Thirty-One

Micah

"So where are we going?" Kai asked from the backseat, and I turned to look at him as Cam drove. Between Cam and me, he was the better driver—I had a tendency of getting distracted by random thoughts, mine or others'—and since Ember wasn't as familiar with the streets of Mistvale and Kai couldn't drive, he was the designated driver for the foreseeable future.

"We're going to Silent Creek Park. It's big, beautiful, and it's home to two of our clanmates." Glancing at Cam, I asked, "Do you think Alden and Elian will be there? Should we have called instead of just showing up?"

"Nah. They have their private area in the park. If they don't feel like socializing, they won't see us."

"That's true."

Turning back to Kai and Ember, I explained, "Elian is a forest spirit, and the whole park is his land. Alden's his mate, and a unicorn."

Blue and dark brown eyes widened simultaneously, and I bit back a grin. It was always fun to tell people about Alden. They always reacted like this.

"A unicorn? I thought they were extinct!" I didn't think I'd ever heard Ember sound so animated, and the grin I'd been trying to hold back broke through as I shook my head.

"Alden believes he's the last of his kind. He's never met or sensed another unicorn."

"Wow," Kai mumbled, then asked, "What other kinds of supes live in Mistvale?"

Cam and I shared a glance, and I pursed my lips as I tried to count them all in my head.

"Well, I only know for sure about our clan members. But in the clan we have mages, vampires, shifters, and dragons, plus a werewolf, incubus, griffin, gargoyle, warlock, elves, djinn, shapeshifter, basilisks, and now a phoenix and a selkie," I finished, wondering if I'd missed any. "And a unicorn and a forest spirit, of course."

"You forgot Celeste, Hector, and Iris," Cam reminded me, and I winced.

"I knew I was forgetting someone. Celeste is a fae, Hector's an alchemist, and Iris is a witch," I explained to our two stunned mates. I'd told Ember quite a bit about the Mistvale clan by now, but I'd never listed out all the residents like that.

"I've never come across a clan quite as diverse as this one before," Ember said, and Cam snorted.

"We might be diverse in terms of supes, but our clan is ridiculously queer. We're like 95 percent queer."

I chuckled as I realized he was right. The only person we knew who was, without a doubt, straight was Penny, Jai and Raphael's daughter. And that was only because she'd made it a point to 'come out' as straight since so many of us weren't.

"Maybe Raiden's magic just attracts queer people," I mused, and Cam chuckled.

"I'll have to ask him."

"I guess we don't have to worry about fitting in," Kai said after a moment, and I smiled at him.

"Not at all. The Mistvale clan welcomes everyone."

"Noel's been wanting to throw you two a welcome party since you arrived, Ember," Cam said, glancing at them in the rearview mirror. "We've been holding him off until we can get Kai's coat back, but everyone is really excited to meet you two."

Ember smiled warmly, while Kai looked a little nervous, so I quickly changed the topic, not wanting him to worry.

"Noel's an elf, and he homeschools supe kids at the packland, where he lives with his mate, Caleb. He also makes the softest sweaters I've ever worn."

"He sounds like a wonderful person," Ember said with a smile, and I nodded.

"We're here!" Cam declared as he parked the car. The park wasn't that far from our place, but since we also had the picnic basket and blankets to carry, we'd opted to drive instead.

"Wow," Kai said as he glanced at the exterior of the park. An open gate invited us into a world of greenery, while bushes and trees pushed out of the fence surrounding the park, the whole place bursting with flora.

"Come on!" Cam said, taking Kai's hand and pulling him into the park as Ember took my hand, the basket and blankets in his other hand. Of course, he refused to let me carry any of it.

"This place is beautiful," Ember said, gazing around as we followed the small trail deeper into the park. There was no rhyme or reason to the trees and bushes that grew here. No perfectly lined rows of trees or paved paths for joggers. No, this park was all nature, all Elian , and it was cozy and homey, and almost otherworldly in its beauty.

"Right?"

Cam had stopped in the clearing Alden had shown us once. It was where he'd first met Elian, and it was the perfect spot for a picnic.

A dead tree worked as the sole sitting area in the small clearing, and trees surrounded the spot, their branches bending over to provide shade from the sun and protection in case it rained.

Kai turned around in a circle, his dark eyes wide and full of admiration as he took everything in. "Thank you for bringing me here."

"It was our pleasure," Cam said with a beaming smile, and I nodded in agreement.

Ember and Cam spread out the blanket, placing the basket on the edge of it, and then Cam turned to Kai, his eyes twinkling. "Would you like to see my dragon now?"

That sounds like an innuendo , I told him in his mind, and he shot me an amused grin.

"Um, yeah," Kai answered, wide-eyed, and Cam took a few steps back until he was at the edge of the clearing, leaving just enough space behind him that he wouldn't accidently crush the plants when he shifted.

"Micah, there's no one around, is there?" Cam asked, since I could sense humans better than him. Pulling down my mental shields, I quickly scanned the park, finding only Elian and Alden in their private space.

"We're good," I said, quickly putting my shields back in place, and Cam grinned, rubbing his palms together. Then, he met Kai's eyes, smiled, and turned into a big purple dragon.

Kai

Cam was magnificent.

I craned my neck so I could take all of him in and wondered how I could be mated to someone so...majestic.

Cam folded his large, gleaming wings at his side, his familiar green eyes now slitted vertically like a snake's. He watched me curiously, as if waiting to see how I'd react.

"You can touch him, if you want," Micah offered, and I glanced at him. His dark eyes were warm as he glanced between us, and I nodded as I got to my feet and walked forward.

Cam lowered his head when I came near, and I still had to reach up to brush my palm on his nose. His skin was smooth and leathery there, and I smiled as I petted him. He snorted against my palm, making me chuckle, and I slid my palm down his jaw, surprised by the sharp, prickly underside of his jaw.

While his wings were big and leathery, they sparkled in the faint sunlight filtering through the trees, telling me they were covered in smaller scales much like the ones that covered the rest of Cam's body. The scales looked sharp, and I wondered if they'd cut me if I touched them.

The skin covering Cam's chest and belly was smooth and warm, and he made a soft, rumbling sound as I ran my palm over it, his tail thumping against the ground behind him.

"Cam's asking if you'd like to take a flight with him," Micah said, sounding closer than he'd been. I turned to see he'd stood up as well, though a ways back, giving me space to explore.

"Um," I hesitated, not wanting Cam to think I didn't trust him but also not ready to take off into the skies just yet.

"It's okay if you don't want to," Ember said, his blue eyes warm as he looked at me. "How about you and I go for a flight, Cam? We can show Kai some of our moves."

Cam shifted his big wings impatiently, and I didn't need Micah to translate to know he was agreeing with Ember.

I took a few steps back, clearing the way, and Ember smiled at me before he shifted into his phoenix form. Compared to Cam's dragon, he was almost tiny, but no less beautiful. Yellow, orange, and red feathers covered his slim body, and though they appeared a bit faded right now, I got the feeling it was because he was at the end of his cycle. When he was at his prime, I had no doubt he was a sight to behold.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Micah murmured, now at my side, and I hummed in agreement. Watching them in their supe forms made me itch for my coat, made me wish I could shift into my other form as well, but I pushed the need away, focusing on my mates as they took off into the sky.

"Wow," I murmured as I watched Cam circle the clearing, Ember at his heels.

"The humans can't see them, right?" I asked, worried they'd be spotted by some clueless person.

"Yeah, they have their shields up, so they're safe."

"Do you fly with Cam a lot?" I asked, when what I'd really wanted to ask was, 'Is it scary?'

Micah smiled, his eyes lighting up as he gazed at the sky. Cam and Ember were far enough away now that all I could see was an orange dot and a slightly bigger purple dot.

"I do, yeah. I've had years of practice now, but when I first started, it was scary as fuck. We practiced over the river, and I can't tell you how many times Cam dropped me into the water. But he's gotten much better now, and he hasn't dropped me in years." Micah glanced at me, his dark eyes twinkling. "You get to reap all the benefits without any of the hardships, if you do decide to fly with him."

I chuckled, turning my eyes back to the sky. Maybe, someday soon, I'd ask Cam for that ride after all.

"Come on. Let's sit down. Those two will probably be up there for a while."

Nodding, I joined Micah on the blanket, and he dug out some of the snacks Ember had packed. As we ate the home-baked cookies made by Micah's dad, Cassian, Micah told me more about the various residents of Mistvale.

There were a lot of them, and I got the feeling I might need to take notes if I had any hopes of remembering who was who.

Still, it was nice to hear about all the people in their—our?—clan, and I could tell how close they all were. I wondered what it was like to be a part of a tight-knit community.

I'd been a drifter for most of my life, never quite fitting in with the other selkies. My parents had been good to me until I was grown, but they weren't like Cam and Micah's parents. There hadn't been a strong emotional bond between us, and once I was 'ready for the world,' they'd let me go, telling me I was now responsible for my own destiny. It'd sounded nice then, like freedom, but it hadn't taken me long to realize what it truly meant: I was alone.

The ground rumbled softly as Cam landed, Ember following close behind, and I smiled at them as butterflies fluttered in my belly.

Micah reached over and squeezed my hand, his eyes also on our mates, and I sighed. Well, I wasn't alone anymore. Maybe I'd finally found my destiny.