Page 54 of Caelum

TWENTY-ONE

FRAZER

“Goddammit,” I groaned, remembering why I loathed waking up on the damn beach when the sun pierced my retinas better than a dagger might slice into my eyeballs.

Throwing my forearm over my face, I heard other groans and knew the sun wasn’t only my alarm call.

After releasing a deep yawn, I slowly lowered my arm and saw the men around me starting to stir. Tucked up in the tent, Eve didn’t appear to have moved, and as I looked at her, all curled up in the shadows, I thought back to last night and immediately, my morning wood turned from a semi to a full-on ache.

“Little ballbuster,” Reed rasped, and I cut him a look and saw he was staring where I was too.

It figured. She was ours, after all.

A thrill surged through my veins at the thought, and I watched as the others, my new Pack, flickered a glance her way also. Only Nestor was sleeping still, and that was because the lucky bastard was curled up with her. Although, not-so-lucky considering we were going to have to make the trek back to the school, and he’d looked shaky as fuck all last night.

I hoped for his sake he was feeling better.

“How long did you sleep?” Stefan asked.

I froze at the question, not sure who it was aimed at, then saw he was speaking to Eren.

“I managed about forty minutes. ”

Forty minutes of sleep? Jesus, no wonder he looked wide awake. Although, that didn’t fit. Shouldn’t he look more exhausted?

The other guy shrugged. “Better than nothing.”

Which was what he usually got?

How the hell did he cope?

The thought sent unease through me. Not only because an exhausted soldier was usually a shit soldier, but also because it sucked donkey bollocks that Eren never got any rest.

“Nestor stir at all?” Dre inquired around a yawn. He flung his arms over his raised knees and squinted out over the shore before glancing around the bonfire.

In the light of day, things looked a shit ton shadier than in the kinder shadows. There was crap everywhere that they’d have to pick up if Nicholas wasn’t going to rain hell on us, and the scorch marks from the fire looked grim. Bodies were strewn here and there, some curved into each other, some all alone. Some were dressed, some weren’t . It was easy to see which couples had got it on under the stars, only for the light to reveal their secrets to their class.

Not that there was any shame in that.

Which was why I’d been furious last night at Genny’s insinuations. She’d fucked half our year, and the guys she hadn’t fucked were because she wasn’t attracted to them. Whether or not Eve had been blowing our brains in the sack, she didn’t have a right to judge.

Figured that another woman would do that though.

I swear, some bitches were cats through and through.

“Nah, he was out for the count the second Eve slept. Put the guitar down and zoned.” Eren grunted. “Took her a while to come down.”

Adrenaline highs were a bitch.

She’d danced some over in the shadows, away from the fire, with Reed, Stefan, and me of all people, but only when three songs she claimed to love had blasted on the speakers.

My lips twitched at the memory. Her moves were unpracticed, and yet, they were also hot as sin. Damn woman knew how to make those curves work for her.

Around two AM, Nestor had started playing his guitar and she’d cuddled into him, then fallen asleep after a while. Could have felt like church camp with the guitar notes floating around the fire, all they’d needed was to start singing ”Morning Has Broken,” but it had been a surprisingly chill end to the night. Everyone had calmed down and grabbed a few hours .

Now, morning had broken and we needed to get our asses back to the Academy.

With a yawn, I leaped to my feet and grunted as my body protested a night on the unforgiving sand. Shrugging off the aches, I shuffled over to the tent and crouched down. It was probably wrong of me, stupid even, considering the crowd, but I crawled in behind Eve. The second I did, Nestor’s eyes flashed open and I was relieved to see he was aware, if not awake—it meant she’d been safe all night long.

When he registered it was me, he closed them again, and didn’t even grumble when I pressed my face into Eve’s throat and wrapped my arm around her belly. It was a move she’d never have anticipated from me. I’d never done more than hold her damn hand, and I knew it was a jerk thing to do because of that, but her souls knew me. She didn’t even stiffen or tense up at my approach. If anything, she melted harder into me. Rather than make me feel less guilty, I felt like more of a shit for taking advantage, then she hummed under her breath and murmured, “Morning, Frazer. Nestor.”

I froze, stunned that she knew it was me, then I felt something inside me. And I wasn’t talking about my cock starting to turn into a lead pipe.

What the hell was that?

It felt like her fingers were dancing over my souls. A notion that had me blinking. Was she petting them? Like a kid would pet their dog?

What the fuck?

Nestor grunted then. “Stop it, Eve.”

My eyes flared wide and he looked at me, shaking his head. I knew she’d been sleeping in his room and wondered if that wasn’t the first time she’d done this, whatever this was. But to two of us? At the same time?

Her lips plumped into a slight pout, and I watched as her brow puckered before the petting stopped. Another hum escaped her as she tumbled back into sleep, and I let her because even though we needed to move, I wanted to know what the fuck was going on even more.

“She did that yesterday morning. Stunned the crap out of me.” Nestor’s eyes were stark. “I’m thinking it’s what turned Dre.”

I licked my lips, half terrified by his words and half exhilarated. Eve had given Dre access to his bear years ahead of schedule. Not that he could take advantage of that here at Caelum. If anything, what she’d done had caused more of an inconvenience for him because I couldn’t imagine how much control it took not to let the creature run rampant, to run wild and free. But for all that, I’d take it. I longed for her to help declare my soul, to make me a creature in the true sense of the word .

At the moment, we were just fledglings. Potential Ghouls in the making.

But Eve? She’d made Dre, the guy she probably liked the least, the most secure.

There was definitely an irony to that.

“Why is she doing it?” I rasped.

“Don’t think she knows she is. That’s twice she’s done it now, and each time it’s when she’s waking up. I think she’s trying to do what Dre taught her. Look for what soul is dominant that day the second she’s aware. But something goes wrong?—”

“Or, what we do to find control isn’t something she can replicate,” I mused. Despite myself, I turned my face into her throat once more and pressed a kiss to her skin. “Sleepyhead,” I mumbled, wincing when she ground her hips into me. “Time to wake up.”

Another pout that was so unlike her had my lips twitching into a grin. “Don’t want to. Too early.”

“Yeah, but we have to get back. It’s a big day for you today.”

Her eyes flashed open, and big doe eyes dazedly flashed around the tent. “It is?”

Yeah. It was. I’d seen her schedule. “You’re going to see some N-Files today.”

“N-Files?” Another slow blink, then she tensed. “Wait. The others mentioned that before. N-Files…”

“It’s a shitty joke,” Nestor informed her, his voice husky from just having woken up. “Like the show, the X-Files? Remember? We made you watch it.”

“Mulder and Scully.” Her nose wrinkled. “I didn’t like it.”

He snickered. “No. You didn’t.”

She yawned, then rubbing at her eyes, mumbled, “I think I remember. They’re files on nests, right?”

“Yep.” I ran a hand down her arm, relieved she wasn’t tensing up or trying to pull away. “You’re going to start your real training.”

“I am?” She stretched and sighed. “Ugh, no more talk of serious stuff before food.”

Both Nestor and I shot each other a glance and began laughing—there were shittier ways to start a day, that was for damn sure.