Page 134 of Caelum

Shame he was ten minutes too late for this most recent disaster I’d wrought.

“What is it?” Eren demanded, his hands coming up to cup my shoulders. His touch was just as soothing as his presence. The two combined helped me discuss what had happened.

“I don't know why, but when Dre was trying to teach me... I guess…” I hesitated, biting my lip as I stared into his eyes, trying to find the words to admit that I'd done something else to wreck our situation. Because, deep down, I didn't doubt that Dre had shifted because of me. “Dre turned into a bear.”

At my words, Eren’s eyes widened. “That’s impossible. He's only nineteen.”

Feeling helpless, I shrugged, hating when he removed his hands from my shoulders and wishing desperately to remain connected to him. “I'm not lying, Eren. It happened. He's hiding in the garden.”

He snatched my hand and began pulling me down the yard. “Show me where he is.”

His briskness came as a surprise. I'd never seen this side of him before, and I didn't necessarily dislike it, but I wasn't used to this from him. Stupid tears pricked my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

Yes, this was my fault, and yes, I would own up to it. Dre accused me of being naive, of being stupid. But I wasn't. You could call me all the names under the sun, but I knew what I was.

Trouble.

He'd called it himself a few days before, and he was right.

I was trouble.

And somehow, I’d managed to drag seven innocent men into this with me.

I'd known shame all my life, but never as badly as I had at that moment. It was a dampening experience, making the white-hot sun overhead dimand the crystal-clear skies turn shadowed. My entire world darkened as I'd realized the danger into which I'd drawn these innocents.

I hadn't had a choice. I knew that too. Merinda had brought me here, and it wasn't like I could just walk out the door and leave. I was on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The nearest country, as far as I could tell, was Nigeria. I wasn't even sure what language Nigerian people spoke. It wasn't as if I could blend in easily.

There was no escape, at least, not without making these good men help me. Dirtying them, sullying them, even more with my evil ways.

My throat was tight when I stopped letting Eren drag me and instead rushed forward to guide him toward the area where I'd seen Dre go.

The gardens were on the top of the cliff. They took up a huge portion of it, but to the left of the building, there was a copse of trees. I had no idea what they were called. I probably knew the names from having memorized them in the dictionary, but seeing them and knowing them were two different things entirely.

They didn't provide much cover, at least not for a grizzly bear. There was a fruit they reminded me of if I was honest. They served it in the canteen. It was spikey and filled with yellow flesh. Eren had introduced me to it. Pineapple. The tree seemed to have that same skin, or bark I supposed. And overhead, there were huge green leaves that swayed in the breeze coming off the ocean.

No, the grizzly certainly didn't fit in. We found him almost immediately, cowering behind a too-thin trunk.

The second Eren saw him, he froze and almost dragged me back as his momentum abruptly shifted.

“What the fuck?” he whispered under his breath, and before I could say another word, his cell phone was in his hand and he was making a call.

Within ten minutes, the two Packs I'd inadvertently brought together were clustered in the copse of trees. Five boys looked at the sixth brother in shock and awe. I couldn't blame them. It had felt like seconds had passed as I processed the first shift Dre had undertaken, but it had probably been a good ten to fifteen minutes of me just gaping at him and him gaping back at me with his snout open wide, revealing too sharp teeth. However, that the guys were equally as stunned didn't exactly appease my nerves.

And I wasn't surprised when Samuel, who, though yesterday he’d been kind, didn't seem to like me that much, turned to me and was the first to say what I knew they all had to be thinking. “What did you do now?”

Stefan growled, “Watch your tone!”

The two boys glowered at each other, and it was easy to see why they'dnever gotten along well. When Stefan glared at Dre, it was a quick thing—a look, a silent warning, before things were settled. Between Samuel and Stefan? I just knew they were going to start fighting.

It was the last thing any of us needed, and I wasn't sure why, but Stefan was furious. So outraged at Samuel’s question. Which, technically, made sense.Iwas the one who’d been with Dre. If anything had happened that had prompted this transformation, it rested on me. But Stefan, apparently, didn't agree.

I'd called it. Right on the money.

Within seconds, Stefan had charged Samuel, and I jerked back in surprise.

“We don’t have time for this,” Eren called, grabbing a hold of Reed’s shoulder when he tried to wade into the melee. “Stefan’s Hell Hound is in charge. Don’t go there, Reed.”

Was that true? Goodness, that was the last thing we needed.

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