Seven Wishes: The Caelum Academy Trilogy: Part ONE

by Akeroyd, Serena

  Her hands went to grab my wrist, but I leaned down and muttered in her ear, “Trust me some more?”

  She froze for a second, but then her hands dropped away. When I could let the shirt drop down to bare her shoulders, I stopped unfastening the buttons. Almost every girl here wore a dress, or a mini skirt and a top so tight every curve was delineated. My mate, on the other hand, was wearing menswear.

  Figures.

  With her shoulders exposed, I reached up and grabbed her hair, tucking it into a ponytail with my hand as the fastener. With that out of the way, I dropped my head and pressed a line of kisses down her shoulder.

  The instant I did, she tensed and then sank into me. I knew this would take her by surprise, but I was patient when I had to be, and there was nothing more important in my life than this woman. Than this moment.

  Not even the Alpha Unit beat this.

  Whatever happened to me, whether I made it to Top Enforcer or if I crashed and burned and was injured in the line of duty, Eve would be there. For the peaks and troughs of my life, she’d be there through it all.

  That meant she was my fucking everything.

  I pressed more butterfly kisses to her silky skin, letting my lips tickle her, letting my warm breath wash over her. When I reached the ball of her shoulder, I used my tongue to trail a line back up to her neck, and I didn’t stop until I was suckling on her earlobe.

  The soft whimper that escaped her nearly felled me. My cock hardened, and I knew she felt it because she stiffened once more before relaxing as I sucked on that tender piece of flesh. Nibbling on it, enjoying her sensitivity, I grabbed her hair tighter in my fist and tugged her head back.

  With her positioned just so, I whispered in her ear, “You’re mine.”

  I didn’t let her argue, instead I, once again, used my grip on her to twist her around slightly so I could connect my mouth with hers.

  She was tense and uneasy as I pressed our lips together. I knew she was nervous, unsure about how to do this, so I coached her. Guided her. Showed her what I wanted, taught her what she needed.

  After a few moments, her mouth opened and she let me thrust my tongue inside. When I did, she whimpered into my mouth, and I used my free hand to reach down and cup her breast. As I squeezed, she arched up onto her tiptoes, and I smiled through the kiss, loving how responsive she was.

  I pulled back, enjoying the wetness of her lips before I ran my nose along her jawline, moving back to her shoulder and throat. Nipping and suckling here and there, leaving my mark for all to see, I teased her until she was writhing against me.

  With one hand in her hair and the other on her breast, she was in my arms, but more than that, she was with me every step of the way.

  The fire in her called to me, and it soothed the intense burn I’d been dealing with since she’d arrived here and set me ablaze with her unfinished Claiming.

  I lifted her hair higher and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her nape. When her knees wobbled, I clamped my arm against her belly and hauled her up while I pushed her forward, letting her cling to the wall for support.

  Sucking harder on that sensitive knot of flesh, I almost wept at the sound of her moan. The pleasure-loaded sound had me clenching every muscle in my body as I urged myself to focus on her.

  Moving her hair to the other side, I repeated my earlier moves, tracing butterfly kisses where I could until I tickled my tongue along the bony flesh before suckling her earlobe. This time, my hold on her hair was harder, firmer, and she yelped at my rough touch before she melted in my arms, her lips pressing into mine with such need that I burned with her.

  I’d hoped if I had a Chosen that she’d be like this, and those hopes had wavered in the face of how innocent Eve was. I hadn’t anticipated this. Couldn’t have. But here she was. Surprising the hell out of me.

  With her mouth on mine, I thrust my tongue into her, longing for the day when my cock would be inside her. When we’d be united in a way that would tie us forever.

  Her body wriggled against mine in a sinuous wave that had her soft ass cheeks rubbing my cock with every jerk of her form. It was heaven and hell, and I wasn’t about to complain. A part of me wondered if I could get her to come, and another part wondered if that was taking shit too far.

  As I thrust my tongue into her mouth, fucking her with it, her body seemed to spark in my arms, and it urged me to do something I hadn’t expected. Pushing her harder into the wall, I lodged one knee between hers and parted her legs a little wider.

  Releasing my hold on her hair, I smoothed that hand down over her breast, along the curve of her waist, not stopping until I reached her pussy.

  She tensed in my arms once more, sensing what I was doing, but even as she froze, deep inside, she was melting. I didn’t coerce her into more. Didn’t pressure her. I just held my hand to her hip, my fingers arching toward her sex, and I kissed her, holding her deep in my embrace where she was safe and, yes, loved.

  Within seconds, her focus was back on the kiss. Her tongue thrust harder against mine and, for the first time, she began sparring back with me. My blood raced in my veins, loving that she wasn’t passive, loving that she was showing me everything she had to give.

  I ran my fingers along the seam of her yoga pants. The tight fit wouldn’t let her feel as much as skin to skin would, but she wasn’t ready for that. Christ, she was barely ready for this, but I wasn’t about to put a halt to this. If she said no or stop, then I would. Until then, I was in this for the long haul.

  The second I rubbed my fingers along that seam, she tensed so hard I wasn’t sure whether she was terrified or locked into a pleasure so deep, she was frozen.

  When her tongue stopped thrusting against mine, I paused, but I kept my fingers where they were, rubbing a circle over the top of her pussy where I knew her clit would be.

  Her breath staggered from her chest in huge gulps, but she wasn’t pushing me away, she was sinking harder into my hold. I let her face forward, and instead, dropped my mouth to her shoulder where I began to kiss and nip at her once more.

  Her movements were jerky now, not sinuous and rhythmic. I felt her intent. Felt her soul’s intent too.

  They knew they were chasing something, but they weren’t sure what.

  Though her innocence had given me blue balls, I was grateful for her confusion at that moment. I loved that I was teaching her this, loved that I was showing her the way we’d always be together with no one else muddying the waters between us.

  When she began to rock into me, this time hard and fast, I knew she was close. Her breaths panted from between her lips and when she tensed, releasing a deep moan that no one except me could hear, I felt her shudder before her legs began to buckle.

  I held her up, held her tucked in my arms. My cock was nuzzled by her ass still, and even though I wasn’t about to come any time soon, it didn’t matter. I was happy she had, happier that she’d relaxed enough around me to let me do this, to let me give her this.

  She was slack in my arms for endless moments, moments in which I carried on kissing her, carried on showing her my feelings for her.

  When her chest stopped jittering with her panting breaths, I whispered in her ear, “Who am I?”

  For a second, she was quiet, contemplative. Then she whispered, “Mine,” and my evening was complete.

  14

  Eve

  The morning after the party, hours after that kiss and whatever the heck Stefan had done to me, I slipped into the sick bay early. I wanted to check up on Nestor while the place was still quiet, while I could sneak around, avoiding both other people as well as my thoughts.

  What Stefan had done was racing through my mind, but why I’d allowed him to… I didn’t even have an answer for that. More terrifying than anything, however, was that it had felt right.

  Natural.

  Like he should have done that to me. Like he had the right to do that to me.

  Shuddering at the memory of the pleasure he’d made me feel, at h
ow easy it had been to declare myself, ‘his,’ I forced myself to focus. It was the first time I’d been in this part of the school by myself, and while I wasn’t surprised to see that every bed was full with each kid suffering from a variety of ailments, I was curious enough to want to investigate what had downed them.

  I didn’t recognize them all. Some were obviously younger than me, and some looked to be as old as Stefan. Some had broken bones, others were unconscious like Dre had been all those weeks ago, and a few even had weird rashes and were surrounded by plastic sheeting. Yesterday, Eren told me they had the measles, and the sick bay was trying to keep it contained.

  I’d read about measles but had never seen them in the flesh, so I was curious. Curious enough to approach the area of the ward that was cordoned off. As I stepped away from Nestor’s bed, where I found him sleeping rather peacefully for a boy whose throat had been torn out, I headed toward that side of the ward. A few feet away, someone gripped my hand. A startled yelp escaped me, making the students sleeping in their beds shuffle in their sleep.

  Head whipping to the side to see who had grabbed me, I glared at Frazer. “What are you doing here?”

  He grunted and, with his hand still holding my arm, began dragging me out of the ward. When I started to struggle, he motioned with his free arm at the patients who were sleeping, and because they were ill and didn’t need to be disturbed, I allowed him to haul me out into the hall. It wasn’t like I was in any danger.

  Except to my pride, maybe.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I repeated, surprised to hear the growl to the words as my anger got the better of me. He’d blanked me last night. Blanked me as though I didn’t exist.

  Jerk.

  Douche.

  No. Bastard!

  “Saving you from the measles,” he said on a grunt, and I felt his eyes on my throat, exactly where Stefan had kissed me last night. I didn’t know why, but with my free hand, I reached up and covered my neck.

  “I don’t need to be saved from them,” I sniped. “They’re in a cordoned off area for a reason.”

  He shrugged. “Better to be safe than sorry. Our bodies don’t react so well to measles.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him, the memory of the way he’d ignored me last night was too close to the surface to forget. “Were you trying to save me, then?” I asked sweetly, folding my arms across my chest as I glared up at him.

  He glared back. “Yes. You have a problem with that?”

  “I don’t need a guy who blanked me in front of everyone last night to put himself out on my behalf,” I spat at him, my outrage and, ugh, hurt making me want to cry. I was so mad that I wanted to hit him, to hurt him as he’d hurt me.

  Frazer cocked a brow. “I’m surprised you even know what that means.”

  That he didn’t apologize stirred me up and I was grateful my gouille was in charge today. If it had been the Succubus or even the Vampire, God only knew what I’d have done…

  My emotions were all over the place since I came to Caelum. Having relaxed the hold I had on myself, it was like the souls inside me were intent on letting loose, and I didn’t like it. I’d never been so out of control in my life. Had never realized I could hurt someone so easily and with such lack of guilt.

  “I didn’t know what blanking someone meant until I heard it whispered about a million times as Stefan and Eren danced with me last night.” I’d felt mortification earlier that day when that boy had tripped me, but knowing that people had seen Frazer and Reed ignore me? That had hurt more because it was beyond physical, and it wasn’t like they deserved for me to punch them.

  That boy had intended on hurting me. When he’d stuck his leg out for me to fall over, there was only one direction I was going. Down. I could have hurt myself, could have hit my head on the coffee table nearby, or might have even hurt my knee or twisted my wrist after I fell.

  But Reed and Frazer?

  They’d hurt my feelings, and had my Succubus or Vampire been in control, I knew they wouldn’t take too kindly to this emotional hurt.

  When we were alone, they’d been so kind. So open. I’d thought we were friends. Just showed how stupid I was.

  At my words, however, Frazer winced, but again, there was no apology. He stared down at me, and his bright blue eyes seemed to gleam with a light I didn’t understand. They were different than Stefan’s. His were like a cornflower, whereas Frazer’s were a stormy, royal blue.

  I knew because I’d looked up the color blue on Google so I could discern the differences between the two.

  I felt like Stefan’s were close to cyan, but they weren’t green enough. Cornflower felt too pretty a word to describe his eyes, but what could I do? I couldn’t change the color’s name, could I?

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” I demanded with a huff, starting to feel antsy. I’d never known a single look could feel forceful, yet here was my proof.

  “Because I’m trying to decide how much to tell you.”

  I jerked back at that. “What a strange thing to say,” I muttered. “Shouldn’t you just tell me the truth?”

  He ground his teeth. “In a perfect world, I would. But…” Frazer jerked his thumb in the ward’s direction. “Nestor’s proof that the world isn’t perfect. If it was, we wouldn’t have to leave Caelum until we were fully formed. We wouldn’t need training to stop those bastards from reigning terror on humans. But it isn’t perfect, and we do have to go out there unprotected.”

  I could hear the anger in his voice and knew it was genuine. He wasn’t trying to deceive me with whatever explanation he was attempting to give me. The way his voice shook and his body seemed to tense was proof enough.

  “That was why I sought you out last night,” I told him quietly. “Stefan and Eren told me you saved Nestor.”

  He shrugged. “I did what any of us would do.”

  “I don’t care about that. I just know that you did. Thank you.” My words were heartfelt.

  Nestor meant a lot to me, more than I really knew how to express in words.

  He, Eren, and Stefan had taken me under their wing that first day, and I’d never be able to repay them for the security that gave me.

  I wasn’t alone.

  And they were the reason for that.

  Frazer reached up and gripped the back of his neck. There was pain on his face, and I didn’t understand it. Didn’t know why he was looking at me like that.

  It reminded me of Eren on the days when there was apple pie at the cafeteria, and yet, there was the darkness I could see clouding up Dre’s eyes when he thought I couldn’t tell he was watching me.

  Want and distrust. Need and anger.

  They were jarring emotions, and I could tell they were affecting Frazer, knew that was why he was so on edge.

  The grip he had on his neck tightened to the point that all the muscles in his arm were suddenly delineated, making me aware of just how big and strong he was. Yikes. I hadn’t known men could be like this until I’d come to Caelum.

  “I need to show you something,” he eventually rasped, making me realize I’d been studying his arms for far longer than was polite.

  I blinked at him. “Okay.”

  He blinked back. “Really?”

  “Yes. What do you want to show me?”

  A snort sounded from behind him. “Thought ‘show and tell’ left the curriculum back in second grade.” Dre appeared like a dust bunny on an otherwise freshly swept and mopped floor. There was a mocking sneer to his mouth as he murmured, “And here I was thinking you were so innocent, Eve.”

  “Fuck off, Alexandre,” Frazer ground out. His hand dropped to his side, but he held it wide and I knew, though I didn’t really understand why, that he wanted me to take it.

  After last night, I knew I shouldn’t. He’d embarrassed me, on purpose, and hadn’t apologized yet. A part of me wanted to ball my hand into a fist and punch him in the throat. Who had taught him that it was okay to treat people that way? Maybe they
deserved a punch to the throat too!

  In the ranking of these things, I thought his behavior made him more of a jerk than a bastard, but Eren wasn’t there to confirm or deny that so I settled on jerk. Mostly because he’d looked seriously pained as he talked to me. Nestor might be the one with half his throat missing—a thought that made my stomach churn—but Frazer looked like he was in just as much agony.

  “She’s part of my Pack,” Dre retorted, surprising me with the declaration. “What the fuck do you want with her?”

  “I’m not,” I retorted. “There is no Pack. Eren and Stefan said they only form once you hit twenty.”

  “Which you aren’t. Not yet, anyway.” Frazer sneered back at Dre who narrowed his eyes in irritation.

  “What do you want with her?”

  “That’s none of your business.” He tugged on my hand. “Come on, Eve. This won’t take long.”

  “Music to make any woman melt,” Dre countered, and I thought Frazer’s head might just explode from the way the vein in his temple began to pulse—just like my father’s.

  “Dre, don’t push me.”

  “I’m not leaving you alone with her,” was all Dre said.

  I frowned at him. “Since when do you care what I do or don’t do?”

  “Since Stefan isn’t around to watch over you.” His lip curled, and I could sense his disapproval. I just didn’t know why.

  They chose not to be friends with Frazer and Reed, and until last night, both of them had been rather polite to me.

  Did Dre know something I didn’t?

  I didn’t like him, but Stefan and Eren trusted him. I’d had a handful of meaningful conversations with Frazer and Reed, but had hundreds with my friends.

  Gnawing on my bottom lip, I realized I was being too trusting. I wasn’t sure why when I was actually very distrustful. After a lifetime of being uneasy around most people, I had more walls than Caelum did. And Caelum’s defenses were easier to breach than mine.