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He dipped his head closer, ignoring me. “You want me to fuck you, don’t you, little witch? Right up against this wall.”

His chest heaved, and he pressed deeper into me. He was naked, hard, and I was obviously twisted because his hateful lust had me craving exactly what he said.

But I was not doing this. I may be a masochist when it came to this male, okay, no maybe about it, but if I allowed this to happen, if I let my body’s reaction to Draven override literally everything else, I’d turn a new corner, right into certifiable.

He growled and took my jaw in his rough fingers, his lips moments from touching mine—

“I rescind your invitation,” I said and grabbed the handle, flinging the door open.

Draven’s eyes widened a moment before he was pulled away from me, the ward around the cemetery, our magic, extracting him, like he was connected to a bungee cord.

He flew through the air, tossed out of the grounds. I rushed out as he jumped back to his feet and charged forward, hitting the ward again and getting knocked back.

I walked up to the barrier but kept a safe distance away.

His chest heaved. “Let me back in.”

I shook my head. “Not happening.”

“Let me in, Iris,” he said again, not a request, a demand.

The wind was wild and plastered my damp robe to me. I shivered but held my ground. “I won’t let you take all that rage you’ve been holding on to, rage for Selene, out on me. And sure as hell not like that. I don’t know what went down between you and her, but we are not the same person. We may have the same face, but that’s where the similarities end.”

He froze.

“Go home, Draven.”

Then I walked away.

CHAPTER 11

Draven

What the fuck was I doing?

Panting, I watched Iris walk away. I fisted my hair as my wolf fought me harder. I should never have come here.

Every muscle in my body tightened. I could still smell her blood. She thought the smell disgusted me. She couldn’t be more wrong; what it did was send my wolf into a frenzy. The beast recognized Iris as mine, it didn’t matter if I wanted that to be true or not, and her blood was like a siren going off in my head, firing to life every protective and possessive instinct I had.

What the fuck was I going to do? How did I fight this feeling? My mind was fracturing more with every day that passed. I could feel myself falling backward. Last time I’d felt my sanity slipping, I’d been physically trapped, knowing my people were suffering and not being able to do anything about it.

This time, it was like the little witch had a vice grip on my mind…and my wolf.

I didn’t know what the answer was. How to stop this? Everything was spinning out of control. My focus needed to be on establishing our pack here, on clearing and maintaining our territory—instead, I was out all night, compelled to follow that female, to be close to her, to protect her.

I didn’t fucking want her.

Liar.

I didn’t want to want her.

I paced away and back to the edge of the cemetery, my gaze moving to the shed.

Goddammit.

The female was reckless by nature, it was easy to see that. And this task she was doing, having to prove herself, was going to get her killed. I thought Mother Nature was supposed to be good and kind and nurturing? Instead, the goddess was a selfish, twisted bitch, sending unprepared witches to their fucking deaths for her own entertainment.

Her task had something to do with that box of bones. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew she was in danger.