Page 124 of The Price of Ice

“Not everyone can be a super omega,” Levy whispered, brushing a kiss against his cheek.

Kallen’s followed him when he withdrew, smiling a little.

“I’ll do the budget when I get home,” he decided, focusing back on the road ahead.

He wanted to ask Mr Evans about quitting, too, but he could give himself a little break, figure out where his parachute was before he jumped off the bridge.

HE WAS DETERMINED NOTto be clingy all the way to Departures, where they’d have to separate, and then Levy turned around and looked at him. It was only a look, except for how clear it all was in his eyes: the brightness of his love, and the wrinkles as he squinted like he was holding back tears. So, when he opened his arms, Kallen stepped right into him, arms going around his waist and face finding its rightful place on the side of Levy’s throat. His boyfriend held him back as tight as hecould probably manage, likely enough to bruise his ribs if Kallen hadn’t been wearing a thick winter coat.

Kallen’s chest was compressed enough that it was a little hard to breathe, but he didn’t give a fuck. He didn’t want to let go and he could manage with less air if he had to.

“After this, I’m not letting you out of my sight,” Levy mumbled into his hair.

He laughed a little. It was a very alpha thing to say, and it sounded incongruous coming from Levy of all people.

“Okay, you can go to the toilet on your own,” Levy joked.

“Fuck you,” Kallen told him, though now that he was well, he didn’t care that much about those few days where Levy had had to help him with his basic ablutions. He sighed and loosened his grip. He wanted Levy to stay, but he didn’t want him to miss his flight. For a moment, it was his boyfriend who clung to him.

Kallen cupped his cheek and tilted his face down to brush their lips together, and Levy softened, lips parting to let Kallen lick into his mouth, hands trying to sneak under the sides of his coat and failing.

By the time they parted, Kallen was smiling a little. He also kind of wanted to cry, but he wasn’t going to. This wasn’t a goodbye, and if he’d managed for two months, he could most definitely manage for two weeks.

“Text me as soon as you get there,” he ordered.

Levy nodded, trying his best to smile, then gave him a military salute. “Of course.”

Chapter 41

His mother had taken one look at him as he’d walked through the door in his smelly clothes and smiled knowingly.

“Hello,” Kallen said. He wasn’t smiling any more, though on the drive over he’d found himself laughing aloud a couple of times. Levy was gone for now, sure, but that paled in comparison to the fact that Levy washis boyfriend.

If anyone had asked him before, he’d have said the label didn’t matter much to him. But obviously that had been bullshit. It mattered, a lot. It mattered because it meant Levy hadchosenhim, and maybe that part of it was stupid, but he’d always been profoundly aware that his sexual partners never had before—any omega would have done. Even with Nouri, all that had really mattered had been his heat.

“Good morning to you, I see,” she told him. “Have you eaten?”

“Yeah, we—” He bit his lip, stomach taking a tumble. “Yes.”

She nodded, patting his arm as she headed to the kitchen. “That’s alright, darling, tell me later.”

OF COURSE ANALISA WASN’Tgoing to be that easy to fool, if she noticed. But Kallen couldn’t make himself do anything about the smiles that kept taking over his face all day.

Three hours later his phone pinged with a text that was just emojis, a plane and three sets of confetti.

[Why is it still morning? CRYING EMOJI] Levy asked next. Five hours difference with only a short trip in between was about enough to throw the brain for a spin.

[Have a nap] Kallen told him, then added a kissing emoji because he could.

Levy had listened, and Kallen was a little sorry he hadn’t asked him to video call so he could watch him. Just to make sure he was real. Thattheywere real. But it would have been super creepy, and anyway, if he saw Levy again, he’d probably burst from smiling.

His mum kept the conversation going during lunch, and his dad was oblivious, asking why he’d skipped the gym the last two days. Since he couldn’t exactly tell him about the alternative source of cardio he’d been practising, Kallen simply admitted fault.

It wasn’t a bad way to spend the afternoon anyway, and then Levy was awake again and sending him some of the pictures he’d taken during their outing. In one of them, when he’d got distracted looking at the water in the terrace where they’d had lunch, Kallen had got caught with the same dopey smile he’d been both seeking and escaping from all day in the mirror.

[Never show this to another person] he tagged it, and Levy assured him [For my eyes only <3 CLOSED LOCK EMOJI <3]

“CAN I TELL YOU ABOUTsomething good?”

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