Page 55 of Binding His Fated Mates

Tomorrow, I promised myself.

Never mind that it was what I’d told myself yesterday, too. And the day before that. And every day since they’d become wolves in the first place.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN || HUNTER

Hours later, the moon rose over the ridge of pines, flooding the commune with silver light. Daniel sat cross-legged on the ground near the fire pit, the glass vial of dark residue he’d gathered from Robert’s aura in one hand and an old brass compass in the other. His messenger bag was beside him, stuffed with the supplies he needed—chalk, candles, and a handful of herbs that he poured around himself in a clockwise circle.

Daniel’s eyes were closed, his lips moving as he incanted his spell under his breath, his brow furrowed with concentration.

He’d used this locator spell before—many times, in fact—so I already knew how it worked. He was attuning the magical signature of the monster who’d attacked Robert to the compass, so it would always point in the direction of the monster. It could be used to find people, too, provided Daniel had a scrap of that person’s clothing or a bit of their hair or blood. The spell hadn’t worked with the Algea because the creature hadn’t left anything of itself behind on its victims to track. This monster was sloppier, apparently. Most of them were.

As I watched, Daniel’s magic formed a gossamer web of golden light spreading across the surface of the compass. Then a strand of it reached across the distance between his hands to touch the vial of black smoke as he chanted under his breath.

The spell snapped into place, the thread of power glowing brightly and then stabilizing. Wolves, unlike other supernatural creatures, could see magic with our naked eyes. No one had ever been able to give me a straight answer as to why that was, but whatever the reason, I was grateful. Because Daniel’s magic was beautiful.

“Got it,” he said triumphantly, grinning up at Lee and me with a pleased expression on his face. “Now it’s just a matter of following the compass.” His gaze lingered on us and a blush crept into his cheeks. “Um… You guys will probably want to shift just in case. Also, I need to stay focused. And you’re both kind of distracting.”

He was probably referring to the fact that Lee and I stood on either side of the warlock, already stripped down to our birthday suits.

I shot Lee a mischievous grin and he returned it.

A wordless understanding passed between us: yeah, we had plans for Daniel later.

But our mate was right. The sooner we got this over with, the sooner we’d be able to do a repeat of this morning. And we’d be able to protect Daniel far better in our wolf forms.

I dutifully dropped to my hands and knees and let the shift come over me. It rolled through my body like a wave, my bones reshaping, my senses sharpening, the world around me expanding into a symphony of scent and sound that I couldn’t have perceived while in my human body.

Unlike how books and movies sometimes depict werewolves transforming, it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. More like a deep stretch after sitting for too long. The wolf form was every bit as natural to me as my human one.

Lee shifted beside me at the same moment. Like me, he was larger than a regular wolf would’ve been and his fur was deep black, the precise color of his hair. His eyes had lightened to become a yellow-green that seemed to reflect light. I knew I was identical to him in wolf form, too.

Daniel watched us, naked wonder in his expression. He’d watched us transform before, but it felt different this time. Intimate in a way that it hadn’t before. Maybe he felt it too.

I rubbed my body against him, finding comfort in his warmth and vibrancy, the verbena scent of him. Lee did the same, both of us marking him with our scent.

Daniel’s eyes slid shut and a soft, startled noise escaped his lips.

Then the needle on the compass in his hand started spinning wildly, before snapping into place.

Daniel glanced down at it, blinking, as if surprised to remember what he was supposed to be doing. “Whatever did this to Robert is in that direction.” He pointed in the direction of the forest. “We ought to get going.”

With that, he stood, dusted off his jeans, and slung his bag over his shoulder. “Remember, we’re not supposed to be engaging with whatever we find. Not unless we have to.” I couldn’t help but notice the way his gaze lingered on me as he said that. I tried not to take offense. He added, “We find it, we confirm what it is if we can, and then we bring that information back to the pack.”

Inwardly, I scowled in annoyance, even though he was right. Those were our orders. But my wolf was much more instinctual than I was, and it sometimes took over fully. Controlling it, especially if Daniel was involved and possibly in immediate danger, might be a challenge.

But I huffed in acknowledgment.

Daniel shook his head. He seemed amused, as if he knew exactly what had just gone through my head. Then he began walking.

Lee and I fell into step, bracketing the warlock between us as he led the way into the forest.

He hadn’t cast a light spell, I realized. He usually needed to.

But then, Lee and I didn’t need it. Wolves could see perfectly well in the dark. And, based on what he’d told us when explaining how his senses had changed since the initiation, he no longer did either.

The woods at night were a different world. The moonlight filtered through the canopy in broken shafts, illuminating patches of fern and moss while leaving everything else in deep shadow.

My wolf senses were dialed up to their maximum. I heard every rustle of leaf, every shift of wind, every distant heartbeat of the small creatures hiding in the undergrowth. The forest smelled of wet earth, cedar, and pine.