wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Well, I need time as well.”

My wolf whined and clawed. I wasn’t okay with that. And if I let her pull away from me now, if I allowed her fear and sadness to become a wall between us, adjusting to life here would be so much harder. I didn’t like seeing her like this. Her fire was gone, and now more than ever, she needed it, that fight, her attitude, and her strength.

I needed to coax it back out to help her get through this, I knew that much. So I did what I had to, what was best for both of us. “No.”

Fury flashed through her eyes instantly, and I almost smiled.

“What do you mean, no?”

“We are sleeping in the same bed tonight, and every night,” I said, and there was a bit more growl in my voice than intended, but it was working.

I kept walking, towing her behind me.

“I don’t want that,” she said through gritted teeth.

She was lying to herself and to me. I spun, lifted her off her feet so we were eye-level, and held her furious stare as I breathed deep. “I can smell how wet you are, Iris. You want me as badly as I want you.”

“I don’t belong with you,” she said, not denying it. “And I don’t belong here.”