Page 114 of The Price of Ice

“Um, yeah, about that... I’m here. Like, in Terali.”

Kallen barely managed to swallow the sip of water he’d just taken from his bedside table, and he fumbled to set it down and keep his balance. Absurdly, he glanced down at his pyjama-clad body. He was being ridiculous, Levy didn’t even have hisaddress. “Sorry, what?”

“Surprise?” Levy said, a little muffled. “Like, you don’t have to— If you’re busy, I get it, I just didn’t know I was coming until yesterday and—”

“Wait,” Kallen cut in. “You’re making no sense.Whyare you here?” It came out too sharp, and he was about to apologise when Levy responded.

“Job. Well, interview anyway.”

Kallen’s heart stuttered in his chest, but his mind couldn’t quite seem to process the words.A job interview?“But...”

Levy started explaining before he could manage more than that. “I quit. Like, I don’t know if I’ll get the job, but I just... I had to—”

“Levy?” Kallen cut in, breathless even though all he’d done was sit up in bed. He couldn’t take any more information without his brain exploding. “Where are you exactly?”

“Um, on a train from the airport. Going to... Kyli station.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you there in...” He glanced around, trying to figure out what he needed to do first. Then realised he had never driven to Kyli. “I’ll text you when I know.”

“Okay.” Levy sounded more subdued now, but Kallen couldn’t explain, he could barely put down the phone and grab clothes.

LEVY’S SMILE WAS LESSpronounced than usual, like he wasn’t quite certain it would be allowed to remain on his mouth for long. The brightness in his eyes more than made up for it though, and Kallen walked right up to him and dragged him into an embrace. Burying his nose on the side of his neck and inhaling felt like the first real breath he’d taken in ages.

Levy hugged him just as tight and they stood there for too long, next to the cafe where they’d agreed to meet, surrounded by strangers and not aware of a single thing except each other.

He loosened his hold just enough to take a single step back and meet Levy’s eyes. “What on earth...?” he said, shaking his head, his cheeks hurt. He was smiling, too. It all felt a little unreal.

Kallen hadn’t expected to see him again, he realised. Maybe not ever, but most definitely not any time soon.

Levy’s smile quirked to the side. “I know,” he said, and Kallen heard the rest of it without him needing to finish.I know I’m crazy, but aren’t I cute?

Kallen snorted, shaking his head and demanded, “Coffee.”

The moment they sat down, a waiter seemed to materialise, and even in his current state of shock, Kallen couldn’t miss the omega guy was smiling at them both way too much.Had he seen them hugging? Not that it mattered if a complete stranger assumed... Well, most people didn’t believe alphas and omegas could be friends, not unless they had huge age gaps between them anyway and even then it was rare.

But that was people’s problem, not Kallen’s. He’d have come to meet Brad if he’d been the one to suddenly show up in his city.

Not that Brad was likely to do something that crazy.

“Did you even sleep?” he asked, which maybe wasn’t a priority but concerned him anyway.

Levy waved his hand back and forth, nose wrinkling. “Caught a few on the plane, but not really, and it’s like four in the morning for me, so...”

“What time is the interview?”

His friend turned around to rummage in his backpack. Kallen was pretty sure it was just an excuse. “Two o’clock.”

In four hours. So was he being conscientious or...?

Before he could ask, their waiter was back with their drinks, solicitously offering extra options when they both refused the sugar. Kallen kept his responses to a minimum, but Levy couldn’t seem to turn down the charm.

It was all he could do not to snap at the waiter that they were fine, so he bit into a sandwich to do something and suddenly realised he wasstarving.

Levy joined him in demolishing the excessive amount of food they’d ordered moments later and that delayed them a bit further. It was only when he shoved a slice of orange with a bit of cheese sandwich into his mouth and the disgusting flavour combination made him wince that he realised he wasn’t tasting the food.

“Okay,” he said, putting down his empty cup after rinsing his mouth. “Explain. Youquit?”

His friend paused with his own cup halfway to his lips, then sighed and set it down on its saucer. “Yeah. I... I kept thinking that you deserved better. Hell, thatIdeserved better. And once you were gone it was like, I don’t know. I realised it was bullshit, telling myself I was just trapped in a fucked-up system.” He gestured at Kallen. “If anyone was trapped, it was you. And you walked away. So how could I go around saying I couldn’t leave?”

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