20. Lorin

Chapter twenty

Lorin

T hey stayed in their bubble for a couple of days, celebrating and learning one another. The idea of going out with the soulbond still fresh made Kit growl and Lorin itchy. The walls of their home, their den, became sacred borders that they filled up with their love. Magic flowed between them as easily as sweet words and traded kisses.

Lorin wondered if there was a pathfinder spell to freeze a moment and live in it forever.

It was only when Sjena flew to the window and cawed that it came forcibly crashing down.

It was time.

They made their way into town slowly, with overnight bags packed and an unspoken understanding between them as they wound their way through the streets, enjoying their last few moments together before the world interrupted them.

Lorin was tempted to hide them away entirely, but he knew Kit didn't want that. And Lorin didn't want to have Kit looking over his shoulder his whole life, feeling unsafe and insecure. He didn't want Kit to feel the guilt of the dozens more shifters the witches might take and trap, even though it wasn't his responsibility.

Kit was eager to explore the world with no more restrictions. He could stay out as long as he wanted. He didn't have to hide who he was anymore. He was just another shifter familiar as far as anyone else was concerned. His past was the only thing locked up tight.

Lorin had grabbed them some hot drinks from the café on the way to his grandma's house. They were bundled up tightly, almost unrecognizable in hats, gloves and scarfs, flakes of snow drifting around lazily. Kit had his arm hooked around Lorin's puffy elbow, sliding away from him occasionally, only to slip right back beside him with a breathtaking smile despite the anxiety buzzing under the surface of his skin.

Lorin was enthralled with him.

So enthralled that he almost didn't see the person on the path ahead of them.

"Woah there, lovebirds," Millie said, cradling her belly and laughing. "Fragile load over here."

"I'm so sorry!" Lorin gasped, skidding to a stop. "Are you okay?"

She rolled her eyes. "You didn't even touch me. I just saw that you were preoccupied so I announced my presence pre-emptively. So no, your breathing in my direction is not harmful."

Lorin flushed, thankfully hidden by his already pink cheeks, and Kit giggled. "Hi, Millie!"

"Hey, Kit." She grinned and then nodded at their paper cups. "Already stopped by the café I see. Are there any donuts left in the place for me?"

"Maybe one," Kit joked, then tilted his head. "Not working today?"

"I'm on my way there now," she said. "I had the morning off to go check out some furniture stores a town over. Total bust."

Lorin was hit with an image of her flipping through baby magazines. "Nursery furniture?"

She nodded. "It's so expensive. You'd think I was planning a house renovation. They want people to take out loans just to afford it all, I swear."

"I…uh…have some furniture if you want to take a look at it," Lorin found himself saying.

Kit snapped his head around to him, his surprised gaze warming the side of Lorin's face.

Millie's eyes widened a little. "You do?"

Lorin took a deep breath and nodded. "It was my old stuff. Handmade by my dad. Really pretty. I don't want anything for it. It's just gathering dust right now, and I know they'd want it to go to a good home, so if you're interested…"

She opened her mouth a few times. "Stars, I don't know what to say…"

"You don't have to!" Lorin said, cringing at himself. He didn't want to force it on anyone.

"No!" she said quickly, reaching out and taking his gloved hand in hers, her eyes getting a little shiny. "I'd love to come look at it. I just meant that it seems too good to be true."

"Fate," Kit whispered, grinning at them both and radiating joy.

Millie laughed. "I guess so. But only if you're completely sure. I know heirlooms can be hard to part with."

They were, but this felt right. He had a whole house that breathed with his mother's and father's memories. This…he could let go. "I'm sure. I'd be happy for you to have it."

Millie's eyes glistened more and she squeezed his hand tighter. "Thank you so much, Lorin."

Lorin turned his smile downward. "It's nothing."

"Not true," Kit murmured, hugging his arm tighter and pressing his mouth to his shoulder.

"I'd hug you too, but this belly and all these layers are like a forcefield, I swear," she joked. "It's hard to make it outside of my own orbit."

They all laughed together and Lorin felt…happy. Despite the sense of impending doom, this did feel like fate. Like they had been put on paths to intersect at the exact right time.

They traded numbers to set up a time for Millie to drop by and then she hurried off to work, leaving Kit and Lorin standing where they had stopped. Kit was staring up at him with glowing eyes filled with some unnameable but delicate emotion.

"What?" Lorin murmured.

"Love you," was Kit's easy response, but it still knocked all the air out of Lorin's lungs. "You're brave."

"You're braver."

"We're braver together." Kit turned his face up for a kiss and Lorin gave it without question, their chapped lips brushing and warming one another.

A flap of wings and a shrill caw broke them from the moment. Lorin pulled back and looked up at the gray sky where Sjena was perched on a lamppost, staring at them with her beady eyes.

No more delays.

The spell and spellwork was intensive. Lorin had never seen anything like it when they stepped inside, couldn't begin to understand the intricacies of it, and it scared the stars out of him. It was only his complete trust in his grandma that allowed him to stand by and not whisk Kit away immediately.

It took four elders to perform it, one at every pole with their familiars at their feet. North, East, South, and West. His grandma and Flora were familiar at the North and South, but Lorin only loosely recognized Nomi and Alfred from around town—Nomi's ebony skin offset by her white robes, Alfred's long, gray beard brushing the embroidered stars on his chest. They chanted for what felt like hours, staffs stuck firmly into the ground, pointed hats pulled low over their weathered faces.

The sky shifted with the pressure of their combined magic, like a building storm as they chanted together. Lorin could hear it rumble in the distance, in roiling waves that made it hard to breathe or talk.

And in the epicenter was Kit, glowing white, everything focused on him.

Once it was done, Lorin rushed forward, catching Kit before he hit the ground. He was like a limp doll in his grip.

"Kit?" Lorin turned his face up to him, his beautiful features slack. A lance of worry pierced his stomach. "Kit? Come on, don't play around with me. Please…"

When Kit's eyes finally opened they were burning white still, his expression far, far away.

Lorin caught his breath, looking back at his grandma, who was leaning heavily on her staff. "Grandma?"

"He's fine," she said roughly, the exhaustion making her voice weaker. "We need to go while the spell is fresh."

"How? Kit is deadweight and you can all barely stand," Lorin exclaimed.

All of the elders bristled, drawing themselves upright purposefully while grumbling at him. The only one who laughed was Flora, as bright as ever with her ginger cat familiar winding around her ankles. "We'll all be fine in a few minutes."

Lorin gently gathered Kit's small frame into his arms, one arm hooked under his legs and one behind his back. "Are you sure—"

"West," Kit mumbled.

Lorin snapped his gaze down. "Kit? Are you okay?"

"West," he said again, dreamy and far off.

"Let's go. We have no time to lose," his grandma said, leading the charge out of the house.

The three of them ended up in one car, with Flora, Alfred, and Nomi following in another. Lorin sat with Kit in the back seat, worrying over him, Kit slowly giving directions as he felt them.

The glow began to wear off over time, and he seemed to regain more of his wits as the spell settled in, but his gaze was forever turned inward, eyes seeing something none of the rest of them could. Lorin kept an arm around him, fearful he'd fly off without it.

Lorin lost track of the miles they covered in the first day, only stopping for fuel and food that was barely eaten, and then once again at a motel to try and get some rest.

Kit didn't sleep much, and when he did he tossed and turned, sweating and whimpering, his eyes moving wildly under his eyelids. Lorin stayed up with him, unable to do anything to help except mop his brow and hold him close.

He worried constantly, but he knew Kit wouldn't want to turn back.

They started again at first light, following Kit's mumbled directions through roads and forests and towns. Snow came and went, coating everything to make it impossible to tell where they were.

It didn't matter, they weren't following any normal signs.

It was on the third day that something changed.

Kit grew agitated, his eyes glowing again as he pointed them toward a sign for Gloomfall. The closer they got, the road signs marking down the kilometers, the antsier Kit became, straining against his seat belt. It was the most animated he had been the whole trip, and Lorin felt it in the air. The taste of it was like ash under the gray sky.

They had finally reached the other end of the rope.

"There," Kit muttered, then whimpered, confirming the assumption. "It's there… It's there…"

He sounded both sure and distressed, his eyes darting around him like he was seeing shadows of monsters. He probably felt like he was. Lorin wished he could take it away, the spell that had linked Kit to his abusers, but it was Kit's choice.

All Lorin could do was try his best to soothe him, gathering him close into his side and pushing magic to him to try and drown out that connection with their own. Kit no longer needed it, but drawing on his magic as his familiar felt vibrant and wonderful, and he hoped the pushback could do a little of the same.

Kit had to turn his face and nose into Lorin's neck, huffing loudly, panting breaths skating down his collar. Lorin cradled his skull, stained fingers sliding through the white strands like lines of ink on paper. He wrapped his other arm around Kit's back, urging his legs over his so they were almost on one seat altogether.

‘Welcome to Gloomfall' flashed past the window.

"Can we release the spell now?" Lorin asked.

His grandma's eyes met his in the rearview mirror, sorry but hard. "We have to be sure. We can't cast that spell again so easily."

Lorin clenched his jaw, but Kit laid a hand over his on his head. "It's okay," he whispered. "I can…"

He trailed off like he'd immediately lost his train of thought and Lorin closed his eyes in pain. He ducked his head, pressing his nose into Kit's exposed ear to nuzzle against him, feeling powerless.

"We're here," his grandma said, voice weighted, and Lorin looked up.

They pulled into the small town slowly, each one of them on a knife's edge. Lorin didn't need to see his grandma's foot to know it was a twitch away from flooring it at the slightest hint of trouble.

Things stayed calm on the surface around them though. Their presence hardly made a ripple in the pool as they entered.

The mixture of houses and shops was standard, nothing about the place seeming out of the ordinary. In fact, the place was entirely ordinary. Almost eerily so. It looked like a human town. People walked by, going about their days. Lorin couldn't even spot a familiar among them to make him wary. Which made him doubly wary.

"They wouldn't be so bold as to walk around the streets anyway."

Lorin unglued his eyes from the windscreen and glanced at his grandma. Her gaze was moving from person to person instead of the road in front of her, which would have been dangerous if she hadn't been crawling along barely above walking pace. She seemed to be talking out loud to herself.

"Do you think even if they're humans, they're in on it?" Lorin asked quietly.

His grandma pursed her lips into a flat line. "It's not impossible, but it's far riskier to be so blatant. They've stayed hidden this long, which leads me to assume they are heavily secreted somewhere. Using a mostly human town as cover would be far more helpful to them. Bringing the humans they were hiding behind in risks more exposure…but it's not out of the question."

Lorin glanced back at the car behind them, Flora behind the wheel. He gave her a firm nod and watched Flora's eyes harden as she turned to the others to let them know.

This was the place.

Lorin saw something flicker out of the corner of his eye and he turned his gaze that way, only to catch a passing shadow in an alleyway.

It could have been nothing. A mere trick of the light.

Lorin was too paranoid for that.

"Did you see that?" Lorin asked.

"What?" his grandma asked, eyes sharp.

"Just there," Lorin said, pointing.

There was nothing there anymore.

Sjena cawed from her perch on the front seat, flapping her wings, and Grandma rolled down the window, allowing her to fly out.

They parked up on the side of the road and they watched Sjena circle around with bated breath. A dark smudge against the gray and white sky. When she came back showing no indication she'd spotted anything, Lorin sighed, not knowing whether he was relieved or not.

She swooped gracefully back inside the window on a gust of wind that buffeted the inside of the car. Lorin shivered and felt Kit abruptly stiffen against him, drawing in a sharp breath.

Lorin rubbed his arms and back to stave off the chill as he asked his grandma, "Can you shut the window?"

"There's someone," Kit mumbled to himself, sounding half delirious.

"Kit?"

But Kit was already shifting away from him, all elbows and knees in disjointed angles that dug into Lorin as he sought to free himself from Lorin's grip and move across the space toward the door. "I need… There's something…out…out…"

"Kit, wait—"

Lorin couldn't keep a hold of him, in the same way he couldn't when Kit was in his fox form, and Kit pushed out into the winter air. He stumbled onto his hands and knees on the damp, snow-speckled pavement, shaking and breathing heavily.

Lorin followed him in panic, crouching and trying to get him up while his grandma emerged from the creaky driver's seat.

"Kit? What is it? What's wrong?" Lorin asked, cupping the back of his head, searching desperately for the reason.

People began looking their way, whispers traveling, and his grandma bent down too. "We're drawing a lot of attention, boys."

"I know," Lorin said, keeping his gaze focused on Kit. Another frigid breeze swept through the streets, bringing a few debris and snowflakes and Kit suddenly sprang upright like it had revitalized him. He began sprinting toward the alleyway Lorin had spotted the shadow in.

"KIT!" Lorin scrambled to his feet and chased him down with his heart in his throat. He heard the doors of the other car opening behind them. He couldn't check to see if the elders were following though. "Kit, wait!"

They ducked between the two buildings and Kit paused, looking around them wildly and sniffing the air.

Lorin grasped his hand, out of breath. "Kit, please talk to me!"

"I thought…" Kit murmured, voice still faraway as his confusion over his own actions grew. "I thought I smelled…"

"What?" Lorin asked, squeezing his hand tighter like that could anchor them together. "The coven? Were they here?"

"No…no, no, no." Kit shook his head, clutching his hair. "Confusing. The spell is dragging me. Everything else is lost. I can't think. I can't think!"

"It's okay. It's okay." Lorin laid a kiss on his forehead as he eased his hand from his hair. He still didn't understand, but he didn't want Kit hurting himself. "Which way does it want you to go now?"

Kit pointed into the woods behind the buildings. The trees there were densely packed together, a gathering darkness even though there were hardly any left with leaves on them. They were nothing like the vibrant evergreens at home, welcoming and warm. These seemed to shift and move like they were alive. Lorin shuddered, repelled by the sight. The urge to run far away entered his mind.

Maybe we shouldn't go there after all. It would be better to leave. Leave and never return…

"Lorin! Kit!" his grandma called from the entry to the alley, knocking Lorin from his thoughts, the sensation taking over his mind receding. The other elders were behind her, their expressions concerned.

Lorin urged a reluctant Kit over to the group and his grandma grasped their arms tightly. "Don't look back at those woods."

Lorin frowned, immediately alarmed. "Why?"

"There's some nasty spellwork afoot," Flora said, mouth tight. "Mindwork."

Lorin gulped, holding Kit tighter to him and making sure not to look over his shoulder. "Definitely seem to have the right place then."

Flora nodded. "It would appear so."

"And we need to move before any spies in town notify the coven of our arrival. We're hardly inconspicuous," his grandma said, casting a suspicious eye around at the few people on the streets giving them sideways looks.

"What are you going to do?" Lorin asked them.

The elders exchanged looks.

"If the coven is in there, then that's where we need to go," Flora said. "There may be a way through."

"Okay," Lorin said. "We'll stay with the cars and wait for you."

"Lorin," Kit said, already pulling toward the tree line again with the same fervency. "I have to show them."

"You've already done enough," Lorin said desperately, keeping hold of him to get him to stay. He ran a thumb over the dark hollows under his glowing eyes. "You haven't eaten or slept properly in days. You said the spell is confusing you."

"They might leave. I have to," Kit said, gaze already turning inward again. "Otherwise it could be for nothing."

Lorin swallowed hard, looking into the beautiful face that was already so different from the face he'd stared into in front of the fire after they'd broken the chains on him, when joy and freedom had made him glow and not a spell.

"HEY!"

They all turned sharply to face a teenager in a hooded top and mud-stained jeans across the street. It was hard to make out the details of his face from this far away, with his features cast in shadow, but he was definitely addressing them.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you."

"Oh really?" Flora asked in a pleasant voice, stepping toward him. "Is there a reason why, perhaps?"

The teenager ran the back of his hand over his nose, backing away warily. "People go and don't come out again. We need to warn people."

"We?" she pressed.

The teenager cocked his head to the side like he was hearing something. Next to Lorin, Kit did the same thing and gasped.

The teenager ran off in the next instant, but Lorin didn't pay attention, looking at Kit. "What did you hear?"

"Shifters are close," Kit said in disbelief, blinking up at him. "What I was chasing before. It was the scent of another shifter! Not the coven!"

"Why would shifters be here when the coven close by are hunting them?" Alfred asked, stroking his beard.

"You heard him. To warn others," his grandma said. "They may have found the coven before us. Those I've talked to in the communities said there have been whisperings. I didn't realize they had gotten so far along with it."

"It's noble, but they're in danger. Why did they not inform any witch community?" Nomi asked.

"I don't think their faith in witches is at an all-time high right now," Flora guessed.

"I can't stay still," Kit said, breaking into the discussion, restless on his feet with sweat beading at his temples. "I need to move. It's pulling me."

"We need to figure out a safe passage through," Nomi said. "We have no time to research it."

"Kit…do you feel like you need to be turned away when you look at the woods?" Alfred asked suddenly. "You didn't appear to be as affected when we called you. In fact, you looked like you wanted to go back there."

Kit shook his head raggedly. "I just feel the pull of the spell. Nothing else."

"It might be aimed at witches only," his grandma mused. "Or the spell supersedes it."

"Or they want to make sure shifters specifically can pass and no one else," Flora said.

"In any of those cases, the point remains…Kit can pass but we can't?" Nomi asked.

"It would seem so."

"What if we closed our eyes and followed Kit?" Lorin asked.

Four pairs of eyes blinked at him in unison.

Lorin flushed at his childish suggestion, but didn't back down. "I only felt strange when I looked at it. Right now, when I can't see the woods I feel no effects. You're all looking at me and facing that way, but you seem fine also. It might just be a sight spell?"

"You raised a smart boy," Flora said to his grandma after a minute passed.

"He has his moments," she conceded with a hidden smile.

"As one would expect of a pathfinder." Nomi nodded. "Are you okay with this, Kit?"

Kit nodded.

"Look for signs of where the spell drops. To maintain it on the whole woods would be almost impossible for the coven size we suspect they are. My guess is they must have only done the perimeter," Flora said.

"Very well. Let's prepare," Nomi said.

They all got in place, Lorin taking the spot behind Kit and grasping his waist, feeling his grandma doing the same to him. The familiars joined their witches, either on their shoulders or at their feet. It was the strangest and scariest conga line Lorin had ever been a part of.

"Walk forward slowly now," Kit said, beginning to move.

They followed awkwardly, trying to find a rhythm with stumbling steps and knocks into one another before they found a pace that didn't send them falling like dominos.

Lorin felt the exact moment they entered the woods. An oppressive force sat on his chest, making it hard to breathe, and what felt like ants crawled over his skin. He wanted desperately to bat them off, but he didn't dare let go of Kit. Both for his own sake and, more importantly, his desire to keep Kit close now he couldn't see him.

Every sense was heightened like this. He heard the snaps of twigs under their feet and the squelch of damp earth and snow sucking them in. Branches brushed against his cheeks and caught his hair like gnarled fingers, and sounds from all directions made him jump in fright.

He could barely hear the murmuring of the elders behind him over the beat of his own heart.

Kit pressed forward, the spell making his pace relentless, until the sinister feeling stopped, and Lorin blinked his eyes open on instinct.

A calm tableau was set before him. The woods had lost their dark edge and simply stood where they had for years, breathing life into the surrounding area. The spell was nowhere to be seen.

"Flora was right," Lorin said.

His grandma hit him on the back. "Boy! Who told you to open your eyes?"

Lorin flushed and peeked back at her. She had her eyes open too. Hypocrite.

"He's right though," Nomi said, glancing around. "The spell has indeed lifted."

Lorin moved to Kit's side to grasp his hand and link their fingers while the rest of them talked. "Okay?"

Kit turned to him, looking so exhausted it made Lorin's heart ache. "They're close. I can feel it."

"As soon as we find them, we can hang back. You won't need to see them," Lorin promised.

"I don't know if that's possible," Kit said, voice trembling.

"Why?" Lorin asked.

"Because something has been following us," Kit whispered.

Kit

The feeling had crept upon him, as quiet as a mouse trailing his steps.

It was hard to hear it over the noise of the spell pulling him, yanking him, compelling him forward. It had diverted his thoughts for these long days since it had been cast. It consumed anything else that threatened to rise up to take its place.

There were only brief moments of clarity when something else broke through the sludge, before the compulsion to move came back. And the realization that they weren't alone was one of those.

It came in stages.

The disturbance in the far distance.

The sound of more steps than theirs.

The foreign scent carried on the wind that he couldn't pick out, mixing with so many others.

Only one thing was sure.

Something was hunting them.

But Kit needed to find the coven. He couldn't rest until he did. Until this cord in his chest was snipped by the sight of them finally.

Lorin was the only thing that could get through to him. His anchor when everything was pulling him onward. The one stabilizing force that stopped him being ripped in half by the sheer pressure he felt the spell exerting the longer it went on.

Which was how Kit had finally voiced it out loud, watching Lorin's eyes widen in fear.

"Following us?" Lorin asked in a whisper.

The screech that followed was deafening and sent them all to their knees. The familiars scattered, Sjena flying off into the distance to try and escape the onslaught. Kit could only cover his ears, feeling like they were about to explode from the pain. Lorin bowed over him like he could help block it, cupping hands over his own on his ears.

The elders began to move around them, debilitated but strong as crystals were pulled out into skilled and marked fingers and incantations fought to push back the din.

It eased. Slowly.

Kit's ears rang in the aftermath, a few tears escaping his eyes from how much it hurt. The voices around him were muffled, sounding like they were coming from underwater.

Lorin cupped his face, wiping his tear tracks. "Are you okay?"

Kit realized Lorin's ears were bleeding. He gasped, surging forward and grasping Lorin's neck gently. "Lorin!"

"I'm okay," Lorin assured him, even though the pain was clear from his ghostly pallor and sweaty face.

His selflessness and care for him made Kit want to cry for a completely different reason. "You shouldn't have done that."

"Your ears are more sensitive than mine, and I didn't want you to be hurt again by the coven. They've hurt you enough," Lorin said quietly.

Kit caught his breath, unable to find the words he needed to fully convey the feeling in his chest. "Lorin…"

"We just ran into a spell trap. We have to move." Lorin's grandma interrupted them, urging them both up. She was grimacing, her hair standing on end. "They know we're here."

They didn't question it. There was no time. They got to their feet and Kit pointed in the direction he could still feel the pull. The elders took the lead, steering them around any more spells they could sense until a set of blurry, abstract shapes in the distance that seemed to open into a clearing of sorts coincided with the loosening of the noose around Kit's chest.

They had found it.

And from the commotion Kit could see among the makeshift wooden buildings, the coven knew it too. There was already an ominous feeling of intensity in the distance. A surge of dark magic that felt familiar on Kit's skin and made him recoil.

Kit shivered in terror, fighting the urge to run away now he didn't feel compelled to follow. He didn't want to be trapped again. He couldn't handle it. What if they failed? What if he lost everything again?

What kept him rooted in place was the idea that if they didn't, they'd keep doing this to others.

"I want you both to listen to me right now," Lorin's grandma said while the other elders seemed to be preparing for a ritual in a silence that felt magical rather than natural. It was so heavy, so opaque. Like they were under a dome made of it and nothing was passing through.

They both turned to look at her, hair pulled tight, black robes billowing behind her and her marks stark against her skin. She looked primal. Wild. Like the witches from human fairy tales. She looked like she was made of power. Kit knew Lorin was worried about her though. She was powerful, but she was also getting older, and all the heavy magic she'd been doing had taken its toll on her.

She looked thinner and more translucent than before. Kit hoped she knew her own limits.

"And don't give me that look," she snapped at Kit when she caught him staring. "I've been on this earth a lot longer than you have and know perfectly well what I'm capable of."

"I was just—" Kit started.

"I appreciate the concern," she said. "But I don't need it. Now…"

She turned to point at the other elders as they wrapped up their prep work.

It appeared almost grotesque.

The pentagrams drawn didn't look neat and tidy the way they'd always been when Kit had seen them before. These were filled to the brim with symbols he didn't understand. Harsh and dangerous symbols that emanated power. They overlapped, crossed lines, bled into each other.

And in the middle of them. Bones. Vials of blood. Strands of hair and flesh. Kit didn't want to know where they had come from. He didn't think he could stomach the answers.

It reminded him too much of the coven.

"I need you both as far away from this as you can get," Grandma said, giving them a less than gentle shove.

Kit widened his eyes, heart hammering. He didn't want to leave her with this. "But…"

"No buts. Magic like this can barely be contained. I don't want it hitting either of you. It won't be pretty."

"What about you all?" Lorin asked exactly what Kit was thinking.

"We'll be standing between merging spots of the pentagrams. It should be enough to hide us from the fallout while we hold the ritual active long enough to bind their powers for good."

"You don't sound too sure," Lorin said, fear born from love for her and the grief of losing too much already written on his face.

Kit could read it plainly.

Please don't leave me too.

She reached out and cupped his cheek in her weathered hand. "You found the ritual, Lorin. And I trust you. So no need to dwell on it now, okay? We can argue about it after."

"Promise," Lorin choked.

"Lorin," she sighed.

"Promise you'll argue with me after. Promise you'll always be there to argue with me," he said, voice thready with emotion.

It was an impossible ask, and Kit felt his heart clench for him. He understood though. In the way that if he ever saw his family again, he'd ask them to never leave. To always be there by his side. It was a child's plea. A heart's plea.

"Someone needs to be around to tell you how wrong you are," Grandma said. It wasn't the promise Lorin was after, but it was the best he was going to get. "Now get."

"I want to stay and help," Kit found himself saying, something inside him rebelling against the idea of being away from the fallout. This felt like his battle.

As much as it shook him to his bones to be here, so close to where the worst moments of his life had happened, the fear couldn't quiet down the need.

The need to do something.

Anything.

"I need to—"

"You need to be safe." Lorin's grandma cut him off with a pointed look. "If not for you, then for your family. And Lorin."

Those words were sobering. Lorin. His mate. His soulbond. If anything happened to Kit, Lorin would be next. Just like Lorin's parents. They were no longer just two entities tied together. They were one.

He glanced over at Lorin, who looked scared but was obviously trying to school it, to let Kit make his own decisions. Lorin, who had dried blood running in lines from his ears from trying to protect him. He threw himself into Lorin's arms, burying his face deep and shaking his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I want you safe. Always safe."

Lorin cradled his head. "Nothing to apologize for."

"Time for you to go now. I know you want to see the ending of this," Grandma said. She pulled out a small set of binoculars from her robes and handed them to Lorin to hold on to. "If you can find a spot far enough away with a clear view, you can watch if you want to. But it has to be far enough away not to hear even a whisper of the commotion that's about to happen. Not a single sound of it."

"Grandma—"

Her name was being called urgently, and Kit looked into the distance to see flames rising as the coven prepared their own spells.

"Off you go. I'll see you on the other side." She didn't wait for them to respond. She turned around, her robes swishing behind her as she took her spot between the largest two pentagrams overlapping at the center of the ritual.

She was taking the lead.

She was going to be the anchor for the magic.

Kit looked up at Lorin and found him staring at her, his face pinched into a frown as his heart beat wildly under Kit's palms.

"Lorin…"

"She's gonna be okay." Lorin looked down at him, brushing their noses together for a split second before pulling Kit away from the scene. "Let's get you away."

He rushed them through the woods, trying to keep a straight line. Kit knew he was doing his best to make sure Kit had the chance to see the final showdown while still protecting him as best he could.

They tripped over rocks and branches, running as fast as they could, as far away as they could. Kit's lungs burned. He felt his breath come unevenly, and his chest struggled to hold it in. He felt lightheaded with it. He'd spent the last five years on the run as a fox, he was in perfect condition. But he was struggling with his human limbs.

And there was something else in the air that was sending signals to his feet to stop, not unlike the spell that had been cast upon him. The feeling of murmurs in his head, echoes of voices that spoke through scent seeped in. They sang a crescendo, demanding notice.

"Lorin…" He paused his run, pulling at Lorin's hand and stopping him too. "Lorin, please, we have to stop."

"Why?" Lorin asked, dark eyes tight with worry. "We can't stop now, Kit. I promise, just a little bit farther away. We have to get more distance between us."

He tried to tug him, but Kit wouldn't relent.

"No." He shook his head, still listening to the compulsion. "We have to stay here. Something is here. I can…I can feel it. We have to find it."

"Find what?" Lorin asked, his hand around Kit's waist the only thing keeping him from flying into the unknown.

"I don't know but it's here, I know it's close, Lorin. Please."

"Let him go, witch boy." A voice came from behind them and Kit snapped into action, planting himself between Lorin and the stranger that emerged from the woods.

The man was tall and lanky, dressed in dirty clothes, with claws at the ends of his fingers.

Another shifter.

"Who are you?" Kit demanded.

The man tilted his head toward them both. "I could ask you the same thing. Never seen you here before. Didn't know this coven had friends to drop by for a visit."

Kit's insides turned at the insinuation that he was anything to those vile creatures the elders were trying to fight.

"We're not friends," Kit spat, the word like acid on his tongue.

"What are you doing here then?" the man asked, and Kit squared his shoulders, trying to make up for the difference in height with attitude and courage he truly didn't think he had.

"Taking them down," Kit said. His voice was shaking, but he had to believe that was what they were doing. He had to force himself to have faith in Lorin and the people he trusted.

"From over here?" the man asked with a sardonic tilt to his mouth. "Doesn't seem very efficient if you ask me."

Against everything he was, Kit actually snapped at the man, jaw clicking and muscles tensing as he lunged forward, needing to do something, finally.

"Kit!" Lorin's arms held him back, wrapping themselves around him like vines, safe and familiar against the tide of the unknown. He felt a surge of power from Lorin feed into his shift, solidifying him as human before he could lose it to the tide of his own emotions.

The other man looked at them curiously for a moment before speaking again.

"Soulbonded," he said. "Interesting."

"How can you tell?" Kit asked, feeling like the sanctity of his bond with Lorin was somehow compromised by the fact that someone else could see it. Know about it.

"I can tell a lot of things, fox boy," the man said. "I can tell you're telling the truth. I can tell you've been here before. And I can also tell you're feeling them now."

Kit stiffened in Lorin's arms. "Them?"

"The captive shifters. They're here. Howling for help. Desperate."

It was the call of his kind.

"Have you been following us? Back in the woods on the way here?" Lorin asked suddenly, and the man nodded without a word. "Why?"

"To make sure you weren't one of them," he said simply. "We've been trying to find the missing shifters for way too long. We couldn't allow a bunch of strangers to fuck everything up now that we're finally getting somewhere."

"You are?" Kit asked, standing straight, his voice getting louder. "You know where they are?"

"We know where they aren't."

Kit frowned. "Excuse me?"

"We can feel them here, but we can't find them anywhere. We've looked. Countless times. We've sent our best trackers. We know they're here somewhere, but the magic hiding them is beyond what we can work against."

Kit blinked as he took the information in, hope rising in his chest as he mulled it over. Magic too much for them to see. To find.

For them.

But not for…

"Can you do the spell again?" He turned to Lorin, looking up into his eyes, pleading, desperate for him to say yes.

"The…"

"The one from before," Kit said. "To make me see…find things. Lorin, please."

"I can't…" Lorin shook his head with an overwhelmed expression, his dark hair bouncing around it like a halo. "I'm sorry but I can't do it alone. You saw how much power it took for the elders. I have nowhere near that."

"You do," Kit said, pawing at his hands to touch over his markings. They weren't the same as the elders by any stretch, but he was blinded by desperation. "You do, I know you do, Lorin. You don't trust yourself but I know you're capable of so much more than you realize. Please."

Lorin stilled Kit's fluttering, sharp nails pressing into his skin to bring some clarity. Kit could almost hear his heart shattering, could see it reflected back at him in Lorin's eyes. "I'm sorry."

Kit hated to hear the guilt. Hated that he'd put it there. He looked down at the ground, ashamed. "It's not your fault. I shouldn't have said any of that."

Lorin rubbed a thumb over Kit's cheek to raise his head. "We might be able to try something else."

Kit grasped his wrist tightly. "Anything."

Lorin pulled out a page ripped from a notebook and a bag filled with ingredients. He laid it all on the ground, drawing a crude pentagram around it all.

"It'll heighten your senses," Lorin said. "Not the five main ones. Those, you don't need. It'll make your familiar side stronger to sense fractals of magic."

"Fractals?" the man asked, reminding them that he was still very much there.

"Large sources of magic give off auras in different ways, power surges around it," Lorin explained. "It leaves a mark. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish, but I think a shifter might be able to track them better. A shifter that's also a familiar could be even better."

"Do it," Kit said.

Lorin nodded, not fighting him on it, instead leaning in to kiss him once, twice, three times before they had to stop themselves.

The incantation meant nothing to Kit. The words that reached his ears were unfamiliar and heavy. Language only Lorin would understand. The meanings only he would know. Kit trusted him with his life, so he didn't care what the magic did to him. Lorin would make sure he was safe.

He allowed the power from his mate to rush through him, let it bathe him in nothing but the scents and sounds of his species. He saw a kaleidoscope of colors, flashes of magic like the DNA of the world had been unlocked for him and put under a microscope. It was hard to distinguish what was what, until his fox raised its nose in the air and a spiderweb path of golden light opened up before him.

He ran.

Blind.

Deaf.

Without feeling the ground beneath his feet or the wind on his face.

There was nothing but the long line of his ancestry, the collective magic that made humans able to turn to animals running through him. Guiding him.

A deep part of him knew Lorin was close behind.

So he ran. Toward the call. Toward the magic that reached out to him, embracing him as it became thicker and thicker.

It stole his breath, but he didn't think he needed it anymore. Not when it didn't carry the scent he needed to find his people. He dove into the static headfirst, reckless and uncaring, welcoming the feeling of finally being able to do something after years of feeling helpless.

He was going to take the chance. He was gonna throw his all into it and help, as best as he could. He was…

He hit something that rattled him to his core. It rang in his ears, bringing the rest of the world back in a rush that made him dizzy. Sounds sharpened around him and his vision came back full force.

He slammed his palms against whatever was blocking his way, but there was nothing there. Just the endless expanse of the woods and the maddening emptiness that still echoed with the voices of shifters they couldn't find.

"Where…" He spun wildly in place.

"Exactly where we manage to get to every time," the man spoke, before cursing. "Damn! I really thought you might be able to find a path."

Kit turned to look at him, ready to question why the man hadn't volunteered this information before when his eyes caught on something else.

Lorin was staring straight ahead, not moving, not blinking at all.

"Lorin," Kit called out to him. "Lorin, what do you see?"

"What makes you think he sees anything?" the man asked.

Kit glared at him without responding before turning back to his mate, stepping closer. "Lorin?" he asked again.

Lorin finally snapped out of his haze, looking Kit directly in the eye. "They couldn't find the shifters…because they're under the pathfinder spell."