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 few drops 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 knew how . 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.

"Caleb?" I suggested, since I didn't want to ask either of our dads for help. We wanted them to think we were doing perfectly well on our own, because I knew they'd use the chance to try to convince us to move back.

It wasn't that they thought we weren't fit to live on our own. They just missed us. Especially DD and Dad, since they had the whole soon-to-be-parents overprotectiveness going.

"Yeah, we could probably convince him to not tell the dads. Or Anson, if he sends him."

Caleb could very well send Anson, a human in the know—he was mated to a shapeshifter—who worked as a handyman for him, especially because Caleb and I...had a sort of situation going in that he was always the target of my pranks growing up, and he might hate me a little because of it. We hadn't really talked much since I got back, mostly because I'd avoided him for fear that he might not want anything to do with me at all.

"You call him," I told Micah, and he raised a brow at me but complied anyway.

Twenty minutes later, Caleb was on his back under the sink, since the space was too small for his big, bulky frame to fit any other way. I'd been surprised he'd come himself, but he'd taken charge instantly. He'd turned off a knob somewhere that had cut off the water supply to the sink, making the dripping stop, and I wondered why we hadn't thought to check for that. We could've saved so much water. We'd used the leaked water in the garden, but with all the rain, I didn't think the plants had actually needed it.

"Okay, yeah. We'll need to change these pipes. This part's all rusted, and it would've probably burst in a couple of weeks." Caleb maneuvered out of the space and sat upright, returning his tools to their bag.

"Will it take long?" Micah asked from his spot on the floor. He'd been curious about how everything worked, so Caleb had been explaining. I stood a safe distance away, keeping out of their way but still watching what was happening.

"A couple of hours, tops," Caleb said, standing to his full height as he dusted off his jeans. Caleb was a big man, as big as Cassian. But while Cassian was all big bones and cuddly exterior, Caleb was all muscles. He was the most jacked dude I'd ever seen, and I might've had a teeny, tiny, celebrity-type crush on him once upon a time. The kind of crush where I didn't exactly want to be with him or even kiss him, but where I liked having his attention on me, or just looking at him. It was probably why I'd enjoyed torturing him so much, not that it'd endeared me to him.

"Oh, that's great. When can you do it?"

"Right now, if you want. I have the pipes in my truck." His gray-blue eyes slid to me, and a dark eyebrow went up as he took a few steps toward me. "Why are you so quiet today? It doesn't really suit you."

I flushed, then scratched the back of my neck. "Um, no reason."

Micah, the betrayer, chuckled. "He thinks you're holding a grudge about all our pranks on you."

Our pranks . I smiled. I'd always dragged Micah along on my shenanigans, but they'd always been my idea. Not that Micah would ever tell that to anyone. He'd always taken half the blame, declaring to anyone who asked that we'd been in on it together. I must've started falling for him somewhere around that time.

Caleb's brows shot up, surprise clear in his eyes. "You really think I've been holding a grudge over harmless pranks all these years?"

"They weren't all harmless," I muttered, remembering the time I'd used a makeshift glitter bomb that had exploded. A piece of it had hit Caleb so hard he'd had a bruise on his cheek for days, despite his fast healing.

Caleb shook his head, a smile quirking his lips. "You were kids. Sure, your pranks were annoying at the time, but if you were truly bothering me, I would've made sure you knew it." His eyes flashed, showing a little bit of his wolf side, and I relaxed. That made sense. Caleb wasn't the type to let someone jerk him around, and even though I was 'Raiden's son,' he would've made sure to teach me a lesson if he thought I'd gone too far.

I'd known that even back then, which was why I'd never targeted Noel. I knew that the moment I pulled Caleb's mate into it, he would react.

"I'm glad. And I am sorry, you know. I might've gone a little too far a few times."

Caleb waved me off, and then left the room, probably to get the pipes from his truck.

Micah and I shared a glance, and he grinned as he stepped closer to me.

Micah

"You were really worried about that, huh?" I asked as I slid my arm around Cam's waist, leaning into him. Our lips were inches apart, but since Caleb would be back any second, I didn't push forward.

While Cam had absolutely no problem with PDA, I preferred not to make out in front of the other clan members if possible. Mostly because most of our clan members were annoying jerks who'd whistle and cheer like they weren't just as lovey-dovey with their own mates.

"I wasn't worried ." Cam scoffed, rolling his eyes at me as if I couldn't tell when he was lying. I didn't even need to read his thoughts; I could just tell from the look on his face.

"Sure."

Caleb returned before Cam could comment on the disbelief in my voice, and I started heating up some lunch while Cam hovered around the wolf shifter 'in case he needed help.' Cam clearly wanted to make nice with Caleb, so I left him to it.

Somehow, we'd lived in our new house for a whole month and still hadn't needed to cook. I made sandwiches sometimes, but more often than not, someone from the clan would visit and bring food. Our dads had dropped by with 'leftovers' a few times too, and I wondered if they thought we couldn't cook. Cam most definitely couldn't, and while I knew how, it wasn't something I enjoyed doing, so I was happy for the excuse not to.

I knew we shouldn't be so reliant on our parents, that we should cook our own food at the very least, but I just couldn't bring myself to say no to them, and I knew Cam felt the same.

Our dads were not dealing well with our moving out, especially Raiden. Apparently, having eggs made a dragon emotional, and Raiden's mood swings over the last few weeks had left Mistvale in a perpetual state of rainy-sunny-stormy-rainy. William was doing his best to keep Raiden steady, but he himself was also feeling the effects, so I doubted he was very successful.

"Cam, could you turn this knob over here?"

I shook off the thoughts of our dads, focusing back on Caleb and Cam as he reached over Caleb's shoulder to obey. Wait, wasn't that the one...

Before I could warn him, water burst out of the pipe, smacking Cam straight in the face.

Cam's eyes went wide as saucers, while Caleb grinned at him, his shoulders shaking with laughter. He quickly turned off the water, but Cam was already drenched.

Compared to all the pranks Cam had pulled on Caleb, this was pretty mild, but the fact that it'd been so unexpected made it so much worse. Or better. I couldn't decide.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing as Cam wiped a palm over his face, then pushed the hair away from his eyes.

"You have been holding a grudge!" Cam accused with a pointy finger, making Caleb chuckle. He held his palm up, accepting the accusation gracefully.

"Maybe a little. That was very satisfying."

I couldn't help laughing at that, and Cam turned to me with a scowl, though his eyes glimmered with amusement.

"Why didn't you get Micah too? You know he was in on all the pranks too, right?"

"Yeah, but he wasn't the one who came up with them, was he?" Caleb asked with a raised brow before turning back to the pipes. He adjusted the pipe he'd sprayed Cam with before tightening it into place while Cam grumbled to himself.

After Caleb was finished—and Cam had changed into dry clothes—the three of us ate some reheated curry and naan. Then Caleb left. Without taking a payment, of course. We got the clan-member discount, apparently. Considering how many people were in our clan, I wondered how Caleb made any money at all.

Cam and I cleaned up the kitchen, for once without the background sound of the steady drip-drip-drip from the sink, and then decided to sit on the back porch for a little bit. "Like a couple of old people," according to Cam.

With the help of Elian—a forest spirit—we'd turned our backyard into a beautiful garden. There was enough space left for Cam to shift into his dragon form and take off or land, but the edges of the backyard were lined with bushes blooming with a riot of colorful flowers. Plants surrounded the edges of the pond, and Elian had even created an archway of beautiful flowered vines around the stairs. In a word, it was magical.

The greenery had also invited little critters, and the garden was one of the few places where Saaya happily stepped out of the shadows. I loved sitting on the porch and watching her chase after squirrels or the rare rabbit that snuck into the garden, though she knew she wasn't allowed to hurt them.

Cam and I settled together on the bean bag we'd placed on the deck, and he leaned into me, his arms circling my waist as he rested his head on my shoulder. I was dressed in my favorite soft pink crop top and shorts, and Cam's fingers petted my belly as he held me, toying with the piercing once in a while.

"This is nice," he mumbled after a moment, and I hummed in answer, sliding an arm out of his hug so I could wrap it around his shoulders instead.

We sat there for a while, my thoughts drifting aimlessly as I focused on the feel of Cam's comfortable warmth beside me, and I'd been just about to suggest going inside for an afternoon nap—or a quickie—when Cam straightened up, his eyes alert.

"What is it?"

His brows furrowed and he scanned our surroundings.

Do you feel that? he asked, switching to our mental link.

I scanned our surroundings with my psychic senses, but other than the thoughts of our neighbors, I found nothing, so instead I focused on Cam's mind, on what he was sensing.

I could feel the pinprick of awareness in his mind, the sense that something new or different was coming, something unfamiliar.

"Look!" Cam said out loud, pointing up into the sky. I followed his gaze to a spot of light in the cloudy sky, and at first I thought it was the sun, desperately trying to peek through the dark clouds.

Then I realized the bright dot was getting bigger. No, not bigger. Closer . It was coming closer, and I was pretty sure it was headed right for us.

Cam rushed down the stairs, holding an arm out when I started following him. "Stay back, Micah."

I fumed, but I knew that he was better suited to this. He was a dragon, and my psychic powers were useless in stopping an enemy physically.

The dot drew closer and closer, and my brows furrowed as I realized it was...a ball of fire. What the hell? Was it a meteor or something?

But no, I could sense its magic through Cam's mind, so I knew it was something supernatural. But what?

Cam took a step back, then shifted and spread his wings wide, putting himself between me and the flaming ball.

I had complete faith in Cam and his ability to protect me, but even he didn't know what this was. What if it was something stronger than him? What if it hurt him? Where was Raiden when you needed him?

As if in answer to my thoughts, magic stirred behind me, and I glanced back to see sparks of magic in the air. A portal.

The ball of fire crashed into the ground and went out at the same moment Raiden and William rushed through the portal, Raiden's eyes flashing as the sky above us rumbled in warning.

Lightning flashed, and I only had a moment to wonder if maybe Raiden was a little bit out of control before a bolt of lightning rushed down from the sky, headed straight for the spot where the other supe had crashed.

No! Cam shouted in my mind as he jumped between the two, the lightning hitting him full force. He's our mate .