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“Yep.”

“Give me a couple minutes and I’ll fuck you again.”

I shoved away from him and got out of bed.

“Come back here,” he said.

“I have somewhere I need to be.”

He was out of bed a second later. “If you think you’re leaving me, Iris…”

“I’m not leaving you, that isn’t an option since you went to the council and I was literally forced to sign my life away. We’re stuck with each other.” For now, anyway. As soon as he got tired of his new plaything, I’d be free to get on with my life. “But I have a task to pass, and time’s running out.”

His jaw tightened. “Wherever you’re going, I’m coming with you.”

I wanted to tell him no, but that would be reckless and pointless. Draven would come with me whether I said he could or not.

We dressed, headed downstairs, and out the door to his truck.

“Where are we going?” he asked as he opened his door.

“One of the missing witches has an apartment in the city. I want to search it while it’s still dark.”

He nodded and we climbed in. “Let’s get this over with.”

CHAPTER 25

Iris

Draven was at my back, so close I could feel him as we walked through the foyer. I’d used a simple spell on the doorman, who’d forget we’d even been there within minutes of talking to us.

“Do you know which apartment we’re looking for?” Draven asked me.

“Yep.” I did, thanks to her oversharing on Nightscape. We climbed into the elevator, and I hit the button for the ninth floor. I would have hit up the other girl’s apartments as well, but Imogen’s family had already been in and cleared her place out, and Marina’s family had security watching hers.

“I hate these things,” he said when the doors closed and we shot upward.

Draven had been trapped for so long that I guess a lot of things were still new to him, like elevators. “It’s safe.”

“I still hate it.”

He was in a bad mood. He had been since we left the keep. “We’re nearly there.”

He motioned to the camera in the corner. “And you’re sure that thing’s turned off?”

“Yes.” I’d learned the spell to deactivate them from a witch who frequented the bar I used to work in. I didn’t ask how he knew it, but I’d tried it afterward and it’d worked. It interfered with video and phone transmission. All you got was a lot of static. It was a simple but highly effective bit of blood magic.

He took my hand and lifted it, scowling at the slice I’d made on my palm. “You need to stop cutting yourself.”

Electricity danced up my arm from that simple touch. I did my best to ignore it. “It’s part of who I am, and something you’ll have to get used to. Else makes a balm that speeds up healing. I have some back at the keep.” Though I’d cut my palm so much it was permanently scarred, like all the witches in my coven.

He grumbled under his breath. Just another reason we were so unsuited. He wanted me to stop doing something that was a fundamental part of who I was and the way I used my magic. Him asking me not to cut myself to spell was like me asking him not to shift. But he didn’t see it that way, obviously.

The doors slid open, and we strode out. It was the middle of the night, but you never knew who was around, so I hurried along the hall, checking room numbers.

“This one.” Amy was a witch, which meant her place would be warded. I needed to break through it if I wanted to get inside. Not something I liked doing. It went against our covenants, our most basic laws, but I had no choice. I pulled my knife from my pocket. “Look away,” I said to Draven.

He growled and did not look away, cursing under his breath as I cut a small X into the palm of my hand.