Page 84 of Found in Obscurity

Carefully.

Like he was avoiding a jump-scare when he knew nothing like that would happen. The rush of pain was similar to the rush of fear though. The album opened to a photo clearly taken at a bonding ceremony.

The same clearing he had found Kit in, the same tent and the same decorations. And in the middle of it all, his mother, wrapped in the arms of a man wearing nothing but cotton shorts and the biggest smile.

He was looking at the camera like all of his dreams had come true at the same time.

“My parents,” Lorin said, just to say something. Just to get started. “My mom was a witch. My dad was her familiar.”

What kind of a shifter was he?Kit asked through his notebook.

“A beaver,” Lorin said. “He built this cabin. For my mom. And me. She was an elemental. Water was her calling. I don’t remember her using her powers, but I know Grandma always talked about how she looked like she was made of water when she’d do it.”

They sound like they were made for each other.

“They were,” Lorin said. “There used to be a stream behind the cabin. He built her a dam to make a tiny pond for her to use in her rituals. It dried out. When she… When they…”

He shook his head and sighed, turning the page.

His parents, standing in front of the finished cabin, proud, happy.

“She wove her magic into the wood for the cabin,” Lorin said. “He built it, but she infused it. That’s why the feeling of her power is so strong. Everywhere.”

She was powerful,Kit wrote.

Lorin nodded, flipping another page. His mother in the pond, her hands on her large belly, a beaver standing next to her, watchful and alert.

Lorin.

She’d been pregnant with Lorin when the photo was taken. The first family photo they had. The first out of so few.

They look so happy,Kit wrote, showing the note to Lorin carefully, like he was making sure he wasn’t causing him any more pain than necessary.

“They were,” Lorin said. “They loved each other so much.”

What happened?

Lorin had expected the question. It was logical to ask it, and Lorin had promised him an explanation in the future.

“She got sick,” he said, flipping the pages and swallowing against the tears when he saw himself in the next ones. A happy, smiling child, safe with his parents. “Cancer. Aggressive and untreatable. Grandma tried to tap into some really powerful stuff to help her. She felt like she was letting us all down because there are things magic can’t do. This was one of them.”

A tear dropped down onto the glossy page of the album and Lorin wiped it away.

“My dad wanted to stay for me,” Lorin choked out. “He did everything he could, but the bond they had was one not every bonded couple shared.”

He knew Kit would understand.

They weren’t just a mate and a familiar,the note said.They were soulbonded.

“They were,” Lorin said. “Defying all odds. Always.”

So when she died…he followed.

“He did,” Lorin said, caressing the faces of his parents in the photos. He’d had so little time with them. A short two years that hadn’t even stayed with him because he was too young. They were almost strangers, and Lorin felt pain stab at his heart like it had so many times before.

He wished they were there. He wished he knew if they’d be proud of him. If they’d like Kit. He wanted to ask them so many things. Talk to them about so much.

And he’d never get the chance.