Chapter Six
The fact that Florian was speaking right into his mind didn’t even seem to phase the other man. Kade’s face came into focus, and when Florian called his name, he smiled.
“Hey,” he said, stepping toward the water where Florian was pulling himself forward with his tentacles. “I’m back.”
Florian was stumbling up out of the water before he even realized he was shifting back, reaching for Kade with a wild, disbelieving grin on his face.
“Kade,” he panted, unable to formulate anything else. His voice was choked up as he spoke. “Kade!”
Kade reached back for him, and the moment Florian could see his face clearly, he could see that his smile was just as relieved and full of longing as his own. All his doubt evaporated in an instant—Kade had missed him just as much—had been just as desperate to be reunited. Then Kade was hugging him tightly, and Florian’s vision blurred with water and tears as he pressed his face into the taller man’s shoulder.
“I missed you,” he heard himself crying, voice muffled against Kade’s chest. “I missed you so much.”
Kade squeezed him harder. “I missed you too. I thought about you all the time, every day.”
Florian laughed through his tears. “Me, too.”
He squeezed Kade as hard as he could, rocking back and forth with barely contained happiness. “I can’t believe you’re here. When did you get here? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
Kade chuckled, releasing him enough so they could look each other in the face. Instead of answering, though, Kade leaned forward and kissed him, and nothing else mattered. Florian kissed him back desperately, as if his life depended on it, still half in shock. If this was somehow a dream, he thought, he was going to get as much out of it as he could. His hands fisted in Kade’s shirt, pressing himself against the other man as much as he could, as if he could press tightly enough so they would fuse together and never have to be apart again.
When Kade finally broke the kiss, he was still laughing breathlessly.
“You’re freezing,” he said softly, his tangerine eyes full of warmth and affection. Florian laughed, finally stepping away.
“And wet,” he said ruefully. He’d completely forgotten that he’d just come up out of the cold sea. With one hand, he touched the damp stain he’d left down the length of Kade’s shirt and pushed his magic through both of them. “Dry.”
The water shunted off both of them, dropping to the wet sand below.
“Me next,” Rune said, taking a step closer to him. “Minus the kissing, please.” With an embarrassed flush, Florian remembered they were, in fact, not alone on the beach. He hurriedly reached out to grab Rune’s wrist, drying her off as he stammered,
“I—Sorry, I didn’t mean to—Um, Kade, this is Rune. Rune, this is Kade.”
Rune smirked, her eyes glinting with mischief, but she only gave a polite half-bow to Kade. “A pleasure to meet you, Wolf King.”
Everything came back to Florian all at once, making him feel all the more embarrassed. So much had happened, and all he could think about was that Kade was here—with him—able to be touched and kissed. But if Kade was here, then hewasthe king of the wolf clan now.
“Good to meet you,” Kade replied, holding his hand out politely; and after a moment, Rune shook it with a laugh. “Thank you for helping Florian. Koji was catching me up, but maybe we can talk about... everything, somewhere a little more private.”
“Let’s head back to my place to warm up,” Rune said, striding past them. Koji fell into step beside her, a pleased grin on his face as he leaned in closer to her, whispering something Florian couldn’t make out.
Kade slipped his hand into Florian’s, sending sparks shooting up his arm. How desperately he’d missed Kade made tears well up in his eyes again at the familiar sensation. Florian blinked hard against them and smiled up at Kade, who was watching him with a similar eager, yet almost shy expression, as if he was afraid he’d somehow come on too strong.
“I still can’t believe you’re really here,” Florian laughed, making Kade smile again.
“Me too,” he said softly, and squeezed Florian’s hand. “Come on, I have a lot to tell you.”
They followed Rune and Koji back into the village and toward Rune’s cottage. For all Florian’s curiosity about how everything had happened, he could barely formulate a coherent thought as they walked. Kade’s presence at his side, the warmth of theirhands together—it was all so familiar, and now that he had it again, he wondered how he had ever lived without it.
When they arrived in Rune’s cottage, they shuffled into the sitting room as Rune stoked the fire back up, and Koji excused himself to the kitchen to get a kettle of tea started. Florian and Kade sat next to each other, hands still clasped. Whenever Florian glanced up at Kade’s face, the wolf shifter would turn to him with a soft smile and squeeze his hand again, as if to reassure him that he really was there.
“So,” Rune finally sighed, falling into the chair across from them. The fire was crackling away once more, and Koji was pouring them each a mug. “Let’s hear it.”
Florian leaned closer to Kade, giving him an encouraging smile. Kade sighed, his eyes downcast.
“I’m assuming Florian explained why I couldn’t come,” he said, and Rune nodded. “Right. Well, my father passed about three weeks ago now.”
Florian squeezed his hand—he’d known that must be the case, but still it was sobering to hear said aloud. But Kade continued on resolutely.
