Page 42 of The Baker and the Kraken

“Holy shit,” Adam breathed.

Because that was definitely the first thing he wanted to say to his new mate.

Calder was grinning.

Oh, wow. This was going to be so fun.

So… they might have gotten a lot closer to spending the whole night having hot sex than Adam had intended when he’d promised Simon they wouldn’t. Simon took one look at them the next morning and rolled his eyes, but his grin kept peeking out.

They’d been late, and it hadn’t even been because of the sex (mostly). Adam hadn’t been able to stop staring at the pattern of sucker marks across his skin from where Calder’s tentacle had squeezed him during the bond. Most shifters left bite marks, apparently, but this was so much better. It was low enough that a shirt could cover it, but Adam could also display it if he wanted. (It looked enough like a tattoo that even normal people could see it without it causing an incident. Probably.)

He kept touching it, and Simon had to keep batting his hands away as Adam and Calder got dressed and ready for the day. Simon was now supervising carefully.

“Boo, at this rate, your wedding boat is going to leave without you!”

Yeah, maybe it was important that someone else was in charge right now.

Calder now had a spell etched into his skin over his heart—an unbreakable charm. Adam had laughed and cried and agreed that it was both the perfect representation of him and the perfect representation of their bond. Adam hadn’t even known that it was possible to mark his mate back, since witches could only use magic in deliberate spells, but Calder said it was the Magic (Adam had heard the capital), and Adam knew better than to question that at this point. Clearly, the Magic had a mind of its own at times.

Adam was so glad that they were both marked in a way that tied them together and represented one another.

It was definitely a perfect start to the day, and Adam didn’t even mind Simon’s scolding or his teasing about how Adam was walking on clouds. That was definitely what it felt like—and he had Calder to catch him before he walked into anything.

It was a little bit bittersweet knowing that his blood family wasn’t going to be there. His father hadn’t budged on his “Calder or me” stance, and Adam refused to beg. Adam had texted his mother to let her know about the wedding, and he’d been surprised to get an almost immediate call back. He’d not been at all prepared for her excitement, and he wasn’t sure now if that was because she hadn’t been excited for other life achievements, or if he hadn’t shared them with her or really given her the opportunity.

She’d been utterly shocked that he was getting bonded to a shifter, but she’d also been so very happy for him, and now he wondered if that disapproval of shifters had permeated their conversations after she’d left. Had he been part of the reason that their communication had become so sporadic? Had she felt disapproval he hadn’t even known he’d been projecting?

“She’s still your mother, Adam,” Calder had reminded him gently. “It’s her job to love you and be the adult.”

That was true. But maybe she hadn’t dealt very well with him choosing to stay with his dad, and he hadn’t dealt very well with her leaving, and they just hadn’t communicated. Maybe this was a chance to start fixing that, at least a little. Nothing would change the fact that she’d left and that she hadn’t done a great job of mothering from a distance. But maybe she hadn’t been given a lot of opportunities, either, and she’d tried more than he realized.

She wasn’t able to come to the wedding, though. Adam’s youngest half-sibling had graduated from high school that summer, and the whole family was on a long-planned two-month trip to Australia, where they’d all reunited and made the time to be able to do it. (His oldest half-sibling was 23 and working on a law degree.)

They weren’t getting back until almost a month after the wedding, although Adam’s mother had offered to cut the trip short.

Adam would have assumed in the past that she was picking her new family over her old one, despite that offer. Now, he could recognize that she already had important plans and she was genuinely offering to overturn them.

For the first time in a long time, it didn’t feel like a competition that he was losing, and he felt comfortable telling her to stick with her itinerary.

“Are you sure?” she’d asked tearfully. “I don’t want to miss it.”

“I’m sure,” he’d told her firmly. “You enjoy the trip with your family. You all planned carefully for that, and I don’t want you to miss out.” He also really didn’t want to think about how much a new ticket from Australia to California would cost. “But do you think we could maybe plan a trip after that? I’d really like you to meet Calder.”

“I’d love that,” she’d told him. “Oh, Adam, I can’t tell you how happy I am for you finding someone you care this much about.” She swallowed audibly. “I know I didn’t go about everything right before. I’d really like to do better.”

“Me, too,” he’d agreed, sniffing back tears.

It probably wouldn’t mean a lot of changes in his day-to-day life, but perhaps it would be a lot like letting down a heavy burden he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying. Maybe it would mean actual visits and more frequent phone calls, and a new attempt to make a fractured relationship work.

Adam would have liked to have his mother there for the wedding, but in the end, it was just one day. He’d rather she come when she actually had time and he didn’t have to feel guilty about taking her away from her other family.

(Besides, he could show off Calder anytime!)

Calder had said the decision was up to him, but he’d seemed… not totally upset that Adam’s mother wasn’t coming to the wedding. (That wasn’t quite right, but that was as close as Adam could seem to interpret. Calder didn’t like people that hurt Adam, that was for sure.)

And then they’d gone to board the boat for the wedding, and Adam’s father had been there. Adam had felt the surge of satisfaction from Calder, and he knew that somehow, his mate had done this. Adam burst into tears, unable to contain his emotions, his dad cried, too, and Simon bustled about and got them cleaned up and ready for the ceremony.

Adam and Calder had decided they wanted to walk down the aisle together, no one giving anyone away or any of those antiquated notions. Was his dad going to be okay with that, though? Or would he feel left out? Adam was a bit anxious, but Simon calmly escorted Adam’s father to a seat right at the front. It was a small wedding, and everyone from Divine Confections made room for his dad, who looked a little misty-eyed and… content with it all.