Page 87

Warrick, who I only noticed was beside him now, stopped him, saying something I couldn’t hear. No doubt Willow had sent her mate to explain how this worked.

I had to walk through the arch to him.

I had to offer myself, give myself to him.

A symbol of strength and a new beginning.

Rowena handed me a small terra-cotta pot. Inside, a wilted plant sat in the soil, the vervain’s small purple flowers, dry and withered. The herb protected against evil spells and negative energy and could be used to purify sacred places and private dwellings. It was also used for medicinal purposes. Every bride was given one to take into her new home and was the first herb to be planted in her own herb garden.

When it was planted, depended on the witch.

I held it tightly in my hands as she started the chant. Else and Mom joined in next, then my sisters. The rest of the coven added their voices until they were one, calling on the mother for her blessings.

Else and Mom walked forward, taking my hands, and led me to the arch. I stopped in front of it and, as they let me go and stepped away, I turned back to my coven, my sisters, and I smiled. I didn’t want them hurting or worrying. Of course, I was terrified, but I wasn’t going to let them see it.

I turned back, and Draven was right there, waiting for me on the other side. All I had to do was walk through and take his hand and it would be done. His gaze was still intense, so much so, I was struggling to catch my breath, but there was something else there as well.

He was afraid.

Afraid that I’d change my mind, that I’d run away. He wanted me to walk to him of my own free will. I felt it now, just how much he wanted that from me.

And I won’t lie; I did want to run. Draven scared me in so many ways, but running would cause harm. He was my future, my fate, whether I liked it or not, was irrelevant, and I had to find a way to make peace with that.

“Iris,” he said, voice impossibly rough and full of so much trepidation and need…and hope. I responded to it as if he’d reached through the arch and taken my hand.

I took a steadying breath—

Nia barked and ran through, straight to Draven. His warriors chuckled, and Draven greeted her with a smile that stopped my heart. She pressed against his thigh and looked at me. There were more chuckles behind me, and I felt the tension break. My coven’s relief. My familiar loving Draven could only be a good sign.

Iris come. We go with alpha. We run with wolves.

Nia couldn’t contain her excitement any longer. She loved Draven, and she trusted him.

Draven held out his hand.

I walked through, finally, and took it. It didn’t matter how I got here or how scared I was, I had to try to make the best of it.

He looked down at me. “Hey.”

I smiled. “Hey there, alpha.”

His nostrils flared. “You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you. You’re utterly insane.”

He flashed me his teeth in a wicked smile. “A little less, now you’re here.”

“So you think a relationship can work when both parties have been forced into it?” I said. My heart was pounding at the way he was looking at my mouth, at having him near, of thinking about what would happen when we got back to the keep.

“If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be standing here doing this now,” he said.

In other words, one of us would be dead instead. Probably me.

“We can be good together, Iris.”

I hoped like hell he was right and that I didn’t grow to resent him. It didn’t matter that neither of us had any real choice in this. I’d just been torn from my home, my life. It would take time to get over that.

I gripped the small pot in my hand tighter as the wilted little herb transformed, becoming green and lush, as the little purple flowers unfurled, so many they overflowed the edges.