Page 16 of Binding His Fated Mates

It wasn’t funny at all.

Harris gripped the fork and pulled. It didn’t even budge on the first try. On the second, it came free with a grinding sound, leaving a deep, ugly hole behind.

“That’s solid wood,” he said quietly, turning the fork over in his hands. His expression was grim. “Regular human strength doesn’t do this. Neither does wolf strength.”

He and Reed exchanged a look from across the room. Something passed between them, fast and seamless, a wordless communication that seemed to speak volumes.

“Daniel,” Harris said, his voice measured. “Can we talk? Privately?”

Daniel was down on the floor with me. I realized, belatedly, that I was still on top of him. His hands were grasping my arms. And we were close enough that his scent was intoxicating—old books and something herbal and citrusy, like lemon verbena, probably the scent of whatever ingredients he used in his spells. But he’d smelled that way to me ever since I’d first become a wolf.

Abruptly, I released him and stood. Then I offered him my hand to help him up. He took it. His fingers were cold.

“Oh. I—uh—sure,” Daniel said, turning to face Harris. His face went beet red. He didn’t especially like attention, and every pair of eyes in the room was fastened to him. “Now?”

Harris and Reed exchanged another look. Then Harris nodded. “Yes, right now.”

“Okay.” Daniel’s voice was small. The bright armor of his smile was gone, and he looked exactly as scared as he probably was.

Harris and Reed led the way out of the mess hall, and Daniel followed them. Every pair of eyes in the room was glued to them.

I glanced over at Hunter, who was still standing there, his expression a mix of total confusion and unease as his gaze searched mine.

“Lee, don’t. He’ll be fine,” he said, scowling at me.

I didn’t even bother replying to that. Instead, barely even thinking about what I was about to do and why, I turned around and went after Daniel. The stricken expression on the warlock’s face was seared into my mind.

I’d almost lost him. I still needed to protect him. I would always need to protect him.

Nothing else mattered.

“Dammit, Lee,” Hunter said with a beleaguered sigh and followed me out the door.

CHAPTER FOUR || DANIEL

Ifollowed Reed and Harris across the commune toward Reed’s cabin, the morning air seeping through my flannel, trying to keep myself breathing normally even though I felt like I was half an inch from hyperventilating.

A dining utensil had just almost killed me. A fork. And if Lee hadn’t pulled me out of the way, I’d be dead. Killed at a pack breakfast by a piece of cutlery. It was so ridiculous it was almost funny. It would’ve been if I weren’t so terrified of what was coming next.

Because it was my fault. I didn’t want to think it, but my brain refused to let me not see what had happened.

It had to be because of me. Oliver hadn’t thrown the fork himself. First, why would he do that? There was no good reason. We got along fine. And in front of the entire pack? No way. Second, even if he had thrown it at full strength, he still wouldn’t have been able to throw it that hard. He was strong, but not that strong. Third, he’d looked way too freaked. He hadn’t been faking it. Last, Reed had given him an alpha command. He couldn’t have lied, even if he’d wanted to.

Which meant that, if the mundane explanation was ruled out, it must’ve been magic. And that couldn’t be a coincidence.

It was connected to my initiation.

The same way I was becoming a little bit more wolflike, the rest of the pack was… what? Becoming more magical somehow? If so, my magic was obviously manifesting in unpredictable and dangerous ways.

Terrific.

I’d caused another disaster. Because that was what I did. I destroyed things, especially the ones closest to me. I was a one-man hurricane, leaving a trail of wreckage in my wake.

And now Harris and Reed knew that, too.

My stomach flipped and my breath caught before I could stop it. My eyes started burning, my vision turning glassy. Because they were probably going to kick me out of the pack, once they understood what was happening. And that was probably even the right call.

I rubbed my eyes furiously—I refused to cry in front of Harris and Reed. Then, when I felt a strange flicker of awareness in the back of my mind, I glanced over my shoulder. And then I almost tripped over my own two feet.