Page 216 of Caelum

She hadn’t moved an inch when I climbed into bed with her, so why was she now?

Because she’d Chosen me already and hadn’t Chosen Samuel?

It was a theory worthy of merit.

Two opposite magnets would attract one another, but two positives? No.

Eve and I were now definitely on the same pole, but she and Samuel weren’t.

Because that made sense, even my Lorelei settled down. I disliked the childish outburst from it but understood because, at its heart, the soul always felt what I did. It just turbocharged everything. Made everythingseem a thousand times more powerful or, on the other end of the scale, weaker.

Settling back into the sofa, I watched as my woman and one of our Pack finally got some rest after a job well done. I hadn’t anticipated guarding two people this night, but it was a task I’d embrace with both hands.

FOUR

SAMUEL

There are some sleeps you just never want to wake up from. When the sheets and duvet are warm and cozy, when your body is in the most comfortable position, where even your temperature is just perfect. Those sleeps make stirring into wakefulness a huge inconvenience.

That was my current status.

I knew where I was.

The second I’d formed some semblance of consciousness, I knew I was with Eve. I also knew I’d taken a huge liberty because nothing between us had indicated that she’d be okay with me sleeping with her. It wasn’t like I was a predator—not the sexual kind, anyway—and I had no intention of hurting her, but she didn’t know that, did she?

Even as the thought crossed my mind and I knew I should climb out of bed, I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. Instead, I lost myself in my musings, nestled warmly in the haven we’d made.

It wasn’t the first time I’d awoken with a woman in my arms, but Eve’s warm softness just seemed to merge into me. It was strange, but it was the reason I’d slept so well. I wasn’t as bad as Eren, whose reputation for not sleeping was rife in Caelum, but I did struggle to sleep most nights.

I wasn’t like Eren who had a legitimate reason for not being able to sleep. Me? Not so much. Too much screen time, too much shit to do, and my brain never seemed to shut up.

Though I never failed in my duty to Caelum, my duty to my Pack was more important to me. I spent a good few hours a day listening in on myparents, then I had the stocks I invested to handle. It was a peculiar talent of mine; one my father had harvested when I was a child.

I could easily remember waking up on a Saturday morning and seeing him hiding behind the pink sheets of theFinancial Times. He’d teasingly ask me which stocks I’d run if I had a hundred pounds and, using the various tidbits he’d taught me over the years, I’d make my selection.

Only when, to him, I’d died had I heard him tell my mother that my stock picks had been better than his. Every Saturday, with my hundred-pound ‘teaser’ investments, he’d place the money where I’d told him and had usually doubled or tripled his money.

I thought it was the Vampire who was in control of that talent, if I were being honest. The hunter in the creature knew what to track, and because I was at ease with my instincts, together, we made a nice team.

Due to that, when I was handed Frazer’s portfolio, it was a pleasure. Like playing Monopoly but for real. I had invested in real estate, some of it in Paris and Berlin, but most of it was in London because that was my home turf and I knew it better than anywhere else. Frazer couldn’t say the same about home turf, which was why I hadn’t purchased much in the States. He’d been secured in one of his family’s mansions as a child, protected against kidnappers, shielded from his own shadow, before being locked up in a mental health facility that made Alcatraz in its heyday look like the tourist hotspot it was now.

However, because of these investments, when we arrived in the capital we’d be staying at one of our Pack’s many properties, and with the journey ahead of us, I was truly grateful for my gifts because it meant we had unlimited funds to play with to facilitate the treasure hunt that had staked a claim on Eve.

Eve… she was my version of the forbidden fruit.

She was Pack, meaning she was mine, but there was more to it. More to her. It scared me and enticed me equally.

My arm was around her waist, and I squeezed slightly in a farewell before I decided it was truly time to get up. When I did, though, she murmured in her sleep, “Samuel?”

Eyes widening, I jerked upright. Eren was there in a flash, and I wasn’t even uncomfortable with the idea of him having seen me sleep. Instead, I was just focused on the first word Eve had spoken in far too long.

A word that just happened to be my name.

“Eve?” Eren almost barked, his tone harsh with his concern.

I understood, truly I did. Eve was scaring the shit out of us all with this extended nap.

A mumble escaped her, and she began thrashing under the covers. Her legs kicked out at mine, but it wasn’t like the fit from before. It was more like she was in the throes of a bad dream.

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