Page 57 of Caelum

TWENTY-FOUR

REED

Was I surprised to see Eve in Frazer’s arms? In his bed?

Not particularly.

Was I jealous?

No. That shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. Sure, we were Pack, but we weren’t perfect. Instead of being envious, though, I just wanted to climb in beside her, fall into the snuggle session they had going down while they slumbered.

As I stared at them, the longing grew, and mentally declaring ‘fuck it,’ I slipped out of my trainers and trudged over to the bed. Slipping in beside her had Frazer stirring, but when he saw it was me, his eyes settled closed once more and he nuzzled back into our woman.

Ours.

He'd made it official last night. There was no going back for him. Or for her, but whether she realized it or not was another matter entirely. By fucking him, she’d Claimed him, and that was that.

I didn’t intend on dozing, but I did, and when she wriggled against me, I knew I wanted to wake up every morning like this.

Not likely considering she had six men to satisfy, but fuck it. A man could dream, couldn’t he?

“Reed?”

That she knew I was there had something settling deep inside me. I didn’t question it, didn’t question whatever voodoo she had going on, mostly because I couldn’t .

Something was different.

Eve was different.

I could feel it. There was a tiny bond between us, one that had triggered the mark but wouldn’t fully form until she was coming around my cock. That bond had always pulsed with life, but now? It was pounding. Throbbing. Like it had a heart of its own. And it seriously didn’t help that under Frazer’s tee, she was naked.

Gloriously naked.

“Yeah, babe,” I mumbled into her throat.

“You’re hot.”

Frazer, obviously awake now, snickered just as I did. “Thanks, babe, I’ll take the compliment.”

She snorted. “Well, yeah, you’re cute , but you’re boiling. I feel like I’m melting between you two.”

I had a way of making her melt between the pair of us.

My mouth watered, and catching Frazer’s eye, I saw the twinkle in his as he reacted to her words too.

“Which soul’s in charge today?” I asked instead, choosing a safer topic. I hoped it was my turn because, fuck, if that meant I’d get some pussy and she’d cement the bond? I might just die a happy man.

Okay, not die . That would suck. Especially when I’d just found her.

She tensed, then Frazer mumbled, “Don’t think we’ll be having that trouble anymore.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Frazer sighed. “Last night, she was Succubus and Sin Eater.”

“Not possible.”

“Trust me,” he stated grimly, shooting me a look. “She was both. Now we just need her to look normal.”

“Normal?” I frowned, uncertain if Eve could ever do anything normal without sticking out like a sore thumb.

She elbowed me in the belly, but it was Frazer who drawled, “She drew out my Sin Eater last night.”

“Fuck.” My eyes widened. So, what had happened with Dre wasn’t an aberration?

“Yeah.” Frazer fell onto his back and used the space he’d carved for himself to run a hand through his hair. “I don’t get it. Don’t get what is happening.”

“I’m not supposed to be just one of anything,” Eve whispered, her voice low, hesitant. Not because she was watching her words, but more like she was thinking them through before she spoke .

“Why, though?”

She shrugged at my question. “How do I know? Why can I do half the things I can?”

“I wish—” I froze. The words came to an abrupt halt on the tip of my tongue.

“Never mind,” Frazer rasped, shooting me a warning look that was totally unnecessary because hell, I hadn’t meant to wish for anything.

“Yeah, never mind,” I stated apologetically.

Another shrug, and she uttered more slow words. “I wonder if there’s a reason why I need your souls to declare before they’re supposed to.”

“Maybe so they can give you more control over yours?” Fraze hazarded a guess.

“It would fit,” she agreed softly then nuzzled back into me. “Yikes, I don’t want to get up.” She let out a huge yawn. “But I have class.”

“That’s why I’m here. Eren couldn’t find you and didn’t feel like hunting you down in Frazer’s room.” I raised an arm to look at my watch. “You’re probably going to want to skip breakfast if you don’t want to be late for class.”

She huffed. “Some alarm clock you are.”

When she scampered over us, her ass was right in my face. Totally biteable.

It surprised me when she didn’t attempt to cover up, made no move to squeak or get shy. I didn’t say anything, though, just enjoyed the show, but when she turned back to wink at me before she headed into Frazer’s connecting bath, I stared at her in astonishment.

“She’s been like that since last night,” he murmured.

“Why?”

“I told you, the Succubus came out to party?—”

“But you were training her Sin Eater.”

“I know. Trust me, it came as much of a surprise to me as it is to you.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“We were fucking, and she drew on the Sin Eater. Wouldn’t stop until I was in ‘no Ghoul should fuck with me’ mode.” My mouth gaped at that. “She taunted, no, enticed it into being then focused it on herself. Her souls just merged into one big light.” He shrugged. “That’s pretty much all I remember. I don’t even have a memory of us falling into bed.”

“We need to talk with the others.”

He blew out a breath. “Not much to say.”

I blinked at him, knew he was right, and nodded. “Fuck.”

That pretty much said it all .

Eight hours later, my unease hadn’t dispersed any. A part of me wanted Eve to draw out my Hell Hound, wanted the damn thing over with, and yet another part was trying to figure out what the fuck was happening. Of course, that was futile. Whatever was happening was working to some higher order than my puny brain was capable of processing, and I knew that but kept on trying to understand it anyway.

As I picked at my meal, I watched Eve and knew the others were watching her too. Everyone knew about last night, but even if Frazer hadn’t said a word, it would have been obvious.

Before, Eve had been awkward. Timid. Shy, even.

Now? She was sultry. Sinuous. A true female creature who knew her worth, as well as her power.

It was, I wasn’t ashamed to admit, hot as hell.

As she ate, she pulled the tines between her teeth in a way that sucked in her cheeks. An innocent move, to be sure. But added to the way she’d stare us in the eye at the same time? Not so innocent.

Throw in the faint wriggles in her seat, the shit she was doing with her fingers as she practically gave her water glass a hand job, yeah, a different Eve was definitely in the building.

“Did that taste weird to anyone else?” Frazer asked as he reached for his water and swallowed some. Most people drank water with their meals, mostly because there were limited options. Juice was one of them, but it had to be pure, freshly squeezed, and the canteen staff wasn’t about to squeeze oranges for five hundred people.

“Maybe your senses are sharper after last night,” Eren pointed out as he slid a fry through some homemade tomato relish.

Jeez, just watching him do that made me want to get up and grab an extra portion.

The day had felt long, hellishly long, and I’d slammed my guts out in the gym, trying to burn through this edgy feeling worming its way through me like a stomach virus.

Nice imagery, right?

Frazer grunted but pulled a face as he pushed his plate away from him. I watched, surprised to see he hadn’t eaten everything. He was quieter too.

I cut Dre a look, saw that he was pensive as well.

Whatever Eve did to them when she drew out their beasts, it messed with them for a good while. Dre still wasn’t back to his usual cutting self almost ten days on.

After dinner, we headed for the common room and stuck to our prospective sofas. It had already been noticed by the faculty and a lot of the student body that we’d all taken to sitting together, but if we’d shoved the sofas together too, that would have caused more than raised brows.

I didn’t want there to be even that much distance between Eve and us, but fuck, what could I say without coming across as a pansy?

It was barely eight in the evening when I felt the weight of the day hit me, and by that point, I was too exhausted to realize that everyone else was just as weary. Well, except for Eren. That fucker seemed to run on something other than sleep. Didn’t know how he did it, and to be honest, I didn’t want to know.

Bed was my favorite place in the world.

And if Eve was in it?

Jesus, I might never leave my pit.