Page 33 of Caelum

THIRTY-TWO

EVE

The morning after the party, hours after that kiss and whatever the heck Stefan had done to me, I slipped into the sickbay early. I wanted to check up on Nestor while the place was still quiet, while I could sneak around, avoiding both other people as well as my thoughts.

What Stefan had done was racing through my mind, but why I’d allowed him to… I didn’t even have an answer for that. More terrifying than anything, however, was that it had felt right.

Natural.

Like he should have done that to me . Like he had the right to do that to me.

Shuddering at the memory of the pleasure he’d made me feel, at how easy it had been to declare myself ‘his,’ I forced myself to focus. It was the first time I’d been in this part of the school by myself, and while I wasn’t surprised to see that every bed was full with each kid suffering from a variety of ailments, I was curious enough to want to investigate what had downed them.

I didn’t recognize them all. Some were obviously younger than me, and some looked to be as old as Stefan. Some had broken bones, others were unconscious like Dre had been all those weeks ago, and a few even had weird rashes and were surrounded by plastic sheeting. Yesterday, Eren told me they had the measles and the sickbay was trying to keep it contained.

I’d read about measles but had never seen them in the flesh, so I was curious. Curious enough to approach the area of the ward that was cordoned off. As I stepped away from Nestor’s bed, where I found him sleeping rather peacefully for a boy whose throat had been torn out, I headed toward that side of the ward. A few feet away, someone gripped my hand. A startled yelp escaped me, making the students sleeping in their beds shuffle in their sleep.

Head whipping to the side to see who had grabbed me, I glared at Frazer. “What are you doing here?”

He grunted and, with his hand still holding my arm, began dragging me out of the ward. When I started to struggle, he motioned with his free arm at the patients who were sleeping, and because they were ill and didn’t need to be disturbed, I allowed him to haul me out into the hall. It wasn’t like I was in any danger.

Except to my pride, maybe.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I repeated, surprised to hear the growl to the words as my anger got the better of me. He’d blanked me last night. Blanked me as though I didn’t exist.

Jerk.

Douche .

No. Bastard!

“Saving you from the measles,” he said on a grunt, and I felt his eyes on my throat, exactly where Stefan had kissed me last night. I didn’t know why, but with my free hand, I reached up and covered my neck.

“I don’t need to be saved from them,” I sniped. “They’re in a cordoned off area for a reason.”

He shrugged. “Better to be safe than sorry. Our bodies don’t react so well to measles.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, the memory of the way he’d ignored me last night was too close to the surface to forget. “Were you trying to save me, then?” I asked sweetly, folding my arms across my chest as I glared up at him.

He glared back. “Yes. You have a problem with that?”

“I don’t need a guy who blanked me in front of everyone last night to put himself out on my behalf,” I spat at him, my outrage and, ugh, hurt making me want to cry. I was so mad that I wanted to hit him, to hurt him as he’d hurt me.

Frazer cocked a brow. “I’m surprised you even know what that means.”

That he didn’t apologize stirred me up and I was grateful my gouille was in charge today. If it had been the Succubus or even the Vampire, God only knew what I’d have done…

My emotions were all over the place since I came to Caelum. Having relaxed the hold I had on myself, it was like the souls inside me were intent on letting loose, and I didn’t like it. I’d never been so out of control in my life. Had never realized I could hurt someone so easily and with such lack of guilt.

“I didn’t know what blanking someone meant until I heard it whispered about a million times as Stefan and Eren danced with me last night.” I’d felt mortification earlier that day when that boy had tripped me, but knowing that people had seen Frazer and Reed ignore me? That had hurt more because it was beyond physical, and it wasn’t like they deserved for me to punch them.

That boy had intended on hurting me. When he’d stuck his leg out for me to fall over, there was only one direction I was going. Down. I could have hurt myself, could have hit my head on the coffee table nearby, or might have even hurt my knee or twisted my wrist after I fell.

But Reed and Frazer?

They’d hurt my feelings, and had my Succubus or Vampire been in control, I knew they wouldn’t take too kindly to this emotional hurt.

When we were alone, they’d been so kind. So open. I’d thought we were friends. Just showed how stupid I was.

At my words, however, Frazer winced, but again, there was no apology. He stared down at me, and his bright blue eyes seemed to gleam with a light I didn’t understand. They were different than Stefan’s. His were like a cornflower, whereas Frazer’s were a stormy, royal blue.

I knew because I’d looked up the color blue on Google so I could discern the differences between the two.

I felt like Stefan’s were close to cyan, but they weren’t green enough. Cornflower felt too pretty a word to describe his eyes, but what could I do? I couldn’t change the color’s name, could I?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I demanded with a huff, starting to feel antsy. I’d never known a single look could feel forceful, yet here was my proof.

“Because I’m trying to decide how much to tell you.”

I jerked back at that. “What a strange thing to say,” I muttered. “Shouldn’t you just tell me the truth?”

He ground his teeth. “In a perfect world, I would. But…” Frazer jerked his thumb in the ward’s direction. “Nestor’s proof that the world isn’t perfect. If it were, we wouldn’t have to leave Caelum until we were fully formed. We wouldn’t need training to stop those bastards from reigning terror on humans. But it isn’t perfect, and we do have to go out there unprotected. ”

I could hear the anger in his voice and knew it was genuine. He wasn’t trying to deceive me with whatever explanation he was attempting to give me. The way his voice shook and his body seemed to tense was proof enough.

“That was why I sought you out last night,” I told him quietly. “Stefan and Eren told me you saved Nestor.”

He shrugged. “I did what any of us would do.”

“I don’t care about that. I just know that you did. Thank you.” My words were heartfelt.

Nestor meant a lot to me, more than I really knew how to express in words.

He, Eren, and Stefan had taken me under their wing that first day, and I’d never be able to repay them for the security that gave me.

I wasn’t alone.

And they were the reason for that.

Frazer reached up and gripped the back of his neck. There was pain on his face, and I didn’t understand it. Didn’t know why he was looking at me like that.

It reminded me of Eren on the days when there was apple pie at the cafeteria, and yet, there was the darkness I could see clouding up Dre’s eyes when he thought I couldn’t tell he was watching me.

Want and distrust. Need and anger.

They were jarring emotions, and I could tell they were affecting Frazer, knew that was why he was so on edge.

The grip he had on his neck tightened to the point that all the muscles in his arm were suddenly delineated, making me aware of just how big and strong he was. Yikes. I hadn’t known men could be like this until I’d come to Caelum.

“I need to show you something,” he eventually rasped, making me realize I’d been studying his arms for far longer than was polite.

I blinked at him. “Okay.”

He blinked back. “Really?”

“Yes. What do you want to show me?”

A snort sounded from behind him. “Thought ‘show and tell’ left the curriculum back in second grade.” Dre appeared like a dust bunny on an otherwise freshly swept and mopped floor. There was a mocking sneer to his mouth as he murmured, “And here I was thinking you were so innocent, Eve.”

“Fuck off, Alexandre,” Frazer ground out. His hand dropped to his side, but he held it wide and I knew, though I didn’t really understand why, that he wanted me to take it.

After last night, I knew I shouldn’t. He’d embarrassed me, on purpose , and hadn’t apologized yet. A part of me wanted to ball my hand into a fist and punch him in the throat. Who had taught him that it was okay to treat people that way? Maybe they deserved a punch to the throat too!

In the ranking of these things, I thought his behavior made him more of a jerk than a bastard, but Eren wasn’t there to confirm or deny that so I settled on jerk. Mostly because he’d looked seriously pained as he talked to me. Nestor might be the one with half his throat missing—a thought that made my stomach churn—but Frazer looked like he was in just as much agony.

“She’s part of my Pack,” Dre retorted, surprising me with the declaration. “What the fuck do you want with her?”

“I’m not,” I retorted. “There is no Pack. Eren and Stefan said they only form once you hit twenty.”

“Which you aren’t. Not yet, anyway.” Frazer sneered back at Dre who narrowed his eyes in irritation.

“What do you want with her?”

“That’s none of your business.” He tugged on my hand. “Come on, Eve. This won’t take long.”

“Music to make any woman melt,” Dre countered, and I thought Frazer’s head might just explode from the way the vein in his temple began to pulse—just like my father’s.

“Dre, don’t push me.”

“I’m not leaving you alone with her,” was all Dre said.

I frowned at him. “Since when do you care what I do or don’t do?”

“Since Stefan isn’t around to watch over you.” His lip curled, and I could sense his disapproval. I just didn’t know why.

They chose not to be friends with Frazer and Reed, and until last night, both of them had been rather polite to me.

Did Dre know something I didn’t?

I didn’t like him, but Stefan and Eren trusted him. I’d had a handful of meaningful conversations with Frazer and Reed but had hundreds with my friends.

Gnawing on my bottom lip, I realized I was being too trusting. I wasn’t sure why when I was actually very distrustful. After a lifetime of being uneasy around most people, I had more walls than Caelum did. And Caelum’s defenses were easier to breach than mine .

But Frazer and Reed? They’d been some of the few people here to speak with me. That they’d tried at all made me want to go easier on them.

Pathetic, perhaps, but friends weren’t easy to come by here. As yesterday had proven with that boy from the common room and the way everyone in there had tittered and laughed their heads off as I planted face-first in the ground.

Still, Dre appeared to be watching out for me. The reason why had yet to be determined, so I worked my hand loose of Frazer’s grip. “Whatever you need to tell me, Frazer, you can say in front of Dre. He may act like a jerk but…”

But what?

When Dre glowered at me, I just shrugged. “You’ve yet to show me a kinder side, but I know the others trust you.”

Frazer snorted, and my words seemed to have calmed his temper some. He cut us both a look, then said softly, “This has to be private.”

I could tell Dre was surprised, but he shrugged, his eyes narrowing on Frazer’s hand which had clasped mine again, as he tugged me down the corridor.

“There’s a bathroom at the end of the hall,” he stated quietly, and though I shot Dre a look, he returned it with a grunt.

Irritated, I untangled my hand from Frazer’s and folded my arms across my chest the second the three of us were tucked into the small bathroom.

When Frazer locked the door, Dre cocked a brow and demanded, “This had better be good.”

Frazer ignored him. “The rest of the Academy can’t know about this, Eve. Do you understand me?”

“Know about what?”

“What I’m about to show you. It’s best that they think we hate each other. That’s why I blanked you last night.”

I scowled, and my hands fluttered down so I could stack them on my hips. “What on earth are you talking about?”

Freezing when he reached behind him and grabbed the back of his neckline, I watched as he tugged his shirt over his head.

I’d never seen a chest like it. I mean, I had, but Frazer was huge. I’d seen Stefan’s that first day but hadn’t since, and though Eren and Nestor were just as muscled, just as beautiful if I were being honest, it was in a different way than Frazer. Frazer was just huge. He was thick with muscle. Heavy with it.

For a second, I just gaped at him, then when he began to turn, I saw the scrawl on his back .

“You have a tattoo?” I asked in surprise. Damon had a lot of tattoos as well, and when he was teaching me, I often found myself studying them, wondering what they represented and what they meant to him.

Dre hissed out a breath. “Fuck. Is that a mating mark?”

I shot him a look. “What is it?”

His nostrils flared as he glared at me, then, he whistled under his breath. “Houston, we have a problem.”