Page 39 of The Baker and the Kraken

He used his fingers to show a little space between them and then thrust his arms out to show a big space and pointed at Calder’s eyeballs.

“Wow.”

It turned out a kraken could roll his eyes. Who knew?

Carefully, Calder towed him around again, and Adam watched as all the sea life around them wisely got out of the way. They were moving much more quickly now, the huge siphon propelling them through large amounts of water, but Adam was carefully wrapped up in a tentacle and held close to Calder’s body—which put him actually kind of near the giant beak—but kept him protected from the movement.

Adam had wondered if he might be instinctively scared of Calder in this form. But he’d already seen him rescue a bunch of children, and he knew with absolute certainty that his mate would never harm him, no matter how he looked.

No, despite their comical size difference, Adam felt safe and protected like this, staring out between all those arms and just imagining how much more swimming together they could do once they were bonded.

If the bonding didn’t help with seeing in the dark water, Adam was going to need to ask Evie’s brother Max for help again.

He didn’t notice when they headed back the way they’d come, but they must have done so, because then Calder was carefully releasing him, leaving Adam feeling weirdly bereft. He drew back further than Adam liked until he’d suddenly shrunk to little squid size. (Well, not like little little, because squid could be tiny. But small compared to kraken-sized.)

Calder swam back over, still seeming weirdly small even though he was still longer in this form than Adam was, and gently tugged him into motion once more. Oh, yes, now Adam could feel how much more slowly they were moving compared to when Calder had been a kraken. He couldn’t protect Adam quite as well with this relative size.

There was a sudden sharp pinching sensation where Adam’s shoulder and neck met, and he clapped his hand there, expecting to find that Calder had accidentally got him with some of that chitin in his suckers. There was nothing there, though, and after a moment, Adam remembered about the breathing spell. Right. Ten-minute warning. Thankfully, Calder seemed to have things well in hand, because Adam had forgotten to even look at the time when they left.

His awesome mate soon slowed, and Adam could see how much lighter it had grown around them. Calder pulled back a little again, and then sort of… furled into his human form. (Was that the opposite of unfurled?) Adam had heard that it could look painful when shifters shifted, but with Calder, it looked perfectly natural.

Calder swam closer again, a question in his eyes, and Adam closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around his fabulous mate and kissing him. If he’d thought about it, he wouldn’t have been sure if the breathing spell would work with kissing, but fortunately, it did.

When he winced a little at the next pinch, however, Calder’s eyes narrowed, and then he was kicking them upwards with more grace and strength than Adam possessed.

They broke the surface, and Adam found himself drawing in deep lungfuls of air—more out of habit than anything, apparently, because he’d been breathing fine the whole time. He could see the shore not too far distant, though he definitely couldn’t touch the ground here.

He flung himself at Calder again, managing to misjudge the distance and splashing them both, but Calder just laughed and gathered him into his arms, kissing him soundly.

“That was so amazing. You’re so cool,” Adam told him, like a total dork.

This just made Calder smile. “Thank you, sweetheart. I’m so glad I could share it with you. It will be even better when we bond.”

“I can’t wait!”

Adam was so excited for everything they could do together. He knew it was going to be magnificent.

Epilogue

Five Months Later

Calder

If Calder had had his way, he would have bonded with Adam as soon as he met him. He might have had centuries to learn patience, but this was still a nerve-wracking situation. After all, a fatal accident could still befall Adam until they were bonded, and just the possibility that he could lose this man was enough to make Calder break out in a cold sweat. Thankfully, Adam didn’t seem to mind when Calder took care of him. He’d mostly stopped looking surprised every time Calder caught him or steadied him or otherwise made sure that his clumsiness had fewer repercussions than it used to. Calder would be happy to do so forever—literally—but he’d be even happier once he knew that almost no accident could be fatal for his mate.

But most people still didn’t believe in fated mates, and while Calder might have known in an instant and been willing to bet on it, he’d also known that would be too much for most witches, especially this witch, who had serious concerns about familiars and shifters and bonding. If Calder had come on too strong, Adam would have run. Although they’d made great strides in their relationship, bonding immediately might not serve them in the long run.

Especially with Adam’s dad being a jerk about it.

Six months was still fast by some people’s standards (definitely Adam’s father), but by then, Adam had been sure, and that was all that Calder had been waiting for. If Adam’s dad had had his way, he would have suggested a ten-year engagement with the intention of spending the whole time convincing Adam he was wrong.

Thankfully, the staff of Divine Confections was delighted for Adam, and they were clearly his found family.

Together, Calder and Adam had picked out a house, and he’d thankfully convinced Adam to stop worrying about the money when he’d pointed out that he’d had centuries longer than Adam to acquire it. There was no way that Adam could catch up. Calder could easily support both of them for the rest of their very long lives, but of course Adam could and should work as long as he enjoyed it. Calder wanted to make things easier, not harder. They purchased a nice condo near the water that suited both of them. It had a state-of-the-art kitchen, of course.

Simon had held Adam to that early conversation where he’d joked that he’d be in charge of the wedding, and truthfully, both Adam and Calder were happy enough to let him do it. After all, without him, who was to say when they would have actually gotten together? As a result, their bonding had a lot more steps than Calder was used to. But as flushed and embarrassed as Adam got about the whole thing, Calder had also realized how much it meant to him.

“Besides,” Simon had pointed out with a grin. “You want wedding photos that you can show off and rings that mark you as taken and a fabulous wedding cake, don’t you?”