Page 68 of Caelum

NINE

EVE

There was a light outside my window.

It was amber and gleamed straight into the bedroom. My bed was puddled in the light, which revealed the entwined legs of my mates and me. I didn’t even have to turn my head to know who was there with me. I just knew it was Eren and Sam.

“What’s wrong?”

Eren’s whisper had me shifting slightly on the bed. “Nothing.”

“Bad dreams?”

“I should have had some, shouldn’t I?” But I hadn’t. What kind of monster did that make me? As I stared at the amber glow from the window, I asked, “What is that?”

“The light?” When I hummed, he said, “It’s a streetlamp.”

Something that everyone the world over took for granted, except for me. I’d noticed them earlier when we’d gone hunting Ghouls, but it was only now that I was in bed, resting, when I realized how invasive they were.

Maybe for humans they were effective. But for me? I could appreciate their use, but I didn’t like how they bled into the room, cutting away the complete totality of the dark.

“Want me to close the curtains?” he whispered, and I shook my head.

“You’re not my slave, Eren.”

“I’ll die your sex slave, Eve,” Samuel teased, his voice sleepy but choked with amusement .

I narrowed my eyes at him and whacked him on the belly. “No dying allowed.”

His lips curved. “I’ll try my best.”

“So long as you do,” Eren tacked on wryly. “No more going Lara Croft on us, yeah?”

“ Tomb Raider .” I clicked my fingers. “I liked that movie.”

Sam tensed. “Which one? The Angelina Jolie one or the new one?”

I hummed. “The Angelina Jolie one.” I couldn’t withhold the grin. “Daniel Craig was in that one, and he’s cute.”

Growling under his breath, Sam rolled on top of me, making me squeal with laughter. As I stared up at him, stared into his beautiful face with a mouth that looked like it was constantly sneering, and a brow that was continuously puckered, it was hard to remember that a few weeks back, I’d tried to break his nose.

Reaching up, I tapped said nose and inquired, “Did I break it?”

“When you hit me?” He shook his head. “Nope.”

“Shame.”

He bit off a laugh. “Bloodthirsty wench.”

“If you’re going to punch, aim true and hard,” I informed him.

“Who said that?” Eren asked around a laugh, his head tilting to the side as he looked at both of us. “Coach?”

I snorted. “That chauvinist? Nope. Me. I said it.”

“Look at you. The world’s next Confucius.”

“ Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart ,” I quoted, the words slipping from my memory as easily as the sun shone over Caelum. “Actually, they’re pretty similar. I mean, his is a lot less violent, but then, I doubt he was a creature.”

“Who knows? He could have been. Back then, we didn’t have the best records. He could have been a contender,” Samuel joked.

“More movie trivia?” I groaned then reached up and covered my face with a forearm. “I have a distinct lack of a database on movie trivia.”

“You say that like you’re a computer,” Eren teased, his hand coming up to tangle with the fingers attached to the arm I was using to hide from them.

“I think I am sometimes. With the way I remember stuff, it makes me feel like one.”

“That will come in handy before too long,” Samuel pointed out.

Eren agreed, “You read as much of the N-Files as possible, didn’t you?”

“I did,” I replied with a huff. “I learned a lot of information about a few of the Great British nests.”

“Nowhere else?” Samuel asked .

I shrugged. “That’s where the teacher was focused on.”

“I wonder if I could access the databases for you to read up on them remotely.” He shifted position, leaning so his belly pressed into mine, and considering our legs were tangled, and I could feel his cock, that had me softening in ways I really didn’t want to tonight.

Thankfully, though, Samuel was curious and that meant his focus had shifted. If anyone was like me, it was him. He couldn’t remember everything he’d ever read, not like I could, but he was close. He had an affinity with languages and knew how to get whatever he wanted when he was hooked up to the internet.

Whether it was illegal or not.

“Is there much point at the moment?” Eren countered. “It’s not like we’re going Ghoul hunting?—”

“You mean like we didn’t tonight?” Sam cocked a brow at us both. “Ghouls are everywhere. You know it; I know it. We’re going to come across them, and it’s handy to know what we’re dealing with.”

“Didn’t you have to study the N-Files?” I retorted with a huff.

“Some, but not like the females do. Males are for fighting,” he told me, but I heard the laughter in his voice. “Don’t tell anyone at Caelum that you managed to beat three Ghouls while holding your seven mates in stasis, yeah? God forbid we wreck the patriarchy’s view on womanhood.”

I snickered because he and Stefan were always coming out with shit about the Man, and the patriarchy, arguing over human and creature rights alike. For people who possessed penises and not a vagina, I was coming to realize that women’s rights bothered them more than they did me, an actual woman.

But then, that was what happened when you were raised having no rights and no voice.

You grew accustomed to it, and the very worst that could happen didn’t seem so bad, and yes, I was aware of how stunning an indictment that was against the New Order…

I heaved upward, pushing him off me so I could sit up properly. With my knees bent, I stared over at the window with the light that continued to fascinate me. “When I was at home and we needed the bathroom, there were outhouses on the demarcation line of the compound. We used to have to use them whether it was sunny or pitch-black, freezing or boiling hot.” I pointed to the light. “They would have been very useful back then.”

Eren’s hand came up to squeeze my shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here with us and not there.”

I wanted to say that I was too, but… “Even if I’m turning into a Ghoul? ”

Both men stiffened, but it was Samuel who murmured, “There’s no empirical evidence to prove that.”

My lips quirked. Empirical evidence. See? Who’d say that if they weren’t AI? I’d check for circuit boards if he wouldn’t take it the wrong way and think I’d gotten mixed up with his erogenous zones again—and yes, that was as embarrassing as it sounded.

“Considering we’re working blind on all fronts, I’d say we have no idea on any front as to what’s happening. But I saw the way you all reacted when I said it wasn’t me who was in control. You were all scared. I could scent it.”

Eren blew out a breath. “It’s disconcerting how you can tug on all our powers at once, Eve, that’s for damned sure.” He shot Sam a look. “Scenting is a Were talent. On a…” He stared at me. “What are you today?”

“The gouille is mostly in charge today.” The keyword there being ‘mostly.’

Ever since I’d come across the guys, had started Choosing them and then turning them, the lines had begun to blur. So, while the gouille shone a little brighter in my psyche today, there wasn’t that much difference between her and the rest.

That was why I was concerned. Even if they weren’t fighting, weren’t struggling for space in the tight confines of my soul, it couldn’t bode well, could it? When the creatures could overtake me, as well as overpower my mates like they had in the alley?

Eren’s hand moved over to cup the back of my neck. “We’ll figure it out, Eve.”

His words and tone were reassuring, but I wasn’t soothed. How could I be?

“The appointment’s at ten tomorrow, isn’t it?” I asked instead, scampering over the sheets because I wasn’t going to be able to sleep unless the curtains were closed. Something I hated because I liked waking up in the morning with the sunlight coming in to greet me.

“Yes. It’s about thirty minutes away from here.”

I hummed in pleasure, accepting that we could sleep in for a little while. The days started early at Caelum, but over the last two weeks, our six AM starts had morphed into ten AM.

Shutting the curtains, I stared out into the sleeping street. It was neatly appointed, and I really liked the little stones that paved the road, even if they were hard to walk on. The building parallel to this one was like a mirror image, except for the fact its door was red and not navy, and they didn’t have as many flowers and plants decorating it.

Peering up at the sky, I saw that there were no stars in sight, and with a glum sigh, I returned to the bed. I didn’t bother to get under the covers, though. I stayed on top. I wore Eren’s shirt from yesterday because it scented of him, and I was warm enough with both of them on either side of me.

“Are you going to get some sleep?” I questioned Eren.

“I’ll try.”

He said that every night, and every morning, he appeared even more wrecked than the night before.

There had to be a way to calm him. To lull him into experiencing a dreamless sleep.

As Sam sighed and curled onto his side, he hugged me to him so my butt was curved into his body. He was too warm, but I was growing used to that as well.

Staring at Eren, who was messing around on his phone again with the lights from the screen illuminating his face in a way that augmented the lines of fatigue, I began to hum. A soft, low sound I remembered Merry, the recruiter from Caelum, singing from before, when she’d let my entire compound drift to sleep so we could escape the New Order with little to no fuss.

The second I hummed it, both men stiffened. And not in a good way either.

Samuel wriggled slightly, but he pressed his face into my throat and snuggled deeper into me. Eren, on the other hand, twisted to look at me. “What are you doing?”

I ignored him and began to sing, the words falling from my lips, the tune escaping me as though I’d heard the song more than once.

“As the darkness falls,

And the warmth beckons,

Jenny seeks you in her calm embrace,

And as her arms enfold you tightly,

The need to be at one overtakes,

The rest you need is all she gifts,

With her loving touch and her gentle kiss…”

The lullaby had Eren shifting in bed, but I sensed him fighting the pull of my Lorelei. Sensed his soul’s displeasure at my controlling it. I ignored it, of course. Ignored his discomfort, ignored his choice because I knew why he was scared—the nightmares. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t sleep.

He’d always woken up alone before.

Now, he had me .

I was there, just as Jenny from Merinda’s song, to take him in my calm embrace and soothe him from the horrible images that plagued his slumber.

When he tumbled into sleep, both my men began to snore. As I listened to the house that squeaked and creaked slightly, from both old age and the pipes that fed the property, I tuned into the place where the souls were housed and touched upon each creature. Now I’d forced their creatures to become dominant, they each were linked now to their other half, and as I brushed against each one, they enabled me to sense my mates.

They were all sleeping, all of them. Except for Nestor, who was also having a nightmare.

Gently nudging him and surrounding him with the warmth I wished I could give with my body, I urged him to restfulness and only closed my eyes with the intent to sleep when I felt him settle deeper into his slumber.

Men were such a huge responsibility, but I was coming to realize there was nowhere else I’d rather be than here with them.