Evans, Gabrielle - Hell's Tempest [Fatefully Yours 4] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (16 page)

Within seconds, Syx roared out to the night sky, clutching Echo to him while his body jerked and shuddered, and he filled Echo with his climax.

Exhausted but still craving more, Echo rose off of Syx with wobbly legs and dropped into Fiero’s lap. “Make it good,” he murmured as he claimed the demon’s lips with his own.

“Two for one?” Fiero asked hopefully, and Echo found that was exactly what he wanted.

Fiero eased him into Myst’s lap so that his back pressed against the warrior’s chest, and Myst’s prick slid right inside his overflowing channel. Echo groaned, wiggling his hips and lifting his arms to loop them around Myst’s neck.

Bracing one hand behind him, Myst held Echo steady as he leaned back, tilting Echo’s ass at just the right angle for Fiero to enter him. Considerate as ever, Fiero dribbled more of the numbing lube over Echo’s hole and swirled his finger around the muscles where they stretched to accommodate Myst’s pulsing prick.

Then he maneuvered between Myst’s bent knees and leaned forward to claim Echo’s mouth in a blistering kiss as the head of his cock slipped inside Echo’s entrance. “So full,” Echo panted long seconds later when Fiero was fully seated.

Myst groaned from behind him, his hips arching off the blanket to work his prick a little deeper into Echo’s hungry ass. “Move,” the warrior begged.

Echo sprawled limply against Myst’s chest, his arms still encircling the man’s neck, and his head lolling over his lover’s muscled shoulder. His mates moved together, one in, one out, creating a steady rhythm as Echo pleaded for more.

His other mates converged around them, touching, stroking, kissing, and licking him everywhere. Fiero’s hand palmed Echo’s needy cock, stroking him in long, fast movements. “Come for me, baby. Need to feel you come for me.” He bent over Echo, licking a long trail up to his ear and sucked the lobe into his mouth. “Love you, Echo,” he whispered.

“Fuuuuck!” Echo screamed, and once more he hurdled over the edge, his muscles clamping down, and his joints locking as he exploded into Fiero’s hand.

Myst shouted something unintelligible, his body becoming motionless as he followed Echo into euphoria. Fiero threw his head back and roared, the circle of fire around them growing in height and heat as he pumped through his orgasm.

Utterly exhausted but happier than he’d been in days, Echo barely even noticed when his lovers eased out of his ass and Fiero lifted him into his arms. “Bath time, baby, and then you can sleep.”

Normally, Echo would object to being treated like a child that needed to be bathed and tucked into bed, but just then, he didn’t care. “M’kay,” he mumbled wearily. His mates were home safe. They’d come back to him, and not much could ruin Echo’s high. “Welcome home, my loves.”

Chapter Fifteen

“Are you ready?”

Vapre looked down at his mate and smiled crookedly. “Not in the least.” Then he took Echo’s hand and pulled him off the back porch. “Let’s do this.”

“Are we sure this is where it’s going to happen?”

“Everything else has happened close to home. I don’t know why this should be any different.”

“What do you want us to do?” Eyce asked as he jogged up beside them. The other warriors, the two shifters, the two vampires, and even Gage and his mates filed down the steps and followed behind them.

“You, we’re going to need. The others need to stay out of the way because this could get ugly.” Echo glanced over his shoulder and sighed. “I really don’t like them all being out here. Someone is going to get hurt.”

“They want to help,” Eyce said quietly. “Besides, they need to see what we’re up against if they’re going to help us in the war.”

“Wow, that sounds so melodramatic.” Echo sighed and squeezed Vapre’s hand. “I guess that’s what it is, though—a fucking war.”

Vapre understood what his mate was trying to say, but any way you looked at it, a war was coming. Not a skirmish, a fight, a brawl, or even a battle, but full-out war would darken their doorsteps before the year’s end. “The sun has almost set.”

Echo nodded wordlessly and reached out to take Eyce’s hand as well. “I hear this hurts, but it can’t be helped,” he said matter-of-factly. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t throw up, though.”

Eyce’s eyes bugged, and he whipped his head around to Vapre. Biting the inside of cheek to keep from laughing, Vapre just shrugged. It felt like the closest he’d ever come to being struck by lightning when he’d practiced with Echo. They’d tried it a few more times, and the sensation had lessened, but it still left him shaky and nauseous every time.

Before Eyce could argue or Vapre had even finished his thought, Echo opened the bridge between them. Tensing and jerking, Vapre felt the power ebb and surge, coursing through him at a fantastical speed. His head swam, his stomach churned, and he gritted his teeth together to keep from biting his tongue.

Eyce was not faring as well. His head dropped back on his shoulders, the cords in his neck straining as he struggled to keep quiet. Vapre wanted to reach out to him, comfort him, but his own body stood frozen and locked in place.

As the electricity coursed through him, Vapre tried to push away the uncomfortable sensations and focus on what was to come. He’d done very little research, to Echo’s severe disappointment. He just hadn’t seen the need. No matter what it found in the endless pages of information, nothing would prepare him for this test.

It didn’t matter either. No matter what ugliness decided to rear its head, Vapre would face it, and he would win. Failure was not an option. Echo’s safety, the well-being of all his men, rested in him being able to face down and conquer the danger that threatened them.

Echo released his hand just as the sun sank below the horizon, and Vapre let out a shuddering breath. Eyce, on the other hand, dropped to his knees and hurled his cookies all over the frozen ground. Vapre winced in sympathy and moved to hold Eyce’s long hair back from his face.

“Are you nervous?” Echo asked.

“No,” Vapre answered honestly. During the five days when he’d thought Echo would never wake up again, and the week when he wasn’t sure if his lovers were alive or dead, Vapre had come to one very important conclusion. He would do whatever it took to keep them safe.

Echo’s love had opened the door, shining sunlight into Vapre’s heart and giving him a strength he never knew he possessed. It had also opened his eyes, allowing him to see the rest of his men in a whole new way. Finally, his mate had made him realize exactly what he stood to lose if he should fail. Though he hoped it didn’t come to it, Vapre would gladly give his life for any one of his men.

Peace and confidence settled around him like a warm blanket, and Vapre pushed to his feet, offering a hand to help Eyce up as well. “I’m ready,” he said just as the fat raindrops began to fall from the sky.

“Good,” Echo replied, tilting his face upward and blinking against the rain, “because it’s here.”

Loud screeching rent the night air as the wind intensified, whirling around them as it whistled through the nearby trees. The clouds churned and rolled overhead, and three shadowy figures swooped and cackled in the dark sky.

“Fiero!” Echo called. “Can you shed some light on the situation?”

“My pleasure,” Fiero answered, and Vapre could hear the smirk in his voice.
Cocky bastard.

Three balls of fire shot into the air, melding together at the highest point and fanning out to form an enormous circle directly over the house. “Damn, he’s good,” Vapre breathed as he watched the flames dance above them, unhindered by the rain that poured from the sky.

“He’s stronger now,” Echo answered as though they were discussing what to cook for dinner. “Can we do this now? I’m cold and wet.”

Vapre pushed his soaked hair back from his face and wiped the water from his eyes. He held out his hand, palm up, and nodded. “Let’s go.”

Echo took his hand, then held the other out for Eyce. “Shit,” Eyce mumbled but took the offered hand and squeezed his firmly. “I’m in.”

“Like you had a choice,” Echo mumbled under his breath.

“I heard that.”

“You were supposed to, dumbass.”

Vapre rolled his eyes and huffed. “Can we focus now, children?”

Echo just lifted his head and stuck his tongue out. “Fine. What the hell are those things anyway?” He jerked his head skyward. “They look like birds, but the head is all wrong.”

Vapre studied the flying creatures as he flipped through his mental list of mythological beasts and groaned. “Harpies,” he snarled. “Everyone inside!”

“I’m holding the fire!” Fiero yelled back.

“I want to stay!” Jet whined.

Vapre growled, a purely animalistic sound, and snapped his head around to glare at them. “Everyone get the fuck inside!”

With a lot of groaning and grumbling, the group moved back up the porch and disappeared inside the house but stayed close by the windows to watch the action unfold. Fiero didn’t move. He glared right back at Vapre, crossing his arms over his chest as if daring Vapre to say something.

“Stubborn fool,” Vapre muttered in disgust.

“What’s wrong?” Echo still stared up at the winged women, his hair plastered to his face and his sodden clothes clinging to him. He shivered in the wind, his teeth chattering, and his lips turning blue.

“Harpies are known for abducting and torturing people on their way to Tartarus,” Eyce said.

“Oh,” Echo breathed.

One of the harpies broke free from the rest and swooped low, her talons extended and heading straight for Fiero. With little effort, Vapre sent a gush of wind toward the creature, sending her flipping through the air where she shrieked and hissed before soaring upward to join her sisters.

“Eyce, we need you to stop the rain.”

Looking at Vapre as though he was crazy, Eyce shook his head. “Uh…”

“Oh, just do it, damn it,” Echo snapped.

Ignoring both men, Vapre spread his legs wide, bracing himself against the roaring wind that threatened to topple him, and closed his eyes. He didn’t know how he’d done it before, but this time he imagined swirling the wind, molding and twisting the clouds into a destructive cyclone.

“Holy crap,” Eyce whispered in shock.

Vapre allowed himself a little smile when the rain stopped beating against him. He didn’t open his eyes, though, so he didn’t know if Eyce had actually stopped it or just moved it. Not that it mattered. Vapre just needed to concentrate.

Drawing on the power that flowed from his mate, Vapre reached out with his mind, building the funnel, stretching it and increasing the speed of its rotations. The harpies screamed and shrieked, their voices rising over the howl of the wind.

Then everything went to hell.

Eyce and Echo yelled at the same time Vapre heard the flapping of wings. He snapped his eyes open in time to see Echo lifted off his feet. Eyce grabbed for him, but Echo’s kicking feet knocked his hands away. Flailing and twisting, Echo cried out as the harpy’s talons pierced his skin, and blood flowed heavily from his wounded shoulders.

Vapre’s concentration dissolved, and he growled viciously at the ugly beast. Cold, unprecedented rage swarmed him as a red haze filled his vision. His chest heaved, his upper lip curled over his teeth as his teeth elongated into razor-sharp fangs. He felt his body grow, felt the lethal claws extend from his fingertips, and heard his clothes rip and tear.

Hades was a fucking fool. Perhaps because he’d never known love, he underestimated its power. Or maybe he’d never imagined the warriors would be capable of such tender, yet strong emotions. Either way, his oversight was Vapre’s advantage, and he intended to make full use of it.

Not the gods on Olympus, Hades, Ares, or creatures of the Underworld would harm his mate and live to tell about it. Stretching his arms out to the side, Vapre let his fury feed his power as he watched his mate lifted higher and higher into the sky. Some logical part of his brain understood that Echo’s abduction had been the main purpose all along.

Wrapping the wind around the ring of fire, Vapre twined the two, twisting them into a fiery tornado that lit up the dark sky. Then with a wave of his hand, he sent the cyclone swirling toward two of the harpies, sucking them into the vortex before they could escape.

“Don’t hurt Echo.” Eyce kept pace with the harpy that held their mate. He stood directly beneath her, his arms outstretched.

And then Echo fell, screaming the entire way to the ground as the creature flung him well out of Eyce’s reach. A sick feeling settled in Vapre’s stomach, and he sent out a gust of wind to catch his lover before he could hit the ground.

Echo tumbled twice, somersaulting through the air and landing right in the arms of a small man with glowing eyes. The figure cackled evilly, clutching Echo to his chest, then simply vanished.

Vapre roared, the rage overwhelming him until he lost complete control of his power. A strong blast of air caught the remaining harpy in the chest, sending her rushing backward into the burning cyclone that seemed to pulse and grow with each passing second.

“No! Stop!” Eyce shouted.

Footsteps thundered toward Vapre, and strong arms locked around him, tackling to the ground. A sharp blow caught the underside of his jaw, snapping his head back as a heavy weight pinned him to the ground. “Let it go,” Eyce yelled. “Let it go so we can find Echo!”