Page 169 of Caelum

“Please, for me,” he said, and though I didn’t want to because the last time I had, I’d made a bear pop out of nowhere, I retreated inside myself.

Dre had called it a soul house, and that was what it was.

Considering how large it was, it made me wonder if I’d purposely ignored it all my life. I didn’t recall touching upon it before Caelum, and yet it bewildered me how I hadn’t.

Now, when I closed my eyes, it was there, and I had to force it aside to concentrate on something else.

It was like finding it once had brought it out, and it was refusing to hide again.

Like before, the seven souls each had their own space with the eighth one hovering over them.

It wasn’t like I had a pocket inside me that was loaded up with miniature versions of the creatures. They were colors I intrinsically understood.

Vampires were navy blue. I knew that because they were cold and rational. Logical.

Hell Hounds, unsurprisingly, were a bright red that pulsed in time with my heart.

Loreleis were red too, but they were pinker. Almost fuchsia or magenta,I guessed. It was a passionate color. One that made me think of what I’d just done with Nestor. The Hell Hound was blood, whereas the Lorelei was desire.

The Sin Eater was black, unrelieved black, and where it touched the other souls on two sides, the darkness bled into them.

The Were was a rich brown, like the soil. Deep with life and abundant.

Thegouillewas green. So dark that it was almost black until the yellow of the Succubus touched upon it.

All seven had their unique shade, but around them all, like they were being embraced, was purple. It was royal and regal, bright like the shining of tanzanite under the sunlight.

Now that I studied them, I realized that though the purple seemed to glow the brightest, the yellow from the Succubus came next. Unlike the last time I’d looked when the Were had pulsed with life.

Surprised, I opened my eyes and looked down at Nestor. “How did you know?”

He cocked a brow at me. “That your Succubus was in charge?” His lips twitched as he flickered his gaze down to my belly. “When you did that. That’s something she would do.”

“Why?”

Nestor shrugged. “That’s what they do. They like sex.”

“I wanted to try it without her prompting me.” My nose crinkled. “When I went back for more… that was her.” I wasn’t sure why it was important he knew that, just that it was.

His eyes softened as he reached up, his hand coming up to cup my chin. “I know.”

I wasn’t sure if he did, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. I’d tried, at least.

“Eve?” he whispered into the quiet that fell between us, one that was broken only with the sounds of our breathing.

“Yes?”

“Would you let us help you again? What happened with Dre… it was an aberration, I’m sure. But you need our help; you need to be trained with someone who understands your souls. Let Stefan help you tomorrow. Please?”

I didn’t want to, fretted over the prospect of ‘breaking’ one of the others too, but I could hear the deep concern in his voice—a concern that was for me and me alone. How could that not affect me?

I released a shuddery breath. “If I must.”

“You must,” he agreed, but his tone didn’t make me want to smack himso that was something. “The stronger you are, Eve, the stronger we are as a Pack. You see that, don’t you?”

I blinked because, goodness, he was right.

I’d been stupid avoiding the classes, thinking crazy things about trying to leave Caelum without them for their own safety, and instead, I’d just been wasting time. Sure, I’d been petrified. What happened to Dre was something that should have been impossible, after all. But the time for procrastinating was done, and two days without classes were two days wasted.

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