Page 21 of The Baker and the Kraken

Adam nestled against him, tucked up against his shoulder once more, just like he belonged there.

“It was… hard,” Adam admitted thickly. “I didn’t totally understand what was going on. Dad was angry and hurt, especially once he heard that they bonded and the shifter was her familiar. She started another family with her shifter mate, and it… uh, felt a lot like we were replaced. As I got older I knew my dad wasn’t being totally reasonable, but I didn’t… I didn’t apply it globally like I should have. So I’m friendly with Joseph—you know, the shifter from work?—and I correct Dad if he’s ever rude about him, but that only made him worry that I was falling for his wiles.”

Calder snorted. “Does Joseph have wiles?”

He’d met the young shifter at the bakery. He was handsome and appealing, if you liked that sort of thing, and it had become immediately clear that Adam wasn’t attracted to him at all. No drowning necessary.

Adam laughed softly. “To hear my dad tell it, every shifter has wiles. He blamed the shifter entirely for Mom running away, and of course I didn’t want to think about my mom choosing to leave us, so I didn’t question it too closely.”

Calder pressed a kiss to the top of Adam’s head. “It’s alright, sweetheart. I understand.”

Adam sniffed, drew a deep breath, and continued. “It wasn’t just that. My Aunt Susan, my dad’s sister, helped raise me after that. She was great. I didn’t see my Aunt Lucy much because she was in the army. She was a, uh, shifter. Aunt Susan’s familiar.”

Calder stiffened but kept petting Adam’s back. “What happened?”

“Aunt Lucy died overseas when I was seventeen. And it killed Aunt Susan.”

Sighing, Calder cuddled Adam closer. “Which made you even more wary of the bond.”

Adam buried his face more firmly in Calder’s chest, so his voice came out muffled. “I know it wasn’t Aunt Lucy’s fault! It was sad that she died, but it felt… it felt like Aunt Susan got taken away from us.”

“Because of the bond.”

Adam nodded against his shirt.

Calder took this to its logical conclusion: “And so you decided no bonds and no familiars.”

Adam pulled back a bit to look at him.

Calder cleared his throat. “I, uh, might have overheard the first day you were talking with Simon when he came to get you in the kitchen.”

He worried this would upset Adam, but after a startled moment, a blush heated his cheeks. “I’m sorry! You weren’t meant to hear that!”

Calder couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Sweetheart, I was eavesdropping. That was definitely not your fault.”

A look of resolution crossed Adam’s face. “No, it wasn’t okay whether you were listening or not. I ignored the evidence of all the many happy familiar and shifter witch bonds, like two sad things happening to my family outweighed everything else. That’s not right. I’m sorry I got you mixed up in it.”

“I understand how what happened to your mother and your aunts hurt you,” Calder told him gently. “Emotions aren’t logical.”

“But I still possess logic and not just emotions!” Adam argued stubbornly. “People shouldn’t be ruled by their emotions. I mean, that’s what Dad always said about shifters, like their… their emotional charisma was something witches and humans couldn’t combat. But that’s coming out of feelings and faulty logic. I want to do better!”

“You’re already doing better, sweetheart,” Calder reassured him with a small smile. “We’re having this conversation right now. And you brought me flowers. No one’s ever bought me flowers before.”

Adam smiled shyly at him. “Really?”

“Really,” Calder agreed. “But there’s something else I should—”

Adam yawned hugely before he gazed sheepishly at Calder. “Sorry. What did you want to say?”

Calder was reminded in an instant how late it was for Adam, how he must have spent the day stewing about what had happened and thinking that Calder was ignoring him.

“It can wait,” Calder assured him. “You need to get some sleep.”

“I’m okay,” Adam promised, even as he yawned again.

“Yeah, no,” Calder told him affectionately. “You definitely need to get to sleep. We have time, don’t we?”

Adam smiled at him, eyes soft. “Yeah, I guess we do. But I’m really sorry about being a jerk.”