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The urge to keep her here, to not let her leave, grew stronger.

But I realized now, I’d have to ease her into this. Telling her she was mine and then expecting her to offer herself to me was probably not going to go down well with my feisty little witch.

She watched as I moved closer. “No, I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“You’re not.” Now that I’d finally accepted my fate, my wolf calmed. My gaze moved over her. I liked the way she looked in my bed. “I think you know me well enough to know I’d tell you if you weren’t wanted here.” No, I didn’t see Selene when I looked at Iris, not like I had before. They were nothing alike, but that didn’t mean I trusted this female yet.

I could look past who her ancestors were, though, if I got to wake up next to her warm body every morning. If I had her there, naked and wanting, in the middle of the night when I woke hard and hungry for my female.

Because stroking myself to thoughts of her hadn’t been enough. It was never enough.

“This is true. You certainly don’t hold back,” she said and winced. “But I need a shower. I can’t rest like this.”

“No problem.” I closed the space between us. She did need a shower. Her scent was fucking with my wolf. I couldn’t breathe easy when each inhale was full of the scent of my female’s blood. I scooped her up in my arms. She gave a little cry of alarm, and I ignored it and carried her to my bathroom.

“I can walk,” she said.

“Sure you can.”

“I can.”

She was leaning on me, struggling to even hold her damned head up. “You lost a lot of blood. If I set you on your feet, you’ll fall on your sweet little ass,” I said and grinned when her eyes narrowed.

“It’s probably best you don’t look at my ass.”

I sat her on the edge of the tub. “I’ve seen a whole lot more than your ass, petal.”

“Petal?” Her cheeks turned pink.

I shrugged. It suited her as far as I was concerned. Pretty, colorful, delicate. I got the temperature right in the shower and shoved my jeans down.

“Whoa, dude! Put it away.”

I ignored her protests, and my wolf preened at the way her gaze slid over my body. “You’re covered in blood, and you can barely stand. The bath is out, unless you like the idea of soaking in your own filth, and you need someone to hold you up in the shower, so you’re stuck with me.” I stood in front of her. “Stop being a prude, let’s go.”

Her cheeks grew even darker, but her eyes spat fire. I liked that, the fire. Seeing her so defeated earlier had twisted something deep inside me.

“I’m not a prude,” she said. “Do you have any idea how often witches get naked?”

“Exactly, so let go of the damned blanket and let’s get you cleaned up.” Before my wolf loses its shit and lets you know exactly how badly I want you.

She straightened her shoulders and let the blanket drop. I’d seen her naked before, of course, but now that her life wasn’t on the line, I had to will my dick to stand the hell down. Pretending I was unaffected was not fucking easy.

I lifted her again and stepped under the spray, putting her head under it to wash the mud and blood from her hair. Getting her wounds wet wasn’t ideal, but it couldn’t be helped, which was why Mari had left the bandages off until she was cleaned up.

Iris sputtered. “Are you trying to drown me?” She slapped me on the chest.

A chuckle escaped before I knew it was coming.

“This is funny to you?”

“Sure,” I said and lowered her to her feet, keeping my arm around her waist so she didn’t fall. My laugh died, though, when my arm slipped higher, and her breasts were suddenly resting on my forearm, all warm and heavy and slippery.

I growled and grabbed for the shampoo, then squirted some on her head and went at her hair.

She squawked. “I’d like some hair left at the end of this, if that’s all right.”

“Be quiet and suck it up,” I said and tried to ease up a bit. I’d never done anything like this before. I’d certainly never washed a female’s hair. The ones I fucked took their pleasure and left. There was no lingering or showering.