Evans, Gabrielle - Shades of Black [Fatefully Yours 5] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (18 page)

Erebus roared loud enough to shake the walls of the cavern and send dirt and pebbles falling over Syx’s head. “Addonexus,” he snarled.

“Holy fuck, I can’t believe that worked,” Craze whispered in awe.

“It’s your freakin’ gift,” Syx argued. “What do you mean you can’t believe it worked?”

“Well, he’s a god!”

“Release me!” Erebus snarled.

Syx snapped his attention back to the task at hand. “Release the light,” he countered. As he spoke, he flipped through the god’s mind, frantically searching for anything they could use against him. “Hypnos.”

“The god of sleep?” Craze sounded confused.

“What happened to Hypnos?” Syx asked, ignoring Craze.

When Erebus didn’t answer, Syx gathered his waning strength and pushed harder, desperate to find an answer. “Hades tricked him.”

“Yes,” Erebus growled. “He turned Hypnos’s powers against him.”

“And if you helped him, he would release your son.”

“Dude, you’re a freakin’ god. Can’t you just smite him or something?”

Syx echoed Erebus’s growl. “Craze, would you shut the fuck up?” Returning his attention to the god, Syx took a deep breath. “We can help him.”

“You lie.” Erebus didn’t sound quite as snarly anymore, though. “No one can help him but me.”

“Release the light, and we can help you. Where is Hypnos?”

“He is here,” Erebus answered and managed to sound almost human. “Release him from his slumber, and I will grant you back the light.”

“We have to be able to see,” Syx argued.

“No.”

Fuck!
Syx had no desire to be alone with the angry god, but he also didn’t have a choice. “Craze, go get Echo and only Echo. Don’t let the others follow.”

“I really hate this,” Craze mumbled under his breath, but Syx felt him move away and heard his feet shuffling across the dirt floor until the sound disappeared completely.

Neither Syx nor Erebus spoke. Craze’s power had gone with him, but Erebus didn’t even try to fight back. His thoughts were tinted with sadness and focused solely on his son. Whoever said gods and goddesses didn’t love their children was full of crap.

Several long minutes passed before the sounds of footsteps reached Syx’s ears once more. Another minute, and he felt small, slim fingers wrap around his wrist. “Syx? Please tell me that’s you,” Echo whispered.

“It’s me, sweetheart. I need your help.”

“You kept your promise.” Echo sounded disbelieving.

Syx frowned into the darkness. “Don’t I always?”

“Okay, so what am I supposed to do?”

“We’re going to heal a god.”

Echo gasped and started coughing. “Are you serious?” he choked. “Here? Now? I can’t freakin’ see anything. Damn, I hate the dark.”

“Return my son to me, and I will release the light,” Erebus said quietly.

“Holy shit!” Echo yelped. “Who is that?”

“That would be Erebus, god of darkness and shadow. Hades used his son’s power against him, and Hypnos is trapped in eternal sleep. We’re going to try to wake him up.”

“And you’ll take away the dark?” Echo asked cautiously.

“You have my word.” Erebus spoke almost kindly, and Syx had to smile. It was true. No one could resist Echo.

“Okay, where is he? I’ll do my best.”

“Come forward three steps,” Erebus instructed.

Syx took Echo’s hand and did as he was told, holding his other hand out in front of him until it connected with a stone dais or table. Exploring further, his fingers encountered the warm, yielding flesh of a man. “Here, baby.” Syx moved Echo’s hand so that his rested over Hypnos’s chest and placed his on top of it. “You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Syx felt Echo’s power flow into him, a redoubling of his own, and it gripped his body like an electric shock. He’d never felt his mate’s force with such sudden intensity, and it caused his spine to stiffen and his stomach to churn.

Pushing away the nausea, Syx focused on the man before them. He’d never tried to wake anyone up before, but he thought maybe if he applied the same principle he used to put them to sleep, but in reverse, it just might work.

After half an hour of tunneling through Hypnos’s subconscious, Syx finally began to understand what the Oracle had meant about his test being one of endurance. Even with Echo’s help and added strength, Syx felt his power began to ebb, his mind and body growing weaker.

Still, he persisted, forcing back the fatigue and calling to Hypnos with his mind, trying to lure the god from his place of slumber. “Hold on,” Echo whispered, and a blast of power hit Syx so hard he actually stumbled backward half a step.

The shock cleared his mind, and Syx redirected the energy toward Hypnos. A second later, the god groaned and his hand came up to cover Syx’s where it still rested on top of Echo’s. “Zeus almighty, that fucking hurt.”

Syx eased his hand off of Hypnos’s chest, taking Echo’s with him. “He’s awake,” he said to Erebus.

Instantly, the cavern lightened, though only marginally. “It is still night time,” Erebus said almost in apology. “I’m afraid you’ll have to take that up with my wife.”

Syx found himself chuckling before he could stop it. “How is Nyx?”

“As high maintenance as ever,” Erebus answered.

“Wow, you sound kind of nice when you’re not roaring at everyone,” Echo observed.

Syx groaned, but Erebus actually chuckled as he moved to help his son into a sitting position. “The darkness has a bad reputation, I’m afraid. I can’t help what I am, little one.”

“No, I guess you can’t. I’m glad you got your son back.”

“Thank you,” Hypnos said. “We are indebted to you.”

Syx immediately began to refuse, but Echo squeezed his hand tightly. “We would appreciate your help,” he said solemnly. “The war is coming, and we cannot afford to turn away willing allies.”

“We will be by your side on the autumnal equinox,” Erebus vowed. “You are not the only ones with a debt to settle with Hades.”

“Thank you,” Syx said with a slight bow of his head.

When he looked up again, the gods had vanished.

Chapter Fourteen

Echo pressed both hands over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Jinx and Syn circled Craze, sniffing at him and rubbing themselves against him. The look on Craze’s face said he didn’t know whether to be offended or rub right back.

“You smell amazing,” Syn breathed.

“Bloody fantastic,” Jinx agreed.

“Oh, fuck me running.” Craze groaned and closed his eyes.

“We’ll fuck you any way you’ll have us,” Syn purred.

Echo finally lost it and threw his head back and roared with laughter. Oh, this was too perfect. “They’re your mates!”

“Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious.” Craze turned and growled at him, but his attention was quickly returned to the men pressed against him. “What the hell am I going to do with two vampires?”

“Love us,” Syn whispered.

“Feed us,” Jinx added.

“We can think of a few things.” Syn grabbed Craze’s hand and began pulling him toward the stairs. “We should get started right away, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, yes.” Jinx pressed at Craze’s back, urging him to hurry. “And we should practice quite often.”

“They have accents,” Craze whimpered as he went willingly with them up the stairs.

Echo laughed until he couldn’t breathe. “He’s not going to know what hit him.”

They’d arrived home that morning, but, of course, Craze hadn’t met the vampires until the sun set. It had been well worth the wait as far as Echo was concerned. And while it had been a good laugh to see the normally cocky asshole looking so thunderstruck, Echo had more important things to attend to just then.

“I’m horny,” he said in a bored voice. All seven of his men were on their feet instantly, and Eyce snatched Echo up, hauled him over his shoulder, and sprinted up the stairs.

Echo shrieked and laughed the entire way, loving his men’s eagerness. The other warriors followed close behind him, stripping out of their clothes as they went. Eyce flung open the door to Hex’s room and strode inside, flinging Echo to the mattress on his back. Before he’d even stopped bouncing, Fiero and Vapre were on him, licking, sucking and biting every inch of flesh they could reach.

Syx dove between his legs, catching Echo’s hard cock in his mouth and swallowing him to the base. Echo moaned and writhed, closing his eyes as the indescribable sensations overwhelmed him.

Two slick fingers pushed into his hole without warning, and Echo’s hips snapped up off the bed as he cried out in pleasure. His men were everywhere, and everywhere in a hurry. He’d never seen them so desperate before, and he couldn’t get enough of it. He was never going to last like this, though.

Opening his mouth to tell his lovers to slow down, a strangled groan escaped his lips instead when Syx’s fingers disappeared and something cold and blunt pressed against his hole, sliding in until the flat base rested against his ass cheeks.

“I think someone has forgotten who’s in charge here,” Fiero said with a slight growl to his tone. “Perhaps you need a little reminder.”

Echo couldn’t speak, so he said nothing and bobbed his head. Syx worked the plug in and out of his hole a few times before grabbing the base and twisting it. His mouth popped off of Echo’s cock with a naughty slurp, and Fiero and Vapre tugged him up the bed toward the headboard.

Too fast. Everything was moving too fast for Echo to keep up. When satin-covered metal looped around both wrists, he had an idea that speed had been the point. He wiggled his wrists, pulling at the handcuffs, but his arms were firmly secured to the slats above his head.

His men took turns, stroking and kissing him, pinching at his nipples, and stoking the flames inside his belly. His cock was licked and sucked, as well as his aching balls. Some played with the toy in his ass, while others ignored it completely.

No one would let him come, though. When they finally had him reduced to a pile of whimpering goo on the mattress, they all backed off and just smiled at him. “Now your punishment begins,” Fiero said.

“Begins?” Echo croaked. He didn’t know how much more he could take.

His hands were released, but only so he could be flipped to his stomach and chained again to the headboard. Vapre knelt on the bed behind him, pulling Echo’s hips up and pushing his knees under him. “This sweet little ass is going to look so nice with my handprints all over it.”

Echo moaned, burying his face in the pillow as his body trembled in anticipation. Syx stretched out on the bed beside him, but leaned away when Echo turned to kiss him. “Uh-uh, sweetheart. Watch.” He motioned toward the other side of the bed. Echo turned his head and almost wished he hadn’t.

Hex had Fiero pressed against the wall, a bruising grip on the warrior’s hips as he pounded his thick cock into Fiero’s willing ass. Myst knelt between Onyx’s splayed thighs where the demon lounged in the armchair, bobbing his head and dragging his lips along Onyx’s hard prick. Eyce’s face was buried between Myst’s muscled globes, licking and sucking at the perfect pucker.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Syx murmured softly just as Vapre’s hand landed on Echo’s upturned ass in a stinging swat. “They’re so gorgeous together. Hex has so much power, and Fiero loves every second of it. Look at his face, baby.”