Page 18 of Binding His Fated Mates

Maybe I could lie to them? If I did it convincingly enough, I could protect myself. If I told them what I suspected—that the pack was manifesting dangerous bursts of magic because of me—they’d kick me out for sure. But if I didn’t tell them, it would take them that much longer to figure it out, and I might be putting people I cared about—my pack—in terrible danger.

I dropped my gaze to the floor—because I didn’t want to see their reactions—and sucked in a deep breath. “It’s me. I’m the one causing this.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Hunter shooting me a startled look. But he remained quiet.

“Daniel,” Reed said. “Why do you think that?”

“Because it’s the only explanation that makes any sense.” I swallowed, feeling miserable, but I forced myself to meet his gaze. “Reed, I don’t understand what’s happening. The initiation shouldn’t have done this. But it did.”

The tips of my ears grew warm and I wanted to look away, but I didn’t dare.

“You seem very sure.”

“I’m noticing changes,” I admitted. “My senses are sharper now. I can see better in the dark. I can hear things I couldn’t before. It’s—I’m becoming more wolflike or something.”

“Are you sure?”

“I heard Sally’s heart beating yesterday, from across the room.”

Harris and Reed exchanged a troubled look.

“There’s no precedent for a non-wolf joining a pack through the ceremony, so we don’t have anything to compare it to,” Reed said slowly. “But the night of your initiation, I felt something strange. It felt magical.”

“Because it was,” I said miserably. “Somehow, we’re all sharing power.”

“Hold on. You’re saying this is your magic,” Harris put in. “That the members of the pack are somehow channeling your abilities? That Oliver somehow”—his brows drew together and he hesitated—“telekinetically threw that fork across the room because he was accessing your powers?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I replied, bracing myself for impact. But I forced myself to speak my next words clearly, fighting against the impulse to shrink down to nothing. “Based on what’s happening with my senses and with Oliver, what I think is that the initiation forged a magical connection between me and the rest of the pack. If my magic is bleeding through that connection…” I hated how small my voice sounded. I took another deep breath. “I’d need to research it. I’m sorry. I should have anticipated that this would happen. I should’ve known—”

“Daniel.” Reed’s calm voice cut through my spiral. I looked up. The alpha was watching me with an expression that was, surprisingly, not angry or accusatory. Instead, he seemed almost concerned. “You’re not in any trouble. No one could’ve predicted this. We’re just trying to understand what’s happening and how to keep everyone safe.”

It could’ve been my imagination, but beside me, Hunter and Lee both relaxed fractionally at his words.

Reed’s lips pursed as he considered me. “You look like you haven’t slept in days. Is it just the sharpened senses, or is there more going on?”

I blinked. Of all the things I’d expected him to say, that wasn’t it. “I’m fine.”

“If you weren’t, I hope you’d tell us,” Reed said. “But for right now, I need you to hear this: no one is blaming you. We asked you to join the pack. If whatever is happening is a result of that, we’re going to deal with this together, as a unit.”

“What?” I blurted, before I could stop myself. “You’re not—you’re not kicking me out?”

“For what?” Harris demanded, his eyes widening with surprise. “You didn’t choose for this to happen. Why would we kick you out?”

The relief hit me so hard I nearly choked on it. They were both telling me I still belonged.

“Okay,” I managed. My voice came out small around the hot lump in my throat and my eyes were stinging. “Thank you.”

Don’t cry, I admonished myself, sucking in a ragged breath. Absolutely not, Daniel.

“Obviously, we need you to research this,” Reed added. “You’ll work with Sarah and Emma. We’ll figure out why this is happening and how to control it.”

“We also need to figure out if it’s affecting anyone else in the pack,” Harris added.

“It is.” Hunter sat forward, his expression betraying nothing. “This morning. I was on a run and something startled me.”

“A deer,” Lee put in dryly, his lips twitching, as though he was fighting the urge to smile.

Hunter shot him a glare. “Yeah, a deer. Anyway, it spooked me and a—well, it looked like some kind of weird magical barrier or something—just appeared in front of me. It lasted a few seconds and then it dissolved.” His jaw worked and I caught him shooting me an unreadable sideways glance before he returned his attention to Harris and Reed. “I didn’t do anything to make it happen. It was instinctive. But I definitely did it. I felt it go out of me.”