Forty-Four

Ember

Cam and I reached the packland before Micah and Kai, and while I'd been here once before with Cam and Micah, I was looking forward to meeting all the clan members I had yet to meet.

Over the years, I'd met a lot of supernaturals, but I'd never lived in a community of them, never been a part of a clan. I wasn't sure why I'd never joined one, but maybe I'd just been waiting for the right clan, for this clan.

"Come on. Micah will know where to go, so we don't have to wait for them," Cam said as he took my hand and started leading me away from the clearing we'd landed in.

As we walked down the path, cabins popped up on either side, well-built and well cared for. I wondered if the pack members lived there. It seemed likely with the thick scent of shifters in the air. There were cat shifters, wolf shifters, and even a dolphin shifter. I remembered Cam and Micah telling me about them, but I couldn't for the life of me remember their names.

I blinked, then shook my head when I realized I'd been waiting for Micah to reply to my thoughts and tell me. But Micah wasn't here, and while he could hear through the mental link at longer distances—we all could—he couldn't pick up my thoughts from so far away. He'd also probably have his shields up since we'd be around so many people, so he wouldn't have heard me even if he was here.

It was strange how quickly I'd gotten used to my thoughts not being just mine anymore. I knew Micah had worried I'd feel uncomfortable with the notion, but strangely...I didn't. I never had since the very beginning.

Maybe my temperament was one of the reasons Fate had thought I'd be a good mate for Micah?

The sound of a crowd grew louder and louder as the path became narrow, and then it suddenly opened up into a large clearing.

On the other side of the clearing was another cabin, but this one looked bare, even from the outside.

"That's the gathering hall," Cam said, following my gaze.

I nodded, then turned to look at the crowd gathered in the clearing.

There were large tables set on the outer edges of the clearing, laden with foods and drinks of all kind. Like Cam and Micah had said, everyone seemed to have brought something.

Since they hadn't noticed us yet, I took a moment to look through the crowd, finding some familiar faces and many unfamiliar ones.

Cam and Micah's dads were there, as well as Cam's sister, Amelia, and Micah's brothers, Mateo and Miles.

There was Raphael and his mate, Jai, and their kids, whose names I was pretty sure were Finn, Penny, and Dean. If I remembered correctly, Penny was currently in college, so she must have been home for the weekend.

"Ready?" Cam asked with a grin, and that got the others' notice as well, eyes turning to look at us as a dark-skinned elf hurried toward us, his mess of black curls bouncing around his face.

I nodded just as the elf reached us, a wide smile on his face. "Hey, you must be Ember! I'm Noel, and it's so lovely to meet you!"

I shook his hand, smiling at the warm welcome.

"Micah and Kai took the car, so they'll be here in a bit," Cam informed Noel, who nodded, then started leading me into the crowd with his hand clamped around my forearm.

I shot Cam a slightly panicked look, but he merely grinned and nodded, following a step behind us.

The next however many minutes were a whirlwind of introductions that I was sure I'd soon forget, and I noticed Micah and Kai arrive at one point, but I didn't get to talk to them.

Jodi rushed around the open space, investigating everything before another dog, a gray-and-white husky, joined her. From the pictures shared in the clan group, I knew that was Padfoot, Jai and Raphael's dog. I blinked when I realized there was a squirrel riding on his back, and wondered if I was seeing things.

If I had to describe the Mistvale clan in a few words, they'd be something like diverse, chaotic, and welcoming.

"It's a bit overwhelming, isn't it?" Tate, a werewolf mated to Joy—Jai's younger brother—said as he glanced around the crowd, his strange purple eyes warm with fondness, and I hummed in agreement.

Noel had finally let me go, and I bit back a smile as I realized he now had Kai in his clutches. I thought about rescuing him for a moment before waving it off. Kai should get the full experience too, and I wouldn't want to take that from him.

"It is. I think it'll take me a while before I get to know everyone."

"It will. And you'll get along with some better than the others. But the friends you make here will be friends for life," he said, just as a dark-haired wolf shifter jogged up to us, sliding his arm around Tate's waist. That would be Quill, Tate's other mate.

"I'm so excited we finally have another polycule in the clan!" Quill said with a grin, his blue eyes bright with glee.

"Happy to be of help," I said with a tilt of my head, making him laugh.

"Welcome to the clan, Ember. We're really glad to have you and Kai here. It's good to see Cam and Micah so happy," Quill said, then squinted up at me. "Not that they weren't happy before. But they look more relaxed now. More at peace."

My chest warmed at the thought, and I glanced up, searching for my mates.

Cam was over by the food with the twins, talking animatedly as he snacked on the food, while Kai and Micah were on the other side of the clearing, immersed in a conversation with Neel, a human they were close friends with, and Finn, Jai and Raphael's eldest.

"I'm glad. Meeting them has changed my life too. Thank you for accepting me into your clan. I think I'll love it here."

Over the next few hours, I talked to almost every clan member, sometimes with one of my mates at my side, other times on my own. Every conversation reinforced one belief: this was the perfect clan for me, and not just because my mates belonged here.

Kai

I had never spent so much time around so many people before, and yet I didn't feel like leaving.

The Mistvale clan was big, loud, full of chaos. But it was also warm, welcoming, and full of love.

Interacting with them, it was no surprise Cam and Micah were such kind, wonderful people. Who wouldn't be, growing up around such good people?

"How are you doing?" Micah asked as he leaned against me, a small smile on his lips as he glanced around. I didn't think he even realized he was smiling, but it was enough to tell me how much he loved everyone. Despite the strain around his eyes, the slight furrows on his brow from keeping his shields up, he was happy to stay here because to him, spending time with these people was worth the headache that would come later.

I hoped Cam would soon figure out how to use his powers to help Micah, because I hated seeing him in pain.

"I'm good. What about you? Did the headache start already?"

Micah shook his head, giving me a smile. "I'm fine. Don't worry."

Why didn't I believe him?

"Okay. But you'll tell me if it gets to be too much?" I asked, and he gazed at me for a moment before nodding.

"Ember's getting praised for his food by Noel. That's as good as winning MasterChef ," Micah said, pointing toward the food tables where Ember and Noel were chatting with wide smiles on their faces while Cam watched, snacking on one of the pastries Ember had made.

"Noel's picky about food?"

"Not picky. Particular, maybe? He has good taste, so anything below average is inedible to him."

"I get the feeling you know this from experience."

Micah winced, though his eyes danced with humor. "Cam and I spent a summer with Noel trying to learn how to cook. It... didn't end well."

"What happened?" I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.

"Well, Cam accidentally started a fire while trying to make something. Then he panicked and shifted into his dragon form...and destroyed the cabin we were practicing in."

I... hadn't expected that.

Then, Micah sent a few 'snapshots' of the incident through the mental link, and I started laughing at the image of a giant purple dragon dancing around in a too-small cabin as fire blazed in a corner and Noel watched on in complete horror.

A glance at Ember and Cam told me they'd seen the snapshots too, and even without context, it was funny enough that Ember seemed to be holding back laughter while Cam aimed a scowl Micah's way that he replied to by blowing Cam a kiss.

"You've sure had a lot of adventures," I said once I'd stopped laughing, and Micah smiled.

"We have. And I'm sure we'll have many more in the future. All four of us."

"I think you just made sure Ember will never teach Cam how to cook. And if he does, he'll probably buy some place in the middle of nowhere to do it at."

Micah chuckled, nodding in agreement, and then we were joined by Oliver, a sweet, cheerful cat shifter who really wanted to know what it was like to be a selkie. Apparently, he'd been trapped in his cat form all his life until he met his mate, and he loved learning about all the different kinds of supes.

Conversation flowed between us, and then someone else joined the chat. People came and went, and by the time the sky had darkened and all the food was gone, I felt like I'd talked to everyone there.

Since there were so many of them, I'd taken to trying to memorize their names and faces in the hopes I'd remember them later when they sent a message in the group chat.

I thought I had most of them down, like Devon. Blue-black long hair, light blue eyes, bobcat shifter. Or, Rhiannon, dark hair, blue eyes, warlock.

Once we got home, I was going to jot down as many of them as I could remember in a notebook, at least until I knew them all well enough that I wouldn't need it.

Just before it was time to leave, a loud growl rang out above the chatter of conversation, and I jumped, my eyes going wide.

Weirdly enough, no one else seemed worried, and I glanced around, searching for my mates. I could see Micah and Ember in the center with Rebba, the alpha of the pack, and a few others, but Cam was nowhere to be found.

At least until there was a shriek, before a familiar form rushed through the crowd, a large brown wolf that smelled strongly of vanilla close at his heels.

"Caleb, Caleb," Cam chanted as he ran backward, his arms raised up in surrender. "I didn't use glitter this time. Or even a stinkbomb. Noel loves cookies—I bet he'll love your new scent."

The wolf—Caleb, I concluded—growled again, chomping at the air, and Cam's eyes widened before he took off again, aiming for Ember.

"Save me, my mate," he said as he slid behind Ember, whose brows shot up at the spectacle.

Most of the others hadn't even stopped their conversations, which made me wonder just how common a sight this was.

Even Noel, Caleb's mate, seemed content to just stand and watch, an amused smile on his lips.

"What did you do this time?" I heard Micah ask, and I realized I'd started walking toward them at some point.

"Uh, he was in his toolshed, and I maybe locked him in and poured a bottle of vanilla extract on him from the roof."

Ember stared down at Cam for a moment, then picked him up and placed him right in front of Caleb.

"Ember!" Cam exclaimed in shock before Caleb bit down on his clothes and started dragging him off.

Cam stumbled to keep his feet beneath him, shooting us a betrayed look as Caleb kept pulling him away.

"Uh, is he gonna be okay?" I asked, and Micah chuckled.

"Eh, he'll be fine. Caleb will probably drag him into the pond so he can wash off the vanilla. Cam will smell like it too when they return."

"I'm guessing something like this has happened before."

Micah snorted. "A couple of times," he said in a tone that implied it was definitely more than that.