Page 14 of Me and My Christmas Familiar
“I realised I hadn’t seen her smile in years, not since before Mother and Father died. It was a shock. Everyone else in the family smiled. But she’d stopped completely. Until Tony.”Lachlan looked down at Kit. “So you need to be nice to Tony. Because he makes my sister smile.”
Kit could feel the seriousness of his witch’s words. Guilt wiggled unpleasantly inside his full belly. He squirmed against Lachlan’s chest and managed to get his arm free, then he reached up and placed his paw on Lachlan’s throat.
Kit would be nice to Tony, even if he didn’t like Tony near his witch. Because it was important to Lachlan. And he would be a good familiar.
They left the markets. The cobblestone streets grew emptier the further they got from the town square and the Christmas markets.
Lachlan leaned down and pressed a kiss to Kit’s head. “You know, I don’t think I’m actually the strongest witch in my family. I’m the strongesthearth and kitchenwitch. Because my affinity is for the type of witch I am. Ordelia’s affinity is healing. Grady’s is protection. But they’re both strong witches too.” He paused.
“But it’s nice to be good at something,” Lachlan mused. “It’s nice to stand out sometimes.”
As they walked the darkened streets, Kit spotted the gargoyle on top of a building.
Lachlan followed his gaze. “That gargoyle has been in the area for years. Always perched on rooftops, still as stone, staring down, watching over us.”
They walked for several minutes in silence.
“I love my family,” Lachlan said. “But sometimes I find it hard to talk to them. They’re all so busy, and they seem to have so much going on. Ordelia has a husband, a baby, and a stepson. And Trent, he’s the youngest, he often stays with Ordelia and her family.” Lachlan gave a tight smile.
“Trent was only five when our parents passed away. Ordelia became almost like a second mother to Trent.” Lachlan hesitated. “I wish I could spend more time with Ordelia and beable to stay with them too. But they don’t really have room for both of us at her place. And Ordelia is always so busy now.” Lachlan’s throat bobbed.
Kit could feel the loneliness flowing from him.
“I always feel loved by them. But I don’t always feel like I can talk to them.” He looked down at Kit. He smiled. “But now I have you.”
And I have you too.Kit wished he could speak the words.
Because he’d been lonely too, for so long. And Kit wanted Lachlan to know how important he was to Kit and how he’d saved him from not just the hunger and the cold but the aching, never-ending loneliness.
Lachlan was Kit’s whole world.
Snippets of a lullaby sung long ago drifted into his mind. Human voices, his parents’ voices, singing to Kit as they comforted him.
He wished he could sing to Lachlan and comfort him and show he cared.
Kit meowed, trying to sing the words. Lachlan smiled and scratched his head.
But meowing wasn’t the same as singing.
For a brief moment, he longed for his parents and wished he could remember them better. But he pushed those thoughts and that pain aside. He didn’t need to remember those times.
Not now. Not ever.
Because now he was Kit, Lachlan’s cat familiar, and Lachlan was his witch. He didn’t need anything else. This was all he needed to be happy.
CHAPTER 9
“Do you think the snow will let up soon?” Lachlan sat in the living room of the family apartment. Kit prowled the room, rubbing against people as he passed them.
The snow rustled as it hit the window, a blur of white movement.
The flames crackled and danced in the fireplace, chasing away the cold of the snowy night. Everyone sat on mismatched chairs or the wooden floor. Not all his siblings were here. Trent and Ordelia were at her place. Lacy was staying with her girlfriend, Orim. Jack had gone to deliver scones to the dragon Avery and apparently was still there.
The gargoyle who usually remained perched on rooftops, whose name was Uzoth, had given them that information. For years, Lachlan had seen Uzoth on rooftops, a constant presence in the quarter. Strangely, he seemed to have developed a friendship with Grady recently and now was here in their apartment.
Uzoth and Grady had spent a decent part of that evening in Grady’s room before they emerged. Lachlan didn’t know what to make of the unusual relationship.
Despite several family members not staying in the apartment, they did not have more space. Briar had recently found his werewolf mate in the forest. And now Wulfric lived with them. At present, they sat on the settee. Briar had a book on mates open on his lap. The werewolf crocheted, a small frown between his brows.
