CHAPTER THREE || LEE #3
He was here, still with me. He was okay—just shocked and confused.
Still, I pressed a hand flat on his chest to feel his heart hammering there, to reassure myself with his warmth. Belatedly, my wolf clamored to gather him into my arms, to hurry him away from whatever had just tried to steal him from me.
Ours. Safety. Now.
“Are you hurt?” I repeated, ignoring my inner wolf.
“No,” Daniel said, his expression turning shocked. “I don’t—Lee, what are you doing? What just—”
“What the fuck?” Hunter was on his feet, staring at the fork embedded in the wall. His face was shock white. Only a handful of seconds had passed.
There was a beat of total and absolute silence.
Then the room erupted into motion.
Reed was out of his seat in an instant, his gaze sweeping the space for threats, his eyes flashing gold, as if preparing himself for a fight.
Sarah dropped a plate of eggs to the floor with a crash of shattering ceramic, then stepped in front of Emma.
Lacey shot to her feet as well and moved to Daniel. “Is he injured?” she demanded, speaking to me urgently, her blue eyes filled with alarm.
“I don’t think so,” I replied, my voice sounding strange and faraway to my own ears.
Harris got out of his seat and moved to check the wall where the fork was embedded two inches deep in the wood, his gaze turning to follow the trajectory.
Oliver was still seated at his spot near the window, across the room, frozen. His eyes were wide as he stared at his hand, almost baffled. Then he looked at the fork in the wall—his dark eyes meeting Harris’s for an instant—then back at his hand.
“I didn’t—” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “I didn’t do that. I didn’t throw it. I was just eating and the fork—it—it—”
“Oliver.” Reed’s voice cut through the chaos, steady and commanding.
He crossed the room to Oliver and crouched beside him, his hand on the younger man’s shoulder.
His eyes flared gold again and I sensed the alpha power rolling through his words.
“Hey. Breathe. You’re okay. You’re calm now.
Tell me what happened with absolute honesty. ”
Oliver’s breathing immediately calmed and the tension went out of him. “I was holding the fork. And then it flew. Like I’d thrown it. But I didn’t throw it. It moved on its own.”
“A poltergeist?” Reed mused. “Did you feel a cold wind or see anything strange?”
“No. I think it—I felt a surge of something,” Oliver said. “It felt like it came from me, but I wasn’t in control of it.” Then his eyes went wide and he peeled his gaze from Reed and turned in the direction of where Daniel and I were still heaped together on the floor. “Is he okay? Did I hurt him?”
“I’m okay!” Daniel said again. His eyes met mine and his brows slid together with confusion. “You, um, saved me? From a flying fork? I guess?”
He smiled a bit at that, like it was funny.
It wasn’t funny at all.
Harris gripped the fork and pulled. It didn’t even budge on the first try. On the second, it came free with a grinding sound, leaving a deep, ugly hole behind.
“That’s solid wood,” he said quietly, turning the fork over in his hands. His expression was grim. “Regular human strength doesn’t do this. Neither does wolf strength.”
He and Reed exchanged a look from across the room. Something passed between them, fast and seamless, a wordless communication that seemed to speak volumes.
“Daniel,” Harris said, his voice measured. “Can we talk? Privately?”
Daniel was down on the floor with me. I realized, belatedly, that I was still on top of him.
His hands were grasping my arms. And we were close enough that his scent was intoxicating—old books and something herbal and citrusy, like lemon verbena, probably the scent of whatever ingredients he used in his spells.
But he’d smelled that way to me ever since I’d first become a wolf.
Abruptly, I released him and stood. Then I offered him my hand to help him up. He took it. His fingers were cold.
“Oh. I—uh—sure,” Daniel said, turning to face Harris. His face went beet red. He didn’t especially like attention, and every pair of eyes in the room was fastened to him. “Now?”
Harris and Reed exchanged another look. Then Harris nodded. “Yes, right now.”
“Okay.” Daniel’s voice was small. The bright armor of his smile was gone, and he looked exactly as scared as he probably was.
Harris and Reed led the way out of the mess hall, and Daniel followed them. Every pair of eyes in the room was glued to them.
I glanced over at Hunter, who was still standing there, his expression a mix of total confusion and unease as his gaze searched mine.
“Lee, don’t. He’ll be fine,” he said, scowling at me.
I didn’t even bother replying to that. Instead, barely even thinking about what I was about to do and why, I turned around and went after Daniel. The stricken expression on the warlock’s face was seared into my mind.
I’d almost lost him. I still needed to protect him. I would always need to protect him.
Nothing else mattered.
“Dammit, Lee,” Hunter said with a beleaguered sigh and followed me out the door.