Page 207 of Caelum

Brow puckeringfurther, I blurted out, “I don’t get it.”

“You don’t have to,” he countered with a chuckle, which should have irritated me but didn’t. Instead, it made it easier to settle into his embrace and let him hug me harder.

There was something about Eren’s hugs that always made me feel safe and comforted. It was like he was telling me with his body he would never let me go, that I would always find a haven in his arms. It made me feel honored and privileged that I could inspire such feelings in a man like him. He was good people, some of the best, but then the men I’d Chosen as my own were the same.

Even Dre.

Although, there was no denying that sometimes he could be a douche, which was what Stefan sometimes called him.

Speaking of Stefan, I peered over at him and saw him watching me. He was lounging on the bank of seats at the back of the speedboat, whereas I was on Eren’s lap, perched on the swivel seat beside the driver—did drivers drive boats? All the men had taken a seat the second the small boat had hitfull speed once we’d made it offshore, but some were on the floor and some weren’t. The vessel wasn’t large enough for all of us, not really. All my Chosen were large guys, each of them warriors, so it was a tight fit.

“What?” I asked Stefan softly, too softly to be heard over the arguing, and yet, they all stopped talking at the one word I uttered.

Beside me, the driver of the boat shot me a look. We were talking in a foreign language to him—at least, if he wasn’t a creature, we were—and his shoulders hunched as he turned his focus back to the yacht waiting for us.

“Look at your arms,” Stefan prompted. There was barely any light on board, but we had excellent night vision, and I took advantage of it to raise my arms and do as bid. The second I did, my eyes widened in bewilderment.

“I have tattoos!” I exclaimed, twisting my forearms this way and that in an attempt to look at the incredibly detailed artwork on my skin. “When did this happen?”

Dre’s voice was a low rumble. “I think when we crossed the portal.”

I blinked at him.Wecrossed? Had he carried me over the gateway to Caelum? We were mates, so I wasn’t sure why I was surprised, but I was. Dre was an odd one, and even though I’d Chosen him, or, to be more accurate, the souls inside me had, that didn’t mean I understood him any more than I had before I’d made him mine.

“What do they mean?” I inquired, my gaze on his for a flash before I stared at the intricate leaves and branches on my arm. They appeared to be made up of letters that had me tilting my head to try and understand them.

“We’re not sure.”

“Is that why you’re arguing?” I questioned, shooting each of the men a look. I was almost amused at the sheepish responses I earned. From ducked heads, shifty eyes, and shuffling feet, they all displayed their unease.

“We’re trying to figure out what the next move should be,” Stefan answered. “That’s why we’re discussing the situation.”

“Discussing.” I snorted. “Yeah. Right. What’s to discuss? Shouldn’t we be trying to stay underground?” I was proud of myself for knowing what that meant. Prior to Caelum, I’d have thought that was the equivalent of being buried alive.

“That was the original plan,” Reed stated, his Australian accent making the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. Gosh, his low, raspy voice was more delightful to my senses than a large ice cream sundae.

Better for my hips too.

“What’s thenewplan?” I asked, discerning that the original plan was now out of the picture. “Or are you still discussing it?”

Reed ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Discussions are still underway.”

I tilted my head back to look at Eren and saw he was watching me. He made me feel like I’d hung the sun and the moon in the sky. It might have been overwhelming to some, but with me, he managed to make me feel instantly secure. “What happened?” I inquired, trying to piece together tonight’s events.

Apparently sensing I was letting them off the hook, which I was, the others returned to their conversation as I focused on my Lorelei mate.

“I remember feeling strange,” I admitted. “I also remember Stefan and me making out on the bed, then nothing until you came in and sang to me.”

His cheeks turned pink at my words—that was usually my reaction to anything regarding the rubbing together of two bodies—and his olive skin looked all the more lustrous for it. Like rose gold my fingers wanted to stroke.

Huh.

He was my Chosen.

Why shouldn’t I stroke him?

I reached up, traced my fingers over his blush, and smiled when the heat transferred from there to his eyes. As those amber orbs glittered into mine, he reached up and trapped my hand under his. “We were drugged. En masse.”

My fingers ceased their tracing. Heck, every part of me froze. “By whom?”

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