Page 32 of Cam's Treasure

"Hello. I apologize for the scare."

I blinked, then grinned. Holy fuck, he was old as dirt too, wasn't he?

Cam!Micah hissed in my mind, as if he wasn't the only one who could hear my mental commentary.

"Hey. I'm Cam, and this is Micah, and I guess you're our mate," I introduced, just in case he thought we didn't know.

His smile widened, and he dipped his head in a shallow bow. Yep, very old. "It's a great pleasure to meet you. I'm Ember."

A fitting name for a phoenix, I mused, then remembered my dads were still here.

"Oh! And these are my dads, Raiden and William," I said, pointing to each of them.

Just then, the portal flickered again, and Micah's dads stepped through, their eyes sharp as they scanned the room.

Gus was in front of us a second later, his eyes scanning us both. "Are you okay? We got a text from Will saying there was an intruder."

"Ah, that would be me," Ember said with a sheepish smile as he rose to his feet.

"He's our mate," Micah told his father, and Gus's eyes widened before he turned to Ember.

He introduced himself to Cass and Gus, and Micah introduced them, and then Micah and I quickly shooed our dads away, promising them we'd bring Ember by for dinner and a proper conversation later.

It was obvious none of the dads wanted to go, but they still relented, which I was grateful for. Our mate had just crash-landed into our lives, and we needed a moment to process that, especially Micah.

Once they were gone and the portal had disappeared, we returned back to the living room, where Ember sat patiently on the couch. He glanced up as we walked in, his eyes flicking from me to Micah and back, and for the very first time in my life, I found myself unsure of what to say.

Micah fidgeted beside me, and I realized that I needed to say something, if only so Micah wouldn't get anxious.

So, I settled on the loveseat across the table from Ember, pulling Micah in beside me. "So...what happened?"

Ember

Today was the luckiest day of my life.

It'd started off like any other, and since the end of my cycle was less than a year away, I'd been hoping for a normal, trouble-free day. I'd taken to the skies to search for a place I could hide out in when the time came, but within an hour of taking flight, I'd felt the symptoms starting.

They were usually weeks or months apart, but the first one was always worse, in part because it was a surprise.

I'd lost control of my flight as my wings erupted in harmless—to me—flames, and I'd found myself falling. I wasn't sure if Fate had intended for me to land where I did, or if it was a coincidence, but I'd somehow landed in the backyard of my mates.Mates.

They were both stunning, a dragon and a mage of some sort, and I couldn't wait to get to know them better.

Cam, the dragon and the more talkative of the two, with beautiful green eyes and short black hair, settled on the couch, pulling Micah with him.

Micah was stunning, with dark brown eyes that seemed to peer into my soul, dark hair that fell over them, and a slim, delicate figure clad in a pink crop top and jean shorts that made me want to hold him close and protect him.

"So...what happened?" Cam asked, and I explained everything to them. They listened intently, without interrupting, and were quiet once I'd finished my retelling of today's events.

"What's a cycle?" Cam asked, and I blinked. Of course. Phoenixes weren't as well known these days, so I should've expected he might not know.

While I was grateful to have found them, I couldn't help wondering if this was the right time. Why couldn't I have found them after this cycle?

"Do you know the tale of the phoenix-kind?"

Cam pursed his lips in thought, but it was Micah who answered my question, his voice soft and hesitant.

"The one about being reborn from ashes?"

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