Page 60 of Caelum

ONE

EVE

I felt punch drunk, and for someone who’d never even been drunk the regular way, that definitely came out of nowhere.

My head felt light, whereas my body felt heavy. My eyes ached from the minute light shining from onboard the yacht—our destination—and my ears whooshed with the sound of the sea rushing past us.

The wind was bracing, and even though it was a warm night, the crisp breeze was enough to make me cold. Of the many things my body was currently enduring, that was probably the nicest of them all. The chilly sensation was enough to prevent me from vomiting over the side of the small vessel that was cruising at indecent speeds.

My entire life, I’d been in two automated vehicles, the boats at the compound had used oars to get around, and while I far preferred those, I was coming to understand I didn’t like anything that moved this quickly.

At all.

Bodies weren’t made for moving at this speed. We were supposed to keep things, at most, around a fast sprint. Even that was only in a panic, and I begrudged every second of having to do anything other than meander at a walking pace.

Sucking down the cold air, focusing on trying not to pass out once more, I nestled into the warmth at my back that I registered as Eren just from the bone-deep comfort I felt by being in his arms, and didn’t even bother listening to the conversation going on around me. I should have though, since it was about my situation—well, our situation .

I was no longer a single entity.

There were eight of me.

That made me sound like that odd science experiment from the nineties that I’d read about a few days ago, where Dolly the sheep was cloned, but no mad scientists had forged this bond between myself and the six males I’d Chosen. At least, I didn’t think so. Considering Caelum, the place we’d just escaped, was over a hundred years old, I figured people like us had been around for quite a while without modern science getting involved.

Ugh.

Caelum.

With a shaky hand, I rubbed my temple and turned to look back at the island we’d just escaped from. The Academy sat on the top of a cliff, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Even from this distance, I could see the lights from the building, and the place that had been a haven for the men at my side was rapidly getting smaller and smaller.

Guilt. It hit me like a wrecking ball to the belly.

“Hush,” Eren murmured in my ear, making me tense and then relax when he distracted me from my consuming thoughts. “We’re here because we want to be.”

My brow puckered. “How could you want to be here? Running away from a life you established long before me, and from a home you made when you were children?”

“Purposes change,” was all he said, like that made sense.

Brow puckering further , I blurted out, “I don’t get it.”

“You don’t have to,” he countered with a chuckle, which should have irritated me but didn’t. Instead, it made it easier to settle into his embrace and let him hug me harder.

There was something about Eren’s hugs that always made me feel safe and comforted. It was like he was telling me with his body he would never let me go, that I would always find a haven in his arms. It made me feel honored and privileged that I could inspire such feelings in a man like him. He was good people, some of the best, but then the men I’d Chosen as my own were the same.

Even Dre.

Although, there was no denying that sometimes he could be a douche, which was what Stefan sometimes called him.

Speaking of Stefan, I peered over at him and saw him watching me. He was lounging on the bank of seats at the back of the speedboat, whereas I was on Eren’s lap, perched on the swivel seat beside the driver—did drivers drive boats? All the men had taken a seat the second the small boat had hit full speed once we’d made it offshore, but some were on the floor and some weren’t. The vessel wasn’t large enough for all of us, not really. All my Chosen were large guys, each of them warriors, so it was a tight fit.

“What?” I asked Stefan softly, too softly to be heard over the arguing, and yet, they all stopped talking at the one word I uttered.

Beside me, the driver of the boat shot me a look. We were talking in a foreign language to him—at least, if he wasn’t a creature, we were—and his shoulders hunched as he turned his focus back to the yacht waiting for us.

“Look at your arms,” Stefan prompted. There was barely any light on board, but we had excellent night vision, and I took advantage of it to raise my arms and do as bid. The second I did, my eyes widened in bewilderment.

“I have tattoos!” I exclaimed, twisting my forearms this way and that in an attempt to look at the incredibly detailed artwork on my skin. “When did this happen?”

Dre’s voice was a low rumble. “I think when we crossed the portal.”

I blinked at him. We crossed? Had he carried me over the gateway to Caelum? We were mates, so I wasn’t sure why I was surprised, but I was. Dre was an odd one, and even though I’d Chosen him, or, to be more accurate, the souls inside me had, that didn’t mean I understood him any more than I had before I’d made him mine.

“What do they mean?” I inquired, my gaze on his for a flash before I stared at the intricate leaves and branches on my arm. They appeared to be made up of letters that had me tilting my head to try and understand them.

“We’re not sure.”

“Is that why you’re arguing?” I questioned, shooting each of the men a look. I was almost amused at the sheepish responses I earned. From ducked heads, shifty eyes, and shuffling feet, they all displayed their unease.

“We’re trying to figure out what the next move should be,” Stefan answered. “That’s why we’re discussing the situation.”

“Discussing.” I snorted. “Yeah. Right. What’s to discuss? Shouldn’t we be trying to stay underground?” I was proud of myself for knowing what that meant. Prior to Caelum, I’d have thought that was the equivalent of being buried alive.

“That was the original plan,” Reed stated, his Australian accent making the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. Gosh, his low, raspy voice was more delightful to my senses than a large ice cream sundae.

Better for my hips too.

“What’s the new plan?” I asked, discerning that the original plan was now out of the picture. “Or are you still discussing it? ”

Reed ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Discussions are still underway.”

I tilted my head back to look at Eren and saw he was watching me. He made me feel like I’d hung the sun and the moon in the sky. It might have been overwhelming to some, but with me, he managed to make me feel instantly secure. “What happened?” I inquired, trying to piece together tonight’s events.

Apparently sensing I was letting them off the hook, which I was, the others returned to their conversation as I focused on my Lorelei mate.

“I remember feeling strange,” I admitted. “I also remember Stefan and me making out on the bed, then nothing until you came in and sang to me.”

His cheeks turned pink at my words—that was usually my reaction to anything regarding the rubbing together of two bodies—and his olive skin looked all the more lustrous for it. Like rose gold my fingers wanted to stroke.

Huh.

He was my Chosen.

Why shouldn’t I stroke him?

I reached up, traced my fingers over his blush, and smiled when the heat transferred from there to his eyes. As those amber orbs glittered into mine, he reached up and trapped my hand under his. “We were drugged. En masse.”

My fingers ceased their tracing. Heck, every part of me froze. “By whom?”

He shrugged. “No way of knowing. We got out of there the instant we were conscious.” He released an irritated breath. “Had to be someone with access to the kitchen?—”

“Which is everyone,” I interjected with a snort. “Goodness, everyone is in and out of there at their stomach’s demand.”

Eren winced. “True. It’s not a student. The gates were wide open, and you know they’re only open if it’s time for graduation or induction.”

I’d never seen anyone graduate, but I’d gone through the induction and the gates had been open for that, so I took his word for it.

“Someone betrayed Caelum?” I whispered, my voice breaking at the thought.

So many people lived there, depended on the Academy, and someone from inside its bosom was a traitor.

“We should be there—helping out,” I stated after a second.

“No. It was the perfect time to leave,” he instantly countered. “If Caelum has been compromised, you’re in danger there. Not only that, but we could leave unseen amid the chaos.”

“What if they blame us? It’s a weird time to leave. It looks odd.”

“With your powers, we can’t go back there anyway. If they blame us, they’re shortsighted and need to investigate these situations better.” His eyes narrowed. “Do you remember what happened after I sang to you?”

I tried to think back but it was pointless. My brain felt as though it had been blended, like one of Stefan’s protein shakes. “No.”

“There were nearly two dozen helicopters heading our way, Eve. They were in McAllister colors.”

“McAllister? The nest?” I squeaked, then I wondered out loud, “How can a nest have colors?”

He sighed. “Of all the things you focus on, that’s one of them?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t know they had colors.”

“Well, they do. They also have their version of a crest. Most Ghouls, even the grunts, the pecus, have one. They usually wear them on rings.”

“There’s still so much I don’t know about Ghouls,” I said uneasily.

“We’re here for that. You’re not on your own, Eve.”

“Thank God.” I brushed his cheek again, and though my fingers were still held captive by his, I wanted the connection. He seemed to sense that because he dropped his head forward until my forehead touched his. As our breath mingled, I whispered, “We almost died tonight.”

He swallowed. “Yes.”

“You saved us, didn’t you?”

There was a starkness in his eyes that hurt something inside me. “It seemed like I was one of the only ones to be least affected by the drugs.”

“Why?”

“After my parents died and I moved into my sister’s home, I had bad nightmares and I rarely slept. They used to drug me.” He blew out a breath, which was scented of the licorice he favored. “It worked for a while, but my souls seemed to burn through it.”

“They tried so many drugs on you that you grew tolerant of them?” I knew my voice was a high-pitched squeak, but I couldn’t control my bewilderment.

“The little I slept, those hours were plagued with nightmares that had me screaming down the house.” He swallowed thickly. “I’m sure they felt like they had no other option.”

No other option?

I’d show them an option .

Who did that? Who drugged a child with medication so strong that, as an adult, whatever the traitor had used to knock us out wouldn’t affect him?

It didn’t even matter that I should have been grateful for his tolerance. We were only alive because of it, but I hurt for him, so damn much that I felt like crying.

Out of nowhere, he tutted and murmured, “Don’t cry, Eve. There’s no need. It was a very difficult time, but I made it through.”

Difficult? His parents had died in the rubble of his home, which had been torn apart thanks to a blast by terrorists. He’d been buried alive for days, only to survive and be treated like some kind of animal. For the first time in my life, I knew I could do someone harm, especially to someone who’d hurt one of my Chosen. Premeditated harm . Until now, any acts of violence I’d perpetrated had been undertaken in anger.

His sister? I could easily pluck out her eyes with a smile.

My jaw clenched, but I worked through my anger as I asked, “How did you know that all of you making the same wish would work?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t. It was wishful thinking.”

I groaned and, with my free hand, slapped him on the chest. “That’s going to get old fast.” When he snickered, my lips curved. I far preferred to see him like that than somber with the harsh memories of his childhood.

Most of my Chosen had traumatic pasts and moving on from that was going to be difficult when, with every memory they shared with me, I felt like doing those people some damage.

“Let’s just be grateful it did work, yeah?” Dre mumbled, and I realized the guys were eavesdropping.

Reed shook his head. “I’m never going to be ungrateful about that, but it has to mean something. Nothing happens without a purpose?—”

“Look, keeping her safe has to be our priority,” Nestor growled, and I realized what they were fighting over.

Some wanted to protect me, while others knew there was a bigger picture. An underlying situation we were hurtling toward without even knowing it.

From the day I’d been found by whoever had informed Caelum of my existence, to this exact moment, we’d been on a journey. Where that end destination was, I couldn’t say, but there was a reason I had six mates, a reason why I could grant wishes and that those six Chosen and Samuel had just learned they could make something happen, instantaneously , if they made a wish together.

I didn’t have those abilities so I could waste them by staying hidden somewhere, didn’t have six mates just because I was destined to be very busy at night. Nor were my arms covered in tattoos that were formed of words that didn’t mean something… Everything was happening for a reason. That reason was just unknown to us.

“I understand your instinct is to keep me safe, Nestor.” I cut a look at Stefan and Frazer, figuring those two would be down with wanting to keep me protected. So protected that, like a flower in a glass dome, I’d wither and die from their defense at some point. “But we need to find out what this means.”

“How do we do that?” he snapped, edging forward on the banquette and wincing as he did. He was still recuperating from a beating and having his throat slashed open—that he was sitting and griping at me at all was a huge luxury.

“How about we Google it?”

Samuel snorted, and I shot him a look. There was genuine amusement on his face, not that sneer I’d grown accustomed to seeing. He was Pack, not a Chosen, but I had a feeling that was a time sensitive issue. How could six of the males here be my mates while he was left out in the cold?

No. Surely not. I refused to believe that life could be so unfair. How horrible would it be for him to be on the outside looking in forever? Goodness, if I had to figure out a way to Choose him manually, I’d go for it.

“What?” I demanded, frowning at his laughter.

“You’re just cute.” He shrugged, but his words had me gaping at him. Whatever I’d anticipated dropping from his mouth, it wasn’t that.

With Eren having released my hand, I was free to reach up and nervously rub the side of my neck as unease flickered through me. Compliments from him and Dre were never going to sit well with me. Well, never was a long time… “Thank you, I guess?”

The guys snickered—jerks—but Frazer turned to Samuel and asked, “You have an idea?”

“Well, Eve isn’t wrong. We could use Google.” His grin revealed gleaming white teeth, but more than that, it exposed two dimples my pointer fingers longed to trace. “But with specifics.”

“What specifics?” Stefan questioned.

Samuel ignored him and clambered to his feet. We were going so fast that he stumbled before he braced himself by widening his stance. Two steps later, he was in front of me, hovering as though the wind and the speed of the boat weren’t affecting his equilibrium. “May I have a look at the markings?” he asked, then grimaced as I gaped at him. “I mean, the newer ones.”

I had two on my palms that were representative of having Chosen Nestor and Dre, so I knew what he meant, but his tone was so beyond polite that I’d blinked up at him in surprise—I didn’t need the clarification. I’d known what he meant.

Raising my arm, I prepared myself for his touch, but there was no preparing for something like that. Not really. The feel of his fingers on my skin had bumps traveling along the length, making me want to shiver in a way that had nothing to do with the stiff breeze I’d be glad to get out of—the yacht was deliciously close now.

As he carefully turned my wrist and arm this way and that, I saw more of the ink and marveled at it. The words were tiny, but the leaves were beyond intricate. No human hand could ever have created such majesty. It wasn’t possible.

Leaves and branches took up every inch of my flesh, and they intermittently pulsed with light. It was like I’d eaten one of those glow sticks I’d seen some of the students wearing around their necks as they danced at the campfire a few nights ago. Every now and then, a single leaf would glow, followed by the next one. After thirty seconds, it was easy to see there was a pattern. A rhythm to the pulsations.

With all eyes on me—except the man steering the boat, thank goodness—I should have felt uncomfortable. Instead, I felt cosseted.

I wasn’t alone.

That fact had never resonated more, and I’d never been more grateful for it.