Evans, Gabrielle - Shades of Black [Fatefully Yours 5] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (13 page)

“Apparently, they didn’t know who they were dealing with.” Syx chuckled, and it eased some of the tightness in Echo’s chest. “Myst froze all three of their asses, and we escorted them from the premises.”

“That sounds like a nice way of saying you kicked them out on their ears.”

“Yes, well, it was less than they deserved.” Syx paused for a moment before he continued with the story. “Craze came back once more after that, but Hex wouldn’t even let him in the door. Craze threw a fit of epic proportions, and it ended with Fiero lighting his ass on fire. He left pretty quickly after that, and as far as I know, we haven’t heard from him since.”

“Until he started calling Hex,” Echo said quietly.

“Don’t read too much into it.” Syx cradled the back of Echo’s head and began rocking them from side to side. “I have a feeling that Craze might have been prodded into making that first phone call.”

“The Oracle?”

“If she believes we need him, then yes. Little suggestions can grow into powerful ideas.”

They sat in silence for a long time, Syx continuing to rock them, and eventually Echo’s eyes drifted closed, and he fell into a surprisingly peaceful sleep.

* * * *

Syx didn’t sleep that night. He stayed awake, rocking his mate until the thin strips of light spilling into the cave began to brighten marginally. He had a bad feeling about what the day would bring.

“Syx?” Jet called from the outside.

“I’m here,” he called, wincing when Echo bolted upright in his arms. “Sorry, baby. It’s Jet.”

“Did he find Gage?”

In answer, Jet began speaking again. “We trailed Gage about three miles north of here before we lost his scent. I’m sorry, man, but we can’t find him.”

“I’m sure he’ll return now that’s it morning,” Syx called back.

“Uh, Syx,” Pax said. “Man, it’s almost two o’clock in the afternoon.”

Syx closed his eyes and groaned. He’d known it was going to be a bad day. He didn’t relish trying to explain to Mac that his lover was missing. The little guy expected his mate to return, though. There was no way he wouldn’t notice Gage’s continued absence.

Trying to decide the best course of action, Syx slid Echo out of his lap, stood, and began pacing. “Okay, guys, are you listening?”

“Yeah,” Jet answered. “Tell us what you want us to do, and we’re all over it like white on rice.”

Syx smiled a little at the shifter’s eagerness to help. “My cell phone is in my pack. Do you have it?”

“Yep, it survived,” Pax said. There was a short pause before he confirmed that he’d found Syx’s cell phone. “Man, your battery’s dead, though.”

Of course it was. There was no way that things could be easy. “Do either of you know how to drive?”

“We’ll figure it out,” Jet answered.

Syx debated for a moment, but really, what other choice did he have? “Okay, just be careful. Get the truck and take the main road west. There’s a service station on the left about ten miles down the road. Call Eyce and tell him what happened. He’ll know what to do.”

“We’re on it,” Jet promised. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

“Where are they going?” Mac asked in a quiet voice as he pushed up from the dirt into a sitting position. “Why isn’t Gage back?”

Echo jumped up and hurried over to kneel beside his friend. “Gage probably had a rough night, Mac. You know how tired it makes him to shift, and it was worse because he didn’t have you or Sony. Plus, I bet he was going out of his mind with worry about you two.”

Mac nodded slowly. “I guess that’s true.”

“He probably passed out when the sun came up. He’ll be awake any time now, and I’m sure he’ll be here just as soon as he can.”

Syx beamed with pride for his mate. Echo had handled the situation much better than he would have. Mac was calm for the moment, and hopefully would remain so until Jet returned with news from Eyce.

Now they just had to find something to occupy their time for the next few hours. Syx could think of a few things he’d like to do with his mate to distract him for a little while. Unfortunately, his ideas were not only unfair to Mac, but Syx highly doubted Echo would be agreeable to sucking him off in front of an audience.

“Instead of sitting here and playing the damsels in distress, how about we search the cave and try to find another way out,” Echo suggested.

Syx almost opened his mouth to say that he’d done just that the first night while Echo and Mac were sleeping, but if it would give them something to do to take their mind of their problems, then he’d go along quietly.

“I think that’s a great idea,” he said. “It’s pretty dark further into the cave, but that’s actually to our advantage. We’ll be able to see any kind of sunlight coming in, and maybe that will lead us to a way out.”

“Come on, Mac,” Echo said firmly. He rose to his feet, pulling Mac up with him, and turned to face Syx. “Lead the way, but don’t get too far ahead.”

Syx knew Echo was only doing this for Mac. His thoughts were screaming that he didn’t want to venture away from their limited light source. His courage and conviction to help his friend only made Syx love him more.

“Hold my hand, and Mac, you hold Echo’s. We’ll all stick together so we don’t get lost or separated.”

“I hope Eyce gets here soon,”
Echo pushed into his head.

“Everything will be fine,” Syx answered with more calm than he felt. Now, he just had to figure out a way to keep that promise.

The temperature dropped the further into the cave they trekked, but it felt different. Syx had experienced it the first night, but he’d shrugged it off as nerves. Now, however, he didn’t think it had been his imagination.

“Something isn’t right,” Echo whispered. “It’s cold, but it’s almost like it’s alive. Does that make sense?”

It did. The coldness came in patches, as though something was hovering over them, moving away and then returning. Syx kept one hand against the curving wall of the cave, feeling his way along as he pulled Echo and Mac behind him.

“This was a bad idea,” Mac said in a hushed tone. “There’s no way out. We need to turn around.”

Syx was about to agree when his hand encountered something he hadn’t noticed in his previous venture into the depths of the cavern. The walls seemed to narrow, arching up above them like a doorway. Syx followed the path with his hand, smoothing his palm over the stone as it evened out, became less bumpy.

“There’s something here,” he mumbled.

Mac screamed, barreling into them with such force that Syx toppled to the ground, ending up with both men piled on top of him. “Mac!” he chastised. “Calm down!”

“We have to go! We have to go right fucking now!”

But it was too late. Before he’d even finished yelling the words, there was the sound of rocks scraping together, and a huge boulder slid in front of the makeshift doorway.

Echo trembled, and he began to hyperventilate. “We’re trapped.”

* * * *

“Can we tie him up now?” Myst demanded. “Man, something is really wrong with Echo. I don’t know how I’m feeling it, but it’s like I want to crawl out of my damn skin. I don’t know what happened, and Eyce said he hasn’t heard a word from any of them since he dropped off the truck. I don’t like this.”

Hex could feel it too, and it worried him a lot more than he let on. They’d never felt Echo’s emotions before, so he could only assume it meant big trouble for their little mate. He knew Syx would keep Echo safe, but if something had happened to Syx as well…

“Get on the phone and call Eyce. Tell him and Onyx to get their asses out there. Syn and Jinx are just going to have to look after themselves for now.”

“On it,” Vapre replied and immediately dug in his pocket for his cell phone.

“Fiero, you get the rope,” Hex ordered next. He was tired of bending over backward to try to get Craze to come with them. It was time for a more forceful hand.

Myst rubbed his hands together eagerly as Fiero jogged across the living room and out the front door. “Now we’re talking. Though, I still don’t know how we’re going to shove him in the trunk when we don’t have one.”

Hex rolled his eyes and smacked Myst in the back of the head. “Would you focus? I need you to go subdue the jerkwad.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Myst gave him a sarcastic salute and sauntered toward the kitchen where Craze was busy preparing dinner.

“Hey, Myst, how’s it going?” Craze asked in a friendly tone. “I hope you’re hungry. I’m making—hey! What the hell are you do—” Then the only sound was Myst’s laughter.

“Hey, boss man, I’m getting pretty good at this!” he yelled. “I actually got his mouth closed when I froze him.”

Myst’s excitement was contagious, and Hex found himself laughing along. “Well, let’s hope you froze his bones. Drag his ass in here. We gotta get on the road.”

There was a loud thud, and Myst backed into the room, pulling Craze along by his feet.

Hex rolled his eyes and snorted. “I didn’t mean to literally drag him.”

“Yeah, well, he weighs a freakin’ ton. How else was I supposed to get him in here?”

Fiero stepped in through the front door, holding up the long cord of rope. “This is fun. We should definitely do this more often.”

He and Myst set to work binding Craze while Vapre came back into the room, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. “Eyce and Onyx are on their way, along with Sony. They should be there in a couple of hours.”

“Okay, load up and let’s move. If we all take shifts and drive straight through, plus the time difference, we can be there by late tomorrow night.”

Myst and Fiero hoisted Craze into the air and carried him through the front door, accidently on purpose banging his head into the doorframe a few times. “Oops,” Fiero said around his snicker. “Sorry about that, dude.”

“I still say it would be better if we had a trunk. I mean isn’t that what real kidnappers do? Maybe we should find another car so we’re authentic.”

Hex growled. “Myst, would you knock it off? Just let it go, man.”

“I’m just saying,” Myst mumbled as he popped open the hatchback, and he and Fiero tossed Craze inside none too gently. “The backity-back is great and all, but a trunk would be perfect.”

Vapre and Fiero reached out at the same time to cuff him in the back of the head. “Stop being a dipshit and get in the fucking car.” Fiero gave Myst a shove in the shoulder to get him going. “I’ll take the first driving shift.”

Hex slid into the passenger seat and slapped the dashboard with his palm. “Drive like hell, man.”

Fiero smirked as he started up the engine. “You came to the right place.” Throwing the SUV into reverse, he zoomed out of the driveway and threw the transmission into drive, peeling out as he floored the accelerator. “Hold on to your asses, ladies.”

Chapter Eleven

“It was a trap,” Syx said in disgust with himself. The entire thing had been perfectly designed and executed to trap him inside the depths of the cave. “A fucking trap, and I walked right into it.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Echo whispered. “How long will Mac be out?”

“For a while.” Three minutes after the boulder had slid into place, Mac had completely wigged, and Syx had been forced to put him to sleep.

“Ares did this, didn’t he?”