Page 119 of Found in Obscurity

He felt sick with anxiety. With all the other shifters heading for the exit, Kit’s senses could register things more clearly. And each breath in made his chest tighten and tears prick his eyes.

The soft florals of his mother, the sharp woods of his dad, the water and the spices and the herbs of his brothers and sister.Scents of home, of love and comfort drowned underneath layers of fear and pain.

They weren’t supposed to be here. Not here.

He pushed the key into the lock with shaking hands that could barely function and turned it, hearing steps scrambling against the metal floor before the door flew open and he found himself face to face with his family.

After five years.

He fell to his knees.

“Kit?” His mother’s voice travelled through the noise in his head, disbelieving and trembling, and he broke.

“Mom!” he cried out, voice breaking. And then he did the only thing he could think of. He tipped himself forward, not even looking at who he was throwing himself at.

He knew his family would catch him.

Arms closed around him. Multiple pairs. Some stronger, some gentler. But all of them familiar. All of them belonging to him just as much as Lorin’s did.

He hugged back blindly. Folded into the circle of his family like he’d never been away for a single second. The ache in his heart and the hole of their absence was raw and stinging as they slotted back into place.

Kit finally allowed himself to look up, tears brimming in his eyes as he locked them with his family’s.

His mom and dad looked older than the last time he’d seen them, both of them just slightly taller than Kit, bodies looking worn down and heavy. Their skin was sallow and dull from all the time spent underground. Kit had his mom’s smile and white hair, but his eyes were his dad’s, right down to the glint of sadness and regret in them.

His two brothers crouched on each side of his parents, like guards against the world that had been so cruel to them. Barely holding themselves upright, but stubborn and determined tothe very end. Raff, the oldest, stoic and strong, and Toby, the youngest, restless and excited even in the face of all the pain and suffering.

And between them all, Kit’s younger sister, Mara, looking up at him with tears in her eyes and shock written all over her face.

His skulk. In front of him. Alive and there. It was years overdue and there was so much to say between them, but he could touch them. Scent them. Press himself into their fold and be a part of it once more.

Kit’s lip trembled, a sniffle broke out, and before he could stop himself he was crying, ugly and unabashed and loud. He couldn’t have prevented it if he’d tried.

Years of solitude and fear came rolling off him. Months and weeks of uncertainty, of conviction that they were hurt, or even worse…gone. Days of being lost and scared with nobody to turn to. And even the happiness he felt with Lorin couldn’t hold it back. It all came crashing against the dam he’d built inside himself to keep it all at bay. To help him function and survive.

He heard voices, felt shuffling around him, felt himself being moved, but he couldn’t stop crying. He didn’t think it would be possible to stop until everything he had to push out was finally released.

His head was pressed into a familiar chest, Lorin’s heartbeat now just as familiar to Kit as his own. He heard the rumble of Lorin’s voice under his cheek and the soft conversation happening around him as he did his best to come back to himself.

“We need to go, now,” Ellis said, urging them into action. “I’m sorry but the shifters are getting too restless and some have already left. Whatever the elder witches and the coven are doing seems to be getting worse.”

Kit felt Lorin nod. “I’d love to meet you all properly, but Ellis is right. We don’t want to be trapped down here, we need to leave while we can.”

“You’re Kit’s mate?” his father asked.

“Yes.”

That’s all they seemed to need as they began moving to follow him. Kit clutched Lorin tightly, trying to calm himself and think clearly. They weren’t done yet. He couldn’t fall down until it was finished.

Lorin urged them out and away from the secret clearing, rushing them toward the outskirts of the woods. The purple flames forced them along certain pathways, blocking others entirely. They were following dozens of footsteps in the snow—some human, some animal, but all of them found and finally free.

Lorin stooped down to grab a dwarf rabbit shifter that was limping along and struggling to keep up, tucking it into his pocket. Kit’s family was tight on their heels, and he could feel a hand on the back of his coat.

In the distance there were flashes and fighting. Animalistic yowls and battle cries sounded in the air as what could only be shifters joined the attack against the coven. Kit was sure it was some of the ones that had already left the pathfinder room seeking revenge from the anger in their cries.

Kit felt the same resonation in his own chest.

“Some of our pack is waiting just outside the tree line. Those that didn’t join the fight just in case it went badly,” Ellis yelled to them above the noise, pointing in a direction past the purple and gray haze of smoke and magic. “We just need to make it through!”