Page 93 of Found in Obscurity

“Tha-nks,” Kit called back, as loudly as he could manage, voice breaking in the middle but showing no signs that it hurt him.

Lorin was caught in a whirlwind, whisked through the stacks toward the very back of the library. Oral history was a dark and secluded spot under the balcony of the upper floor, completely removed from most of the rest of the library. He’d heard rumors back when he was young about kids making out back here, buthe hadn’t actually thought they held any truth. Whenever he was in here, it was always just to read alone.

As Kit pushed his back flat against the stack and caged him in, he reconsidered that. He blinked down at Kit’s amber eyes, the brightest thing in the dark, lined with feathered lashes. His heart pounded.

“We’re supposed to be searching,” Lorin said, his voice a whisper not just because they were in a library. He couldn't take his eyes off Kit’s mouth. Kissing Kit hadn’t been far away from his thoughts since that first time, but the timing was always off. They always had shifting troubles, or magic building, or cabin chores, or Glenn dropping by, or secret keys to unknown places turning up. Life was full and Lorin wasn’t entirely sure how to carve out time for this, too unused to it.

Lorin did have some experience. It had been few and far between, but it was there. What he didn’t have experience in was this. The softer, slower stuff. The relationship part.

Kit didn’t appear to have the same problem. Lorin didn’t know whether that was because he’d been in relationships before, or if it just came naturally to him, but once he’d thought about it he couldn’t stop.

“Do you pin every boy to the stacks to try and kiss them?” he found himself asking.

Kit smiled slowly and shook his head the tiniest bit. He leaned closer, sliding his arms around Lorin’s shoulders to rest all his weight on him as their faces came closer. Lorin’s hands found their way to Kit’s hips naturally, sneaking under his soft sweater, the left one still holding the key.

“Mate,” Kit said.

Just one simple word to clear up any doubt.

Lorin leaned in to kiss the word from his lips. To taste it on his tongue. Whether Kit had done this with anyone else beforewas irrelevant. It was just them now. Mated. Bonded. What did anything else matter?

Kit kissed back enthusiastically, winding his fingers through Lorin’s hair and making pleased noises in the back of his throat as he chased Lorin’s tongue around like it was a game.

Lorin began to feel lightheaded and giddy, wanting to laugh at how young this made him feel. His teenage years had been lost to tumultuous seas, but this felt like he was capturing some of that back. He didn’t care if they got caught or if Glenn and Stella knew.

Lorin’s right hand climbed Kit’s spine under his sweater, feeling scalding skin against his palm. He was kissing Kit so hard he had him bent over backward, with Kit wrapping a leg around his hip to help steady him and keep Lorin close.

They stumbled, hitting the opposite wall without their mouths separating. Now that the beast had been unleashed, neither one of them seemed able to stop it. Or maybe it was that neither of them wanted to.

Lorin braced them with his left hand, the key still held loosely between his finger and thumb.

He felt a sudden jolt move through him, like touching a live wire, and Kit shuddered against him in response. A feeling of weightlessness joined the sensation and had him opening his eyes just in time to see the world tilt and Kit’s eyes spring open in shock.

That was all the warning they got before the wall they had been kissing against swung inward, sending them crashing to the floor.

Lorin did his best to save them, but all he could do was cradle the back of Kit’s head as they hit the floor with athump. They both wheezed, getting their bearings for a second.

Lorin curled his body back up, trying to take some of his weight off Kit. “Are you okay?”

Kit nodded, looking no worse for wear, his mouth red, pout swollen from Lorin’s vigorous attention.

Lorin flushed, trying not to get distracted. He looked around them and saw that they’d fallen into a room that looked like it belonged in a museum. Tomes and scrolls filled every surface and bookshelf, writings and symbols all over the walls. Sconces were already lit up with blue flames.

“I think…we found the pathfinder room.”

Kit frowned, doing his best to look around from his spot, trying to view it all upside down. “Key?”

“I guess it didn’t need to actually go into a lock.”

Lorin straightened up, gripping Kit’s hand to help him back to his feet too. They stood side by side in a room that Lorin felt strangely possessive over the moment he laid eyes on it. It felt like it was a part of him, somehow. Like it belonged to him. It was calling out to him, beckoning him deeper inside, glimmering before his eyes like a treasure chest. He was taking steps farther in before he realized what he was doing.

His steps were quiet, barely audible despite the floorboards looking old and worn. He felt movement behind him, but he couldn’t force himself to turn around and check what it was. All he could do was stare at the space in front of him and revel in how right it felt to be there.

Nothing had ever felt like it belonged to him instantly except Kit. And now this room.

He found himself in the middle of it, surrounded by countless books and scrolls, and felt his ears ring with potential.

There was so much information held there. So much to explore and learn. He hadn’t known there was a hunger inside him that yearned for that. He hadn’t thought he’d ever be the witch eager to mold himself into his calling, but learning he was a pathfinder had lit a spark of potential. It had piqued his curiosity. Given him a small sense of direction.