Page 76 of Caelum

“Loathe. You,” Eve growled all of a sudden, and her hands tightened around Dre’s neck to the point where he wasn’t just choking for air but practically suffocating.

Stefan was nearest so I let him touch her. Plus, he was her mate, so that should calm her down some. When his hands cupped her shoulders, before running down over her arms, she shuddered and I instantly saw the strain in her muscles dissipate.

“Hurt. You?” she whimpered, turning her head to the side so she could press her face into Stefan’s throat. When she inhaled his scent, the move had me thinking about Padre Jimenez once more because it was either that or get another hard-on.

“No. I promise, sweetheart,” Stefan swore, and Dre began to wiggle out from under Eve’s surprisingly tight pin.

She’d evidently been watching the rings while she worked out—something that shouldn’t come as a shock considering how bored she was in the gym.

When she relented and sat up on her knees, Dre shot out and backed off to the other side of the room. Because he was a dumbfuck, he didn’t leave, just sat there glowering as Stefan turned her into his arms and embraced her.

That it was their first true hug was just a bittersweet symphony. I saw the longing on his face, read it as easily as Eve read her books.

Whether she knew it or not, Eve had just set a timer on her freedom.

There was no way, no how, that Stefan was about to let them carry on the way they were.

She’d Chosen him and the time would soon approach where she’d have to Claim him too.

TWENTY-ONE

EREN

“She’s finally picked up on how to use her phone,” I told Stefan gently, whispering the words so Dre wouldn’t hear.

He had a hard-on for Eve, and not in a good way either. I’d never seen him dislike someone so much, and it was starting to piss me off.

Sure, she was a bit of a calamity. Never knew how shit worked, asked questions at the wrong time, and had all three of us panting over her ass no matter how she tried to cover up with our shirts, but she was…

Well, she was Eve.

Our Eve.

I reached down and gently stroked my fingers through her hair. It wasn’t like her to nap, but she was asleep now with her head on my lap. That she trusted me was a given because I felt the same way about her—it was why I’d told her about my mother’s baklava, why I’d told her about my sister. She didn’t judge, didn’t expect me to be something I wasn’t. She was a dose of softness in a hard world, and I wasn’t about to lose that. Not when I was only just starting to figure out how much I’d needed that.

Needed her.

Hell, we all did.

So, even though I needed to use the bathroom and wished I’d gone before Nestor had trundled off to his own bedroom, I wasn’t about to leave her with just Stefan and Dre.

Stefan was a volatile SOB thanks to his Incubus, and Dre knew exactly which buttons to push. He’d say something to piss Stef off, thenhe’d stomp away, leaving Eve alone. I could imagine Dre waking her and telling her something mean, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

I’d already noticed his whip-sharp tongue was honing itself on her, and though I tried to temper it, each time he struck, it hurt her.

She hurt.

And so did I.

Staring at the game on the TV, I waited until Dre mumbled, “I’m going to bed.”

“See you in the morning,” I replied.

Stef just grunted at him, his attention on the game. The second the door closed though, he paused the game and turned to look at her. “Is she okay?”

I wondered if it angered him to see her so comfortable around me, but he didn’t seem angry. If anything, he just looked concerned.

It sucked that he had to hide that concern around Dre.

---