Page 28 of Cam's Treasure

"For everything," I settled on with a shrug, my voice hushed and barely audible over the rain.

Cam's lips twisted down in a sad frown before he blinked it away, like I couldn't also read his thoughts. I refrained from doing it anyway, afraid to hear what he thought.

Did he think I was pathetic? That it didn't make sense for me to be so fucking insecure after the charmed life I'd lived at Dad and Papa's?

Everything bad that ever happened to me happened ages ago. I shouldn't let it still affect me to this degree, and I knew that.

Cam had almostdiedwhen he was just eight, and look at him now. He'd healed from the whole ordeal, and he was a sane, stable man. He hadn't let his past drag him down or keep him trapped. I wished I could do the same.

Why were my birth parents' disinterest and abandonment stronger than the love and care Dad and Papa had given me? I'd been their son for longer than I'd lived with my birth parents, so why did I still feel like I'd never be worth anything to anyone?

"You have nothing to apologize for, Micah," Cam said, then made a face. "Well, you could try to communicate a little better, to tell me when you aren't feeling so good, but other than that, there's nothing you need to worry about. Everything you're feeling, all your fears, they're valid. I wish you didn't feel them,for your sake, but I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me about them."

I peered up at him, awed by the strength and seriousness in his voice. Cam was rarely serious, which was why every time he got this look on his face, I knew I needed tolisten. Cam was a talkative man, and I loved listening to him. We worked well because I was naturally quiet, and Cam made sure things never got awkward by keeping up conversations when I needed a minute.

Cam was my lifeline, a bright, cheerful lifeline that kept me going, especially on days like these.

"I know I don't take things seriously a lot of the time, but I'm always serious when it comes to you and your well-being, Micah.Always."

I exhaled, and the sound was loud and rough. The rain had stopped as suddenly as it'd started—was Raiden okay? Or was that an actual natural rain?—and silence descended as I tried to formulate a reply.

"I know. I do. I've never, ever doubted your feelings for me, Cam. I know it didn't sound like it before, but it's true. In my heart, I know you love me, and that it won't change no matter how amazing our other mates are." I swallowed hard, the familiar fear creeping up the moment I started thinking about a future where it wasn't just the two of us. "But every time the topic comes up, my fears get the best of me. There's this...this voice in my head, and it keeps reminding me that my parents didn't want me, didn't love me, didn't think I was worth it, so why would anyone else? I know it's not right. I know that logically, but I just..." I shook my head, unable to keep going, and covered my face with my hands, wishing Saaya would come steal me away into the shadows again.

She didn't, probably because she knew this was a conversation I needed to have.

Cam was silent, and I was too scared to peek into his thoughts. I wanted to turn around and curl up under the covers, to hide from him until he left me alone with my pitiful self.

"Cassian and Gus are your parents, and they love you immensely," Cam said, his voice brooking no arguments. "The people who created you, they were just worthless stand-ins until you could find your actual parents."

The venom in Cam's voice surprised me. Cam was not one to hate people, even people who'd done him wrong. And yet there was nothing but loathing in his voice when he spoke of my birth parents.

My birth parents had never been affectionate, not even before I discovered my psychic abilities. The first time someone hugged me was when Dad and Papa—or Cassian and Gus, as they'd introduced themselves to me back then—found me. Dad had asked if I was okay with being touched, and when I'd given him a hesitant nod, so, so afraid of what he'd do to me, he'd pulled me into a warm hug that had made me feel like I was safe andhome.

I hadn't thought about that day in so long, and I swallowed the lump in my throat at the memory. Yeah, they were my true parents, and I'd known it since the moment I met them.

If there were fated bonds between parents and children, I knew mine would connect me to Dad and Papa, not to my birth parents. They loved me, had since they'd found me, and I didn't think there was anything I could do that would make them abandon me. If I ended up murdering someone, they'd probably help me get rid of the body before sitting me down and calmly explaining why murder was bad.

"As for our other mates, whenever they find us, they'll see you the way I see you. They'll see the smart, amazing man, the beautiful, sexy princess, the shy, take-charge lover, and they'll love you just as much as I do."

Cam's eyes gleamed, still so very intense, and there was nothing I could do but believe him.

For the first time since the implications of having two more mates had sunk in, I didn't feel as scared about the whole thing. A part of me was almost...hopeful.

"I love you," I murmured, remembering I hadn't said it back earlier, and Cam's eyes sparkled as he smiled at me, then leaned forward to give my lips a soft, chaste kiss.

Maybe, just maybe, everything would work out.

Thirteen

Cam

It'd been a month since we had the heart-to-heart about Micah's fears.

We'd settled into our new home quite well, though the front door had turned into a revolving one as various clanmates visited us every other day, bringing meals in lieu of a housewarming gift—neither of us were very interested in cooking, so we'd asked for food instead of anything else—and now we had more than enough to last us a few weeks. We hadn't had to order out or mooch off of one of our parents once, not that I—or they—would've minded doing that.

"We really need to get this repaired," Micah said as he gazed at the sink. The cabinet under it was open, and the pipe had been leaking since we'd gotten here. We'd been using a bucket to drain the water into the bathroom, but the water had gone from a fewdrops to an almost-steady trickle, and I knew that if we didn't repair it soon, the whole thing might come crashing down.

Of course, neither of us knewhow. I was starting to realize we lacked a lot of general everyday skills. Maybe we should've asked our dads to teach us some of them before we decided to move out.

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