Page 284 of Caelum

“I think she’s making the Earth quake.”

It should have been impossible, but I’d just seen four stone statues turn into a goddamn feathery snake. The impossible was possible where Eve was concerned.

I tightened my hold on her, hoping against hope that my presence might do something, might make her feel better, calm her down. Anything.

It was then I realized that my presence would do jack shit.

Why should I be able to comfort her in her unconscious state when she wasn’t used to me?

Something I’d forged by myself.

Goddammit, I was self-destructive to the point of idiocy.

She’d Chosen me, but I hadn’t let her Claim me. Our bond was nothing in comparison to what she had with the others.

“Get her,” I hollered at Reed. “Comfort her.”

He blinked at me then shook his head. “Don’t be stupid. She needs you as much as she needs me.”

I wasn’t sure that if our positions had been reversed, I’d have been as generous as he was at that moment.

The bitter poison welled inside me. A poison that had been forged at the abandonment of my parents, and then during the time I’d been raised by my evil bitch of anabuela. It seemed to seethe inside me, rattling to the point where I wanted to spew it free but there was no one to aim it at.

No one who deserved it except for me.

I tensed when Eve groaned, her head rolling back and forth against my chest. I tightened my hold on her, hoping that would work, but it only made her struggle all the more. Releasing my hold, I let her sag into me then jerked her back when another quake boomed beneath us.

In the distance, an explosion hit. The wave of car alarms that followed it had my ears ringing. I turned back and saw that where, in the distance, the peaks of the temple that had been visible on its high rise, they were no longer there.

The temple was gone.

Christ, would the city survive whatever the hell was happening?

As we raced out of Hidalgo, the quake followed us. It was almost like Eve was having a seizure the way she rolled in my arms, jerking and tensing, stiffening and relaxing to the point where she was lax on my lap.

I happened to look out the window and saw the sign for Hidalgo, saluting us farewell as we made it out of its city limits. When we crossed the line, Eve instantly relaxed. Not to the point where she was limp, but like she could rest.

And with that rest, the light began again.

I was getting sick of that motherfucking glow.

Except, this time, it didn’t center in one place. Her hands began to gleam, the skin turning pink as the yellow light shone through it. Two appeared on her chest, just above her tits, another two around her knees, one on her belly, and a final one onher left arm.

I turned her hands and saw that it was the marks on her palms that were lit up like a Christmas tree. The marks she wore that Nestor and I should bear but didn’t. It wasn’t until now that I realized how much I resented that.

The others bore her marks, why didn’t I?

What had singled out Nestor and me?

Reed grabbed her leg and shoved up the hem of her yoga pants to reveal the lines of a snarling hound. I frowned at the sight and asked, “Your Hell Hound?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I think. I’ve never actually shifted.” He ran a hand through his hair, his agitation evident.

“You need to, man. Nothing like it,” I told him, my tone sympathetic.

We hadn’t been in a position for himtoshift, but we’d need to rectify that. For Nestor too. Sure, his wings had made an appearance back at the temple, but we needed time in our other forms. Time to breathe and to grow into them. We three were Shifter souls, as in touch with our beasts as the human halves of our nature. Now Eve had fucked us up ahead of schedule, and the three of us would need to take time to grow comfortable in our other skin.

I shuffled Eve in my grasp and began to unbutton her shirt. Yeah, it felt creepy to me too, but I wanted to know what was going on underneath.

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