Page 141 of Caelum

“Erm, Eve? I think we’d be better off helping him,” Eren pointed out, but I sensed his amusement too.

“Nope,” she replied. “He’s going to be stubborn about this. I can feel it in my bones.”

Because she wasn’t wrong, I just gave her a sheepish shrug, grabbed her hands, and let her haul me up onto my feet.

Pain instantly cascaded through me. How I contained the whimper that longed to fall from my mouth, I’d never know.

With a shudder that caused more pain, I managed to straighten up and was rewarded with an agonizing hug from Eve. She curved her arms around me, squeezing me so tightly I could feel her relief that I was well.

Touched, I tipped my chin and pressed my face into the curve of her throat. She smelled divine, and mygouille, quiet and sulking since Aboh, flickered to life in response—her own Gargoyle was in charge today too.

The desire to kiss her was overwhelming, and I didn’t understand it, didn’t really know why it was there, burning a hole in my gut when I was hurting from the Ghoul’s attack. But regardless of why, itwasthere, and it was powerful and felt like it took over everything that made meme.

I struggled to force myself away from her embrace, and when I did, I was surprised to see the unease on Reed, Frazer, and Stefan’s faces.

Deciding that whatever was going on with them could be dealt with later, I switched my focus to the stairs. They were beyond a nightmare, but I allowed Eren to haul my arm over his shoulder, and let Dre do the same to my other side.

As they helped heft me up the stairs, I turned to Dre, panting, “You’ve bulked up since…” I frowned. “Fuck, how long was I out for?” I knew I’d been in the sickbay for two days and the evening I’d arrived—not enough time for my brother to turn into a bodybuilder.

Dre snorted. “Long story. On the good side, my knee is healed now.” Behind us, Stefan cleared his throat, and Dre pulled a face then mumbled, “We can explain more when you’re in your room.”

The cloak and dagger shit had my eyebrows pinching. And what the fuck was this with his knee?

He’d been injured in a car crash when he was a boy, and ever since, his knee had been a mess. Now it was healed? Was there a genie around handing out wishes or something? If that were the case, then I’d wish for a dreamless night’s sleep without being awoken after Padre Jimenez flung holy water in my face…

“Okay,” I drawled, then winced as my knees almost buckled when the steps curved and we had to change the angle of our path.

Behind me, I heard a sudden hissing sound, but turning around just wasn’t in my wheelhouse at that moment.

Eren looked over his shoulder though, and when he did, he frowned. “Eve? What is it?”

“My palms,” she rasped, and her voice was loaded with such acute agony, that regardless of my own suffering, I had to look back at her. When I did, I saw her staring down at them, and then my eyes widened at the state of her palms.

Both of them were bright red from the ink that was being etched into the tender flesh. As we watched, two emblems were formed by the writing scrawling around them. It was like someone had put a pattern in the center and had written around it. Like iron filings around a magnet.

On one palm, there was the open maw of a bear, and on the other? The distinctive wings of agouille.

What the fuck had just happened?

NINE

REED

“Why can't I just be normal?”

Two days later, Eve’s words still saddened me. I kept regurgitating them around and around inside my head, trying to figure out what it was about her that was so different.

So abnormal.

There was no denying that she was. The second we’d learned that she had more than one mate, we’d known something was off with her. And ‘off’ was a gross understatement.

If that wasn't bad enough, this new development was definitely concerning. Mostly because there was no way to understand what was happening, and what we couldn't understand, we couldn't control. Over the next weeks and months, we’d have to train Eve, help her learn how to control her souls so she would appear as normal as possible. But if these things were out of her control, then how would we ever be able to help her?

I wouldn't deny these recent developments had me stressed. My Hell Hound was clawing at my skin on a far too frequent basis. I felt nervy and on edge all the time because even though we weren’t as close as I'd have preferred, Eve was it for me. I was her Chosen.

Most creatures actually did meet their mates along the way. We lived long lives, after all, and the only thing that put an end to those lives were attacks from Ghouls. It was sheer misfortune if we didn't meet our One, but even though mates weren't unusual, that didn't make them any less unique.To have found one so early was a blessing, truly. Even more, to have found one I was attracted to, and someone whom I liked was especially wonderful.

Just because you were somebody’s Chosen didn't mean you were always attracted to them, or would consider them friends.

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