Page 35 of Blood Loss (The Obscura Saga #2)
K Y LO
Sitting down amongst the group, Maria begins directing David who to give each gift from under the tree to. There aren’t any larger than a pizza box, since everyone flew in, and packages have to be small enough to bring back home, but they are still in abundance. At least five small boxes or bags for each person, with little tags or stickers that identify who each is from. The gifts Kylo and Lathan pitched in on buying for everyone are wrapped pretty roughly in comparison, but they are wrapped with love.
Mateo is the first to unwrap his gifts at Lathan’s feet. Partly because he doesn’t have the patience to wait, and partly so he can be occupied with toys when the spotlight moves on.
Lathan watches everyone politely, giving his respectful attention to each gift. He doesn’t last long on the couch beside Kylo, quickly being coerced into melting onto the floor to fiddle with Mateo’s toys with him. As wrapping paper is crumpled and tossed in balls to the side, Lathan pulls his hair out of its ponytail to re-tie it. As he scoops his hair back, Mateo stands up and reaches to touch Lathan’s hearing aid.
“What dis? ”
Kylo’s hackles rise immediately, an instinctive need to protect Lathan from the little hands.
It took his mate months to come to terms with his hearing loss—the need for a hearing aid. It was a struggle to accept, battling the feeling of inadequacy and the need to be reliant on a device for something he had been born with. But they were both changed that horrific evening. And it’s something they’ve had to learn to cope with, heal, accept. Kylo just worries Mateo’s curiosity will draw unwanted attention to Lathan and cause unnecessary anxiety on a sensitive subject.
But Lathan isn’t fazed. Instead, Kylo watches him gently redirect Mateo’s hands so he isn’t jabbing at his ear and dislodging the aid. “It helps me hear you better.”
The boy tilts his head like a dog, looking between Lathan’s face and his ear. “Why?”
Lathan opens his mouth, then closes it. He adjusts to face Mateo, and puts both his hands over his ears. “Put your hands like this.”
Mateo steps back to see the full gesture, and then presses his little hands over his pointed ears.
It’s adorable to witness such innocence and such eagerness to learn, to understand. Kylo’s worries wash away as quickly as they arrived, replaced with a soft look of adoration as he watches on.
“Can you hear me?” Lathan asks, loud enough so that he can. But Mateo shakes his head with a giggle, and Lathan smiles at the sound. He removes one of Mateo’s hands, so only one ear is covered, and then asks, “Can you hear me now?”
Mateo laughs as he shakes his head again, and Lathan chuckles. “Yes, you can,” he accuses, and the pup continues to giggle. “But it’s quiet, right?”
Mateo nods. So Lathan points at his little, hand-covered ear. “That’s how everything sounds to me. So I use this”—he points the same finger at his aid—“to hear like”—he plucks Mateo’s remaining hand off his ear, so both are unobstructed—“THIS.”
With his loud voice, Mateo squeals and falls into Lathan’s lap, laughing.
Kylo, and everyone else, giggles with Mateo and the learning moment Lathan just shared with him.
He’s going to be a phenomenal dad one day.
The thought pops into his mind and tightens the back of his throat, which he has to cough to clear, knowing what’s coming next will be hard enough as it is.
Lathan looks back at Kylo, at the sound of his throat clearing. When he sees him, he smiles brighter than he has in many months. Then he leans his head back against Kylo’s legs, with Mateo still plopped in his lap, playing with a silicone fidget toy.
“Time for my gift to you,” Kylo says, leaning forward to plant a kiss to Lathan’s forehead.
“Know what that means?” Bruce asks, turning to his son. “It’s Daddy time!” he says in a silly voice, scooping up a giggling Mateo and bouncing him to his pile of new toys to give Lathan room.
Lathan smirks at Bruce and his son, then lifts from the floor with a subtle stretch. “I told you not to get me anything,” he says, turning to Kylo. He never wants gifts. They fluster him, as they had during his birthday just a month prior. But Kylo is anything if not generous—a trait he obtained from his mother.
Lathan stands to allow Kylo to slip off the couch. Stepping around the piles of crumpled paper, he takes Lathan’s hands in his.
“Mi amor,” he starts sweetly, lowering down onto one knee, keeping their hands gently clasped.
The moment he does, everyone goes silent.
The whole world feels as if it’s slowed to a stop. Both Maria and Kianna have hands to their mouths to stop any semblance of noise from leaking out.
Lathan’s eyes widen and he forgets to blink, his gaze following Kylo down to his kneeled stance.
“I have loved you since the day I met you.” His eyes gloss over with tears already threatening to spill, but he fights them for the sake of his prepared speech. “The past year and a half have been nothing short of a battle for the both of us. It seemed like every few months a new obstacle tested our relationship. Yet each time we fell, no matter how hard, we got back up, together.”
He takes a deep breath in and out in an attempt to keep steady.
“Every moment away from you felt like fire. But I would gladly do it all over again—gods, I’d burn for a millennia—if it meant I’d come back to you. To us . I love you more than my lungs love air, more than wolves love the moon—”
“More than you love The Dahlias?” Lathan laughs nervously.
“Infinitely more.” Kylo exhales, chin quivering. “My love, my mate , no matter where life takes us, I want to spend it by your side. Building a beautiful future together.” He drops one of his hands to fish a small black box from his back pocket. Trailing his gaze back up to meet Lathan’s, he flips the box open where a simple matte black band sits between two cushions. “I am forever yours. Lathan Park, will you be mine?”
The shock is tight across Lathan’s face. And he can’t seem to find any words—nervous ones or serious. He stares at the ring, holding his breath. It’s quiet for almost an uncomfortable amount of time. Until he finds his voice.
“Are you sure? I’m”—he glances through his peripheral vision at the other bodies in the room—“kind of fucked up,” he says quietly, chuckling again. His eyes twinkle with the onslaught of tears beginning to surface.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but so am I,” Kylo laughs back. “And I am more sure about you than I am about anything else in my life.” His voice chokes up at the end, a tear finally daring to slip as he blinks.
“Then,” Lathan says, emotion tingeing his voice, and he can’t prevent his smile, or reaching down to wipe Kylo’s tear away, “you should know you don’t have to ask that. I’ve always been yours, Ky. But if you’re asking me to marry you ”—Lathan’s smile grows, beaming wide with his teeth on display—“then yes.”
Kylo’s smile shakes and his eyes sting with the well of tears begging to overflow. He pulls the ring from the box, which he tosses to the couch, then, with a quaking hand, he slides the band onto his fiancé’s finger.
Mate , and never alone , and love , and forever .
A fact, a promise, a feeling, and a commitment. Pushed through their bond with the swelling of his heart, hoping to the gods that he can feel it through their connection.
Launching to his feet, he grabs Lathan’s face in his hands and kisses him with everything in his being.
Everyone around them releases their held breaths. Maria’s already sobbing and Kianna’s trying to be brave and hold it in, while Lucas, Bruce, and David give the two a round of applause—Mateo chiming in with screeches of excitement simply because of the commotion.
Still smiling, Lathan kisses his fiancé back, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close. Their lips break and he buries his face in Kylo’s neck; rushed with love and the sound of applause, Lathan hides his face as he, too, lets a few tears go.
He went from an entire life of being unloved, abused…to all this.
And Kylo’s never letting him go.
You’re my choice, and I love you.
You’re my everything.