Page 87 of Binding His Fated Mates

And every single time, I’d chosen to stay silent. I’d told myself it was to protect them—to protect the fragile, beautiful thing we’d built, until I could find the right time—but that was a lie, too.

I’d stayed silent to protect myself. Because as long as they didn’t know, I didn’t have to face the possibility of losing them. Because I had been selfish and afraid.

And now I’d lost them both anyway, hadn’t I?

I gathered myself off the ground and climbed up the ladder to my loft bed. Then I lay down on the narrow bed and curled onto my side. The mattress was thin and cold and nothing like the king-size bed in the twins’ cabin, where Hunter’s arm would be across my waist and Lee’s hand would be on my chest and I’d be warm and safe, held as though I was something precious and not… me.

That was all over now.

In a few hours, my family would come for me. And I would go with them, because what was left for me here?

I screwed my eyes shut, despair washing over me. My future was laid out in front of me like a prophecy. I’d go back to that cold house, the barely-there tolerance from my parents, and the sneering contempt from Micah. Back to being the perpetual disappointment.

Not even my relationship with Rowan—which might never recover from today—would be enough to offset any of it. And then my family would expect me to help them do magic that was only ever about power and control and never about protecting innocent people from the things that slithered out of the dark.

Worse, it was to live without Hunter’s fierce protectiveness, Lee’s quiet depth, and the simple magic of their breathing synchronized with mine in the dark, the warmth of their bodies pressed into me, a promise of solace that had been a lie all along.

And I’d live without the pack, too. Without the commune and the forest and the bar and the mess hall and the feeling of belonging somewhere for the very first time in my life. Of being accepted and understood, not in spite of who I was, but because of it.

After all, how could the pack want anything to do with me, now that they knew what I had done? What sort of person I was? They’d probably help the Henbanes run me out of town.

I’d had everything. And then I’d destroyed it. The exact same way I always did.

My tears came then. They made no sound at all. And they soaked into the pillow and didn’t stop.

CHAPTER TWENTY || HUNTER

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lee asked, the moment we were safely over the threshold of our cabin.

I rounded on him, my outrage cresting and causing me to tremble violently. “No!”

Lee studied me, concern in his eyes. His expression was drawn and unhappy, but he didn’t seem surprised by my outburst.

“Did you know?” I demanded.

“No. But I suspected there was something he wasn’t telling us.”

“You’re always so fucking smart! But that doesn’t seem like it helps, does it?”

Lee sighed, rubbing his temples. “If you need to get angry with me, that’s fine.”

Standing there, feeling rooted to the spot by my fury, I struggled to control my breathing.

How could Daniel keep something like this from us? He promised he wouldn’t keep secrets from us!

Never again. And I’d trusted him.

But that was stupid, wasn’t it? He was a liar.

And how the hell was Lee so calm?

“What will it take for you to actually get pissed off?” I demanded. “Daniel just lied to us. Again!”

“I’m not happy about any of this either,” Lee replied. “But I’m sure he had his reasons.”

My fury curdled and I realized I wasn’t angry at all. This wasn’t rage. It was pain.

I had trusted Daniel and he hurt me. Fuck.