Page 111 of Cam's Treasure

The wolf—Caleb, I concluded—growled again, chomping at the air, and Cam's eyes widened before he took off again, aiming for Ember.

"Save me, my mate," he said as he slid behind Ember, whose brows shot up at the spectacle.

Most of the others hadn't even stopped their conversations, which made me wonder just how common a sight this was.

Even Noel, Caleb's mate, seemed content to just stand and watch, an amused smile on his lips.

"What did you do this time?" I heard Micah ask, and I realized I'd started walking toward them at some point.

"Uh, he was in his toolshed, and I maybe locked him in and poured a bottle of vanilla extract on him from the roof."

Ember stared down at Cam for a moment, then picked him up and placed him right in front of Caleb.

"Ember!" Cam exclaimed in shock before Caleb bit down on his clothes and started dragging him off.

Cam stumbled to keep his feet beneath him, shooting us a betrayed look as Caleb kept pulling him away.

"Uh, is he gonna be okay?" I asked, and Micah chuckled.

"Eh, he'll be fine. Caleb will probably drag him into the pond so he can wash off the vanilla. Cam will smell like it too when they return."

"I'm guessing something like this has happened before."

Micah snorted. "A couple of times," he said in a tone that implied it was definitely more than that.

Forty-Five

Cam

We returned home around nine, and since we'd spent the whole afternoon snacking—or maybe that was just me—none of us were hungry, so we decided to skip dinner.

My mates were clearly exhausted after all that socializing, and I could tell Micah's headache wasn't far behind. While I felt perfectly fine—unlike my mates, being social recharged my batteries instead of draining them—I stank of vanilla from the dip in the pond Caleb had forced me into.

It'd been a while since I'd pranked Caleb, but after our conversation that day he came to repair the sink, I'd wanted to do it again. Just because I was an adult now didn't mean I had to stop having fun, right? What was the point of living if you weren't going to try to enjoy every moment of your life?

We'd all slumped down on the couch once we got home—my clothes had dried on the flight home, the same way my hair got windswept despite not actually being there in dragon form—and even Jodi seemed tired as she lay on the floor in front of us, clearly pleased with the day she had.

Ember moved, pressing a kiss on Micah's forehead before standing up. "I'll make you some tea, okay?"

Micah nodded, and Ember glanced at me. I nodded, knowing what he wanted, and slid over into the spot he'd emptied before wrapping my arms around Micah as Kai did the same from his other side.

Kissing the top of his head, I smiled when Micah pressed his forehead against my neck, leaning into me.

"I promise I'll learn everything I can about my magic so you don't have to deal with these headaches anymore," I murmured, keeping my voice low so I wouldn't make his headache worse.

Since I was a naturally loud person, I'd had to practice speaking softly when we were younger, but I was good at it now. My mental voice could still get a little loud sometimes, which was why I preferred to speak aloud when Micah was dealing with a headache.

"I know you will. This helps too," Micah said, and I met Kai's eyes, my chest getting all fluttery from Micah's words and the warm look on Kai's face.

Ember returned with the tea, and we resituated, somehow ending up with Micah in Ember's lap with Kai and me on either side of them, all of us wrapped around Micah.

"I could fall asleep like this," Micah mumbled in Ember's neck, and I smiled.

"You can if you want to," I offered, and Ember hummed.

"I'll carry you upstairs, don't worry. Sleep, princess."

Micah made a happy sound, and mumbled an "I love you guys." It was only after he fell asleep that we realized he hadn'tneeded his tea. Usually, his headache was too bad for him to drop off without it. Had the cuddling helped that much?

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