Page 10 of Caelum

NINE

NESTOR

One of the best things about Caelum?

The food.

As a kid, there’d been days when I’d been starving. When I’d literally have killed for something to eat, so I always appreciated food. I’d probably have appreciated shit food, but this stuff here?

Manna from the gods.

The dining area was large enough to seat two hundred and ran under the first floor of a large chunk of the main edifice. Meals came in two sittings because there were over five hundred to feed with the faculty to account for, and the shittiest part of hitting my eighteenth year had been, without a doubt, having to graduate from the first to second wave of serving as the younger kids ate first.

The place wasn’t like the shitholes you saw on TV screens about school meals. They served fucking steak. Real food, and none of that processed crap either. Our bodies didn’t deal well with food that wasn’t natural, and studies had proven that all the chemicals and stuff shoved into ready meals made our souls deteriorate. E numbers and colorants actually made us sicker… that was why most kids didn’t do well when they’d been shoved in mental health ‘retreats’ that were state-funded.

Caelum’s dining hall was comfortable too. Cushioned chairs with circular tables so that groups of friends and Packs could sit together and chill as we ate. There was no rush. Meals were for celebrating here. Food was precious, but for most of us, who’d been homeless or had been without good home-cooked food thanks to being shoved in institutes, we appreciated it more than most.

“You’ll get used to it,” I told Eve that following day as she took a seat with us. This was her first meal here because Lori had fed her in her room, not wanting to overwhelm her with the number of pupils who ate in the canteen.

“Get used to what?” she queried, eying the mashed potatoes and gravy as though it had sprouted a head, then she shot us all a look as we started eating without waiting on her.

Fuck, we trained seven hours a day. We needed the calories! I, for one, was goddamn starving.

“The food.”

Her mouth worked and her hands came up in the position I knew well. Then she frowned, stared down at her hands, back at us and the meals we were already eating, then murmured, “No grace?”

My lips curved. “Nope.”

I wasn’t sure if that concerned her or not, but her hands dropped to her lap the second I’d made the ’n’ sound, so I assumed she was all for it. Reaching for her fork, she spooned up some of the potatoes and asked, “What’s the brown stuff?”

“Dear God, they didn’t have gravy at your place?” I rasped, my heart fluttering in sympathy. Who didn’t know what this amazing stuff was?

“Gravy?” She pursed her lips then dipped the tines of her fork into her mouth. Her eyes flashed wide, and she released a moan that had the three of us freezing.

Holy fuck.

Could that have sounded anymore carnal?

My cock stirred as she ate some more, then she pressed a hand to her mouth and whispered, “What is it? It’s beautiful.”

My throat thick from unexpected arousal, I replied huskily, “It’s this stuff they make from the meat they cook.”

Eren snorted, but I could see from his dilated eyes that he was just as turned on.

We were guys. Boners weren’t unusual, but I just hadn’t anticipated my response to Eve. She was so innocent, and I hadn’t expected her to make a noise like that, for Christ’s sake.

“Ever effusive,” Eren mocked.

“I’m no chef,” I said with a grunt. “Anyway, if you know so much, why don’t you share with the class? ”

Eve released a chuckle. “Please do, Eren. I’d like to know how to make this.”

“You cook?” Stefan interjected, and I wasn’t sure what would make his boner harder—the moan or the fact she could cook.

“Well, we didn’t have much choice but to cook, but we never made anything like this.” Her brow puckered. “I wonder if it’s complicated.”

“No. When you fry beef, they usually deglaze the pan with wine or something so that all the juices that have stuck to the base of the pan are released into the beef stock they pour in next. They add in seasonings and thickeners, sometimes things you buy or flour. Because we can’t process certain foods, I think it’s flour here.”

I gaped at Eren. “Since when are you Gordon Ramsay?”

“I like cooking shows,” he grumbled. “They’re relaxing.”

Well, I’d never seen him watch one. Although, maybe he did at night. Eren slept like shit and usually watched TV until the early hours. I’d thought he’d be watching porn, not Ina frickin’ Garten.

Eve frowned. “I wonder why we didn’t eat this. It sounds quite simple.”

“What did you eat?” Stefan inquired, his head tilting to the side as he contemplated her.

“Mostly vegetables. If we had meat, it was usually chicken. Beef was for special occasions like Yule, but we used cows mostly for the milk. A few times a week, we had fish if the men had a good haul—we were close to the ocean,” she explained, then she licked her lips as she picked up one of the salt and pepper cellars. “What are these?”

I gaped at her then shot Eren and Stefan a look to see if they were just as floored as me. “You don’t know what salt and pepper are?”

“Seasonings?” she queried. “I’ve heard of them but I don’t think I’ve tasted them.”

We watched as she sprinkled some onto her palm, and then I snickered when she pressed too hard and a shit ton came out. When she licked her finger, my nostrils flared and my amusement died out as she stuck it into her mouth, swirling her tongue around the tip in an unconsciously sexy move that made me wonder how someone so naive could keep pulling this on us.

Her eyes widened at the peppery taste. “That’s good!” she mumbled, sprinkling some over her meal. When she repeated the move with the salt, her nose wrinkled.

“You tried too much,” Eren rasped, as affected as the rest of us with the way she was exploring these new flavors. “We only use a pinch here and there.”

She hummed. “A pinch.” So saying, she sprinkled some on her meal too .

“Do you seriously mean to tell me that you’ve never tried salt and pepper before?” I queried, both unable to believe it from how alien she found most things, and strangely accepting of it too.

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Jesus, your food must have been bland as hell,” Stefan grunted, his eyes wide.

“I believe so.” No wonder she was moaning at the taste of the gravy on her plate.

For a second, I just watched her eat. I felt like a perv, but man, it was better than porn. The way she savored every bite? It was hard not to wonder if she’d savor a man’s dick that way.

Then, I felt even more like a perv for thinking that, but if she’d make as much of a meal out of me as she did her chicken-fried steak? I’d die a happy man.

Stefan cleared his throat, but the look he shot me wasn’t loaded with warning, just caution. I understood because we didn’t want to scare her, and I had to assume I was looking at her like a dinosaur probably eyed a caveman—food.

“Think they’ll sort Dre’s leg out while he’s out of it?” Stefan asked, changing the subject.

“How can they? It’s not like there’s much they can do,” Eren replied. “Douche shouldn’t keep twisting it.”

“Like it’s his fault. You know those fuckers aim for it every time they try to knock him out.”

“Then he should build up his defenses,” Eren retorted, his words and tone lacking pity.

Dre was an odd duck. Life had made him hard, and even though he was a brother and I loved him like that, he wasn’t a friend.

An admission that truly saddened me if I were being honest. He never let us close, and while I got it—my past hadn’t been a picnic either—he just pushed us too far.

“What’s wrong with Alexandre’s leg?” Eve inquired, pausing in her meal to drink some of her cold coffee. When she slurped some down through a straw, my mind went dirty again, but it was only doubled when she moaned as the taste hit.

“First time for coffee?” I rasped, trying not to be a lech.

“Wow, that’s awesome,” she whispered, eying the glass like it was crack cocaine and she was a junkie.

I guessed she was. A coffee nut in the making, at any rate.

That compound of hers was sounding worse and worse .

Salt and pepper were out of the picture, and a predominantly vegetable diet? Talk about sucking. Although it explained something…

If her food was so boring, it was, without a doubt, not processed. That had probably helped her stay sane all these years. Or, at least, stay under the radar.

Stefan laughed. “I wonder if you’ll like hot chocolate.”

“What woman doesn’t?” Eren teased, and his eyes twinkled. “Chocolate is a girl’s best friend.”

I snorted. “Speak for yourself.” My mouth watered. “What I wouldn’t give for some brigadeiros .”

“What are they?” she questioned.

“They’re from my country,” I explained. “It’s a Brazilian treat. They’re little chocolate truffles that are just heaven. I wish they served them here but… beggars can’t be choosers.” I winked at her, touched by her sincerity as she studied me.

It sounded nuts, but I knew she was absorbing every single word I said, and I found that I liked that. I figured it was an ego stroke, but more than that, she gave a shit. Not many people had ever given that much of a damn about me, and Eve’s interest was pretty fucking nice. She’d Chosen Stefan, but he was a man I considered a brother, and once we were of age, we’d be an official Pack. That meant Eve would be around the rest of us all the time.

At first, that prospect had filled me with dread, but after spending a few days with her, I had to concede that she was sweet, generally gave a shit about people, and was actually quite entertaining. As well as being a walking turn-on… that helped too.

“Chocolate. I don’t think I’ve had that,” she stated softly.

“By the sounds of it, you haven’t tried much,” Eren quipped, but his eyes were kind. “Stick with us, Eve, we’ll be your food Yodas.”

I raised a hand. “Don’t get us started on Yoda. We’ll introduce you to Star Wars . Fear not.”

“Should I be scared?” Her eyes were wide, but there was a twitch to her mouth that told me she was teasing me back.

“Probably. When I make you watch a marathon of it, anyway.”

“ Star Wars …” She pursed her lips. “Does sound scary.”

“Only the costumes in the old movies are terrifying,” Stefan joked, and I flipped him the bird. He knew they were my favorite movies and always messed with me.

“Anyway,” I grumbled. “Dre’s leg… when he was young, he was in an accident. It was a bad one, and he wrecked his knee, but the crash almost killed him. It’s been weak ever since. ”

“That’s sad,” she replied, her brow puckering with distress.

Eren shrugged. “We all have pasts like that, Eve. Sob stories are common in Caelum.”

“What do you mean?”

Stefan sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Seriously, bro, you raise this now while we’re eating?”

“It’s not like it has the power to break our appetites,” he retorted dryly.

“Maybe not you,” I grumbled, but seeing her interest, I relented somewhat. “My parents disowned me when I was eleven. It was too expensive to treat me, so they dumped me on the local priest. He cared for me until he died.” I almost choked on those last three words, but I was proud that I kept a straight face. “After that, I was homeless until I got picked up by a recruiter.”

“I’m so sorry, Nestor.”

I shrugged off her sympathy. “Eren’s right. We all have our stories.”

“What’s yours?” she asked, her voice soft as she directed the question at Eren.

His mouth tightened. “There was a terror attack in my city. My parents were killed in the blast. Our house was buried under rubble. They didn’t make it out, but I did.”

Her hand went to her mouth. “You were trapped?”

“Yes.” His fingers tightened around his cutlery. “For three days.”

And he had the nightmares to prove it.

“My sister and brother-in-law raised me until I was recruited.”

“What about you, Stefan?” she questioned, but I could see that she was only asking out of a reverse sort of kindness.

She didn’t want to know, not after our sad tales, but not asking Stefan would have been rude. See? She was sweet.

“I never knew my parents. I grew up in an orphanage. When I was eleven and I started hearing the voices, they didn’t take it well. I used to get tied up a lot.” His shoulders wriggled as though his muscle memory reminded him of what it felt like to be restrained. “I ran away a year later and lived on the streets until I was recruited.”

“You all said that you were recruited…”

Eren nodded. “So were you. Merry came for you.”

“She did.” She narrowed her eyes. “How did she find me?”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“The soul.” I forked up some steak and explained, “Our souls call to one another. In your instance, it could be a hiker who’d been close to your compound who sensed you. They tell HQ, which happens to be here, and then they send a recruiter to investigate.”

“How does that work?”

“It’s good fortune and a lot of luck. That’s why you were found late, though. Most of us were in towns or cities with a decent population of people who moved in and out. But with you? Not so much.”

“I was going to run away when I was eighteen,” she whispered, her gaze directed on her plate. She’d stopped eating, and I regretted that. The food was too good to waste, but I understood how our stories might have upset her. And shit, she didn’t even know the worst of them. Even Dre’s had been whitewashed for her benefit.

“Why eighteen?”

“Because that’s when they’d have married me off, but also because I overheard one of the Sisters say that in this world, eighteen is when you’re an adult. Because of that, one of the Brothers would take you somewhere off the compound for the day. I was going to use that as my chance to leave.” Eve pulled a face. “I clung to that hope. I needed to get out of there. The souls weren’t behaving themselves, and it was really tough keeping them contained. Then Merry came and told me that it would only get worse.”

Stefan murmured, “She wasn’t lying, Eve.” His gaze was soft as he stared at the woman the fates had determined would be his. “Containing the souls? It makes them worse. You’ll find your level here, and then you’ll be able to figure out which is your main creature.”

She bit her bottom lip. “I hope so.”

I wasn’t sure why, but I knew I wasn’t the only one who heard the dubiousness in her words.