Page 88 of Binding His Fated Mates

“Like what?” I demanded, struggling to keep hold of my anger. Hot, humiliating wetness stung in my eyes.

“He was afraid of losing us.”

“Lee, don’t do this. Don’t.”

For a moment, my twin’s expression wavered and I thought he might stop and allow me to stay right where I was in my emotions. But then something hardened in him and he shook his head.

“You heard the same thing I did, Hunter.” His eyes searched mine and his voice turned softer. “He feels guilty. That’s why he spent two whole years working on a spell to fix this for us, even when we hated him.”

“But he didn’t tell us. He wasn’t honest and he promised—”

“He’s in love with us! Both of us! And what would’ve happened if he’d told us and we’d said yes?”

It was something I definitely didn’t want to hear. Because each syllable dismantled my anger, leaving me feeling naked, raw, and vulnerable.

I hated to admit it, because Lee was a dick for not letting me stew in my own shit—an unmitigated asshole, even—but he wasn’t wrong.

But I didn’t want to see this from Daniel’s perspective. That was the truth. Because then all of this hot, clean, self-righteous anger would leave me. And I would be left with something a hell of a lot more frightening: my fears.

And, yeah, my own shortcomings.

Which was—maybe, just maybe—part of the problem.

Hell, it had always been the problem, hadn’t it?

In fact, it was probably one of the reasons Daniel had felt like he couldn’t be honest with us from the jump. Because of me. Because of how I clung to my anger instead of reaching for even a speck of understanding and vulnerability.

Feeling like my legs were made of wood, I lurched across the cabin and sank down onto my bed.

Our bed.

Feeling uncomfortably like my insides were on the outside, I buried my face in my hands. “Fuck.”

After a long pause, Lee crossed the space between us and came to sit down on the bed as well, right next to me.

I didn’t look at him. Unspent emotion made my entire body rigid and fragile, as if any movement possessed the power to crack me right down the middle.

“Hunter.”

Though his voice was carefully neutral, my name contained both his understanding and his disapproval at the same time.

Lee was telling me he was still here for me—that he always would be—but that I was acting like a jackass.

He wasn’t exactly wrong.

I always processed my emotions like this—explosively and irrationally. Didn’t I? It was why we hadn’t talked to Daniel like a normal, sane person.

Because I was always too hotheaded and in my feelings to pull my head out of my ass and recognize that there might’ve been a valid explanation for everything.

For years, I’d stopped us from being happy.

By doing this—exactly this.

It was ridiculous how well we understood each other, even at this moment. I might’ve laughed if I didn’t feel so miserable.

“Lee,” I said. “You’re an asshole.”

“I know,” Lee said. “Ordinarily, I’d let you run out of steam first. But—”