Page 124 of Caelum

This mating thing was important to them, and somehow, I’d tied three boys to me. Stefan had to be feeling insecure. When Dre had called the Pack together, had shared with Stefan what was happening, he’d revealed that the connection I’d felt with him that first day in Nicholas’s office was when I’d chosen him. Meaning that he’d thought I was his for all the weeks I’d been here at Caelum, and I was, apparently, but I also belonged to two others.

Two males who just happened to be guys he loathed.

Enough to consider them his nemeses.

Why wouldn’t he be feeling insecure? In his position, I knew I would be.

“I have to—” I closed my eyes then, gritting my teeth, forced myself to speak words that could get me killed.

Or, God help me, getthemkilled.

Caelum didn’t want freaks, and I was exactly that—one-hundred-percent freak.

“I’m not like you.”

Only four words, and as I let each one spill forth, it was like someone gutted me with a knife.

How I wanted to be like them, but I wasn’t. I just wasn’t. And having three mates was proof of that. More differences, more things that made me a freak of nature even around people who were accustomed to being thought of that way by the world at large.

“What do you mean?” Reed rasped.

My mind fluttered like a butterfly, ping-ponging from thought to thought, unable to settle anywhere. How did I explain the inexplicable?

Sensing the growing agitation in the room, I cast each boy a look, taking in their stern handsomeness, and questioned how on earth I’d made it to this point. It was almost crazy, but then, wasn’t I?

Didn’t that sum my life up perfectly?

“The first day I arrived here, Nicholas explained that we have seven souls.”

Dre scowled at me. “We already know this, Eve?—”

“Shut the fuck up,” Stefan growled at him. Then, eyes flashing, he looked at me and encouraged, “Carry on, Eve.”

Dipping my chin, I murmured, “I told him I have eight.”

There was silence at my admission, and they processed it with nary a difference in their expressions—no surprise, not even shock. Just curiosity.

“He said that was because one of the seven was more dominant. That I was mistaken…” They all nodded, and I knew that was where they’d gone with my words. If only things were that simple. “But I’m not mistaken. There are eight.” I gnawed on my bottom lip for a second then, seeing their disbelief, repeated, “There are eight. You think I don’t know the difference?”

Reed narrowed his eyes at me as he settled his butt on the armrest of the long sofa. His attention was on me one hundred percent, and I had to admit, I liked it.

I liked it a lot.

In fact, all six men had their focus on me, and rather than feel flustered or overwhelmed, I felt alive.

Like the energy in my veins was too much to contain.

Like being here with them was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Of course, that made no sense, and I shoved the thought away and murmured, “I didn’t know the names of the others. But when I learned them, when you taught me about them, it just reaffirmed what I’d already known.

“There are eight. Each one is unique, and as I’ve learned the traits for the others, it makes that last one stand out even more.”

Reed cleared his throat. “What does the eighth soul do?”

I blinked at him. “Good question.” Shooting him a tight smile, I stated, “Not as much as the others. It’s like it’s dormant. It watches.” My brow puckered as I tried to explain the impossible. “It’s almost like it’s in charge of the others. I feel the others, and they’re powerful, but somehow, that one holds a mantel of power that supersedes what the rest can do.”

“And that’s it?” Frazer rasped. “It just controls the others?”

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