Page 45 of Binding His Fated Mates

Daniel’s expression crumpled all over again and a fresh round of tears spilled down his cheeks. “Hunter, I’m so sorry.”

My twin pulled him into a rough embrace.

“We didn’t know,” Hunter said thickly, his expression miserable as he locked eyes with me over Daniel’s shoulder. “We didn’t know any of it, Daniel. We just assumed you didn’t trust us. We were so stupid. I was so goddamn stupid.”

Daniel said something unintelligible, his words muffled against Hunter’s chest. It might’ve been “you weren’t stupid,” but that didn’t matter.

Then, more loudly, Daniel said, “Please forgive me.”

Belatedly, I rose to my feet and crossed the distance as well. Though I felt hesitant. As if I didn’t quite belong in their embrace.

Yet again, I was reminded that my other half was the one who acted. The one who actually embodied himself—his emotions and his desires—regardless of the consequences. The one who was more Hunter Lee Jameson than I.

The one anyone would choose. He was the real one. The one who wasn’t half a person.

Hunter pulled back just enough to look at Daniel’s face—tear-streaked, red-eyed, terrified to hope—and said fiercely, “I forgive you. Okay? I forgive you. It’s done. That part is done, okay?”

Daniel’s eyes shut and he cried a bit longer on Hunter’s chest. Then he took a deep breath and stepped back far enough to meet my gaze. The look on his face—agonized and desperate—forced me into action.

“I forgive you,” I said, when I could finally manage words. They came out sounding all wrong, hoarse and jagged, as if I hadn’t spoken in a thousand years. “Of course I do. There’s barely anything to forgive.”

The foulness I’d been carrying in my chest for two years—the tangled knot of my grief, my anger, and my betrayal, a crushing weight so familiar that I’d stopped even noticing it—finally, quietly, slid free.

And then I finally put my arms around them both, pulling them tight against me. The closeness, after two years apart, was everything my body and soul had been craving.

And for a moment, I did feel real, my racing mind going quiet at last.

I felt… complete.

Hunter’s breathing hitched and so did mine.

We all stayed like that, clutching at each other, for a very long time. Long enough that Daniel’s tears ran out and his breathing steadied against Hunter’s chest. Long enough that my arms ached from holding them both so tightly, but I didn’t care.

When we finally separated, Daniel wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand and let out a shaky laugh. “Well. That was—a lot.”

“Yeah,” Hunter said, his voice rough. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, it was.”

We were in uncharted territory now, the three of us, and I was pretty sure that none of us quite knew what to do next.

Because everything—absolutely everything—had just changed.

CHAPTER ELEVEN || DANIEL

“We should get some sleep,” Hunter said. Then he glanced over at Lee and added, “We ought to push our beds together. They aren’t big enough for three.”

We’d moved from the kitchen area, and I was sitting between them on the couch. They were each holding one of my hands. I wasn’t sure who had reached for whom.

Lee nodded. “Yeah, we ought to.”

Alarm surged through me. “What are you guys talking about? Pushing the beds together?”

“Just temporarily,” Hunter added. “We’ll need to get a bigger bed. Eventually.”

Eventually. A whole future was packed into that single word.

But… wow. This was so fast. The about-face was giving me whiplash. Hunter had only ever looked at me with pain and anger in his eyes. Now he was gazing at me with a softness I’d only ever seen in him before the split. Lee, too.

“Do I get a say in this?” I asked.