Page 90 of Binding His Fated Mates

“Doubtful.” My eyes were wet, too, and burning. But I flashed him a watery grin. “We literally have the same brain, Lee.”

“We did, once. But I’m pretty sure we couldn’t be more different at this point. And I love you, too. I love everything about you, Hunter.”

“So, we stay who we are?”

“Yeah,” he said, exhaling long and slow. “I want to. It’s strange—it’s always been strange—but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

I grinned at that and so did he.

“We need to talk to Daniel,” I said, sobering up. Concern crashed through me as I realized what was probably happening in our mate’s cabin. What he was probably putting himself through. “Crap on a stick. He probably feels like shit right now.”

“I asked Lacey to stay with him,” Lee said. “She won’t leave his side right now. She loves Daniel, too.”

“Thanks.” But that was Lee in a nutshell, wasn’t it? Always the light to my darkness. The yin to my yang or whatever.

“Micah is a dick,” Lee said, his tone going colder. “It’s hard to believe someone like Daniel was raised with people like them.”

“He’s better than all of them put together,” I agreed. “We’ll need to talk to him about the spell. But we also need to let him know that he’s not going anywhere he doesn’t want to go. That we still love him, that we always will.”

“I’m the better half, my ass,” Lee said, giving me an affectionate nudge with his shoulder.

Despite myself, I smiled, feeling a rush of warmth.

Then, without warning, the door to the cabin blew open.

Micah and both of Daniel’s parents stood in the doorway, magical power crackling around them.

Lee and I shot to our feet at the same moment.

But before we could do anything, Micah raised his hand and incanted that same spell that had frozen me back in the mess hall.

My muscles locked into place and I couldn’t move. Instinctive terror swept through me.

A triumphant grin split across Micah’s face, but his eyes were sharp with malice. “You know, I’ve never much liked you, even back when you were just one person,” he said. “But it’s your lucky day. You’re getting your old life back.”

He had Daniel’s journal tucked under his arm. My stomach plummeted as the meaning of Micah’s words sank in.

They were going to do this to us, whether we wanted it or not.

Daniel’s father regarded us with a cold expression, his narrow gaze settling on me and then Lee. “Daniel made a terrible mistake, and it cost you your life. And as his family, it is our responsibility to fix it.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE || DANIEL

I’m not sure how long I lay there. The moments became strange, passing both too fast and, somehow, with agonizing slowness. I might’ve been there for hours. I wasn’t sure.

It didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered, except the wooden and blank expression on Hunter’s face, as if he didn’t recognize me any longer. Or the regretful and closed-off way Lee had told me to give him time before leaving too.

Well, there was no time.

Not anymore.

Would they even want to see me before I left?

Or would they get cold again, shutting me out, the way they had before?

“Daniel,” Lacey’s voice interrupted my spiral. It was sharp and insistent on the other side of the cabin door, stripped bare of her usual patience with me. “I’ve given you more than enough time to mope. Stop being an asshole and drop the barrier!”