Page 14 of Found in Obscurity

Lorin’s head got louder and louder until it reached a crescendo and then…everything went completely silent.

The world stopped moving.

His insides settled.

He felt whole.

He gasped and his eyes snapped open to reality.

He was sprawled on the floor of the tent, his grandma standing above him with tears in her eyes and a triumphant smile on her face.

And there was a tail flicking him in the face as something soft and damp burrowed its way inside the flap of his coat.

Kit

Kit buried himself against the witch’s chest, burrowing deeper like he could crawl straight inside him and curl up and rest.

Finally safe. Finally whole. Finally with his mate.

The exhaustion of years had fallen on his tiny body, the electricity of their connection still lighting him up and making him vibrate. He pawed at the invisible barrier that kept his human side locked away from the animal one. He tried ripping it apart, fueled by adrenaline and the magic of finding his mate. He tried looking for cracks in it, a place to burst through and pull the fox back to allow the man out.

But there was nothing. The fox remained stubbornly at the forefront, the human side suppressed and caged. He couldn’t do it. He still wasn’t fixed.

He made a whining whimper in the back of his throat, pressing his ears flat to his head as he sought comfort and grounding.

Why wasn’t the witch holding him?

He snuffled up toward the witch’s armpit, gathering the smell underneath the artificial layering humans used, soothing himself with his mate’s scent.

His tail flicked once in delight, eyes closing as he dug his snout deeper, making the witch flinch. He felt hands on him then, trying to pull him away, and he wiggled away from them viciously, barely resisting the urge to bare his sharp teeth andsnap backward. This was his witch. His mate. No one was taking him from Kit now he finally had him.

Only…then he realized that the hands on him weren’tpulling…they were pushing.

Pushing him away.

Kit could barely believe it, digging his claws into the material under them and finding purchase. The witch must be confused, something else must be happening. All he knew was that he didn’t want to go, and herefusedto go.

There were people everywhere. Eyes and hands and scents and voices.

Kit hadn’t been this close to anyone in forever, and it made him twitch nervously. No. He wanted to stay curled up with his mate. His mate should gather him up and take him away where it was quiet and safe and where Kit could lick him all over in peace.

“Lorin…”

“Grandma, help” came the choked vibration from the chest next to his ear.

Lorin?

Was that his mate’s given name?

“You said there was barely a chance…you said…” Lorin continued, only for his rumbling voice to trail off.

Had he been searching for Kit as long as Kit had been searching for Lorin?

Kit leaned up to lick a soothing stripe over Lorin’s neck and almost got tumbled out of Lorin’s lap again.

The witch really needed to work on his cuddling skills.

“Lorin, calm down,” someone instructed. “Breathe.”