Page 146 of The Price of Ice

The kids came back with food for all of them and they got distracted comparing the different canapés. Claudia admitted she’d never had anything as good as the vol-au-vents and Tami gasped and pretended to be offended.

It was then that Kallen felt a warm presence by his side and leaned closer to discover Levy had come to find him. He grinned, helplessly pleased. He’d been keeping an eye on the alpha to make sure he was alright, and he’d found him engaged in different conversations each time.

But now Levy was back where Kallen couldn’t help but feel he belonged, and he’d have gladly snogged him if not for the children present.

He’d barely introduced him and his boyfriend had already hit it off with both kids by what Kallen could only assume was magic. Tami and he ended up talking about her latest art exhibition, to which they were all invited, and so he was surprised when Levy interrupted with a gentle tap at his elbow, smiling at apology at the other omega. “Sorry, I’m just mindful of the time, and these two have been telling me you were going to use lure on them?”

“It was only a request!” Max clarified, perhaps sensing his mother was about to. “You don’t have to,” he added to Kallen. “Only it would be cool.”

Kallen smiled, hopelessly charmed by the sudden appearance of a boyish facet. “Okay, so what’s something you would like to do but don’t feel you can? Right now, I can’t do anything about tomorrow.”

Max frowned at him, then glanced around the busy hall. He swallowed and finally said, “Talk to someone I don’t know.”

Kallen nodded, holding back a smile. He had no business feeling proud of this boy he’d just met and his bravery. But what hecoulddo was support that bravery. It was different than anything he’d done before because to get Max to talk to a stranger would mean sending himawayfrom Kallen, but he took the mental steps towards the oasis anyway as if being led by a force he didn’t quite understand but trusted implicitly. In a way, it wasn’t so different, because what he’d always promised was safety, and as he let the calm roll over him, relaxing his muscles and slowing his pulse, the gift was the same. Only this time he meant for Max to find that same calm inside himself, a seed that would grow into his own confidence that he could do what he wanted.

The boy straightened across from him, cupid lips parting. “Oh.”

Kallen felt his own lips curve upwards as if from a distance, a gladness that was completely empty of this own desire. He didn’t need anything from Max, and Max didn’t really need anything from him either, but Kallen could point him in the right direction.

Max met his eyes, lips pursed together, and then he let out a long sigh and turned away, smoothly stepping around a big group next to theirs and approaching a young woman sitting alone on a corner table. His words were lost to the music, but the tilt of his head as she glanced up at him was enough for Kallen to call it a success.

When he looked back at his own companions, he saw Tami’s and Claudia’s attention were still on Max. But Levy was looking at him. “Very impressive, any day now you’ll be curing cancer too.”

Kallen frowned. “I haven't cured anything, he could always do it.”

Levy sighed, shaking his head, and tugged him close to whisper in his ear the same refrain from earlier, “Take the compliment.”

LEVY HAD OFFERED TOdrive, so Kallen was still drinking when Analisa came to find him. "I’m staying,” she told him without even a greeting.

“Okay...” He frowned a little. “Wait, how come? Didn’t your parents want you back?”

She shrugged, mouth quirking into a smile and eyes avoiding his own. For all that she was a fairly happy person, he couldn’t remember ever seeing her act like that before, and even his alcohol-fuelled brain caught up eventually.

“Oh, you—”

“Shush,” she cut him off with a look that was not nearly as sharp as she probably intended. “I’m staying, and if you are good, you’ll hear about it later.”

He nodded his acceptance, if she’d really met someone worth annoying her parents for, the last thing he wanted was to interfere. “How are you getting back home?” he checked instead.

“Someone will drive me. Taylor said they’d call one of those volunteer group taxis if we couldn’t manage to fit everyone into cars.”

Kallen grimaced. He couldn’t imagine anything worse than getting stuffed into a van with a bunch of other party-goers by a sober volunteer. Then again, he realised, looking around himself, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it wastheseparty-goers. He looked back at her. “I’m going to miss you, you know?”

“Miss me?” She repeated. “You are going tovisit me. Don’t think getting a boyfriend is getting you out of that.”

“No way,” he agreed. It sounded exciting, really, having somewhere new to go where he could stay and explore for real, see the place beyond a hotel and a stadium. He still missed the ice enough to make his stomach twist at the thought, but at least there were no more early flights. And besides, he hadn’t thought of hockey that much lately. Teaching lure wasn’t what he’d imagined for his life, but now that he was doing it, he often forgot. It was easy when everyone around him was so happy to see him, so appreciative of his ideas and so forgiving with his failures. “Do you think you could teach lure?”

“Me?” Analisa looked startled. “No way, I can barelylearnlure.”

“That’s not true, you are getting really good.”

She sighed, lifting a perfectly manicured hand she could have never kept that neat if she’d still been playing baseball—her own small silver lining. “Okay, okay. But no, I don’t think I could teach it. I’m not just saying it; I tried showing Carella when I met up with her a couple weeks ago. I managed to make her give me her phone, so not saying I haven’t learned anything. But when I tried to getherto do it...” She shook her head, shrugging. “That oasis of yours is no joke, Kallen. I think even you being in the room makes it easier for everyone else. Like training wheels or something.”

“Did you just call me training wheels?” he laughed.

“Mmm...” She was already nodding, smile turning wicked. “Well, we could call you that if you still don’t want to be our teacher?”

And just then Taylor came to take them back to the older lady from earlier, who turned out to be asenator. Kallen couldn’t say a word as he listened to Taylor delineate their current programs. Analisa had either known who the woman was or was impervious to politicians because she was contributing as well.

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