Page 121 of Found in Obscurity

While he was in it, it had been easier to push away the fear and panic to concentrate on the larger goal. Now that he had happiness in his hands, the fear of losing it again crept up insidiously.

Lorin and his family made all the difference.

No matter how hard it got, coming out of those dark places to such love and support was all he could ask for. With time, he hoped it would ease. Not forgotten, but healed.

Kit smiled to himself as he blinked the thoughts away, walking over to Mara and flicking her on the forehead. “Quit saddling my mate with your jobs.”

She pulled a face and cupped her forehead. “It’s what mates are for.”

Lorin chuckled and Kit scowled. “Yeah, your own mate. So go find your own. This one’s mine.”

He wrapped his arm around Lorin’s, slightly hanging off it just to prove that he could.

“Not the strongest of guys here, fox boy,” Lorin said, groaning under the added weight. “Gonna drop the box and you right with it.”

“You’d never drop me.” Kit blinked up at him, fluttering his lashes as obnoxiously as he could. “You love me too much for that.”

He watched with satisfaction as Lorin’s entire face went soft at the words, his eyes dropping to Kit’s lips, a smile painting his own like a sunrise.

“You’re right,” he said. “I do love you too much.”

Kit beamed at him. “I love you too,” he said softly, forgetting for a second that they weren’t alone. Forgetting they had eyes and ears on them and that the words weren’t just between them. Nothing else really mattered when Lorin looked at him the way he did.

“You’re still too heavy,” Lorin said, eclipsing the moment.

Mara cackled gleefully as Kit pouted and stopped hanging off him like a limpet.

“Less heart eyes and pouting, more carrying. The boxes won’t move themselves in,” she singsonged.

She made a shooing motion with her hands, and Lorin bent down to steal a quick kiss from Kit’s lips before scurrying away with Mara’s stuff. Kit spluttered before turning narrowed eyes on Mara. “Retribution incoming.”

Mara grinned with all her teeth, completely vulpine.

Kit turned on his heel, already plotting all the ways he could outfox her. He followed Lorin’s scent trail to the living room and propped himself up against the wall, watching Lorin unload the boxes and chat with his dad as they figured out what went where.

It was still surreal to Kit that he got to have his mate and his skulk back. All in one place. Because after visiting their old home and realizing too many bad memories lingered there, his family had decided to move to Oak’s Hollow. To where Kit and Lorin lived.

The community had rallied around them, finding them a perfect little cabin right behind the one Glenn lived in. It was deeper in the woods than any other home, a little shabby, but nothing Kit’s dad and brothers couldn’t fix. Especially with the help of every handy witch in town that offered their time freely, like they were a part of the community and always had been.

Kit’s heart was beyond full, and he felt nothing but completely whole, finally.

It was hard to comprehend sometimes, this meeting of worlds. Neither reality seemed real. It felt unfair that either one of them had to be. Where one contained his family and one contained Lorin. He felt cheated of so much time.

But he was happy with his present and did his best to stay in it and not get dragged down by the past.

“He’s perfect for you,” Kit’s mother said as she walked into the room, coming to stand next to Kit and nudging him with her shoulder.

“I know, right?” Kit grinned at her.

“He’s not what I imagined your mate would be, but at the same time he’s everything I hoped you’d find.” She smiled back.

“I think the universe wanted us to meet. So many things were against us, and yet…we found each other anyway.”

“Must have been hard, with you stuck in your shift,” she said, her smile dimming a little but never disappearing completely. She wouldn’t let it. It was who she was.

“It was, but it wasn’t just that,” Kit said. “Lorin… Well, he almost didn’t attend the bonding ceremony.”

“How come?”