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***HP

"Carol!" Daryl said breathlessly, rushing to the woman and embracing her tightly.

"This was you?" Rick asked, also pulling the woman into a hug. "You blew up Terminus?"

Harry felt a pang of jealousy when Daryl started hugging some woman with cropped white hair and blood all over her. It was stupid of him to think that his mates were available. It was obvious that Rick had a wife somewhere, he did have a son after all. Wrapping his arms around himself, he fell to the back of the group and waited.

Dudley approached his cousin and gave him a smile. "Everything all right? You look a little sad."

"I'm fine," Harry mumbled, watching as Daryl laughed at something the woman said.

"Is this a good group?" Dudley asked, looking around at everyone gathered. "Are they safe?"

Harry glanced at his mates again, his heart aching because they seemed to have forgotten about him. "I have only been with a couple of them for a few days, but they seem good. The others I don't know."

"Look, Harry, I just wanted you to know that I didn't want to leave you behind. Dad threatened to kill you if I woke you up."

"I wish you would have woken me," Harry said darkly. "I would have preferred death over what I suffered through since you all abandoned me."

Dudley reached out to comfort his cousin, but his hand was grabbed in a bruising grip.

"Don't fucking touch him!" Daryl snarled, pushing the kid back.

"Hey, he's my cousin," Dudley winced, trying to break the man's steel like grip.

"And you're a fucking cannibal," Daryl spat in disgust, squeezing the kid's hand harder.

Dudley quickly shook his head no. "Not once did I eat human meat. I went out and shot bunnies, deer and squirrels. I refused to participate in their human slaughtering."

Daryl sneered at the boy in disgust. "Makes no difference, you were there. How many people died while you sat back and did nothing."

Dudley couldn't honestly answer that question. So many had come to Terminus seeking sanctuary only to end up as food. "They were once good people," he explained. "They took me in and showed me how to use a gun, how to survive. They didn't start eating people until after a group of men came through and raped all the woman and beat the shit out of us men. After that they changed."

"Come on, Harry," Daryl barked, still glaring at the boy. He didn't like the kid, not after the way he had treated Harry when they were younger.

Without looking back at Dudley, Harry followed Daryl. "Daryl, where are we going now?" he asked softly.

"Don't know," Daryl grunted. "Carol said that she had something to show Rick. How are you feeling?"

Harry dropped his eyes and watched the ground pass by as they walked. "I killed that guy, Daryl."

Grabbing Harry's arm, Daryl came to an abrupt stop. "Don't you fucking dare for a second feel bad about that. Those weren't good people and he was planning on raping you. You do anything that you can to survive...anything!"

Harry couldn't stop the tears from falling. "Daryl, I beat his skull open with a pipe."

Sighing, Daryl pulled the boy in for a hug. "It was either him or you, Harry. I know it won't help how you feel, but I'm proud of you for bashing his fucking brains in."

Closing his eyes, Harry savored the feel of his mate holding him. You would think after his time with the Claimers that he would hate this, but this felt amazing. "Daryl, is Carol your wife or girlfriend?"

Looking down at the top of the boy's head, Daryl snorted. "Carol is a friend. She's been with the group since the beginning."

Harry didn't miss how Daryl tensed at his question. It seemed that his mate saw Carol as more than just a friend. Hearing a commotion up ahead, he reluctantly stepped out of Daryl's hold.

"I'll be damned, Little Ass Kicker," Daryl chuckled, running up to join the rest of the group.

Harry watched as everyone swarmed a large black man and a little baby that Rick was holding. Feeling like an outsider, he found a large tree and sat down, carefully leaning his back against it. He still wasn't feeling all that good and his back was still throbbing along with his head. All he wanted to do was wash Alex's blood off of him and then go to sleep.

Seeing Harry off on his own resting against a tree, Michonne slowly approached him. "Harry, it looks like we might be here for a bit. Why don't you let me have a look at your back and clean it up."

Opening his eyes, Harry reluctantly nodded his head. His back did need looking at. He could feel something wet running down it and he was pretty sure that it wasn't sweat. "Not here though, I don't want everyone to see."

Michonne scanned the area looking for walkers. It really wasn't safe to wander away from the group, but she didn't blame him for not wanting everyone to gawk at him. "All right, we can slip into the woods, but not too far."

Groaning softy, Harry forced himself to get up and stiffly follow Michonne into the woods. He didn't want to go too far, he was scared to be separated from his mates. He just didn't want all the new people to see his back and find out about what happened to him with the Claimers.

"Here should be good," Michonne said pointing at a downed tree that the boy could sit on. "We're far enough that no one can see, but close enough that we can still hear them."

"Thank you," Harry said softly, carefully pulling his shirt off. It was stuck in a few places and hurt like a bitch when he pulled at it.

Michonne cringed when she saw the kid's bloody back. As bad as it still looked, it was healing remarkably fast. "A couple of the deeper lashes are still infected so after I clean them I will put some antibacterial cream on them and then I want you to take another antibiotic pill."

Harry bit the inside of his cheek to keep from crying as Michonne started working on his back. "Who was the baby?" he asked, finally plucking up the courage to do so.

"That's Ricks daughter Judith," Michonne answered. "When the prison we were living in was attacked we thought that the walkers got her."

"That's horrible," Harry said softly. "Rick and Carl must have been devastated."

"They were. We also lost a good man back at the prison, Maggie's father Hershel."

"I'm sorry," Harry said truly meaning it. "I'm guessing since my cousin isn't with my aunt and uncle that they didn't make it either. They never liked me, actually that's an understatement, but I still wouldn't wish that kind of death on them."

"Do you have any other relatives back home?"

Harry's heart clenched at the thought of his friends back home. "No more blood relatives and my godfathers were killed a few months before this all happened. I do have close friends though, and I pray everyday that they are all alright. I guess I'll never know what happened to them."

Dudley stepped out from behind a tree where he had been hiding. He had just wanted to make sure that his cousin was safe, and he was also curious as to why he was sneaking away. "As of the night we abandoned you, Harry, your friends were all safe."

Harry spun around, trying to hide his back from Dudley. "How do you know that?"

"Don't be mad at me," Dudley pleaded, "but an owl came that night that we left you and left you a package and a letter."

"What did it say?" Harry cried, lunging to his feet and storming to his cousin. All this time he had assumed that Dumbledore and the rest of the Wizarding World were either dead, or that they just didn't give a fuck about him.

"Dad wouldn't let me read the letter," Dudley quickly answered, he really didn't want to become an air balloon like his aunt Marge. "But he was raving that good normal people like us were running for our lives while your lot were safe behind... What is it called when you erect invisible walls?"

"Wards," Harry mumbled numbly. "The walkers must not be able to get through wards."

Dudley jerkily nodded his head. "Right, that's the word dad used. Anyway, the letter was from that friend of yours, the girl with the funny name."

"Hermione?"

"That's it," Dudley said, relieved that his cousin no longer looked like he was going to blow him up. "Dad said that everyone there was safe and they sent you a rope to take home. I really didn't understand what he meant, but dad said the activation word was 'home'. He tried getting it to work after we left you, but nothing happened."

"He was a stupid fat ass!" Harry hollered. "Of course it wouldn't work for him, he didn't have any magic. Where's the rope?" He couldn't believe this, if his relatives would have just told him then he could have been safely back home in the Wizarding World all this time. He never would have met Len and the Claimers and he never would have been tortured and raped.

A smaller voice in the back his head was telling him that he also never would have met Daryl and Rick, but he was ignoring that voice for right now. He could have been safe with the Weasleys and the rest of his Wizarding family all this time.

Dudley lifted up his shirt and untied a thin black rope that he had looped through the belt loops of his jeans. "I kept it on me all this time. I don't know why, it just seemed like the right thing to do. I honestly never thought that I would ever see you again, but I just couldn't bring myself to toss it away."

Harry took the rope from his cousin, feeling the magic in it the second his hand touched it. "How many times did you try using it?"

"Everyday," Dudley admitted shamefully.

Michonne had been following the entire conversation, but she had no clue what the hell they were talking about, but she was very curious. "Harry, what is it?"

"It's a portkey," Harry said reverently, caressing the six foot long rope.

"That's not helping," Michonne chuckled.

Harry blushed at the woman. "Sorry, it's a form of Wizarding transportation. It can transport you to another location almost instantly. It's a horrible feeling, and I don't much care for them myself, but this one may be our ticket to safety. If what Dudley says is true, then the Wizarding World is safe and the walkers won't be able get us there."

"Are you saying that, that rope can take us to Scotland, or wherever it was your school was at?" Michonne asked in disbelief.

Harry flipped the rope over a few times in his hands. "I'm not sure where this portkey will take us. I'm guessing my school, but it could also take us to my godfather's old house or even my best friend's house."

"I don't know," Michonne said wearily, she didn't know what to make of all this magic and wizarding stuff. "Let's say that what you a saying about that rope is true, how do we know that things aren't worse over there?"

"We don't," Harry whispered. "but what if they're better?"

Dudley looked at his cousin hopefully. "You would take me...us with you?"

Harry didn't know much about how portkeys worked, he had only ever taken one to the Quidditch World Cup before his fourth year and then with Cedric after the third task. He didn't know if there was a limit to how many people it could transport. "I wouldn't leave you, Dudley, or anyone else behind," he answered honestly. There was no way he could leave his mates behind, even if they already had wives and girlfriends. If all they could be to him was friends, then he would just have to live with that. He really didn't think that he could handle a sexual relationship anyway.

Harry's statement felt like a punch in the gut to Dudley. "Harry, I honestly didn't want to leave you behind, hell, I even went back after mom and dad...after they died."

Harry was shocked to hear that, he honestly didn't think that Dudley gave two shits about him. "I'm sorry about your parents, Dudley. They may have hated the ground that I walked on, but they adored you and we're good parents to you."

Blinking back his tears, Dudley nodded his head in appreciation. It had hurt bad when the dead killed his parents.

Both Rick and Daryl came bursting through the trees with their weapons in hand and a look of panic on their faces. "Son of a bitch, Harry," Rick groaned, lowering his pistol. "You can't just wander off like that."

Growling, Daryl turned and stormed away.

Harry watched Daryl leave, desperate to call him back. "What's wrong with him?" he asked his other mate.

"You damn near gave him a heart attack when we saw that you were missing," Rick explained. "Me too," he added awkwardly.

"That was my fault," Michonne said, taking up for Harry who looked devastated. "I wanted to treat his back before we got moving again."

Rick was instantly at Harry's side. "Has it gotten worse? Do you need to rest longer?"

Rolling her eyes at Rick, Michonne tossed Harry his shirt. Both him and Daryl had it bad for the young boy. "A couple of the lacerations are still infected, but it hasn't gotten worse and his fever hasn't returned."

"I can still walk," Harry reassured, though he would never admit to Rick that he couldn't. He was terrified of being left behind.

Rick didn't believe Harry, but he really wanted to keep walking until dark. He had to find a safe place where they all could sleep for the night. A place far away from Terminus and any survivors that may come looking for revenge.. "We'll stop when we find a good place." Turning to Michonne he added, "We need to find Beth. Keep your eyes open for any fresh tire marks."

Harry slipped his shirt back on then followed Rick and Michonne back to where the rest of the group were waiting. Looking for Daryl, his heart plummeted when he spotted him back with Carol. He knew that he was being ridiculous, but he couldn't help how he felt.

***HP

Daryl watched as the boy practically passed out the second they stopped for the night. He felt a bit guilty over ignoring him ever since the missing incident after escaping Terminus, but he had never felt fear like that before and it terrified and confused the hell out of him. When he turned around and didn't see Harry with the group, his fear had damn near paralyzed him.

"Daryl, cut the boy some slack," Rick said as he walked past him to secure the door to the house that they were crashing in for the night. "Michonne was seeing to his wounds and he didn't want everyone to see."

"What's with the kid anyway?" Glenn asked, joining Rick and Daryl as they watched over the group.

"He's one us now," Daryl growled, glaring at Glenn and daring him to say something.

Glenn raised his eyebrows over how possessive Daryl sounded. "I get that, but what's his story?"

"His story is the same as the rest of ours," Rick said as he glanced to where the boy was sleeping off in the far corner of the room all alone. "He's just trying to survive."

Glenn followed Rick's gaze back to the boy. "He doesn't look very good. Has he been sick or something?"

"Or something," Daryl grumbled, stalking past Glenn and heading towards the boy.

Rick watched as Daryl pulled a blanket out of his bag and covered the little wizard with it then laid down close to him. He had very strong feelings for the boy, but for some reason he felt no jealousy towards Daryl and it was obvious that his best friend had feelings for Harry too.

"Harry has had it harder than any of us," Rick answered, looking back to Glenn. "He spent months with a very bad group of guys that saw him as only a possession, something that they claimed. He'll forever have the scars from his time with them, but he's alive and still fighting."

Glenn closed his eyes, picking up on what Rick wasn't saying. It sounded like that boy had been raped and abused by those monsters. "How did you find him?"

"He saved my life," Rick answered simply. "He also was willing to sacrifice himself to save Carl from being raped."

Glenn didn't miss how Daryl was laying in a way which had him blocking the boy from everyone else. It almost looked like he was protecting him. "Daryl seems a bit overly protective of him."

Rick didn't know what to say so he just nodded his head. It was true, the two of them felt extremely protective of Harry. With everything going on he hadn't had the chance to analyze his feelings for the boy, but he had never felt this way for Lori. The need to protect and care for the wizard was almost overwhelming.

***HP

Daryl's eyes snapped open when he heard a feint whimpering. He had always been a light sleeper, but it was a matter of life or death now. You had to be able to hear the slightest sound in your sleep and be prepared to react instantly. Snapping his eyes open, he was relived to see that it was only Harry caught in a nightmare and not a walker getting into the house.

Looking around the room, his eyes landed on the large read head Abraham who was taking his turn guarding the group. The man was loud and extremely crass, but so far he liked him. Turning back to Harry, he reached out and started rubbing his arm trying to sooth his nightmare away.

He didn't know how to do the touchy, feely, comfort you type of thing. He himself had never experienced it so how would he know how to do it for someone else? Harry's cries were tearing at him though so he had to do something. If Rick didn't look dead to the world he would wake him and let him comfort the boy. Rick was a damn fine father, unlike his own, so he knew how to deal with these type of situations.

Hearing Harry's cries get louder, Daryl reached out and pulled him closer to him and started rambling nonsense to him while rubbing his back. He was shocked when the boy turned and snuggled into him, burying his face into his neck.

Hearing someone chuckling, he turned to see Abraham smirking at him. The large red head even had the audacity to make a sexual innuendo using his mouth and hand. Glaring back at him, he flipped him the middle finger with his free hand.

***HP

"We need food," Rick whispered to Daryl. "There's a lot of us to feed and not a damn thing to feed them."

Daryl nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Little Ass Kicker needs some formula too. I'll go hunt up some food and I'll take the cannibal with me and maybe Glenn, Maggie and Michonne can look for formula and other supplies." He didn't like leaving Harry alone with his cousin, he didn't trust the little bastard as far as he could throw him.

"Sounds like a plan," Rick said, agreeing with Daryl. "Just try not to kill Harry's cousin. For some reason the boy forgives him."

Harry watched as his mates whispered to each other and then Daryl grabbed Dudley by the arm and drug him out the door. He didn't know where they were going, but he was a bit jealous that Dudley was getting to spend time with his mate. Even though he woke curled up against Daryl that morning, his mate had yet to talk to him.

"Harry, since we are going to be here for at least another day, how about I take you out into the woods and teach you how to shoot a gun?" Rick offered.

Rick felt like he had the wind knocked out of him when the small teen smiled up at him. What the hell was it about this kid that was affecting him like this? He would almost do anything to keep that beautiful smile on his face.

"I-I would love to," Harry said, awkwardly jumping to his feet. His back was still aching him, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from spending time with his mate.

Rick didn't miss the wince that Harry gave as he stood up. "Does your back need treating before we go? If you're not up to it we can wait a few more days. I just don't like the idea of you walking around unprotected."

"No!" Harry quickly cried. "Michonne had Maggie look at my back this morning since she knows a little bit about healing. I'm fine and would love to learn." In all honesty he was terrified to use a gun, he spent months with the Claimers with them waving a gun in his face to scare him, but he would deal with it for the chance to be with Rick.

"Alright," Rick chuckled. "I'll just tell Carl to keep an eye on his sister."

Harry walked with Rick into the woods, soaking in the one on one time with one of his mates. Rick and Daryl were a lot a like, both tough, loyal and hardworking, but Rick was a bit more sociable than Daryl and much easier to talk to.

"We'll go just a bit farther," Rick said, peeking at the teen out of the corner of his eye. "I don't want to risk the noise from our guns attracting the walkers to the house."

"Thank you for doing this," Harry said, shyly looking up at his mate. He couldn't help wonder what Rick looked like under his beard, not that he didn't like it. Rick looked rugged and handsome with his beard. He also liked the fact that despite his clothes being dirty, Rick didn't smell...unlike Len and the rest of the Claimers.

"I just want you to be safe, Harry," Rick said seriously. "As I'm sure you understand, it's not just the dead we have to worry about."

"It's the living you have to fear," Harry mumbled. "They're the true monsters. The dead are just attacking on instinct, same can't be said for the humans."

Without really thinking about what he was doing, Rick reached out and took Harry's hand. "Harry, as long as you're with us, we will protect you. We may be a hot mess most of the times, but we're all family and we look out for our own."

Harry felt tears building behind his eyes. This was all he had ever wanted...a family. "Rick, before my family abandoned me, they got a letter from one of my friends from my school. I didn't know anything about it, but Dudley said that the Wizarding Word was safe from the dead. With magic, we can put up wards that will keep them out. He also sent me a portkey...a magical transportation devise."

Rick stopped, soaking in everything that the boy just said. "Alright, let me just get this straight. Your relatives got a letter the night they abandoned you. How the hell was that possible?"

"Witches and wizards use owls to deliver their mail," Harry explained. "I was asleep when the owl showed up so I never knew about it."

"Owls," Rick mumbled in disbelief. "I'm going to have to take your word on that one. Hopefully the owls Daryl has been eating have been normal, nonmagical owls."

"I hope so too," Harry said, swallowing the lump in his throat. He couldn't help but wonder what happened to his precious Hedwig. Hopefully Hermione, Ron or Hagrid was taking care of her. He dearly missed his first ever friend.

"Alright, so owls deliver wizards mail, now tell me more about this magical means of transportation," Rick said skeptically.

Like Dudley had done, Harry took to wrapping the portkey around his waist. Without hesitating, he handed it over to his mate. "It's a portkey. With the right activation word, it could transport us almost instantly to whatever location it was programmed to."

Rick reached out to take the ordinary looking rope from Harry, but snatched his hand back when he felt an electrical shock. "What the hell was that?"

Harry had felt the shock too. "I think you're sensitive to magic, that's what you felt when you touched the portkey."

Rick looked at the boy in disbelief. "Are you honestly trying to tell me that this rope will take us somewhere safe? Poof and we're gone."

Harry started to nervously chew on his lip. "That's what a portkey does," he answered, not liking how his mate was looking at him as if he had two heads. "Look, I know it's hard to believe, but magic can do a lot of incredible stuff. Hopefully over time I can get you to see that, but please don't make fun of me."

"Harry, I apologize," Rick said sincerely, feeling bad that he had hurt the teen's feelings. "But you have to admit, owls delivering the mail and ropes that can transport you places instantly sounds pretty far fetched."

"I felt the same way when I first entered the Wizarding World," Harry admitted. "Hell, I still feel that was sometimes. I wasn't raised in the Wizarding World. I didn't know about it until I was eleven."

Rick looked to the rope that was still in Harry's hands. He was too leery to try touching it again. "Do you think that rope can honestly take us to safety? All of us?" As much as he wanted to get to somewhere safe, he wouldn't do it if it meant leaving someone behind.

"I don't know," Harry sighed. "To be honest, I don't know much about portkeys so I don't know if it can safely transport all of us. I do feel pretty confident that we will be safe in the Wizarding World though. If wards will keep the walkers away, then we could live peacefully."

"That's a big IF," Rick said. "I don't know, Harry, but if you want to take it..."

"No!" Harry snapped, cutting his mate off. "I'm not going to leave you guys."

Seeing that the boy was getting upset, Rick pulled him into a hug. "We'll discuss this later with Daryl. How about right now I teach you how to shoot?"

***HP"

"Oh thank god you're back!" Tara cried, thrusting Judith into Rick's face. "She has been crying for an hour and we have tried everything." Babies weren't her thing. Sure she helped raise her niece, but she was the aunt who played games and goofed around, not changed diapers and rocked her all night long while she cried for some unknown reason.

Rick wanted to cry for his baby daughter. "She's hungry," he said, feeling like a failure. "Any word from Daryl or Glenn?"

"Not a damn a damn thing," Abraham barked. "Now I don't have anything against little humans, but all that noise she's making is going to attract the dead."

Rick opened his mouth to snap at the red head but he was distracted when Harry touched him on the arm.

"Can I try?" Harry asked sheepishly, holding his hands out for the baby. He didn't know a damn thing about babies and he had never held one before, but it was hurting something inside of him hearing her cries, especially knowing it was because the poor thing was hungry. He knew what it was like to go hungry, even as a baby, and he wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.

Rick carefully handed Harry his screaming daughter. "I'll warm her up a water bottle, it's better than nothing."

Harry awkwardly carried the little girl to the far corner of the room. Looking around, he gathered up a few pieces of junk that was laying around and took a seat on the floor. "I'm so sorry that I don't have any food for you, little one," he said softly, "but when I was little and hungry I would try to distract myself from the hunger pains." Focusing on his magic and on the objects on the ground in front of him, he willed them raise up in the air and start dancing and spinning in front of the baby.

"What in the hairy balls?" Abraham cried, jumping to his feet.

"Stand down," Rick snarled, glaring at the soldier. Focusing back on Harry and his daughter, he was relieved to see that Judith had stopped crying and was now staring intently at the objects.

Harry could feel sweat running down his face, using wandless magic like this was taking a lot out of him. He was still recovering from everything and his magical core was low from having to heal himself. Still, he would fight through it for Judith. Now that she was focusing on the objects, she was no longer thinking about her hunger.

Rick sat on the floor next to Harry staring at the floating and rotating objects. "That is...wow!"

Harry cracked a half a smile. "I told you magic could do incredible stuff," he panted.

Rick didn't like how pale and weak Harry was looking. "I was lucky and found a scoop of formula in Maggie's bag. It's not enough for a proper bottle but at least it's something." Taking Judith from Harry, he settled her into his arms, chuckling when she attacked the nipple without taking her eyes off the still floating objects.

"Are you alright?" Rick asked, looking to Harry.

Harry was relieved to see that Judith's eyes were drooping, he didn't know how much longer he could keep it up. "My magic is a bit weak right now, that's all." Groaning, he gave in and let the objects fall to the ground. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Is someone going to tell me what in all hell is going on?" Abraham snapped. "How the hell did that...? What in the hell...?"

Daryl had returned right when the objects that Harry had been levitating fell. "He's a fucking wizard. Get the hell over it," he growled.

"What did you just say?" Eugene asked incredulously. "I believe that I have misheard you."

"Whatever," Daryl grumbled, storming past the geek with the ridiculous mullet. "We got a couple bunnies and a young doe," he said addressing Rick. "The cannibal is outside cleaning them."

The smile that lit Harry's face when he first saw Daryl slowly fell when his mate continued to ignore him. Jumping to his feet, he fled the house.

"Fuck!" Daryl snarled, watching as the boy disappeared out the door.

"Daryl, go after him," Rick quickly ordered. "He's not feeling well and the magic he used to entertain Judith took a lot out of him."

Slinging his bow over his shoulder, since he didn't go anywhere without it, Daryl rushed after Harry.

Harry ran out into the yard and collapsed against a tree crying. He wasn't stupid, he knew it was too dangerous to go far, but it was killing him that Daryl was ignoring him. He had spent an awesome three hours alone with Rick, but it wasn't enough to fill the ache in his heart from his other mate ignoring him. Feeling a presence behind him, he turned to find Daryl staring at him with a mix of emotions in his eyes.

"I'm sorry that I upset you," Harry cried, taking a step towards Daryl who looked more like a statue with the way he was just standing there staring at him. "You were the first person since this all started to show me any compassion, to treat me like I was a real human being. Please don't ask me to leave the group."

"Fuck it!" Daryl snarled. Grabbing Harry's wrist, he tugged him against his chest and crashed his lips onto the boy's much smaller and softer lips.

Shocked, Harry tensed at first, but after a few seconds he melted into Daryl's arms and started to shyly kiss him back. He had only ever kissed Cho that one time and that turned out to be a horrible, almost traumatic experience for him. Len, nor any of the other Claimers had kissed him, so this was something new and it felt right...it felt good.

Daryl broke the kiss then rested his forehead against Harry's. "I have been wanting to do that for days," he said huskily. "Don't ever wander off again without letting Rick or myself know. I don't handle fear very well, and when I couldn't find you...I was scared out of my mind."

Harry stepped closer and rested his cheek on Daryl's muscular chest. "I promise I won't if you promise to never ignore me like that again. That hurt!"

Daryl cupped Harry's cheeks and lifted his face so he could look into his beautiful emerald eyes. "I'll make that promise if we can seal the deal with a kiss."

Harry knew that his cheeks had to be three different shades of red. "A-Alright," he stuttered.

"Only if you're willing," Daryl said seriously. "You can tell me to fuck off and I will. I won't force you into anything and you won't be kicked from the group."

"I want you to kiss me," Harry blushed. "Honestly," he added when Daryl continued to stare into his eyes. "I liked it a lot. I'm just not ready to go farther than kissing. Is that alright?"

"Hell yeah it's alright," Daryl said caressing Harry's bottom lip with his thumb. "Never be afraid to tell me no."

Harry gasped when he felt Daryl's tongue licking at his lips. Following his lead, he opened his mouth and let

his mate in. He could feel himself trembling, but it wasn't from fear.

"We better go back in," Daryl said reluctantly stepping away. "I think we have to explain your magic to the rest of the group.

Groaning, Harry nodded his head and followed his mate back to the house.