Page 146 of Caelum

Sam grimaced. “Shit. Yeah. We’re keeping a tight lockdown on her.”

“It’s only going to get worse,” I murmured sadly, knowing that was the truth.

There was no way we couldn’t watch over Eve constantly. If we did, only the fuck knew what would happen.

Not only was she a loose cannon where we were concerned, but with the rest of the staff?

None of us knew how long she’d be able to keep this shit that was going on with her under wraps, and the extra pressure she was under? Creaturesdidn’t work well under that kind of thing. We had a tendency to blow up first and then regret the aftermath later.

Knowing that, I’d let her go outside, let her feel some freedom. What harm could she do in the yard, I’d figured. And I hadn’t been wrong. She’d just been watching the bird until Reed had come along, and now he was caring for her.

“I think we need to bury the hatchet,” Samuel commented, breaking into my musings.

My top lip quirked up. “In each other’s skulls?”

Sam smirked. “We can go that route if you want, but we both know how this is going to go down.”

“You waiting on a mark too?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I’m thinking that’s how this is going to pan out.”

“Out of curiosity,” I asked, my voice quieting to make sure no one could hear, “why do you think that?”

“Because it’s too uncanny that both of our Packs contain one of each soul.”

“That’s my logic as well.” I couldn’t deny that hearing Samuel confirm my belief buoyed my confidence.

There was nothing, I’d come to realize, that I wanted more than to be Eve’s Chosen. Even if she already had five of them.

Five.

God, who knew that was even possible?

“Do you think she’ll turn Ghoul?”

At his question, everything inside me tensed. “No. I don’t think so.”

“Maybe all Ghouls have this eighth soul?—”

I shook my head. “No. No way. We’d have heard about that in Ghoul Theory.”

Yeah, that was one of the classes we had to take here at the Academy.

No one ever said the faculty was imaginative with their courses.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Samuel conceded, and I sensed his relief.

“This eighth thing, it’s too out there. If it was a regular thing, we’d know about it. Plus, there’s no way Nicholas wouldn’t have put a tighter watch on her when she admitted that she had eight to him?—”

“Maybe he did. Maybe you four were his idea of guardians. Let’s face it, you’re loyal to the cause, and Stefan would lick Caelum’s boots if it had feet,” he countered. “Everyone knows how much he loves this place. He’s like the only dude who’s happy about having to pay a tithe when we graduate.”

To support the Academy for future generations, all soldiers had to pay apart of their salary to Caelum. Stefan, who’d been born and raised with nothing, whose first home had been here, had been beyond dedicated to the cause. Samuel was right.

The more I thought about it, the more his words made sense. “You’re not wrong.”

Sam snorted. “That’s just another way of saying I’m right.”

My lips curved, but I kept my focus on Eve, who Reed was dragging over to the outside shower area.

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