Page 82 of Caelum

My Hell Hound was in action today, and it wanted to be let loose.

“Yeah, we do. Plus, that shit with Coach has to stop,” Stefan stated grimly.

“Do we have to talk about her?” I complained. Fuck, that’s all it was now. Eve this and Eve fucking that.

Stefan cut me a look, but he said nothing. Just carried on whittling. When I saw a woman’s face begin to appear in the carving, I wanted to grunt.

“Why are we so on edge?” I demanded, trying to get the topic back on track. “Nestor only plays when he’s nervous, Eren eats like a glutton, and Stefan only whittles when he’s antsy. I’m feeling it too.” Though the Hell Hound was in charge, my basic nature was Were which meant my skin was prickling with the need to shift.

I seriously couldn’t wait for the day I could turn into my true beast. And that day? I’d be shipping out to Mexico on the hunt for somecoyoteblood.

My mouth watered at the prospect.

“It’s our first Alpha Unit mission?” Stefan hazarded a guess.

“I don’t think so,” Eren stated after he slurped down some Gatorade that would only amp him up—and not in a good way either. He cut me a look. “I think it’s to do with Eve. She’s Pack, whether you like it or not, Dre, and she’s not coming with us.”

“That wouldn’t put me on edge,” I countered. “If anything, having her with uswould. She’s a liability.”

He shrugged. “You’re feeding off our nerves.”

Stefan nodded. “He could be right, Dre. I know I’m feeling like shit for not explaining what might happen while we’re gone.”

I eyed him. “Why haven’t you told her?”

“Because I’m a selfish fuck.” His mouth tightened. “If I tell her she’ll try to talk me out of it.”

“Women are weak.”

Eren scowled. “Eve is the exact opposite of that. Just because she’s not strong in the way you think we should be doesn’t mean she isn’t strong in her own way.”

“He’s right, Dre. Don’t be blinded by your prejudice,” Nestor intoned darkly, but his gaze never left his guitar. “Eve is strong, and she will, with time, be a worthy member of our Pack.”

Yeah, and pigs flew over this fucking island every goddamn day of the week.

She’d taken me down once. While I was feeding. That didn’t make her Wonder Woman. But the way they went on about it, I knew I’d never live it down.

Something else to lay at Eve’s goddamn door.

“Though it’s driving me mad not being Claimed, I’m almost glad for it now,” Stefan admitted, his tone low.

“You wouldn’t tell it was driving you mad,” I pointed out, surprised by his words. Aside from the angry burn on his back, it was easy to forget he wasn’t Claimed—aside from the fact that Eve was a huge reminder.

“I try to burn it out in the gym.” He shrugged. “Some days it works; some days it doesn’t.”

“You Incubus today?”

He nodded.

I winced. “Ouch.”

“Yeah.” He blew out a breath. “But, and it’s a huge but, if I die, she won’t become crazed. That’s my only consolation here.”

If she’d Claimed him fully and he passed, she’d live on but she would, without a doubt, go nuts. It could even trigger her into becoming a Ghoul.

That was why the faculty kept mated students apart. We were training to be soldiers, and although my Pack and, I’d begrudgingly admit Frazer’s too, were fucking good, we were still trainees. Accidents happened when you were sent into a warzone.

Mated females who were disconnected from their Chosen were known to make Vlad the Impaler look friendly.

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