Page 209 of Caelum

Out of nowhere, he tutted and murmured, “Don’t cry, Eve. There’s no need. It was a very difficult time, but I made it through.”

Difficult? His parents had died in the rubble of his home, which had been torn apart thanks to a blast by terrorists. He’d been buried alive for days, only to survive and be treated like some kind of animal. For the first time in my life, I knew I could do someone harm, especially to someone who’d hurt one of my Chosen.Premeditatedharm.Until now, any acts of violence I’d perpetrated had been undertaken in anger.

His sister? I could easily pluck out her eyes with a smile.

My jaw clenched, but I worked through my anger as I asked, “How did you know that all of you making the same wish would work?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t. It waswishfulthinking.”

I groaned and, with my free hand, slapped him on the chest. “That’s going to get old fast.” When he snickered, my lips curved. I far preferred to see him like that than somber with the harsh memories of his childhood.

Most of my Chosen had traumatic pasts and moving on from that was going to be difficult when, with every memory they shared with me, I felt like doing those people some damage.

“Let’s just be grateful it did work, yeah?” Dre mumbled, and I realized the guys were eavesdropping.

Reed shook his head. “I’m never going to be ungrateful about that, but it has to mean something. Nothing happens without a purpose?—”

“Look, keeping her safe has to be our priority,” Nestor growled, and I realized what they were fighting over.

Some wanted to protect me, while others knew there was a bigger picture. An underlying situation we were hurtling toward without even knowing it.

From the day I’d been found by whoever had informed Caelum of my existence, to this exact moment, we’d been on a journey. Where that end destination was, I couldn’t say, but there was a reason I had six mates, a reason why I could grant wishes and that those six Chosen and Samuel had just learned they could make something happen,instantaneously, if they made a wish together.

I didn’t have those abilities so I could waste them by staying hidden somewhere, didn’t have six mates just because I was destined to be verybusy at night. Nor were my arms covered in tattoos that were formed of words that didn’t mean something… Everything was happening for a reason. That reason was just unknown to us.

“I understand your instinct is to keep me safe, Nestor.” I cut a look at Stefan and Frazer, figuring those two would be down with wanting to keep me protected. So protected that, like a flower in a glass dome, I’d wither and die from their defense at some point. “But we need to find out what this means.”

“How do we do that?” he snapped, edging forward on the banquette and wincing as he did. He was still recuperating from a beating and having his throat slashed open—that he was sitting and griping at me at all was a huge luxury.

“How about we Google it?”

Samuel snorted, and I shot him a look. There was genuine amusement on his face, not that sneer I’d grown accustomed to seeing. He was Pack, not a Chosen, but I had a feeling that was a time sensitive issue. How could six of the males here be my mates while he was left out in the cold?

No. Surely not. I refused to believe that life could be so unfair. How horrible would it be for him to be on the outside looking in forever? Goodness, if I had to figure out a way toChoosehim manually, I’d go for it.

“What?” I demanded, frowning at his laughter.

“You’re just cute.” He shrugged, but his words had me gaping at him. Whatever I’d anticipated dropping from his mouth, it wasn’t that.

With Eren having released my hand, I was free to reach up and nervously rub the side of my neck as unease flickered through me. Compliments from him and Dre were never going to sit well with me. Well, never was a long time… “Thank you, I guess?”

The guys snickered—jerks—but Frazer turned to Samuel and asked, “You have an idea?”

“Well, Eve isn’t wrong. We could use Google.” His grin revealed gleaming white teeth, but more than that, it exposed two dimples my pointer fingers longed to trace. “But with specifics.”

“What specifics?” Stefan questioned.

Samuel ignored him and clambered to his feet. We were going so fast that he stumbled before he braced himself by widening his stance. Two steps later, he was in front of me, hovering as though the wind and the speed of the boat weren’t affecting his equilibrium. “May I have a look at the markings?” he asked, then grimaced as I gaped at him. “I mean, thenewerones.”

I had two on my palms that were representative of having ChosenNestor and Dre, so I knew what he meant, but his tone was so beyond polite that I’d blinked up at him in surprise—I didn’t need the clarification. I’d known what he meant.

Raising my arm, I prepared myself for his touch, but there was no preparing for something like that. Not really. The feel of his fingers on my skin had bumps traveling along the length, making me want to shiver in a way that had nothing to do with the stiff breeze I’d be glad to get out of—the yacht was deliciously close now.

As he carefully turned my wrist and arm this way and that, I saw more of the ink and marveled at it. The words were tiny, but the leaves were beyond intricate. No human hand could ever have created such majesty. It wasn’t possible.

Leaves and branches took up every inch of my flesh, and they intermittently pulsed with light. It was like I’d eaten one of those glow sticks I’d seen some of the students wearing around their necks as they danced at the campfire a few nights ago. Every now and then, a single leaf would glow, followed by the next one. After thirty seconds, it was easy to see there was a pattern. A rhythm to the pulsations.

With all eyes on me—except the man steering the boat, thank goodness—I should have felt uncomfortable. Instead, I felt cosseted.

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