Evans, Gabrielle - Hell's Tempest [Fatefully Yours 4] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (9 page)

“What’s he saying?” Hex was the only one standing, doing his normal pacing as he tugged on the ends of his ebony hair. He looked deep in thought, and judging by his stilted movement, those thoughts weren’t pleasant.

“Gage says he’s not ready to talk to the rest of us yet, but he wanted to warn us not to go back to that place where we found the shifters.” Eyce looked just as troubled as he spoke, and Echo wished his arms were long enough to pull them all into one huge embrace. The only downside to having seven amazing mates was having to evaluate their levels of distress and choose who needed comfort the most.

Though Vapre seemed calm on the outside, Echo knew in his heart that the man needed him more than the others just then. There was no use in trying to pry the burden from the man. He would talk when he was ready, and Echo promised himself that he’d be there to listen.

“I don’t see why we would, but did Mac give a reason why we shouldn’t?” Onyx sprawled in the other recliner, his hand drifting up and down Myst’s spine as the warrior perched on the arm of the chair.

“He says it’s evil. At first he thought it was the shifters, but now he thinks it was the place itself. Mac says that an all-consuming evil lurks there. We were lucky to escape notice this time, but second chances are not often given. I’m paraphrasing, of course.”

Echo felt Vapre tense behind him, his arms squeezing around Echo like iron bands. The air rushed from his lungs in a tiny squeak when he felt his ribs begin to protest the crushing embrace. Vapre loosened his hold immediately, rubbing at Echo’s chest to comfort him. “Sorry,” he whispered demurely.

In that instant, Echo knew that whatever plagued his mate, it couldn’t wait any longer. Something was very, very wrong. “I’m fine,” he assured his man, but his eyes drifted to Syx.

Syx nodded, just a small, almost imperceptible dip of his head. Echo nodded in return, giving the warrior a meaningful look that spoke volumes. Syx had seen inside Vapre’s head, and Echo planned to coerce the knowledge from him. Then he remembered that Vapre wasn’t the only one keeping secrets, and he watched Syx squirm under his narrowed gaze.

“Are we sure it’s not the shifters?” Myst asked. He moved his hand to twine with Onyx’s, and Echo beamed at the pair.

If only they would stop being so afraid and just say the words,
Echo thought to himself. All this pussyfooting around the issue was really beginning to grate on his nerves.

“Not a hundred percent, no.” Eyce leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, and shook his head in obvious frustration. “I don’t know what to do.” This was a big admittance for the demon, and Echo knew it hurt Eyce’s pride.

“Okay, I didn’t want to do this, but I think we need to get some things out in the open. Several of you are hiding something from the rest of us, and I for one want to know what the fuck it is. We’re in this together—family—and family doesn’t shut each other out.” Echo felt Vapre go very still beneath him and reached down to squeeze the warrior’s knee in reassurance.

“What are you talking about?” Eyce’s head popped up, and he eyed each of his lovers in turn. “Does someone have something to say?”

Echo sighed. Eyce sounded angry, and that wouldn’t help matters in the least. Hoping to steer them out of dangerous water, he twisted in Vapre’s lap. “Do you have something to ask me?” Maybe this would get the ball rolling, so to speak, and they could finally clear the air.

“Why are all the residents from the lab men?”

“Uh.” Echo realized that probably wasn’t the response Vapre had hoped for, but the question had come from so far out in left field, his brain needed a moment to redirect. “I think that’s a better question for Gage,” he finally replied. “I can confirm that there were no women in the facility, but I can’t give you an answer as to why.”

“Fair enough,” Vapre replied with a crooked smile. “I’ll talk to Gage about it. I can’t put my finger on it, but it seems important.”

Echo thought it over for a moment before nodding. “I see your point. Yeah, I think we need to talk to Gage when Mac is feeling better.”

“Anyone else?” Eyce looked around the room expectantly.

“The other two are fine, but I get a bad vibe from Sage.” Onyx scowled down at his lap. “I think we need to watch him.”

“Agreed,” Eyce said to Echo’s surprise. He didn’t exactly see him ever being bosom buddies with the shifter, but he didn’t get a suspicious feeling about him either.

Deciding to re-evaluate his opinion of Sage at a later date, Echo turned his attention to Syx. “Why do you want me to leave?” The words escaped his mouth before he could call them back, and as expected, several gasps and growls went around the group. Everyone turned as one to glare at Syx, and Echo wanted to smack himself in the head.

“What?” Hex snarled. “If you have something to say, you better start talking.”

Syx didn’t look angry, contrite, or even afraid. He just looked blank—numb.

“That came out wrong,” Echo hurried to intervene before things could sour further. “Syx knows something, or at least suspects—something that has him scared for my safety. Don’t lynch him just yet.”

His mates seemed to calm a little at this, and Eyce actually reached over and took Syx’s hand, giving it a light squeeze. “Talk to us,” he murmured softly. “If it involves Echo, then it involves all of us. Maybe we can help.”

“Syx thinks that the tests won’t come in order of the prophecy,” Echo said when Syx continued to look blankly ahead.

“I’ve been concerned about the same thing,” Hex replied as his long legs continued to eat up the carpeted floor. “That just seems too easy if we always know what’s coming.”

“Hell, we don’t have a goddamn clue about what’s coming,” Fiero spoke for the first time since their meeting had begun. “But I guess I see what you’re saying. If we know whose task is next, then we’re at least somewhat prepared.”

They were all taking this much better than Echo had first imagined. At least they were talking, trying to work through what to do next. It was more than they’d done in over a week. Three weeks wasn’t a terribly long time, and they needed to be working out a plan, not arguing or ignoring the problem.

“Other than the obvious,” Myst began, “why do you think Echo is in danger?”

A deep, shuddering sigh blew through Syx’s lips, and his eyes finally began to lose some of the lost, dead look. “If we agree that it is unlikely for the tests to come in order, then we also agree that we need to be prepared for anything.”

Everyone nodded their agreement and waited for Syx to continue.

“The last part of the prophecy…” And here Syx faltered again. Whatever he had to say, it weighed heavily on his heart and mind.

Echo gave a soft kiss to Vapre’s cheek and rose to his feet. Moving across the room, he climbed up in Syx’s lap and nuzzled his cheek against the warm skin of his lover’s throat. “Tell us,” he whispered.

Syx held him gently, his fingers playing through Echo’s freshly washed hair. “The last part of the prophecy,” he repeated in a hoarse murmur, “the part about those born of the first.”

“Okay, what does that mean?” Onyx moved to the edge of his seat, leaning toward Syx with interest. “I would say it means those born on the first of the year, or maybe the first of the month. I can’t think of anything else that makes sense.”

Syx was shaking his head. “There is one more first.”

“The firstborn,” Hex said flatly.

Echo gasped, sitting up straight in Syx’s lap and darting his eyes around the room. “Which one of you was born first?”

“I don’t think we count.” Fiero grimaced as he crossed his arms over his chest. “We weren’t exactly born from a womb.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Echo shook his head frantically. “Tell me.”

“I was.” Hex stopped his pacing and shifted to face Echo. “I agree with Fiero, though. I don’t think the prophecy is referring to one of us.”

All seven of his mates turned their eyes to him, and Echo suddenly felt like he was suffocating. “What are you trying to say?”

“Do you have any siblings?” Eyce asked gently.

“I–I don’t know.” The longer they stared at him, the harder it became to drag air into his aching lungs. They were trying to tell him something—something his brain was rebelling against, so he couldn’t get a clear hold on where they were trying to lead him.

“So, there is a good chance you were an only child,” Eyce continued, speaking as though he were comforting a small child.

“I suppose that’s true.”

“Which would make you a firstborn,” Fiero added, and Echo didn’t like the fear that tinted his lover’s words.

“So, I…that means…oh, shit.” Echo snapped his head around to glare at Syx. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why would I?” Syx snapped. “So you can sit here, waiting and worrying about something that we have no control over? This isn’t like the other ones. I have no idea how to fight this!”

“And we can’t know when it’s coming,” Myst added quietly. “It could be this new moon, or the next, or the next.

“I think you’re wrong.” Echo didn’t have a whole lot of conviction behind his words, but he refused to accept this. “There has to be another meaning.”

“Damn, you’re stubborn.” Eyce chuckled, but it didn’t hold much humor.

“Well, what do you want from me? Do you want me to just roll over and die? Because I won’t do it!” Echo’s chest heaved, the words flowing swiftly and vehemently. “You’re missing something, so I suggest you keep looking. I finally have everything I’ve ever wanted, and I’m damn sure not going to give it up because some fucker with a superiority complex thinks he owns you!”

“There is a way to know what’s coming,” Vapre said so quietly, Echo almost didn’t hear him over the pounding of his own heart. “The Oracle has visited each of us in our dreams before the test.”

Echo didn’t miss that Vapre had said “us,” which added one more thing to the list of shit his men were keeping from him. “What did she say?”

“Same old thing.” Vapre shrugged in a noncommittal way. “A lot of riddles, questions, no real answers, you know, the usual.”

“What. Did. She. Say?” Echo bit off each word through clenched teeth.

Vapre sighed and hung his head. “That I needed to take what was offered to me freely and that there would be no second chances.”

No one knew what to say to that, if the deafening silence was any indication. Echo was finished with this depressing crap anyway. “Okay, so I guess that means you’re up next,” he said to Vapre. “Tomorrow, we start working on building your strength and endurance. You got a little taste of it last week, but you’re going to have to do better. We’ll try to redouble and rebound, like I did with Fiero.” Echo surveyed his men for a moment. “It might not hurt to try to combine some of your powers as well.”

“Can it wait until the next day?”

“Why?” Echo lifted his eyebrows at Eyce’s hesitation.

“We kind of have plans for tomorrow.”

“Oh? And what would be more important than Vapre being ready for his test?”

“Cut it out,” Vapre grumbled. “We have a surprise for you, and you’re ruining it. I promise to work doubly hard the next day. Deal?”

Echo considered him for a long time before he finally dipped his head in consent. He couldn’t deny that he was insanely curious as to what his lovers had planned for him. They already spoiled him beyond reason, so what more could they possibly give him? He kind of hoped it involved them all naked and sweaty, though.

Syx groaned, his hips arching up, grinding his groin against Echo’s ass as his fingers dug into the flesh around Echo’s hips. “Behave,” he warned. “I imagine you’re pretty sore, but if you don’t cut it out, I’m going to take you here and now.”

Shifting slightly, Echo had to admit that his ass did ache. It was a pleasant ache, though. The kind that throbbed in all the right places, telling him he’d been thoroughly loved. Still, he didn’t know if he could handle another round of “love” just yet. “Fine,” he huffed.

“Play nice,” Eyce teased as he wiggled his eyebrows playfully. “You promised me a proper welcome home later, and I fully intend to collect.”

Chapter Nine

“Son of a bitch, cocksucker, motherfucker, piece of shit!” Echo screamed as he pounded his fists against the steering wheel of the Tahoe. “This is so not what I pictured when you said you had a surprise for me.”

Syx bit his lip and squeezed his eyes closed as he tried desperately not to laugh from the backseat. This wasn’t exactly the surprise, but it was leading up to it. He had to admit it wasn’t going as planned, though. Echo’s impatience and frustration were hilarious to witness, but Syx figured it wouldn’t earn him any brownie points to say so out loud.

And he really needed those brownie points for what they had planned later.

“Stop thinking so hard,” Eyce instructed from the passenger seat. “Just grip the wheel like I showed you and press lightly on the gas. Imagine you’re barefooted and using your big toe.”

“I can’t do this!” Echo sounded close to tears, and it went a long way to deflating Syx’s amusement.

Glancing over at Myst where the warrior sat across from him on the bench seat, he saw a similar look of distress on his lover’s face. “Echo, what’s wrong?”