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“Yes.” He tucked me in tight against him. “And me either.”

I don’t know how long I slept, but I woke to his kisses again sometime during the night. This time, he took me slow and deep, bringing me to several more earth-shattering orgasms before I passed out again.

And later, when the early tendrils of light were peeking through the window, it was me who reached for him. My body called out for his, and I didn’t fight it. Draven flipped me onto my belly, made me come with his mouth, then fucked me from behind. It was wild and out of control, and he told me and showed me how much he liked that I’d woken him, that I’d asked for what I needed.

And it wouldn’t be the last time. Because I ached for him so badly. I never knew a need like this existed, and not just the sex, his touch, the warmth of his skin against mine, the sound of his voice. God, I needed him, too.

Draven wrapped me in his arms and kissed my throat, my jaw. “We’ll make this work, Iris,” he said. “I want this, I need you. Will you try, petal? Will you give us that?”

How could I say no? I didn’t want to. After Brody, I hadn’t wanted anything to do with love and relationships, but I could fall for Draven. If I dropped the walls I’d built around myself, I could fall for the male holding me tight. So I said what was in my shriveled little heart. “I want to try.”

He rolled me onto my back and looked down at me. “You don’t know how happy that makes me,” he said, and the smile he gave me ninja-kicked down the first brick in my emotional wall. “As long as there is honesty between us, as long as we talk about how we’re feeling, we can make this work. Nothing can get in our way. Not Selene, and not how we got here.”

I cupped his whiskered jaw and smiled up at him. “Okay.”

He grinned wider, and then he kissed me again.

Maybe I’d lost my mind, but there was no getting off this train.

I just hoped this didn’t all end in a fiery wreck.

CHAPTER 29

Draven

My gaze was instantly drawn to Iris as she walked down the stairs, Nia at her side. She was chatting to her familiar, having a conversation with her dog like you would with another person.

The great room was bustling, people eating and talking, but my mate was all I could see. She fascinated me in every way. Iris’s abilities, her magic, it wasn’t something I’d allowed myself to think about when it wasn’t right in my face. It was easy to forget what she was capable of.

I’d hated all witches. After what Selene and her sister had done, I’d no longer trusted magic, and honestly, I was still wary.

And now, I had a mate who could communicate with animals. She’d sent fifty rats to find me, to lead me back to her. I’d once seen Charity do it with a horse. She’d whispered something to the beast, and it had taken off. The human male riding it had been thrown and killed, all because he’d dared to reject her.

My mate had inherited her looks from Selene but her powers from Charity.

Something sunk its claws low in my gut, and I shoved it aside as I glanced up at Iris. She was smiling at Asher, who had just walked in. Light streamed through the windows, and it made Iris’s hair look several shades lighter, so much like Selene’s.

But they were not the same person.

Inside, they were nothing alike.

I’d sure as hell never wanted Selene the way I wanted Iris. What I’d felt for Selene hadn’t been real. Selene hadn’t been my mate. Iris was. Why the hell was I thinking about this?

The more I got to know Iris and every day I spent in her company, the resemblance between my mate and Selene became less and less.

I had to find a way to let go of my hatred and my thirst for revenge because I had nowhere to direct it, not anymore.

Nia trotted down the stairs and ran right to me. I crouched and rubbed her head. “Hey, Nia, how’s my good girl?”

“Nia says, that yes, you’re right, she has been a very good girl, and she’d like to know if she gets a treat now?” Iris said, that smile in her voice as well.

I swiped a piece of bacon from the middle of the closest table and gave it to her. Nia swallowed it in one bite, then danced around me before pushing her head against my hand and demanding more pats.

“You have a friend for life,” Iris said, chuckling.

I looked up from Nia. “Glad to hear it.” I held her gaze, searching for any sign of how she was feeling after last night. It felt like a breakthrough to me, like a massive step in the right direction, and I hoped Iris felt that way too. I took her hand and pulled her to me, then cupped the back of her head and kissed her. “Good morning,” I said against her lips. I felt starved of her already.

“Morning,” she said, her eyes dancing. “Didn’t we just do this upstairs?”