Page 65 of Found in Obscurity

“It was witches. That did this to you.”

Kit bared his teeth in a mean way, growling in his throat. Lorin didn’t blame him. What he couldn’t work out waswhy.

“Why would any witch want to force a shifter into their animal form?” he wondered out loud. “What was the goal? And how did they do it? I’ve never heard of anything like that. It’s barbaric.”

Kit sighed and shook his head like he wasn’t entirely sure either. He looked tired, and Lorin ran a thumb under his left eye before he could stop himself. The tip of his nail brushed Kit’s bottom lashes, fanning them, the dark stain on his skin contrasting with Kit’s translucent skin perfectly.

A new mark had appeared on his thumb, clear and defined. A small rhombus, with a line running through it, bent at the ends to form an arrow-like shape. Lorin had no idea what it meant, but he did like the look of it. For whatever reason, it felt like it belonged on his skin.

Kit leaned into the comfort of Lorin’s palm, like he did whenever Lorin petted him as a fox. Utterly trusting. Needy for affection. It wiped all thoughts of the mark from Lorin’s mind.

How long had it been for him? Without hope or understanding. Without love or kindness.

It made Lorin’s chest ache.

“You lost your family, right? You don’t know where they went?” he said softly.

Kit’s countenance turned sad.

“You can’t track them down as a fox?”

Kit shook his head, looking down.

“I’ll help you find them,” Lorin said, grasping his chin to make their gazes meet again. “I’ll help you fix this.”

Kit met his eyes with amber ones full of trust. It floored Lorin a little, but he could feel the connection between them, bright and unbending in his chest. They had one another, and for once in his life, Lorin saw a path set clearly before him.

Nothing was more important.

Kit suddenly made a pained sound and Lorin held him tightly in fear as he searched for the reason. “What? What is it?”

Kit pressed his forehead to Lorin’s, grimacing. When his eyes opened again they were glowing even brighter than normal. A look down saw skin turning to fur.

He was shifting again.

Lorin found himself clutching him closer like he could stop it, desperately trying to hold on to him.

It was useless.

Kit rolled off him and Lorin watched as his body shrank and morphed until he was a fox again, curled up in a panting ball at his side. Lorin gathered him up in gentle arms, cradling him close.

“I’ll fix this. I promise,” he whispered into his fur.

Kit

He hadn’t thought seeing someone put him first like that would have affected him to this degree, but watching Lorin pour everything he had into looking for an answer for what had happened to Kit was making his head spin.

Lorin spent hours every day leafing through book after book after book. Some he checked out of the library again, shocking the librarian when she realized none of the books he’d picked were actually in their system, despite being found on the library shelves.

Kit shared her confusion, if he was being honest, along with the fact that all of the books were empty. Not one had a single letter written in it, and it was beyond Kit’s understanding. But he had no way to convey that to Lorin, so he just watched as he hunched over the books, jotting things down in his notebook and marking the pages he clearly felt were more interesting than others.

He had also received a package wrapped in nondescript brown paper and addressed to Lorin and their little cabin. Kit hadn’t seen the shipper’s name, but the package held a very distinct herbal and powerful scent he had only ever smelled on one other person. The Owner of the Magic Shop.

Kit remembered the man had promised Lorin he’d look into the books he was interested in and he’d held true to his word. About a dozen books had been sent Lorin’s way. Each of themlooked old enough to be falling apart, yet were held together by the pure magic pouring off them. They differed in size, but they all seemed to be leather bound, with ornate cover images and titles.

By the time Lorin got to those, Kit had kind of lost interest in trying to read for himself because there was just no way to do that. Lorin clearly saw something he as a fox couldn’t. That was the conclusion he’d come up with, because nothing else made any sort of sense. The books had been in the library or the Magic Shop, so clearly they were actual books. Lorin was reading them, so there was obviously something there. He reminded himself to give it a go the next time he was human.

He opted to curl up next to Lorin while he did his thing. Well…curl on top of Lorin, would be more correct, because Kit was pretty much addicted to Lorin’s touch now. Since he’d felt it on his bare, human skin, he couldn’t get enough of it, that human instinct seeping through the barrier. The mate pull toward Lorin was now almost fully formed since they’d spent time together as humans, and the fox could feel the shift as clearly as anything else.