More than anything, though, as beautiful as the tattoo was, it was red. Fire engine red. And in contrast to his brown skin, it seemed even more like it was glowing, and it made me want to wince on his behalf. Because, ouch.
“Who?” I whispered, knowing his answer would change everything. Especially considering Reed had a mate now too.
Frazer turned around, but only after he'd covered himself again. His eyes caught mine, and his mouth became a flat line as he gritted out, “You know about Reed, don't you?”
This time, I did wince because I knew everything about my Pack. Even things they didn't even want me to know, I knew. I wasn't like Varys from Game of Thrones—totally my weakness in book form. I didn't have ‘little birds’ everywhere, but I had my methods, and although they weren't brutal, they were damn effective. In this instance, though, Reed had shown me a few days after it had happened. No investigation required.
The hows and the whys were still a mindfuck. I’d had Reed recount exactly when it had happened, and he’d said that the only touching that had gone down between him and his mate was the simple brush of their hands in a corridor as they discussed a suit of armor of all things. Nothing more, nothing less. To mark a man required sex, but apparently, his mate was special.
Special, at Caelum, was dangerous.
I dipped my chin. “He showed me his back the day after it happened.” I grimaced. “This is so strange because I've never heard of a Pack having two females in it.”
Things were going to be awkward. Not just for me, but for the two mates who were definitely going to knock heads. Two Alpha females just wouldn’t work, and no way would my brothers’ mates be the submissive kind.
Fate was never that generous.
Frazer's smile was tight. “Reed's Chosen... who is it?” he asked, then he smirked, but his eyes were stormy—I’d seen that a few times before, right when we leaped into battle, which meant he was preparing for one.
“You didn’t ask him when you saw the mark?” My brow puckered in surprise.
He shook his head. “He didn’t show me. I saw it by chance last night. Laurel was trying to fuck with him at the party, and when she touched his back, he practically yowled like a pissed off cat—thought he was going to cry.” He scraped a hand over his chin. “I caught a glimpse when he jerked the fabric away from his back, but before I could say anything, he stormed off.” His nostrils flared, and he released a shaky breath. “Let me guess… Eve’s his Chosen, right? That was what that whole shit in the gym was about, yeah? You trying to put distance between us and her?”
I wrinkled my nose. “No choice. If the faculty thinks he wants to talk to her, be with her because of what she is to him…” I let my words drift off, not saying what she was out loud. “If they knew she’d Chosen him, they never let them spend any time together. I had to protect them both.” Even from themselves.
Frazer grimaced, but understanding flashed over his face—he knew that was my self-appointed role. I didn’t give a fuck if Eve hated me, so long as she and Reed weren’t denied access to one another thanks to some stupid faculty rule.
“Figures,” he groused, running a hand over his face. “Why did he tell you and not me?”
“Haven’t you noticed he’s been acting oddly?”
He appeared to think about it a second, then shrugged. “I figured it was down to Aboh.”
“No. He’s been doing so much yoga he might as well turn into a pretzel.”
Though Frazer’s lips twitched, any hint of a smile disappeared as he reached up and rubbed his chest. “I just thought you were trying to save us from ourselves.”
“What do you mean?”
“Reed and I had made a bet over who’d get her into bed the quickest.” He shrugged. “Mostly just to rile Stefan up.”
Their propensity for self-destruction never failed to irritate the fuck out of me—from the way Stefan had been growling at everyone who dared come within a foot of Eve, if Frazer or Reed had managed to get into her panties, I was under no illusion that the Romanian would have tried to castrate them.
That alone had been messing with Reed. Hence all the yoga. Stefan was being territorial over a woman who had Chosen Reed, and my brother couldn’t say a damn word without the faculty getting involved. Truly, I couldn’t blame him for being pissy of late.
Narrowing my eyes at Frazer, I told him, “I tried to alienate Eve for Reed’s sake.”
He shrugged. “I see that now. But before I just figured it was—”
“Yeah, yeah. To save you from an ass-whooping from Stefan, I get it.” Though he’d distracted me, I scowled up at him as I put two and two together. “Wait a minute, you asked about escaping Caelum? Why? Because of…this?”
My best friend grunted, his lips twisting in a way that made me fully aware of how torn up he was over this situation, how confused and lost he felt. Because of that, it took me less than two seconds to realize why. This was down to who his mate was, who had Chosen him.
Still, surely not? It made no sense.
A female didn't have more than one Chosen. It was impossible. But…
Even though I didn't need confirmation, it was so out there, so strange, I asked anyway. “Eve?”
The tightening of his lips was the only answer I needed.
All I was capable of saying was, “Fuck.”
And fuck was the way of it.
I ran a hand through my hair and blurted out, “We need to talk about this.”
He shook his head. “Nothing to talk about. Not yet, anyway.”
When he stalked off, I didn’t say a damn word. Mostly because I was speechless, but also because there was no damn point.
Eve… the woman who made innocent and naive look raunchy… somehow, she had two Chosen, and was stuck with me too.
The fixer in me wondered at how I could resolve this situation, but this was a clusterfuck beyond even my skills. That didn’t mean I had to lay down and let everything we’d worked for die a death, though.
I just needed to start at the beginning. Well, after I’d figured out exactly where the beginning was.
My day had just grown more complicated than anticipated.
1
Eve
Later that morning
“Houston, we have a problem.”
“Houston?” I frowned at Dre. “What does that even mean? Why are you randomly talking about cities?”
Dre, ever patient, narrowed his eyes at me. “One issue at a time, Eve. The fact you're an idiot where pop culture is concerned isn't important—”
Before Dre could even finish the sentence, I shrieked as Frazer grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the wall.
After six weeks at Caelum, a special Academy for people like the three of us tucked away in this public bathroom, I wasn't unaccustomed to violence. Not when one of the classes should be titled Violence 101—see, I'd read 1984. Orwell knew his stuff. I wasn't totally backward when it came to pop culture anymore. Still, it surprised me because Frazer had been so fast, so quick to react to Dre’s insult.
The sad fact was, if Dre wasn't insulting me, it would be weird. He wasn't nice to me, or pleasant, ever. He never had a kind word to say, never had a smile for me, and was generally mean as a rule.
“You take that back,” Frazer ground out, and I blinked at him, appreciating the husky growl in his voice, as well as the unadulterated view of his rather muscled back.
A back that was loaded with more ink than I'd ever seen before.
It was sprawled across the entirety of his left side. The ink was so sharply delineated, that it met a line that even ran in between the nodules of his spine. His shoulders and the back of his waist were highly defined, but it was the ink, something I had learned was called a tattoo, that had me reaching forward and pressing my fingers to the different letters covering him.
At my touch, he released a hiss and froze as though my fingers were red-hot.
Stung by his rejection and ashamed at how I’d touched him
without permission, I jerked away, my fingers snapping back as quickly as he'd leaped at Dre. But when I ceased touching him, he looked over his shoulder and stared right at me. There was pain in his face. His expression was tormented—brows furrowed, mouth downturned, and his eyes? They were like blue pools of misery.
“Don't,” he rasped.
“Don't what?” I replied shakily. “Touch you? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—”
He quickly shook his head, and then, sounding pained, whispered, “No. Don't stop.”
My mouth worked a second before I gave in to temptation and reached for him once more. The second my fingers connected with his skin, he released a hiss and Dre, the jerk, took advantage of his distraction.
“Watch out,” I yelped, when Dre dipped his head forward, his forehead coming scant inches away from connecting with Frazer's. The larger man grabbed a firmer hold of him, so firm that Dre's eyes bulged. “No, Frazer,” I chided, then begrudgingly added for my Pack’s sake, “the dick might deserve it, but you'll get punished for hurting him too much.”
“You're all heart,” Dre mocked, glowering at me when Frazer's chokehold lessened some. He raised his hands and Frazer backed off out of Dre’s space, but remained close enough for me to recognize that Frazer could pounce and be on him in an instant.
That probably shouldn’t have satisfied me as much as it did.
With a shrug, I told Dre, “I've shown you more courtesy than you've ever shown me.”
Frazer's nostrils flared. “He's cruel to you?” he barked, making my eyes widen at his anger. Until he glared at Dre, I wasn't sure if it was aimed at me or Dre. “Your humor is biting, Were, but watch your mouth around Eve. From now on, if I see you be anything other than kind to her, I’ll rip your fucking head off.”
“Like you even could,” Dre sneered—rather foolishly, I thought. It was pretty much like throwing more gas onto the fire.
“If I can't, I have no rights to her. But then again, I have a Vampire and a Hell Hound to back me—”
“And I don't have an Incubus? A Lorelei and a Gargoyle?”
“Not where she's concerned.” Frazer's mouth tightened.
Confused, I grumbled, “Look, whatever this is… can we move on? I feel like a lamppost, and the pair of you are dogs that are peeing on me.” When they gaped at me, I scowled. “Anyway, what are you even doing here, Dre? Were you following me?”
“I was going to visit Nestor before I headed to the gym. Sorry. I didn’t realize I had to account for my every move.”
“Feel free to leave,” I retorted.
“No way. I’m representing the Pack because you’re too fucking stupid to know what you’re dealing with.”
Frazer’s face turned bright pink, and he bit off, “Cut with the attitude, Dre. She’s right, anyway. We need to focus. I assume from your reaction, one of yours is mated with her too?”
For a second, I just gaped at them both. “Mated?” I drawled, when neither spoke anymore, just glowered at one another as though they were engaging in another competition that was unique to men. It had to be, because it made no sense to me.
If Frazer’s eyes were bullets, Dre had just been hit, point blank, in the forehead. “You haven't spoken about this with her?”
“She's too backward to share most of the pertinent facts about the real world with, Frazer,” Dre grumbled. “How could we share this with her too?”
Frazer huffed, but he didn't argue, which irritated the heck out of me. “What does she know?”
“That she is getting annoyed with being talked about like she's not here!” I growled, and they weren't the only ones who were angry. This, apparently, was related to me, but I had no idea what they were talking about.
Mated?
Like animals?
Dre jeered at me, “Eve, when you're adult enough to mess around with shit like this, then you can bitch at us. As it stands, most twelve-year-olds know more about sex than you do.”
My cheeks burned hotly. “That’s not true!”
He snorted, his eyes irritatingly knowing. “Yeah? What’s a cock?”
I frowned. “You mean a rooster?”
Another snort escaped him, and he shot Frazer a look. “Yeah, I mean a rooster.” He rolled his eyes. “Because farmyard animals are exactly what we're talking about here.”
Frazer winced but he didn't attack Dre, even though, at that point, I would have appreciated him knocking Dre out again. I couldn't remember if, on my first day at the Academy, it was Reed or Frazer who had knocked Dre out for a solid two weeks, but I would be amenable to that happening again.
Soon.
Dre's attitude stank harder than Stefan’s socks after he'd been in the gym all day.
And that was saying something.
Boys stank.
I'd never noticed it before, because I'd never been around that many boys back at the compound where I'd been raised. Womenfolk stayed with womenfolk, and only really mingled when it came time for church or for special occasions. But even then, we tended to remain segregated.
If the New Order’s menfolk all reeked as badly as the boys here did before they'd showered off and cleaned up, I couldn't say I was disappointed about being kept separated from them.
“Mated is like being married, Eve,” Frazer told me, and I gaped at him.
“Married? I'm not married to anyone.”
He grimaced, and at the sight, Dre chuckled. “Maybe you’re right, Eve. I don't think you need me here for this conversation,” he said as he started to head out of the bathroom.
Before he could get too far, Frazer grabbed him, and shooting a grim look his way, commented, “I think you are needed here. Especially if one of your Pack is one of the reasons we have a problem.” To me, he said, “Creatures don't marry like humans do, Eve.” His tone had gentled as he turned to focus on me once more.
When he did, I had to bite my lip at his earnest expression.
Goodness, he was handsome.
He had short black hair that was cut close to his neck, making it a little longer on top where the natural wave was allowed a tad more freedom. His bright blue eyes speared me to the quick, and his mouth? Well, it made my own water.
After last night, I understood why.
The same feelings Stefan had made me feel were coursing through me as I stared at Frazer, and when I looked into his eyes, I felt a sudden wave of heat hit my system. It had me staggering back as I pressed myself into the wall.
I wasn't sure if I was trying to avoid him or the feelings he was stirring inside me, I just knew those feelings were beyond overwhelming.
He raised a hand and slowly lowered his fingers into a fist. When he squeezed them, I knew he wanted to touch me but was stopping himself.
His control was appreciated because I wasn't sure if mine was strong enough. I'd managed to push myself away from him, but anything else was beyond me.
Instead of touching him, I pressed my own hand to my belly where a strange heat was gathering. It wasn't the first time I'd felt it. On those days when my Succubus was in control, I felt something like it. But they were like embers in contrast to the inferno Stefan had triggered in me last night, and what Frazer was making me feel now. Those sensations had blazed hotly until they'd burned into a conflagration that was indescribable.
This wasn't the same conflagration, but a blaze that wanted to gain strength and needed to combust.
I licked my lips, then whispered, “What’s happening?”
Before he could say a word, Dre blurted out, “Hang on a second, you're a Sin Eater.”
Frazer frowned. “Yeah, so?”
“Ugh, so… Stefan is, without a doubt, Incubus. We thought he was Lorelei, but since she came along, he’s been presenting as Incubus.”
That was news to me. What had I done to make that particular soul come to the fore?
Dre’s words had Frazer's eyes widening—not with confusion like me but genuine bewilderment. “Shit.” He cut me a look, then gritted out, “Wh
at the fuck? He can't be her mate then.”
“His back says otherwise.”
“He has the mark? She Chose him?”
“Hang on, I didn't choose anyone,” I butted in, but they both ignored me.
“She did,” Dre confirmed, “and it’s as bright red as yours.”
“Christ. How long has he had it?”
“Pretty much since the first day she arrived.” Dre grimaced. “He controls the pain, but I know it hurts him.”
It hurt him?
I was so confused, but that resonated more than anything. “I've hurt Stefan? How?” I shook my head. “I didn't do anything!”
“You've done something,” Dre ground out. “I knew the second I met you that you were trouble. Should have known you’d just bring more crap to our door.”
Frazer grunted, and I was surprised he didn't try to slam Dre into the wall again. And, once more, I kind of wished he had.
Dre was such a jerk!
“I haven't done anything,” I argued.
“You didn't have to,” Frazer rasped, reaching up to rub the back of his neck with the hand he'd fisted to stop himself from touching me a few moments before. “This doesn't make any sense.”
“I've been saying that since you stripped,” I growled, with anger leapfrogging off the heat he'd stirred inside me. He was damn fortunate it was my Gargoyle in charge today. Had it been my Hell Hound, Dre wouldn't be the only man in this bathroom who’d been held in a chokehold.
Dre grunted, “Nothing makes sense to you. But this shit? It doesn't make sense to us, you get what I'm saying?
I scowled at him. “I get that you're a dick.”
“Ooh, you've graduated to big words.” He clapped his hands. “You wanted to know what a cock was? Think ‘dick,’ but a synonym.”
❖
Frazer
Dre, as always, was being a fuckwit. And though I wanted to ram his head into the tiled bathroom wall, I couldn't.
Eight Souls: The Caelum Academy Trilogy: Part TWO Page 2