Funny, wasn't it? How one person could change your life? How one day, you were without purpose, fighting the good fight, and had no other reason to live except for the purpose the people who had saved you had given you, and then, out of nowhere, you had her.
I touched her once.
My hand brushed hers, almost by accident, as she touched one of the suits of armor lining Caelum’s many hallways. Just that, and out of nowhere, it had happened.
Such an underwhelming moment, but in the grand scheme of things, my life had changed.
She'd Chosen me.
Me. The monster. A creature even the faculty feared. I saw the way they looked at me. I was aware they knew how powerful my Hell Hound was. Even Damon, one of the recruiters and a top Enforcer, looked at me funny sometimes. I sensed his caution around me, and though many would find satisfaction in that, especially with Damon’s record, I didn't. I knew what I was capable of, and so did he, which made me the monster I'd always believed myself to be. But when Eve had touched me, everything had changed.
My entire world had shifted axis, and I'd been reeling ever since.
“What’s going on?”
At my demand, the chatter stopped. Stefan scowled at me, muttering, “How is it for a Hell Hound you can be so silent?”
Eren laughed a little. “It’s all the yoga,” he teased, surprising me with the fact he’d noticed I supplemented my workouts with the practice.
His head tilted to the side at that, and I sensed Stefan’s amusement as he cocked a brow at me and repeated, “Yoga?”
At any other time, I might have launched myself at him, but Eve was here looking like a rabbit in the headlights, and Dre broke into my irritation with a grumbled, “This isn't ‘question and answer’ time. Let’s get this shit show on the road.”
“Ever eloquent,” Eren stated with a scowl. “If you can't say anything nice, Dre, don't say anything at all. You understand me?”
Dre rolled his eyes, but he kept his mouth shut. That, more than anything, told me this wasn't the first warning he'd received, and knowing the piece of shit had a mouth on him, it wasn’t a shock.
Dre had one of the worst attitude problems in the entire school. In an Academy of four hundred students, his rep was the worst.
We all had attitudes, had all come from shitty backgrounds, had each been stashed in too many asylums to count. We’d had to handle genuine crazy people, and I was sure that along the way, there’d been abuse and only God knew what other kind of treatment, but of us all, Dre was the worst. The biggest jackass south of the equator.
An uneasy silence settled after Eren’s warning, though, and I hesitated over trudging deeper into the room.
Frazer's quarters consisted of a double bed that was too small for him, a sofa, and a TV. He was a minimalist, which came as a surprise considering his past. He was, I knew, wealthy as fuck. Samuel had been managing his money since Frazer had turned eighteen when a part of his trust fund had opened up to him. Because Sammy was a whiz kid with anything attached to a dollar sign, it made sense. But the number of zeros in Frazer's bank account in no way fit with the state of his room.
I'd seen jail cells that held more decoration, and that was no lie.
There were no personal photos, no bookshelves with books, no photographs or paintings on the wall. It was literally three pieces of furniture. That was it. It was depressing, to be honest. I really didn't like being in here, and actually preferred hanging out in the common room, but there was something going on that apparently necessitated our worst enemies being in one of our bedrooms.
The phrase ‘worst enemies’ might have sounded a little dramatic, but Stefan, Nestor, Eren, and Dre were the only Pack in the year—hell, the school—who actually had the ability to best us, and had. Several times, to my shame.
Stefan’s and my Pack were close to being ready for true battle conditions. The second our souls manifested was the second we’d be out on the front line.
Funny that until Eve had come along, that was all I'd hoped for. The day I could actually be useful. When the monster deep inside me would have a purpose, would have a means of expressing himself.
I wasn't scared of dying, but I was scared of the beast inside me. Hell, it was more like a demon. I loathed that side of myself, and being able to liberate it on the battlefield was the only thing that kept me going, kept me thriving. Until her.
Eve had changed everything, and she didn’t even fucking know it.
“I have something to tell you,” Frazer murmured softly, breaking the awkward silence that had descended on the room. He winced, then continued, “In fact, several things...”
“Get on with it,” Dre ordered with a growl. When there was more hesitation from my Pack leader, he grunted, “If you want something doing right, do it your damn self. Stefan and Frazer are Eve’s Chosen.” He sniffed. “Both of them.”
If he'd told me unicorns existed, I'd have been less surprised.
As I was standing in the doorway, with the door closed behind me, I staggered back against it, grateful I'd shut it so it kept me upright. “You can't be serious,” I wheezed. That meant she had three Chosen. Three.
Frazer nodded when I caught his eye. There was a strain in his face I didn't recognize, but it made me confirm, “You're marked?” Another nod.
I cut Eve a look, and saw her alabaster skin was paler and peakier than when I’d walked into the room. She was also trembling, and every five or so seconds, she'd shiver like she was cold. But it was warm in here—hell, it was always warm at Caelum. We were on an African island, for God’s sake. We didn't exactly get blizzard conditions. Still, the fact she was shivering told me how nervous she was, and having spoken to her several times, I was well aware that Eve wasn't like normal girls.
She dealt with the world a tad differently than most, not just because of her background, but she saw things in a way that was unusual to me. Not in an uncomfortable way, just one that spoke of her innocence.
To be honest, it was refreshing.
Most of us here at Caelum were jaded. Experience having taught us that the naiver we were, the more danger we were in. Innocence didn't last long in a place like this. I didn't just mean mentally, but physically as well. Sex was a common part of life here, and though that was great for me, it was a whole other world for Eve. It was why I left her alone—as much as I was able to, even if it fucking killed me to deny myself her presence during my days.
I allowed myself more access to her than the faculty would permit if they knew what she was to me, but that was it. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Eve?” I called, trying to break her out of whatever thoughts she was lost in. At her name, she blinked up at me, and her beautiful face was filled with so much bewilderment I just wanted to go to her, take her in my arms, and tell her everything would be okay.
But how could I?
How could I do that?
It wouldn't be okay.
It wasn't possible. Having three Chosen mates at Caelum? Anything that was outside of the strict parameters of life here, rules we all rigidly lived by, was grounds for annihilation.
And as hard a word as that was, it was the truth. There was no way the faculty would allow Eve to survive.
“Yes, Reed?” she whispered.
“Are you all right?”
Her smile was tight, pained almost. “I've been better.”
She was curled into the side of the sofa the closest to the window, but Stefan was on her right side, and though Frazer was pacing, he hovered to her left. I understood the need to be close to her. It had been something I'd been fighting for weeks now, but I'd always managed to keep away, considering the consequences.
Was this the moment to share what I was to Eve? Or would it just make things worse?
“What are we going to do?” Stefan growled out before I could say anything, and his proprietorial tone pissed me off as it had been doing since she’d Chosen me. My Hell Hound tensed inside me, and I had to ball my fists to
contain the sudden swell of possessive anger bubbling away in my core.
She’s mine too, I wanted to hurl at him, but before I could, Eren’s soft reply had me tensing: “We have to keep this among ourselves.”
Dre snorted. “No shit, Sherlock. Unless you want lover girl to lose her head, then we’d best keep things beyond quiet. That means no asking for advice, no looking for information in the library. Even asking about the possibility of a female having more than one mate...” He cracked his knuckles. “It’s the start of a slippery slope.”
Because I agreed with him entirely, I nodded and added, “He's right. It’s in our nature to seek answers to the questions we have, but we have to ignore them.” I ran a hand through my hair, pulling at the longer strands in frustration. “The only trouble is, what do we do and where do we start?”
Frazer moved around the sofa and squatted down in front of Eve. One of his hands slipped over to her knee before sliding up so he could grasp a hold of one of Eve’s hands.
I studied the move and analyzed how it made me feel, and when the Hell Hound didn't react, didn't try to rip off Frazer's head, I released a shaky sigh of relief. The Hell Hound recognized Frazer was his Alpha. The trouble was, if Stefan touched her, I wasn't sure what the beast’s reaction would be. The creature reacted poorly to his words, so God knew what it would do in response to his actions.
“Eve, you need to tell us what’s going on here,” Frazer urged. “Talk to us. You've learned quite a lot since you've been here, and I've seen how much you read. Do you know anything, anything at all, that could clarify this situation?”
Her brow puckered and she shook her head. “I've been reading, yes,” she whispered softly, “but the books never mentioned anything about a mating. Nothing about being Chosen. I didn't even know that was possible. So, the reading list that Nicholas gave me...” Her voice trailed off, but the mention of our principal, Nicholas, had us all stiffening with dread.
Nicholas may have appeared to be like any other administrator in a school, but he wasn't.
He was old. Over three hundred years old—at least, that was the gossip. He'd survived more Ghouls than most humans had hot dinners. He'd singlehandedly brought down one of the biggest nest leaders in the world—Emmanuel, a female Ghoul, who’d had over three thousand in her nest. He’d dismantled hers from the bottom up and had earned his position at Caelum as a result.
“I wonder why he didn't give her any books on the mating?” Eren mumbled. “We all learn about that stuff in our second year.”
He shot me an uneasy look. One I understood, because it didn't make sense. “I mean, Eve, I've seen the books you're reading. You have to be up to date with the syllabus,” I mused, wondering what in the hell was going on.
She shrugged. “I’m ahead, but every time I go see him, he gives me a different list.”
“Do you have the latest list with you?” I pressed.
Eren waved at her and said, “Give me your phone, Eve.” To us, he explained, “I started photographing the reading lists because she kept losing them.” When she passed over the cellphone, he swiftly found what he was looking for. When he scanned through the list, he nodded more to himself than to us. “There’s a lot of general knowledge books on here. He's obviously been teaching her things about the world at large, not just about us.” He passed it to Frazer who’d held out his hand for it.
When my pack leader scanned over the list, too, nodding in agreement with Eren’s declaration, I murmured, “Because Eve is so innocent, he probably never imagined she'd be interested in things that a lot of girls her age would be. They’re obviously trying to ease her into our world.”
Samuel shot me a glance. “Don't you think you should tell them?” he encouraged, and there was a warning in his tone that told me he wouldn’t let me remain silent.
My mouth pinched—I should have known he'd say something. I was surprised he hadn't by now, if I was being honest.
Stefan glanced at me. “Tell us what?”
“You’re not the only two males that Eve has Chosen.” And with that, I shucked off my shirt and twisted around to show them the way of it.
I wore her mark too.
❖
Eve
It was stupid. I knew that. Really, really stupid to get so angry over this, but I was.
I was furious. But I had spent my life being silenced by men, my life dictated by their words.
My mouth tightened as I tried to contain my outrage, tried to stop the words from spilling forth, but as the men began to talk around me, about me, I couldn’t stop it.
Couldn’t contain the words.
“Shut up. Just shut up!” I started off squeaking, only to end in an outright roar.
By my sides, Frazer and Stefan froze in surprise, and the others’ speech finally stuttered into silence.
Before they could say another word, I surged upward, uncaring I almost tipped Frazer back onto his behind, and straightened so I could glare at them all.
Every single one of them.
I was done with being passive. With letting them boss me around. Enough was enough.
“I didn’t choose anyone,” I gritted out. “Whether or not some insane part of me did is another matter entirely. I didn’t actively choose Stefan, Frazer, or Reed.” I wasn’t sure why that was so important to me, but it was.
I needed them to understand that. Needed it, if only to get Dre to stop looking at me the way he was.
I knew I was trouble without him constantly glowering at me with a reminder of how much shit—yes, shit—I’d brought into these unknowing boys’ lives.
“It doesn’t matter how you did it,” Eren countered, his tone stiff. “You still did. They’re marked.”
My throat closed as I stared at Reed. He was now shirtless and showing something I’d learned was called a six-pack. I’d never seen bellies like the ones the boys had before. They were interesting. My fingers wanted to feel between the muscular ridges, and though that level of exploration wasn’t something I’d ever contemplated before, I was changing.
Caelum was making me adapt to this new world I found myself in.
Evolution.
Eve-style.
My throat was tight when I whispered, “I can’t bear for you to be tied to me if you don’t want to be.” Reed, Stefan, and Frazer had all tensed at the start of my sentence, but by the end, they’d relaxed some—did that mean they wanted to be free of me? And if they did, how could I blame them?
I hadn’t even told them the worst of it yet. We were only breaking the surface on how different I was, and to them, this was already calamitous.
“That isn’t how this works,” Eren told me kindly, his warm, amber eyes gentle as he smiled at me, trying to calm me down.
As my gaze connected with his, as I breathed when he did, I allowed him to do that. Allowed him to help me.
Why Eren could, I wasn’t sure. I was just glad something in me responded to the serenity in him.
“Can’t you break it?” I stated rationally, and despite wanting to rage seconds before, Eren had truly helped calm me down. I knew what it was like to be without free will, and knowing I’d done this to them killed me inside.
Stefan’s hand grabbed mine, making me realize he’d gotten to his feet too. He hauled me into his arms and didn’t let me pull away from him. He curved his body around mine, imbuing me with strength I didn’t need but appreciated.
I was confused, so confused, but mostly, I hated that I’d taken away their free will.
That was what disturbed me the most, I was coming to realize.
I’d had no free will until Caelum, and having lived the difference, I knew the true heinousness of what I’d done—albeit unknowingly.
“You did nothing we’re not happy about,” Stefan told me, his lips brushing my temple. “The several mates thing comes as a shock, but…” He blew out a breath. “We’ll deal with that as it comes.”
Dre grunted—my face was turned into Stefan’s thro
at, but I knew that sound well enough to know it was him without having to shoot the jerk a look.
“Shut up, Dre,” Eren hissed, and I heard another grunt—proof that Eren had just elbowed him in the side again. “Where do we go from here?”
Stefan’s hand began moving up and down my back, and the gesture was soothing, but I wasn’t a baby. I wasn’t hiding from this, nor was I scared. I was just perplexed and hated what I’d done without even knowing it.
My life was…
Goodness, I didn’t know what. My mind was different than theirs. Even though I’d found a haven of sorts here at Caelum, I’d known from that first meeting with Nicholas, the principal, I wasn’t the same as everyone else.
They didn’t know what they were dealing with and I couldn’t help them because I didn’t know either.
Before they could start talking again, I pushed away from Stefan’s hold. He tried to cling to me, and when I looked at his face, I knew it wasn’t just for my comfort but for his. That alone made me want to stay, but I couldn’t. I had to look at them all while I revealed the truth to them, had to see their responses, and monitor their potential revulsion.
This mating thing was important to them, and somehow, I’d tied three boys to me. Stefan had to be feeling insecure. When Dre had called the Pack together, had shared with Stefan what was happening, he’d revealed that the connection I’d felt with him that first day in Nicholas’s office was when I’d chosen him. Meaning that he’d thought I was his for all the weeks I’d been here at Caelum, and I was, apparently, but I also belonged to two others.
Two males who just happened to be guys he loathed.
Enough to consider them his nemeses.
Why wouldn’t he be feeling insecure? In his position, I knew I would be.
“I have to—” I closed my eyes then, gritting my teeth, forcing myself to speak words that could get me killed.
Or, God help me, get them killed.
Caelum didn’t want freaks, and I was exactly that—one-hundred-percent freak.
Eight Souls: The Caelum Academy Trilogy: Part TWO Page 4