Page 147 of Caelum

“Perhaps,” was all I said to Samuel.

“No perhaps about it. If Stefan hadn’t been her Chosen, and he’d found out about all this shit?”

Slowly, I nodded. “He’d have told the faculty.”

Samuel folded his arms across his chest, and now that Reed and Eve had disappeared together, he turned so he could lean against the wall to my right. I glanced his way and asked, “What do you want, Samuel?”

“Honestly?”

“Of course. No point in lying to me.”

“Peace.”

“You want peace?”

“Don’t you?”

“Don’t answer a question with a question,” I retorted waspishly.

“That’s the only answer I have. I want peace, but I’m not going to get it. Eve has proven that. However, that doesn’t mean our Packs have to remain at war.

“Things have been neck and neck between us for a long time, and I know we could carry on perpetuating the animosity between us, but for Eve’s sake, for all our sakes, I want to let things simmer down.”

“Why did you come to me about this? Why not Stefan?”

“Because he’s a hothead. It’s in his nature.” Samuel’s lips curved. “Loreleis and Vampires are far more sensible.”

Loreleis were cooler tempered than Incubi and Succubi. It came as part of our talents—we were manipulators. You couldn’t do that if you weren’t, by nature, intrinsically apt at monitoring situations with a rationale that few of our kind possessed.

But just because he was right didn’t stop me from narrowing my eyes at him in consideration.

“I’ll bite,” I said, mocking his Vampiric soul. “What’s your game?”

Samuel shook his head. “No game. We have a mate now, and she comes with a war of her own. Fighting battles among ourselves will only weaken us in the long run.”

I frowned, knowing that was the truth. Eve brought with her a whole host of complications that I knew she didn’t even begin to comprehend. Christ, I didn’t understand it myself and this was my world. Eve had been here for fewer weeks than I had fingers, dammit.

“Truce?” I stated, but it came out as more of a question.

“Truce.”

A thought popped up. “Since when are you so strategic?”

His lips tightened. “I always have been. Most things I do for a reason.”

“You like chess?” It was a random question, but I was curious.

He nodded.

“I do too. Care for a match sometime? Dre is better at it than me though,” I said critically.

His brows rose. “The Were plays chess?”

“He’s not as stupid as he likes everyone to think he is,” was all I told him.

Samuel eyed me for a second then dipped his chin. “I’d like that.” Then, he paused, hesitated some more, and asked, “In your Pack, who’s the strategist?”

My lips curved. “You were right on the money. Me.”

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