Page 36 of The Baker and the Kraken

“Adam!” The word was sharp and explosive, full of anger and incredulity. “What on earth are you thinking? I raised you better than that!”

“No!” Adam snapped. “Despite the fact that you raised me to dismiss shifters just because Mom chose to run away with one, I finally got past that.”

“Don’t talk about your mother like that!” The words were snapped.

“Dad, I will. I have to.” He sounded pleading. “She was an adult, and she made a decision to leave us. That was her choice.”

“That animal seduced her,” Adam’s father spat.

Adam’s grip on Calder’s hand grew even more painful, but he kept his voice mostly even. “Even if a shifter—who’s as much a human as we are—did do that, that doesn’t make all shifters seducers. Just like one witch being bad doesn’t make all witches bad. That’s nonsense, Dad. It’s prejudice. Surely you can see that.”

There was fulminating silence for a moment, and then a sharp, “I can’t believe you’re letting one of them seduce you, too. I thought you were smarter than that!”

Adam flinched visibly, but there was an obstinate curve to the line of his mouth now, and his eyes were bright and direct, not looking away from his father on the little screen.

“If there’s any seduction going on, it’s very mutual,” Adam said sharply. “We want to be together, and we’re not hurting anyone by making that decision. We’re making vows to one another, and we intend to keep them.”

A sharp intake of breath. “Adam! You can’t seriously be considering bonding with a shifter! Absolutely not! I forbid it!”

Adam was practically vibrating. “Dad, that’s not your decision to make. We are choosing to spend our lives together.”

“And to have your life cut short if he dies! How can you ignore what happened to your aunt?”

Rather than reassuring his father the way Calder expected, Adam argued, “By that logic, he’s taking an equal risk by choosing to be with me. It’s a choice we’re making together.”

“A choice that could kill both of you! How long have you known this shifter?” Adam’s father sounded angry and alarmed. “This isn’t like you at all! You wouldn’t be considering it if he hadn’t seduced you.”

Adam sighed, lines bracketing his mouth and furrowing his brow. “No, Dad, I wouldn’t be considering it if I’d continued to let your prejudice blind me to the fact that shifters are people just like the rest of it: human, flawed, some good, some bad. You didn’t have anything bad to say about Calder until you learned that he was a shifter, and you haven’t said a single thing about him since then.”

“Adam.” His father’s voice was strained. “I can’t support you if you do this.”

Adam sucked in a sharp breath, making his whole body jolt, then let it out slowly. His face went eerily devoice of expression, and his voice came out utterly calm.

“Well, that’s your choice. You have my number if you ever change your mind. Goodbye, Dad.”

Adam pulled his hand away from Calder to jab the end button with his finger even as his dad was squawking out his name in protest. There was silence for one second, two, and then Adam began to cry.

Calder gathered him into his arms, grateful when Adam burrowed into him like he was trying to meld them into one.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” Calder told him, hugging him close with most of his arms and patting him with his tentacles.

He desperately wanted to take away all of Adam’s hurt, but he’d lived long enough to know that sometimes, grief just had to be felt.

Adam clutched him, sobbing into his chest for a long time, until finally there was just the occasional hiccuppy sob.

Eventually, he sniffed and said in a scratchy voice slightly muffled against Calder’s chest, “I think I got snot all over you.”

“That’s alright, sweetheart. I don’t mind.”

Adam’s breath hitched. “I’m sorry my dad was awful.”

Calder tightened his grip. “That doesn’t matter. The only thing that hurt me was you being in pain, and that’s not your fault. I will always hurt when you hurt, and I will always be here to make you feel better when I can.”

Adam sniffed again. “You do make me feel better. I, uh, knew it could go like this, but I kind of hoped it wouldn’t.”

“That’s totally natural,” Calder soothed. “And remember: this was a great shock to your father. I’m not saying he reacted acceptably, and I don’t know that he’ll ever change his mind, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that there are very few things that withstand the passage of time.”

Adam blew out a breath that gusted over Calder’s chest. “I guess that’s true.” His voice went quiet, small and vulnerable. “It’s just… it’s been me and him since my mom left, you know?”