Free Being(s) In Love 03 - A Beginner’s Guide to Wooing Your Mate by R. Cooper Page A

Zeki considered him, thrown for a moment when Theo broke eye contact first. “The cookie yesterday, the moon, gave me the sensation of longing for more before I’d even finished it. This one… the panda design is cute, but this cookie… it’s impossible to ignore this cookie. It only took one bite to hook me. It wants to be noticed.”
    He was so intent on the conclusion he almost missed how Theo flinched at his last words. He looked horrified.
    “That is definitely magic,” Zeki pronounced, a little horrified too as he realized exactly what was happening when Theo baked. “It’s more than you wanting to make good cookies, Theo. Those cookies invoke those specific feelings. Was that… was that what you were feeling when you baked them?” Zeki put a hand to his chest. Theo twitched uncomfortably. “It was, wasn’t it? You wanted someone to see you?” Zeki hadn’t meant to reveal any of this. He’d just wanted to talk. Damn, he hadn’t even lowered his voice. “Theo?”
    He didn’t think Theo normally spoke much, and Zeki typically wouldn’t have asked it of him if he was uncomfortable, but this needed an answer.
    Theo kept his gaze down, not on the floor, but on Zeki’s hands of all things. Zeki raised them until Theo was looking at him again.
    Zeki kept his voice as low as he could. “You push what you’re feeling into your baking.” Cookies filled with longing and a desire to be loved. Zeki was the worst person in the world for pointing this out. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.” He reached for Theo, then realized what he was doing, and pulled himself away. Theo was still.
    “Theo?” Zeki pressed when the silence went on.
    Theo raised his head. “No one else noticed.” His expression was somewhere between amazed and resigned.
    Zeki didn’t care about being amazing or different or special. He darted out his hand and briefly pressed his palm flat to the bare skin of Theo’s arm. He heard Theo’s breath catch. “They were wonderful.” Zeki needed Theo to know that before he went on. “You can keep doing it. But you have to keep some for you too. Even the terrible feelings you hide from other people. You can’t push away everything.” Zeki was utterly serious. “You can’t bury all your feelings in your magic. If you do… if you do, it won’t end well for you.”
    Zeki kept his hands to himself this time, but at his final words, Theo reared back, and this time Zeki understood the flash in his eyes. It was anger, panicked, surprised anger.
    “My feelings aren’t your business!” Theo’s growl held anger too, anger covering fear and probably pain that Zeki itched to heal. Zeki didn’t often feel rage, but the idea that someone had turned gentle Theo Greenleaf into someone afraid to feel made him want to cast vicious hexes of vengeance after them. He didn’t know what Theo would have grown up to be if he hadn’t been rejected by his mate at sixteen, but this wasn’t right. Not the baking, not the firefighting, but this, this Theo who expressed himself solely through passive means, who was so startled at being seen that he was panicking.
    “I’m sorry.” Zeki hadn’t meant to give him another lecture. But the danger of Theo going numb was very real. There had to be more for him than the magic or the baking. Theo wasn’t going to seek that out with Zeki, that was clear, but he had to talk with someone. How had not a single person in this town felt the messages in those cookies? Zeki exhaled roughly. “I’m sorry, but I noticed.”
    “Of course you did.” Theo shook his head. “I have to go.” He came close long enough to shove the wrinkled invoice on the counter, then turned and fled.
    Zeki didn’t chase him. He felt awful enough already.
    After a few moments of staring at the arch where Theo used to be, Zeki finally squared his shoulders and accepted how completely he had blown it. He turned to Mr. Elliot. “That could have gone better.”
    His joke