Twenty-Four

Kai

I groaned as my head pounded something awful. It felt like someone had taken my head and shaken it until my brain bounced around in my skull a few times, then done it again just for shits and giggles.

That's what I got for thinking I could swim just as well without my skin.

I shouldn't have left. I shouldn't have run away without getting my skin back. It'd been stupid.

Maybe I could sneak back onto the island somehow. I couldn't have made it far, right?

As my senses slowly aligned, I realized I was no longer in the water. I was on soft, dry land, with grass under my fingers and shade from trees falling over my closed eyes.

I froze when I realized I wasn't alone. Shit. Had someone fished me out of the water? What if it was him ? Maybe he'd decided to follow me after all, decided I wasn't quite as useless as he'd declared earlier.

Even though I'd been thinking of going back to him moments ago, now that the possibility seemed more real, I didn't want to. I'd rather spend the rest of my life as a human and die a human death, whenever it came for me.

"Do you think they're seriously hurt? Maybe we should call Raphael," a voice said. It was soft and worried, and definitely not his .

"We don't know where they came from. Waking up surrounded by strangers might scare them," another voice piped in, sounding a little calmer than the other one.

They both sounded young, and while I could sense a faint trace of magic from at least one of them, I couldn't tell what they were. Without my skin, my senses—and my swimming skills, apparently—were highly muted, and I wasn't any better than a human.

"We should wait until they wake up." The third voice was deeper, though still warm and concerned.

Huh. Maybe I'd died and gone to heaven, and they were angels. Wouldn't that be something?

After all the shit I'd done, was I really going to die by cracking my skull open on a rock while swimming ? Hell no!

I opened my eyes, blinking up at the crisscrossing branches. It was still light out, and the sun didn't seem to have moved much, so I assumed I hadn't been out for long.

"Oh! You're awake!"

Suddenly, there was a face hovering above mine, and my eyes widened as I tried to scramble away.

He was the one I sensed magic from, and if I could sense it in this condition, he must be really powerful.

"Cam! You're scaring them!" the other younger voice called, and the person hovering over me—Cam—blinked, then took a few quick steps back.

"Shit. Sorry, I got excited."

My brows furrowed as I tried to gather my thoughts, but the pounding in my head was getting worse. I'd really done a number on myself, hadn't I?

Slowly, I tested my limbs, exhaling softly when I realized I didn't have any broken bones to worry about.

Struggling to sit up, I stiffened when Cam reached for me, but his hands stopped just shy of touching me.

Once I was upright, I glared at Cam. I couldn't deny he was a handsome man. His green eyes glittered as he gazed down at me, unfazed by my expression, and his dark hair looked messy in a way that didn't look styled.

"Okay, quick introduction. I'm Cam, pronouns he/him. The lovely big guy there is Ember, also he/him." I followed his pointed finger to a tall, broad man with bright blue eyes and dark brown hair that hung to his shoulders. He smiled at me, and I found my lips curving up without input from my brain.

Forcefully, I pressed my lips into a thin line as Cam introduced the last person who had a similar build as Cam but was dressed in femme clothes. "That's Micah, though he also answers to princess to a select few people. He/him for him as well."

My eyes slid back to Cam, and he tilted his head at me. "You're not human, are you?"

I blinked at the question, surprised. I'd known being without my skin dulled my senses, but did it make me appear human to others too? This could be useful.

Since I wasn't sure if I could trust these people yet—I didn't get any danger signs from them, but that didn't mean much when my senses were shot to hell—I decided to go with the safer answer. "What else would I be?"

Cam blinked, appearing stumped, but then one of the other guys, the one called Micah, stepped closer.

"You don't have to lie to us. We won't hurt you."

Cam and I both glanced up at him as fear filled me. How did he know, if the one with the magic couldn't tell?

The two shared a glance as the third guy, Ember, stayed behind. I got the feeling he didn't want to crowd me, and considering how big he was, I was glad.

Micah stepped forward before kneeling on the ground in front of me. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Then, he tried it again. "What's your name?"

I hesitated before answering, but they couldn't harm me with my name, so what the hell? "Kai. He/him or they/them works too. I don't have a preference between them," I added since they seemed to be open-minded like that.

Micah smiled. "Okay. Kai. First of all, you're in Mistvale. All supes are welcome as long as they don't plan on hurting anyone, and you'll be safe here. Cam's dad is a dragon, and he watches over this town. No one will hurt you."

But what if Cam was the one to hurt me? Would his dad still protect me?

Micah blinked, then shook his head. "Kai, whatever the reason you were in the water, whoever you're running from, know that no one, no one will hurt you."

The way he stressed that phrase made me feel like he'd read my mind, but obviously, that couldn't be right. I knew psychic mages existed, but I also knew they were extremely rare and generally manipulative and wicked. No way was I stumbling upon one like this.

Micah blinked at me, then drew back, his movements stiff. He glanced over at Cam as he stood, and some type of silent conversation took place between them.

I needed to get up, get the hell out of here, and figure out how to get my coat back.

I glanced up as I sensed movement, and realized Cam and Micah had moved away, murmuring to each other in voices low enough I couldn't hear them. My focus shifted from them to the third man, Ember, as he moved away from the tree he'd been leaning against and made his way to me.

Holding a hand out, he asked, "May I help you up?"

Ember

Our mate was scared. It was easy to see in the drawn look on his face, in the way he scowled or glared at us as if warning us to stay back. He was like a wounded animal, and I wanted nothing more than to comfort him.

Whatever he'd thought a moment before had hurt Micah. He hadn't said what, but it wasn't hard to tell he was hurting, and even though I wanted to pull him into a tight hug and tell him it was okay, Kai needed our help too.

So I trusted Cam to take care of Micah like he had all this time, and turned my attention to Kai.

His long, dark hair clung to his face and shoulders, the white linen shirt he wore almost see-through in its wet condition, a few torn holes giving off peeks of his dark skin. His deep brown eyes watched me carefully as he slowly placed his cold palm in mine. I closed my hand around his, then helped him up, shivering at how cold his skin felt. How wasn't he freezing to death? There was no way he was human.

Once he was upright, I let his hand go, and he stuffed both his hands into the pockets of his wet pants. If I wasn't so worried about him, I'd think about how sexy he looked with his clothes all soaked.

"Does your head hurt?" I asked, examining the furrow between his brows. He'd hit his head pretty hard, and since I couldn't sense his magic, I had to wonder if his powers were subdued for some reason, and if so, did that mean he couldn't heal fast like most supes either?

"Yeah. It's getting better, though. Thanks for pulling me out."

"That was all Cam," I said with a smile, and his eyes slid to Cam and Micah before returning to me.

"If you could show me the way out of these woods, I'll get out of your hair."

I blinked, then shook my head. Of course he was thinking of leaving. What did I expect? If he couldn't sense our magic, there was a very real possibility he couldn't sense we were his mates either.

"We'll help you, of course, but there's something you should know."

He stiffened, taking a step back, and I grabbed his arm as he tripped, keeping him from falling.

The look on his face was almost comical in its surprise, like he'd never tripped before and didn't like the sensation at all.

There were very few species who were dexterous and had good enough balance to avoid tripping their whole lives, and I wondered if Kai was one of them.

"What is it?" he demanded, and I realized I'd gotten distracted.

"Cam, Micah, and I are your mates."

Maybe I should've phrased it better, or taken my time slowly explaining it, but it was out now, and there was nothing I could do.

Kai blinked, then blinked some more. His eyes slid from Cam to Micah to me, and he shook his head.

"I would sense it, if it was true." Even he sounded doubtful, and I gave him a soft smile, feeling for him. I couldn't imagine what it would feel like to lose my powers. Even after I was reborn, I still had most—I just didn't have the mental capacity to use them.

"You can't sense my magic, can you? Or Micah's?"

Kai frowned, then shook his head. "Not without my full powers."

"May I ask how you lost them?"

His eyes flashed, anger quickly filling his face. "I didn't lose them. He stole them. He stole my coat."

Ah, that answered it.

"You're a selkie," I murmured, and he nodded reluctantly.

Selkies without their coats were very vulnerable, and I was filled with the urge to wrap him up and hide him away safely until we retrieved his coat.

"We'll help you get it back," Micah offered, and Kai's eyes widened.

"You would? Why would you do that?"

Micah stared at Kai for a moment, then shook his head. "We don't want it for ourselves. When we get it back, it'll be yours, as it should be."

Kai sucked in a breath, and Micah spoke again before he could. "Yes, I'm a telepath. I was waiting for the right moment to tell you. Ember is a phoenix."

"Fuck." Kai's eyes flashed between us, his surprise clear.

"Who stole your coat?" Cam asked, breaking his unusual silence. I had a feeling his dragon was itching to come out and hunt down whoever had hurt our mate.

Kai scowled, then glanced back at the water the way he'd come. "Do you know of Ravenshire?"

Micah sucked in a breath, his face going pale as he stumbled back as if Kai had physically hit him, and then Cam was there, wrapping his arms around Micah.

"It's okay, princess," he murmured softly, then turned to Kai, his green eyes hard like emeralds. I'd never seen that look on his face before, but I assumed that was what Cam looked like when his dragon was close to the surface, burning to protect his mates. "It was a mage?"

Kai nodded, a puzzled look on his face as he glanced between Cam and Micah. The hint of concern in his eyes almost made me smile. He might not be able to feel the bond between us, but he was still drawn to us.

"He tricked me," Kai admitted in an embarrassed grumble, then glanced between us. "Do you really mean it? You're my mates?"

I nodded, reaching forward to take his hand in mine again before stopping short and letting my hand fall. I didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

"We are. I know you can't sense it, and you have no reason to believe us, but we're not lying. And we will help you get your coat back," Cam declared, a bit of a growl slithering into his voice.

Kai glanced between us, eyes full of indecision, then exhaled loudly.

"Hell, what do I have to lose?"

Well, that was one way to agree, I supposed. As long as Kai wasn't running away just yet, we could work this out.

"Everything will be okay," Micah said, the slight tremor in his voice betraying his anxiety about his old hometown. I knew he didn't have many fond memories of that place, but maybe this whole situation would give him a chance to get some closure instead of reopening old wounds.

All I could do was hope, and be there for them when my mates needed me.