Epilogue

Eight Months Later

Kai

"Okay, okay, okay, he's coming!" Cam said as he rushed around the room, apparently unable to contain his excitement.

Six months ago, Ember had discovered that he'd really miscounted how many years he'd been alive, and two days later, he'd turned into his phoenix form before exploding into ashes.

A few hours later, a baby bird had climbed out of the ashes, and we'd taken him to Raiden and William, who'd promised to take care of him.

While we'd continued visiting Ember, it got harder once he could talk and we realized he really didn't remember us. So we cut down on our visits, but still made sure to keep in touch.

Over the last few weeks, Ember's memories had started returning, and since he was also in his 'horny teenager' phase, we'd had to stay away for all our sakes, especially since he'd started looking almost like he used to.

While before Ember had appeared to be in his early thirties, now he looked younger than us, maybe in his early twenties. His hair was shorter too, though I imagined he'd grow it out again if he wanted to.

Footsteps outside made me straighten, and Cam glanced back at us before throwing the door open with a "Welcome home!"

Ember smiled widely as he stepped inside, those familiar blue eyes full of recognition, but before he could reach any of us, Jodi—who we'd decided was better off staying with him and Cam's dads, so Ember wouldn't be lonely—raced past him, slamming into Micah, who fell onto his ass with an "Oof!"

Cam snickered as he closed the door, and I smiled down at Micah as Ember approached me and gave me a tight hug. While he was still as tall and broad as before, his muscles weren't quite as defined, his stomach not quite as squishy, telling me those hadn't been a part of his phoenix physique.

"God, I missed you," I mumbled as I squeezed him tighter, then pulled back so Micah and Cam could hug him too.

"I missed you too. All of you," Ember said, his eyes roaming from me to Cam to Micah, who'd managed to get to his feet.

One by one, he hugged them both, and then the four of us clung to each other, our bodies humming with the rightness of it. I already dreaded doing this a hundred years later, but worrying about it now would help nothing.

"What did I miss? Tell me everything," Ember said as he pulled back, and Cam grinned.

"Let's cuddle up on the couch first. Then I'll tell you," he said, and the four of us moved to the living room.

Ember settled on the couch, and Micah claimed his lap, making Ember smile widely. Cam and I curled up on either side of him, and I sighed happily. It felt so good to have him back.

While we had managed to survive without him, we'd done just that. Survive. We had each other, but Ember's empty place in our life was quite obvious. His warm voice, the comfort he exuded with everything he did... we'd missed all of it. All of him.

"Okay, well, you've probably seen some of the changes around town. We got a lot of work done," Cam said, skipping the part where we'd focused so much on work to ignore how much we missed him. I knew Ember already felt guilty about it—as if he had any choice about leaving—and there was no way any of us were going to make him feel worse.

"Mmm...I saw the new shops in TOSS when Raiden and Will took me shopping. Apparently, your childhood clothes didn't quite fit me like they'd hoped," he said with twinkling eyes, and Cam snickered.

"Why did they ever think they would? Haven't they seen our size difference?"

"Maybe they thought kid Ember would be tiny," I mused, and Cam shook his head.

"Crazy talk. Anyway, yes. We approached all the supes, even those who aren't a part of the clan, about opening up human-friendly businesses. We spent a few months thinking about the vibe we wanted to go with, and we settled on something of a magical town schtick. It's the perfect camouflage, and there's lots of room to have fun with it."

"Of course," Ember agreed, smile in his voice, and Micah hummed happily as Ember kissed the top of his head.

"So now there's this witchy, voodoo shop run by an actual witch that the humans love, and Trick and Vo opened up a food truck together with all kinds of spooky, magic-themed treats. They're doing pretty well too."

Trick—short for Patrick—was a human, mated to Vo, a gargoyle in our clan. Trick used to be the head chef at a restaurant in town, but he'd left his job a few years ago.

"We're also in the process of building a haunted house, and it's going to be amazing."

"Jules's club is doing well too," I said, pulling Ember's attention to me. Jules was a merman-siren who owned a club called Waves . "He changed his menu to all these funky, supe-themed drinks, and he has a special menu for actual supes with stronger drinks. Caleb works as a bouncer there at nights, and he's really good about making sure no supe slips a human a supe drink."

It'd happened more than once, but Caleb's wolf senses were always on point, and he'd stopped the supe every time, banning them from the club and putting them on Raiden's radar so he could make sure they never caused any trouble in town.

"Well, it sounds like you've been busy."

"We have!" Cam said with a grin. "Which is why we can now take a break and go on that trip we planned."

Before Ember's cycle ended, we'd talked about going someplace just the four of us, a post-mating honeymoon trip of sorts. We'd settled on Japan, since I had never been and Ember, Cam, and Micah had fond memories of the place, even if Ember's were a few centuries old.

"That sounds wonderful," Ember said, and I agreed. Taking some time for us to just be sounded utterly perfect.

Ember

I was so glad to be back.

While I hadn't remembered everything until just recently, I'd known something was missing since I could consciously think. It'd felt like a hollowness in the center of my chest, like the most important part of me was gone, and it'd made me uneasy.

While this rebirth had been much better than all the ones before—I'd spent those curled up asleep in some hidden corner hoping not to be discovered—it'd also been the worst, because this time I'd had something to miss, someone waiting for me to get back, and I'd felt it, even if I couldn't understand what the feeling was.

But now that I was surrounded by my mates, their scents mixing with mine in our home, I finally felt right, felt complete.

"What about you, Micah? How's your work been?"

Micah sat up so he could meet my gaze, his brown eyes bright and happy. "It's been great! And now that Cam's got the hang of his powers, it makes things so much easier."

Before I had to 'leave,' Cam had been working on his void magic so he could 'eat' just enough of Micah's magic to turn off his telepathic abilities for a few hours.

"Does that mean you did it?" I asked Cam, and he smiled proudly.

"I did! I can even tell how much magic I need to take for his power to be off for a specific number of hours."

"That's amazing," I said, making him preen.

"It is, isn't it? I can finally relax without worrying about a headache. He even figured out how to leave me just enough magic so our mental link works even when I can't read minds."

"Really?" It seemed like Cam was a quick learner—at least when cooking wasn't involved—because that sounded like it would take some skillful maneuvering. "Great job, Cam."

"Thanks!" he said, then chuckled sheepishly when his stomach growled.

I blinked, then glanced at the clock. "It's almost lunch time. How about I make something and we can continue catching up as we eat?"

Cam stared at me for a long moment as Kai and Micah also fell utterly silent, and then Cam threw himself at Micah and me, wrapping his arms around us tightly as Kai shifted closer.

"Fuck, I missed you so much, Ember," he mumbled against my ear, his voice choked. Wait, was he tearing up?

Removing my arm from Micah's side, I reached up to cup Cam's chin, waiting a moment so he'd pull back. I met his eyes, and, yeah, they were a little glassy. God, I wished I could've stayed. I wished my magic didn't have this stupid condition attached to it.

Pulling him closer, I kissed Cam soundly, hoping he could feel my apology. "I'm back now. And I'm not going anywhere." I didn't add 'for the next hundred years,' but I knew without Micah's magic that everyone was thinking it.

When Cam pulled away, I kissed Micah, moaning softly when he took over instantly. It was only the thought of feeding my mates that gave me the strength I needed to pull away, and the look in Micah's eyes almost pulled me back in.

Kai shifted closer, and I shared a kiss with him as well, a sweet kiss full of warmth and comfort.

As their tastes lingered on my lips, on my tongue, I felt my heart settle, and it took everything in me to stand up, but the need to feed my mates kept me going.

Of course, my mates followed right behind me, and I was glad our kitchen was large enough it wouldn't feel crowded with all four of us.

The stocked pantry and fridge made me feel a little better, since I'd been just a teensy bit worried they hadn't been eating properly.

"Micah and I cooked," Kai said, as if he could tell what I'd been thinking. "We're nowhere near as good as you, of course, but we managed to make edible food."

"That's true," Cam said, then blanched when he got two mirroring glares from Micah and Kai. "What? It is. You know it is!"

"You don't have to say it," Kai grumbled, and Cam slid up behind Micah and Kai, who'd settled on the barstools, and threw his arms around their shoulders.

"I'm sorry. I'd have starved and wasted away without you two, so thank you."

Shaking my head at his antics, I gathered up some ingredients to make a quick stir-fry and some sandwiches. Now that I was fully back to myself, my hunger was starting to settle, but since my mates had loved my previous build better—muscles with a bit of a belly—and since I felt most like myself that way, I planned on eating a little extra and working out until I reached that form again.

As I made lunch, we kept talking, and I got to know about everything they'd gotten up to, in and out of the house.

Before I'd left, I'd told them that I didn't want them to avoid any kind of intimacy because of me, that I just wanted them to be happy, and I was glad they'd listened. I hadn't liked the idea of them spending six months not having penetrative sex because of my absence, especially when I knew how good it felt.

While a part of me—the part that'd been a horny teenager until just a few days ago—wanted to drag my mates to bed and spend the rest of the day there, a bigger part of me was content just being with them. I wanted to feed them, take care of them, and just be with them.

Either Micah had heard my thoughts or he'd been thinking along the same lines, because when there was a lull in the conversation, he said, "After lunch, we're going to leave out some food and water for Jodi, open the back door for her, and then go up to our room. And we aren't coming out until we need dinner."

"Fuck yes!" Cam agreed, enthusiastic as always, and Kai nodded eagerly. Micah raised a brow at me, and I felt my cheeks heat as I nodded.

If I sped up my efforts after that, my mates were kind enough not to point it out, and after a hurried lunch, Micah and I loaded the dishwasher while Cam set everything up for Jodi and Kai cleaned the countertop.

Once everything was taken care of, we made our way to our bedroom, undressing and climbing onto the bed when Micah told us to.

As he'd promised, we stayed in bed until dinner, touching, kissing, and fucking until we were too tired to move, even the ever-energetic Cam. Every kiss, every touch we shared made me feel closer to my mates, and as the air filled with the scent of sex and my mates' individual scents, I breathed it in deeply, and hoped I'd never lose this.

"I love you," I murmured, and I didn't have to say it for them to know I meant each one of them. I couldn't imagine my life without any one of them, and I knew they felt the same.

"We love you too," Micah murmured, and I smiled as my eyes slid shut, deciding to take a short nap before I made dinner. We could all use it.