“Kade,” he said, surprised at his presence. The taller man was looking carefully at the ground, and he winced when Florian said his name. He looked as though he hadn't slept at all.
“I just wanted to say goodbye,” he said, his tone careful, but his voice gravelly. Florian blinked.
“What?” he asked. Kade's expression only became more pained, but this time he hesitantly lifted his eyes to look Florian in the face.
“I'm going home,” he said, and for what felt like the hundredth time in the past day, Florian's heart stopped. “I... My job was to protect you, and Jerah. And I failed. So I'm going home.” He gestured next to him, and Florian realized that there were two heavy-looking duffel bags on the ground. He was truly about to leave.
“What?” Florian repeated, his voice laced with panic this time. “Kade, you can't—you can't leave.”
Kade shook his head. “It's alright,” he said softly. “I'll go.”
“No!” he exclaimed, and without thinking, he reached out to grab Kade's hands. “Please, please don't go, Kade. I can't—I can't do this alone. I need help. I needyourhelp. Please, you have to stay.”
“I can't help you,” Kade replied, his voice cracking with despair. “Florian, I failed. I can't help you. I can't keep you safe.”
“Yes, you can!” he protested. Tears were flooding his eyes, and his chest felt like it might cave in with grief. Everything,everythingwas slipping through his fingers. “You can. Kade, I—I'm sorry. I was... I wasn't listening to anything you or my dad said to me, and I was being reckless, and selfish, but if I just listened, you would have been able to protect us both. It's my fault. I'm sorry. I'll be good now, okay? I'll listen to whatever you tell me to do. Just, please, please don't leave.”
Kade’s expression was anguished as he turned away, though he didn’t pull his hands out of Florian’s.
“You can’t keep doing this, Florian,” he said. “This isn’t fair.”
“Doing what?” Florian pressed. “I just—I want us to—”
“You said it yourself!” Kade exclaimed, interrupting him. “There is no ‘us’. That’s what you wanted. Why do you keep doing this to me?”
“That’s not what I wanted!” he cried—their voices were echoing down the stone hallway now. “It’s not. I wanted… I don’t know why I said all of that. I’m sorry. I was upset and I said things I didn’t mean.”
“So you can be upset and say whatever you want?” Kade snapped. His hands were squeezing tight against Florian’s hands now, hard enough to hurt. “And when you hurt me I just have to forgive you? And you can still just do whatever you want?”
“No!” he interrupted, shaking his head. “Of course not—that’s not what I meant at all. You’re—you’re hurting me, let go.”
Kade opened his mouth, but snapped it back closed before he said anything. Instead, he shoved Florian back, making him stumble back into the doorway. He was turning to go—Florian scrambled back toward him. He had to stop him, he couldn’t let Kade leave—
“Stop!” he exclaimed, grabbing Kade’s arm as he reached for his luggage. Kade’s head whipped back toward him when their skin met, his lips curling back into a snarl—before Florian could even process, orange light had covered Kade, and his wolf form was standing there instead—all his teeth showing, and a low growl rumbling through his chest.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Florian snapped, pulling his hand back. “We can’t just talk about this? You want to fight?”
The timber wolf didn’t back down, still snarling, and with a frustrated growl he shifted too. When he was down on Kade’s level—the scent of rage roiling off him heady and sharp—the other wolf’s eyes flashed with something primal, and he lunged. They scrabbled back into Florian’s room, snapping and biting at each other. He couldn’t even focus on what he was doing, acting on pure instinct, as he lunged and scratched at the other wolf.
But in this form Kade was still bigger and stronger, and without being able to speak, Florian couldn’t use his magic. Kade got him onto his back, and before he could roll back to his feet, he surged down to bite hard at his neck, holding him in place—and just as quick, Florian’s angry snarl became a frightened yelp.
Submit!The command came off Kade clear as day, and Florian’s ears flattened against his skull, tail tucking between his legs. He would never win this way—he shifted back, shoving the wolf off of him the instant he could use his arms again. Kade stumbled back but leapt at him again in the same instant that Florian rolled out of the way. Kade thudded into the writing desk behind him, and a loud, metallic clatter came from the top of it. Florian’s head snapped up just in time to see the Golden Arrow tumble from its stand.
“No!” Florian exclaimed, his hand lashing out, grabbing the Arrow just before it hit the ground.
Panting with exertion and now prone on the floor, he glanced up at Kade, who still stood over him; but the sight of the Arrow seemed to have snapped Kade out of his fury. The wolf was looking down at him now with eyes wide, ears pressed back, and his tail slowly dropping—not quite between his legs, but low and frightened.
“Can we please just talk?” Florian asked, his voice hoarse. Exhaustion weighed down on him all at once now that he was down on the floor, and with a groan he pushed himself into a sitting position. The wolf took a few nervous paces away from him, expression still the same. “Please?”
Kade didn’t look at him, but his body glowed with light as he shifted back. When the light faded, he was sitting across from Florian with his hands pressed to his face.
“I’m sorry,” he said faintly. “I’ve never—lost it like that before. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” Florian said. His voice cracked, tears burning at his eyes again. “I don’t want to fight. I wish we could just go back to how it was before.”
Across from him, Kade let out a sharp breath—not quite a laugh, almost a gasp. When he lowered his hands away from his face, his eyes were glassy with unshed tears.
“I’m so mad at you,” he said hoarsely. “I wish—I wish I could just hate you and be done with it. You really hurt me. I don’t know how to… to be open with people, but I was trying. I was trying. And you...”
