Page 23 of Binding His Fated Mates

Hell, it was the reason I’d gotten injured by the Algea. I’d thrown myself in front of the warlock, putting myself in harm’s way for him without even thinking about it. My only thought had been not him.

But wanting someone safe and trusting them weren’t the same thing. And yeah, I still loved him. I wasn’t sure how not to.

But Daniel had lied to us for twelve years. I could want Daniel alive and maybe even happy, but the last time I’d trusted Daniel Henbane, he had destroyed me.

Yet, standing in his cabin, surrounded by his things, breathing his scent, the bond between us was humming so loudly I could barely think, all I really wanted, deep down, was to find a way back to him again.

“I need some air,” I said abruptly. Then, before either of them could reply, I opened the door and fled outside.

* * *

I sat on the porch steps for a long time. The commune was quiet. Reed had sent word around that the pack should stay in their cabins until further notice, so the usual evening activity—wolves drifting between cabins, gathering at the fire pit, the comfortable background noise of us all settling in for the night—was absent. It felt like the whole place was holding its breath.

Lee came out eventually and sat down beside me on the steps, close enough that our shoulders almost touched. We didn’t say anything for a good long while.

“You spoke for both of us,” I said, breaking first.

“Was I wrong?”

I wanted to say yes. The lie was right there, locked and loaded on my lips. But it wouldn’t come.

“No,” I said grudgingly. “You weren’t wrong.”

Lee nodded. Beside me in the gathering dark, he was steady and patient, the way he always was.

“You did save his life today,” I said. The words felt strange in my mouth. More vulnerable than I wanted to be, even with my other half. “If you hadn’t had that… vision, or premonition, or whatever it was, Daniel would be…”

I couldn’t finish the sentence. An image rose unbidden in my mind. The hole in the wood right behind where Daniel’s head had been, after Harris had finally managed to pry the fork free. What if that had been his skull? It almost was.

My stomach lurched at the thought.

“Believe me, I know.”

“Thank you.” My voice was rough. I cleared my throat. “For—err—yeah. Thank you. I don’t think I said it before.”

“Enough of that,” he said softly, bumping his shoulder against mine. It was the most physical affection we’d exchanged in weeks.

We didn’t talk about the important things often enough. That was completely my fault. Lee was usually willing to sit in the hard stuff. I was the one who bolted.

“How are you doing with all of this?” I asked. It came out stilted, because I was awful at this. “You seem… okay.”

“You mean, how is it being so close to him?”

I let out a long, shaky breath. “Yeah. Isn’t it killing you?”

“Things feel different now,” Lee replied. “It might sound strange, but I saw him die, Hunter. And if he had—” He looked over at me. “C’mon. You wouldn’t be okay, either. You can’t tell me you would be. I saw it happen. And it was real.”

I couldn’t argue with that, even if I’d wanted to. “And you’re just forgiving him? Just like that?”

Maybe it was immature, but I wanted to cling to my sense of betrayal. It was basically the only defense I had left.

“I think I forgave him a long time ago,” Lee said. Though his words were gentle, they still struck me like a blow. “For some of it, anyway.” He paused and I felt his gaze on me, but I didn’t trust myself to look at him. “I understand why he did what he did by bringing us here. The alternative was letting us die. I would’ve done the same damn thing in his shoes.”

When I opened my mouth to argue, he cut me off. “Think about it, Hunter. If Daniel was dying and you knew a way to save him—even if it changed his life forever—you’d do it in a heartbeat. Even if he hated you for it, you’d still do anything you could to save him. Don’t even try to deny it.”

“Yeah,” I said, my voice going raw around the single word. My eyes started burning again. “I guess you’re right.”

“So, what I’m saying is, it doesn’t feel fair to hate him for that. We got a pass back then because we were both fucked up about it, but now we’re not. And we ought to try to forgive what he did.”