Page 5 of Blood Loss (The Obscura Saga #2)

KYL O

Lathan huffs through his nostrils as he reads over Kylo’s shoulder. Leaving his side, he returns to his own computer to pull up a browser tab. Kylo leans as far as he can over to the side in his own seat to peek at his screen, which Lathan notes with a quick glance before answering the unasked question on Kylo’s mind. “Finding a place to stay. I’m not going back to my parents. Doubt they’d even fucking want that anyway.”

Hah. Yeah, there’s no chance I’m going anywhere without you. You’re coming home with me.

Kylo’s backrest recoils with a clunk as he hops up, turning on his heels to flop onto his back on their beds. Whipping out his phone, he dials up his mom and stares at the ceiling as it rings.

“Mijo!” Maria answers jubilantly, as always. “Your father and I were just heading out to grab groceries. I wanna pick up some steaks and scallops for this weekend. The weather’s nice enough to barbecue already! Sounds good, no?”

“Hi, Mamá, yeah…about this weekend…” In order to ask if Lathan can stay, he has to divulge the traumatic events that just occurred, though, they’d find out sooner or later considering how far of a reach this will have. “Have you heard what happened at Obscura yesterday?”

“No, mijo, I haven’t heard anything. Why? What’s going on?”

The school’s closure will reach the press soon, now that there’s an official statement from the Academy’s president. Which means details, though ideally sparse, of the attack will be released too.

“Mamá, there was an attack on Obscura at the football game…the werewolves all shifted.” He takes a deep breath before continuing, pushing away the fact that he was one of them—and what happened after. “People were hurt really bad. I’m sure you’ll hear about the details soon since Obscura just made a statement. I’m fine; we were all cleared from W Block, but Obscura is closing for the term. Going online. So I’ve gotta book a flight back home.”

There’s a silence—longer than Kylo was anticipating—and then Maria is off, her tongue rattling desperately, English melding with Spanish. From what he can gather, it’s questions about his wellbeing, how many wolves were involved, how many people got hurt, and absolutely anything else she can think of that concerns a mother. She doesn’t even give him time to answer in between her rapid-fire quizzing. Then she finishes her ramble with, “Is Lathan alright?”

“Yeah,” he nearly sighs, a cool relief wading over him, “Lathan’s okay. Well…mostly. It was a sound attack—a frequency—and vampires that were too close to the field blew their eardrums. So he’s lost his hearing for now.” Glancing over to his partner, still scrolling through rental listings, his heart swells and sinks for him, for how different the world must be without one of his primal senses.

Maria gasps and curses in her native tongue. “He’s lost his hearing? Oh, that poor boy.” There’s another brief moment of silence as she mulls it over, until she clucks her tongue in decision. “When is the school closing? I’ll book your flight today.”

Kylo’s eyes don’t leave the man across from him as he talks. “Three days, but…would Lathan be able to stay with us?”

Maria hums. “That’s right, he isn’t close to his family, is he? Does he not go back home for summer?”

“No, he lives on campus every summer. He’s actually looking at rentals right now, but I can’t leave him behind.”

Because if he stays, so do I.

“Oh, tell him to stop that,” Maria snaps. “Of course he can stay with us. I’ll get the guest house ready, so he has privacy. He shouldn’t be alone right now while he’s hurt. I’ll tell your father; he’ll be fine with it.”

“Really?” he says, a bit surprised at just how easily she swayed—not that he really had any doubts. “You sure you’re okay with my boyfriend staying with us?”

Her voice sours. “Do you want me to say no, mijo? Because I can, if that’s what you want.”

“No!” he shouts, then coughs to cover up his outburst. “No, of course not, I was just making sure. I’ll tell him. ”

“Then I’ll get your flights booked.” She pauses. “You’re sure you’re alright?”

“ Yeah, ” he says flippantly, choosing to dismiss how different he feels in his own body. How different the world feels around him. How he was forced to shift without a full moon. How he awoke covered in someone else’s blood. How his stomach was—and still is— full despite not eating before the game. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks, Má.”

“Make sure to rest. Shifting does a lot to our bodies. You need to make sure you’re strong for the next full moon.” She inhales deeply, clearly worried. “I love you, Ky.”

“I know. Love you, too. Text me the flight details once you have them.”

Maria says a heartfelt goodbye before she hangs up the phone, presumably to secure two plane tickets even before she mentions this to David. That’s just how she works. David may be the Alpha of the family, but he knows his place. Maria runs the show.

Kylo traces back to Lathan and taps him on the shoulder. When Lathan looks up at him, he points to his screen then waves a flat hand to signal stop searching before writing him a new message.

1:37pm

You’re coming with me to stay with my family. My mom’s buying us plane tickets.

“ What ?” Lathan almost chokes on his loudness, his surprise. He wags his head at Kylo. “I can’t come stay with you. We don’t know how long the school will be closed. I’m not doing that to your parents.” He grabs his phone quickly, scrolling his contacts for Maria. “I’m not letting her pay for a plane ticket for me.”

“No, dude.” Kylo reaches out and snags Lathan’s phone from his hands, opening his notes app to type as fast as he can. ‘I just talked to my mom on the phone, she’s gonna get the guest house ready for you. Don’t worry about it! I’m not going anywhere without you.’

Lathan looks at Kylo with rounded, bewildered eyes, his mouth slightly agape. “Ky, that’s too much. They barely know me. I don’t want to displace them.”

Kylo shakes his head and leans in, grasping Lathan’s jaw gently in both hands as he plants a kiss on his lips, only releasing to wrap his arms around him in a tight embrace.

It’s not, and you won’t. I love you, and I’m not leaving you.

Lathan relaxes into Kylo’s embrace, as if beginning to accept his fate. “I’m paying her back for the ticket,” he says, pouting.

◆◆◆

The airport is in a larger city two hours away from Obscura Academy, beyond the borders of Ridley, but to accommodate students’ travels, Obscura is providing their buses as shuttles to and from.

It’s heartbreaking to leave their dorm behind, in a way Kylo wasn’t prepared for. So much has happened in this tiny room. Awkward beginnings, emotional awakenings, sexual tension, budding love, heartbreak, pain, healing, dedication. It’s where their story began—all their memories live inside these walls. The only bits they can salvage are what fits inside their suitcases; the rest is forced to live here until they can return. If they can return.

With a sombre last glance, they close their door and lock it for what might be the last time.

Both the trip to the airport and the flight are quiet. With Lathan’s newly onset hearing loss, conversation isn’t exactly coming easy to either of them—or the others travelling with them. It’s like the whole bus is either terrified or in mourning. Every single person feeling the butterfly effect of the attack, whether they were personally a victim of it or not. Kylo can’t help but wonder if any of them were affected by him that day . Luckily, Lathan’s firm fingers crocheted between his own is a point of connection that’s keeping him grounded—feeling Lathan’s heart beat steadily, feeling his lungs fill fully before exhaling the scent Kylo can never get enough of—despite the chaos and whirling emotions.

Lathan watches out the small airplane window as they descend and bounce harshly onto the runway. The passengers file out of the hull, and the two follow close together as they arrive at their temporary home in Flagstaff, Arizona. After waiting for their luggage to circle around to them, they head to the arrival doors, where Maria and David are expected to be waiting for them outside.

Kylo squeezes Lathan’s hand in both excitement and anxiety, nervous to see his parents for the first time since visitation day, months ago. So much has happened since then. So much has happened since the start of the academic year…

As the automatic glass doors slide open, they step out onto the sidewalk where the sun beams down onto them, blinding Kylo briefly. He stops and raises his hand above his eyes to block the glare as he looks around for familiar faces.

A womanly shriek echoes up to Kylo from down the sidewalk, and a gust of wind ruffles Kylo’s hair as they turn to look—Lathan following his movement. Maria is waving a flimsy piece of cardstock with KYLO + LATHAN written in glitter glue. Beside the beaming woman, David smiles with embarrassment, hands tucked into his medium-wash jeans.

Kylo reads the sign and immediately dips his head as he laughs to himself, slightly embarrassed but also loving it. The sign, an adorably thoughtful gesture, looks like it was made by a preschooler, though he’ll never admit it to her. He waves, tipping his head to his dad with a cocked brow before hopping into step toward them, releasing his grip on Lathan’s hand.

“Hey! Long time, no see!” he shouts to where they’re standing near their black SUV.

“My Kylo!” Maria coils her arms around her son, holding him lovingly, fully, rocking from side to side. She smells of raspberries and cinnamon—sweet yet earthy. Pulling back, she takes his face in her hands. “Let me see you. Oh, my sweet boy. You’re feeling okay? Obscura was on the news this morning.”

Lathan feigns a soft smile at Maria and David, strolling up more casually, his luggage wheeling behind him.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m doing okay. Totally fine.” He pauses for half a second, tipping his head and looking up for emphasis. “For the most part.” Leaning out of the hug with his mom, he steps over and gives his dad one as well. “Good to see you.” He smells of bergamot and sandalwood—herbal and comforting.

David gives his son a good pat on the back and says into his ear, “I told her the sign was overkill, but she insisted. New craft supplies.”

The wind cycles through Lathan’s beautiful, long hair, flicking it up around his neck as the breeze rushes at the werewolves he approaches. “I can send you the money for the plane ticket, Maria,” he says as he steps up to them. “And you can’t tell me no, because I can’t hear you say it anyway.”

Kylo watches as Maria’s giant smile drops slightly at the edges as the wind hits her. She glances between her son and the vampire walking closer, her excitement seeming to stumble. Looking over at David, she gives him a very specific look, before returning her attention to Lathan as he speaks.

“Oh, I—uh—” she fails to respond, her brain not catching up to his words as they come out. To cover up her lagging, she just steps forward and gives him a hug, though it’s short-lived before she steps back to stand beside her husband.

David looks to his wife and then his face, too, contorts—more obviously than hers. “Holy sh—” He cuts himself off, clearing his throat, bringing a fist to his lips. Then, abruptly, he straightens with a bigger-than-normal smile and half-embraces Lathan. Lathan kind of blinks at the gestures from both parents, but nods, reverting into himself slightly.

Kylo just swivels his head back at his parent’s odd reactions. The fuck was that about? She insisted Lathan come—bought him a plane ticket, for gods’ sake, so what’s the problem?

“Sh-should we get going then?” she stammers before any more conversation can be had, gesturing toward the car, almost in a rushed manor.

“Yeah…sure,” Kylo says with narrowing eyes, suspicious of why they’re suddenly acting off. David helps Kylo take their luggage and place it in the trunk, along with Maria’s shitty sign.

Maria taps her full hand on Lathan’s shoulder to get his attention. “You can sit in the front, Lathan!” she chirps as she ushers him to the passenger’s side door and opens it for him. He hesitates, but presses his lips and says, “Thank you,” before ducking inside.

When the door shuts him in, she looks at Kylo in a wicked sort of way. “And you can sit in the back with me.”

“Uuhh…okay?” Kylo eyes her nervously, and then climbs into the back behind Lathan’s seat with caution. As David closes the trunk, Maria hops into the seat beside Kylo, closing her door for David to claim the position of driver .

“What’s going on? You’re acting weird,” he says in a hushed tone, even though Lathan won’t be able to hear him either way.

David starts the ignition while Maria is quiet. They exchange a look through the rearview mirror, and as the vehicle pulls away from the airport, Maria finally speaks.

“LATHAN, CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

The vampire in the front seat doesn’t even flinch at her volume, whereas David nearly flips the car. Lathan checks on the sudden swerve of the driver, who smiles with all his teeth, and then turns back to his window, taking in his new surroundings.

“The fuck ?!” Kylo flinches away from her, clutching his ears. “Can you please tell me what’s going on? Is it something to do with Obscura?”

She moves her eyes from Lathan and onto her son. “I just wanted to make sure. It’d be one damn car ride if he could hear this.” She pats out the wrinkles in her pants, her tone casual, despite Kylo’s confusion. “Kylo, we know you’re an adult now. Have been for a while. And adults do…adult things. We aren’t ignorant to that.”

“Oh—woah, okay, where is this going?” Nerves churn his stomach as her line of questioning becomes much more personal and invasive. They’ve never had ‘the birds and the bees’ talk—never needed to—so it’s a bit out of the blue now , at twenty-three years old.

Maria shifts slightly, adjusting her seatbelt. “Well, werewolves have certain responsibilities to consider. Ones that affect an entire pack.” She looks at Kylo directly. “And I don’t think you realized that.”

“What…what are you talking about? Did I do something? And what does that have to do with Lathan?” As the words leave his mouth, he remembers what Jake had mentioned; he thought he was just full of shit.

Maria opens her maw to continue her gentle workaround, but she’s beaten to it by David as he’s making a right turn. “We know you mated him.”

“ David ,” Maria warns, sending a sharp leer into the mirror. She looks at Kylo. “Honey, we can smell it. The mated bond.”

Kylo’s face flushes bright red, his eyes flaring wide, every hair raising on end. “You can WHAT?”

I’m gonna fucking die. This is it—embarrassment, take me now. Holy shit, my parents know we did it under a full moon.

“And you didn’t think this would be pertinent information for me to have, why?!”

“I thought you knew that much,” Maria says. “You don’t remember when Kianna officially mated Bruce? You were around fourteen then, I think. I know it was a while ago, but you weren’t that young. You didn’t notice his scent change?”

“No!” He pauses, thinking back. “I mean—I guess? But I just thought it was a new cologne or something. For fuck’s sake!” Leaning forward over his legs, his forehead against the seat in front of him, he clutches his face in his hands.

There’s a minute of silence as his brain puts the final pieces into the puzzle.

“So…when you said it affects the pack,” he says quietly, with an icy calmness, “that means…”

What happened during winter break, the undeniable urge he felt to bite Lathan, was more than just a ‘mating mark.’ It altered Lathan. He’s his mate. And Jake, and every other werewolf on campus, could smell Kylo on him… in him. That also explains the deeper connection to his boyfriend and the need to protect him from Jake and his friends, the guttural fear and rage he felt when locked in W Block without any inkling of where Lathan was, or if he was hurt. Though, the latter was much stronger—his senses still haven’t returned to normal two days later. Still unusually sharp.

“I’ve never heard of this,” David says, glancing sideways at Lathan, who’s still gazing out the window. “I didn’t know it was possible.” He scoffs, shaking his head, but not in a judgemental way—with confusion and surprise and a hint of overwhelm. This is something they all have to deal with, indefinitely.

Maria rests a hand on her son’s knee and says the exact words he’s fighting to accept in his head. “You’ve brought him into the pack, mijo.”

David locks his eyes on Kylo through the rear view mirror. “I know it’s not something you can really control, but I don’t get how you were even… in that situation ….”

“We—” Kylo clears his throat, starting his thought over. “It was the full moon before Yule. The staff left, W Block was closed. Any werewolves remaining on campus were advised to find other accommodations…which Lathan helped me with.” He fidgets as he talks, the nerves of being found out eating him inside. It was intimate, private, and he wanted it to stay that way, but clearly that was never going to be an option—regardless of Jake running his mouth.

He avoids eye contact as he continues. “One thing led to another, and—oh, my gods, I can’t believe I’m telling you all this.” His hands run over his face into his hair, his skin not dimming in its embarrassed flush. But it wasn’t just one thing leading to another. They talked about it. Wanted it. Both of them. They planned it—up until the mating bite, at least.

David lifts a hand, “Okay, okay, that’s a different issue to take up with the school,” he says, eyes squinted onto the road before them, clearly not actually wanting the details of his son’s sex life. Then he sighs. “We should have been more transparent about mating. But then we met Lathan, and I guess I assumed it just wouldn’t be…possible.”

Kylo leans all the way back in his seat, his arms up and bent, resting his hands over his face. How are we discussing this in front of the man I fucked? I know he can’t hear us, but this feels so wrong.

“Well, Dad? It was possible.” He takes a deep breath, holding it in for as long as he can before sighing it out. His arms flop to his sides but he stays leaning back, staring through the sunroof.

“I don’t regret it,” he says, softer. “I love him. And I don’t know how, but I just knew . ”

He was the one. My one .

“Oh, honey, we know you do,” Maria says, her motherly tone warm and delicate again. “That’s not the concern. And I know he loves you, too,” she adds, running a finger over Kylo’s promise ring, smiling down at it now that she can see it in person. “But this is a big deal. It would be regardless, but…he’s not a wolf. And he’s in a wolf pack now, without even knowing it. It’s a discussion we need to have.”

He turns his head, his curls twisting against the headrest as he looks at her. His embarrassment calmed and faded. “Yeah, that is a big deal,” he repeats under his breath to himself, acknowledging just how crazy that concept is. He wonders what Lucas will have to say about that…Lucas, and the rest of his pack.

“I’ll talk to him…break the news.” He lets out a laugh-like breath, the corner of his lip tugging up. “Just…give me some time to figure out how to tell him that not only can my family smell what happened, but, hey , you’re a part of the pack now, too. ”

Maria smiles understandingly, and a little sadly, at her son and rubs his shoulder. “Of course. Hopefully his ears heal quickly. This isn’t a conversation you should do in writing.”

David offers Kylo a soft look of sympathy over his shoulder as they come to a red light. “We’ll figure it out. Together.” His apprehension is clear in his eyes, shining with worry and a little bit of fear. David’s father—Kylo’s grandfather—and the elder wolves in their pack are more traditionalists, and though David seems supportive, the reality is quite known that not everyone will feel the same acceptance toward Lathan.

Lathan turns his head, seeing David looking at the backseat passengers, and also glances back as if to make sure that he isn’t missing anything. David elongates his smile for Lathan and turns back to the road, trying to be smooth about it, but Lathan arches a brow at Kylo in response, who just smiles and tips his head up in acknowledgement, deciding to stay quiet for the remainder of the drive.

At least they’re taking it well? All things considered, I am grateful to have them. I know his parents wouldn’t react so supportively to this information…

How am I supposed to wait to tell him? What will he think when I do? Will he feel trapped? I wouldn’t force him to stay with me because of it. Ever. It’s his choice…but if he is okay with it, how will the others take it? The pack? His parents? Our classmates were already giving us dirty looks, I can’t imagine it’s going to magically become easier.

He sighs, sinking into his seat.