Instantly, Florian felt so ashamed that he thought he would die. His ears pressed flat to the back of his skull, tail firmly tucked between his legs, as he lowered himself to the ground.
“It's alright,” Kade said, sitting down next to him with a grimace. “I shouldn't have pushed. It's a lot to get used to. My fault.” Hesitantly, he reached over and patted the top of Florian's head twice with his clean hand. “Do you think you can change back?”
All he could focus on was the sharp, coppery scent of blood filling his nostrils, and for a long moment, he couldn’t process what Kade had said. The blood overpowered his senses. It must have been apparent on his face, as Kade's voice lowered and he repeated carefully,
“Florian, can you change back now?”
The sound of his name coming from Kade's voice finally snapped him out of it. Hopefully changing back would be the same as shifting in the first place. He focused on the sensation of his magic and pushed it through his body. This time, while there was discomfort, it was not the same pain as when he had first shifted. In a moment, he found himself sprawled on his stomach on the ground.
“I'm sorry,” he stammered the moment that he found his voice, scrambling backward away from Kade and struggling to get to his feet. “I'm—I'm really sorry.”
Kade held up a placating hand.
“It's all right.” He inspected his other hand that had been pressed to his neck. It still came away bloody, but the wound didn't seem to be bleeding any more. “I didn't consider how you'd still have to deal with the first shift, too. It can be… a lot. My fault.”
Florian shook his head, unsure of what else to say. To his surprise, a wryly amused sort of look flashed across Kade's face for a moment before he spoke again.
“I won't tell your father if you don't,” he said. Florian blinked at him for a long moment—stupefied—then he started to laugh, nervously at first; but when the smallest hint of a grin twitched at Kade's mouth, the laugh came more out of relief than anything else.
“Definitely,” Florian agreed with a nod. “I won't tell him. I am really sorry, though.”
“Apology accepted. Really, though, it's fine. I've had much worse,” Kade answered, wiping the bloody hand on his pants. The smear of blood barely showed on the dark fabric. “We'll meet in the Moon Garden tomorrow to train. From what I understand, your dad has you for the morning, then you'll come train with me in the afternoon.”
“That's news to me,” Florian replied, but he nodded. “I'll see you then?”
“Of course,” he said, before turning to head out of the garden. Florian smiled to himself, watching how closely Kade followed the path with his usual heavy steps, when only minutes ago they had bounded and crashed through bushes and plants on their way through the garden.
Still, his embarrassment lingered uncomfortably in his stomach. Kade really hadn't seemed bothered, but his face was hard to read. He did seem to be warming up to him, at least to some extent: this had been the longest one-on-one interaction they'd had, and Kade seemed to be a decent conversationalist, despite Florian's awkwardness. And there had been so much energy and exuberance radiating off of him in wolf form—he had no idea what to make ofthat.
Florian shook the thoughts from his head, heat rising in his face. If he really was going to do this and stay here, he needed to stay focused. Getting distracted with a crush would only be detrimental, no matter how handsome he was.
