Page 114 of Cam's Treasure

Six months ago, Ember had discovered that he'd really miscounted how many years he'd been alive, and two days later, he'd turned into his phoenix form before exploding into ashes.

A few hours later, a baby bird had climbed out of the ashes, and we'd taken him to Raiden and William, who'd promised to take care of him.

While we'd continued visiting Ember, it got harder once he could talk and we realized he really didn't remember us. So we cut down on our visits, but still made sure to keep in touch.

Over the last few weeks, Ember's memories had started returning, and since he was also in his 'horny teenager' phase, we'd had to stay away for all our sakes, especially since he'd started looking almost like he used to.

While before Ember had appeared to be in his early thirties, now he looked younger than us, maybe in his early twenties. His hair was shorter too, though I imagined he'd grow it out again if he wanted to.

Footsteps outside made me straighten, and Cam glanced back at us before throwing the door open with a "Welcome home!"

Ember smiled widely as he stepped inside, those familiar blue eyes full of recognition, but before he could reach any of us, Jodi—who we'd decided was better off staying with him and Cam's dads, so Ember wouldn't be lonely—raced past him, slamming into Micah, who fell onto his ass with an "Oof!"

Cam snickered as he closed the door, and I smiled down at Micah as Ember approached me and gave me a tight hug. While he was still as tall and broad as before, his muscles weren't quite as defined, his stomach not quite as squishy, telling me those hadn't been a part of his phoenix physique.

"God, I missed you," I mumbled as I squeezed him tighter, then pulled back so Micah and Cam could hug him too.

"I missed you too. All of you," Ember said, his eyes roaming from me to Cam to Micah, who'd managed to get to his feet.

One by one, he hugged them both, and then the four of us clung to each other, our bodies humming with the rightness of it. I already dreaded doing this a hundred years later, but worrying about it now would help nothing.

"What did I miss? Tell me everything," Ember said as he pulled back, and Cam grinned.

"Let's cuddle up on the couch first. Then I'll tell you," he said, and the four of us moved to the living room.

Ember settled on the couch, and Micah claimed his lap, making Ember smile widely. Cam and I curled up on either side of him, and I sighed happily. It felt so good to have him back.

While we had managed to survive without him, we'd done just that. Survive. We had each other, but Ember's empty place in our life was quite obvious. His warm voice, the comfort he exuded with everything he did... we'd missed all of it. All of him.

"Okay, well, you've probably seen some of the changes around town. We got a lot of work done," Cam said, skipping the part where we'd focused so much on work to ignore how much we missed him. I knew Ember already felt guilty about it—as if he had any choice about leaving—and there was no way any of us were going to make him feel worse.

"Mmm...I saw the new shops in TOSS when Raiden and Will took me shopping. Apparently, your childhood clothes didn't quite fit me like they'd hoped," he said with twinkling eyes, and Cam snickered.

"Why did they ever think they would? Haven't they seen our size difference?"

"Maybe they thought kid Ember would be tiny," I mused, and Cam shook his head.

"Crazy talk. Anyway, yes. We approached all the supes, even those who aren't a part of the clan, about opening up human-friendly businesses. We spent a few months thinking about the vibe we wanted to go with, and we settled on something of a magical town schtick. It's the perfect camouflage, and there's lots of room to have fun with it."

"Of course," Ember agreed, smile in his voice, and Micah hummed happily as Ember kissed the top of his head.

"So now there's this witchy, voodoo shop run by an actual witch that the humans love, and Trick and Vo opened up a foodtruck together with all kinds of spooky, magic-themed treats. They're doing pretty well too."

Trick—short for Patrick—was a human, mated to Vo, a gargoyle in our clan. Trick used to be the head chef at a restaurant in town, but he'd left his job a few years ago.

"We're also in the process of building a haunted house, and it's going to be amazing."

"Jules's club is doing well too," I said, pulling Ember's attention to me. Jules was a merman-siren who owned a club calledWaves. "He changed his menu to all these funky, supe-themed drinks, and he has a special menu for actual supes with stronger drinks. Caleb works as a bouncer there at nights, and he's really good about making sure no supe slips a human a supe drink."

It'd happened more than once, but Caleb's wolf senses were always on point, and he'd stopped the supe every time, banning them from the club and putting them on Raiden's radar so he could make sure they never caused any trouble in town.

"Well, it sounds like you've been busy."

"We have!" Cam said with a grin. "Which is why we can now take a break and go on that trip we planned."

Before Ember's cycle ended, we'd talked about going someplace just the four of us, a post-mating honeymoon trip of sorts. We'd settled on Japan, since I had never been and Ember, Cam, and Micah had fond memories of the place, even if Ember's were a few centuries old.

"That sounds wonderful," Ember said, and I agreed. Taking some time for us to just be sounded utterly perfect.

---