Evans, Gabrielle - Hell's Tempest [Fatefully Yours 4] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (7 page)

Hex situated himself behind the wheel while Syx rode shotgun. “Relax and try to have a good time. Our problems will still be here when we get back,” Hex said as he started the engine and shifted into drive.

“Fine,” Echo huffed, but he didn’t like it. Even if they didn’t know for sure what was coming, they still needed to be doing
something
. He should be practicing with his men, honing their powers and increasing their strength, not traipsing into the city to… “What the hell are we doing anyway?”

“We’re getting you a cell phone for one,” Vapre answered as his hand landed on Echo’s thigh, giving it a light squeeze.

“What on earth do I need a cell phone for?” Echo rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest as he stared out the window, watching the trees zipping past.

“Then you can get in touch with us anytime you want. If we ever get separated, it could come in pretty handy.”

Echo knew Vapre was referring to his constant badgering over the past couple of days when he’d insisted on calling his mates nearly every hour. Still, he didn’t like the sound of them being apart. “Why would we be separated?” he asked cautiously, not daring to look at any of the men in the vehicle.

“We won’t,” Hex said firmly. “But it never hurts to be prepared.”

This all sounded a little foreboding to Echo, but it also brought up other questions that had been nagging at him. “Why did it take you so long to get back?”

No one answered him, and Echo finally turned away from the window to glare at the back of Hex’s head. His eyes shifted to Syx, then finally over to Vapre. “You know something,” he accused. “If Hex isn’t going to tell me anything, then I suggest you start talking.”

“There was…trouble,” Hex said guardedly.

“Believe it or not, I figured that much out on my own.” Echo growled and grumbled under his breath for a minute until he felt calm enough to speak without starting a fight. “Please, tell me.” There, that was perfectly polite and not at all argumentative.

“We lost Mac.”

Echo’s mouth dropped open before he could stop it. “What the fuck do you mean you lost him? Didn’t he come home with you?” He’d seen his friend when everyone had returned. Right? Damn it! He’d been so happy, so relieved, that his men were home, he hadn’t paid much attention to anything else around him. “Where is he?” Echo hated the quavering in his voice, the trembling of his lip, and the uncertainty that ate away at his calm façade.

“Relax,” Syx said soothingly, turning in his seat to face Echo. “Mac is at home and perfectly safe.”

“Then what happened? How the hell do you lose a full-grown man? And Gage! He just let Mac wonder off by himself?” Echo was working himself into a good yelling fit, but he couldn’t squelch his panic. His lovers were keeping things from him. Again.

“I don’t mean that we lost him physically,” Hex hedged. “I mean…well, I don’t know what the hell happened. He was catatonic for a good two days after we found the shifters. He never closed his eyes, didn’t speak, was stiff as a corpse all the time. I thought Gage and Sony were going to lose their damn minds. I’ve never seen anyone so scared.”

“So, what happened?”

“He just woke up. I don’t think he’s said a word since.”

“But why didn’t you just bring him home like that?” Echo’s brows drew together in confusion.

“Well, he didn’t talk, but he screamed bloody murder every time someone touched him. If he hadn’t woken up when he did, we were going to try it anyway. Can you imagine listening to that, cramped up in a car for three hours, though? I tried to heal him, but nothing worked.”

“So, when you said that Gage and Sony and Mac were in their room last night…”

“I might have smudged the truth a little.” Hex shrugged his massive shoulders. “I didn’t want to drag their business out into the open.”

Echo could respect that, but he still didn’t appreciated being lied to about something so important. “Have you talked to Gage this morning?”

“No,” his mates chorused. “He hasn’t left his room since we got back. Sony came down and got him some breakfast, and the guy looked bad, like he hadn’t slept in days.”

“Can we help him?” Echo spoke quietly, his chest aching at the thought of his friends suffering. If there was something he could do to erase their pain, then he wanted to help.

“I think we just need to give Mac some time,” Vapre answered just as quietly. “He’ll talk to his mates when he’s ready.”

Nodding slowly, Echo trained his eyes on Syx and opened his mouth to ask his next question. He saw the demon flinch before he’d even spoken the words and suddenly thought better of it. Not that he was going to let Syx off the hook that easily, but he’d wait until they were alone. The man was hiding something from not only Echo but everyone else in the house as well. Whatever it was, his mate didn’t need to shoulder the burden alone.

“Can I get my hair cut?” he asked instead, changing the subject to a less depressing topic.

Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to ask. Syx and Vapre whipped around to stare at him as though he’d grown a second head, and Hex jerked on the wheel, almost sending them careening into the drainage ditch along the side of the road.

“Is that what you really want?” Vapre’s fingers combed through Echo’s long hair, lifting it gently as he brushed it back from Echo’s forehead. His eyes looked a little sad, but Echo couldn’t understand why. It was just hair.

“Maybe we could get it trimmed and braided,” Hex suggested casually.

Pulling his blond mane over his shoulder, Echo stroked the silky strands, straightening it out to its full length so that it hung just above his hip. “We’ll see.” It wasn’t like he wanted to shave his head and get a tattoo, so why was everyone making such a big deal about it?

They’d never allowed him to cut his hair at the lab. Though it hadn’t mattered much then, Echo wanted a fresh start, removing all traces of that life he’d left behind. Besides, men didn’t have hair this long. Did they? He might be the smallest member of their little group, but that didn’t make him any less of a man. It was time he grew up and started dressing and acting the part.

Syx gave a deep sigh, his back still to Echo, and shook his head sadly. Echo didn’t know what that meant, but he had an inkling, and it only served to cement his decision.

* * * *

“What the fuck?” Fiero yelled when they walked in the front door several hours later. He was sitting on the sofa, remote in hand, flipping through the channels at random. “What the fuck?” He repeated, but with less heat, as he jumped to his feet and stalked toward them.

Vapre didn’t know whether to laugh or nod in sympathy at the dumbstruck look on Fiero’s face. He was pretty sure he’d worn a similar expression when Echo had first stepped out of the salon at the mall. Though his reaction hadn’t been quite as vocal, he’d been asking himself the same question all afternoon.

Fiero grabbed Echo by the shoulders, pulling him farther into the room, and spun him around abruptly. Then he just stared, his mouth hanging open, and his eyes wide. “What did you do?” he whispered.

“Don’t you like it?” Echo’s tone made it clear that Fiero better like it or else. They’d all received similar pointed looks like the one he was giving Fiero over his shoulder as well.

Fiero seemed to get the hint fairly quickly and cleared his throat as he took a step back. “It’s just really different.”

That was an understatement to the extreme. Gone were the waist-length blond locks that Vapre had loved running his fingers through as Echo curled by his side at night. Echo hadn’t let any of them accompany him into the salon, saying he wanted it to be a surprise. Well, it was definitely shocking.

Not only was Echo’s hair much shorter, reaching just long enough to brush between his shoulder blades, but he’d gone a step further, having the golden blond dyed to a deep chestnut brown. It looked soft and shiny, swaying gently as he moved his head, but it just wasn’t the same.

“Well, I like it,” Echo told them as he spun around and fisted his hands on his hips. “It’ll be much easier to take care of, and I don’t look like a fifteen-year-old girl anymore.” The little imp actually stuck out his tongue. “It’s my hair, and I’ll do what I want with it.”

“Wow, that’s hot!” Myst strolled into the room, beer in hand and grinning from ear to ear. “I like it. Makes you look all mysterious and sexy.”

Vapre didn’t know if Myst was being sincere, or if he’d overheard the conversation before announcing his presence. Watching the radiant smile stretch over Echo’s lips, he decided it didn’t matter. They were all being ridiculous. He loved Echo because of who he was, not the color or length of his hair.

Sidling up to his mate, Vapre wrapped his arms around Echo’s waist and kissed the top of his head. “He’s right. You look amazing, baby.”

“You’re just saying that,” Echo responded, uncertainty in every word.

“Nope. I love it.”

“What’s Eyce going to say?”

“We’ll make him love it, too,” Fiero said unexpectedly as he came to stand behind Echo. “Sorry I acted like a douche.” He bent and nuzzled the side of Echo’s neck. “You look gorgeous, baby.”

“Where is everyone?” Vapre tilted his head to the side, listening for movement upstairs.

“In their rooms,” Myst answered from the sofa where he’d plopped down on the cushions. “The little bloodsuckers are still in the attic, Gage and Sony won’t leave Mac’s side, and our new residents are sleeping like the dead.”

“Good,” Vapre purred as he turned back to his mate and began slowly unbuttoning Echo’s shirt.

“What are you doing?” Echo’s inquiry came out a little breathless, his eyes drifting closed as he leaned back against Fiero’s broad chest.

Vapre continued working the buttons one-handed as his other drifted lower, cupping and massaging the growing mound behind Echo’s zipper. “What does it feel like I’m doing?”

“It feels like you’re trying to seduce me right here in the entryway.”

“Perceptive,” Fiero mumbled against Echo’s throat.

Chapter Seven

Echo’s head swam as all the blood in his body rushed south to pool and burn in his groin. His men stripped him quickly, leaving him trembling and needing as his cock jerked and throbbed, jutting proudly from his nest of blond curls.

Peeking through his partly closed eyelids, he watched Hex and Syx steal kisses and nibbles as they worked to undress each other. Myst sauntered up behind Vapre, completely and gloriously nude. His tanned fingers found their way under the hem of Vapre’s shirt and began lifting the cotton slowly, revealing smooth, pale skin stretched over rock-hard muscles.

Echo’s body hummed with expectation, his ass clenching and relaxing, begging to be stretched and filled. His skin felt prickly, overheated, and his heart raced, pounding heavily inside his chest. Fiero scooped him up, carrying him to the sofa and dropping him on the cushions. He rummaged around in the drawer of the side table, producing a large bottle of lube, and tossed it to Echo’s chest. “Get started,” he growled, then began stripping out of his clothes.

Popping the cap on the bottle, Echo coated his fingers generously and rubbed the silky oil around his pucker before pushing in with two digits. The lube smelled minty, and the muscles stretched around his fingers began to tingle and warm.
Interesting.

Judging by the heavy breathing and growls that emanated from his men, he wouldn’t have long before they pounced, so he better do a good job of stretching himself, and do it quickly. Skipping right on to four fingers, Echo pushed inside his slick hole and began sawing them in and out of his snug passage. He felt full, really fucking full, but he didn’t experience the quick bite of pain, or the burning sting he’d expected. Echo decided he loved this new lube.

“Gods, that’s pretty,” Fiero breathed reverently as he grabbed the oil and slicked his own cock, stroking until it glistened in the overhead lights. He knelt on the floor, his eyes heavy-lidded as he watched Echo’s fingers continue to pump in and out of his slippery entrance.

Myst dropped to his knees beside Fiero, gripping Echo’s leaking cock and holding it up so he could envelop the engorged head with his full lips. Echo cried out, rocking his hips and moving his fingers more vigorously. Myst licked and laved, teasing the slit with his tongue, before diving down to encase Echo to the root in the wet heat of his mouth.

So lost in the pleasure, Echo didn’t immediately realize that his ass felt much fuller all the sudden. Peeking over Myst’s head, he met Fiero’s eyes, and the burning need in those amber depths almost made him blow right then and there.

Fiero’s fingers worked alongside Echo’s, two of the thick digits sawing in and out of Echo’s ass. Then Vapre was kneeling on Fiero’s other side, his eyes hungry, and his chest heaving as he slowly inserted his own finger until Echo had seven pumping into his hungry hole.

The pressure was enormous, but it didn’t exactly hurt. More cool lube dribbled down his crease and another finger worked its way inside his straining entrance. What the hell were they planning to do to him exactly?

Hex lowered himself to the sofa, fisted his hands in Echo’s hair, and jerked him forward to claim his mouth in an earth-shattering kiss. Struggling to breathe, Echo forgot all about his worries and thrust his tongue into his alpha’s mouth.