Pax flushed, but smiled in return. “Anytime, love.”
Syx laughed under his breath. Okay, so at least he’d been right about one thing. Not only were the shifters heating up the sheets, they cared about each other. He didn’t know if it was love, and it wasn’t really any of his business, but there was a deep bond there, nonetheless.
“So, what are we doing today?” Echo asked around a yawn. “Well, after I get to shrivel my balls off in the fucking stream. I really wish I had thought that through before I ended up with cum dripping down my thighs.”
Pax and Jet roared with laughter, falling against each other and hugging their sides. “Why do you think we went with blow jobs?” Jet gasped.
“Yeah, well, you didn’t have four horny men to please, either,” Echo countered with an arched eyebrow.
Jet continued to laugh, but nodded. “Point taken.”
“Well, I have an idea of how to find this cave. I can’t guarantee it will work, but it’s worth a shot.” Everyone sobered immediately and turned to look at Syx. He fought not to fidget under the scrutiny. With Hex gone, and Eyce at home, the leadership fell to him. It wasn’t a role he assumed often, and he hated having everyone waiting for his next command.
“So, let’s hear it,” Echo prodded. “What’s the plan?”
“I’m going to try to look inside Pax’s and Jet’s minds. Even if they don’t remember how to get to the cave, maybe something in their memories will give us a clearer idea of where to begin our search.”
Echo beamed at him. “That’s a brilliant idea.”
Syx dipped his head in gratitude before addressing the shifters. “Do you think if you shifted that maybe you could scent out the place? I know it’s been a while, and it’s snowed twice since then, but maybe you can pick up something.”
Jet and Pax looked at each other then back up to Syx. “Yeah, we can try,” Pax answered slowly. “Just don’t freak, okay?”
“You’ve said that before.” Echo stepped in front of Syx and cocked his head to the side. “Why do you keep saying that? I’m mated to a bunch of freakin’ demons. Why would I freak?”
“Because we’re not regular wolves,” Jet answered. “We’re really big fucking wolves, and we just don’t want you to be scared of us. We’re completely sentient when we shift, and we would never hurt any of you.”
“I never thought you would.” Echo fisted his hands on his hips and chuckled. “You worry too much. Believe me, I’ve seen weirder, and I haven’t cracked yet.”
Syx bit his tongue, but he couldn’t help wondering how much longer it would be before Echo finally broke under the strain. The mind could only take so much before it rebelled and shut down completely.
Hopefully, they’d find the answers to this mess before that happened to his mate.
Chapter Eight
Echo sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know what to do. It’s been three days, and we still haven’t found anything. We’re trying, but it’s just not working.”
“You seek in the wrong places.”
“Funny enough, I figured that on my own, thank you.”
The Oracle laughed softly. “You misunderstand. You seek in misguided places to discover the answers you want.” She pressed her palm to Echo’s chest, just over his heart. “You are blinded by your jealousy.”
“I don’t want him here,” Echo growled. “I will not let Craze just strut in here and take what belongs to me.”
“Nor would I expect that of you. He will be valuable, however. His powers are far reaching and in tune with the perils you will face.”
“Then why can’t you just bring him here like the others? Why does Hex have to go after him?” Echo fisted his hands on his hips and kicked at the thick grass like a petulant child. “He shouldn’t have left.”
“Your lover has many troubles,” the Oracle answered softly. “It is not always easy to be accountable for others. I cannot interfere with free will. I can lead them, but I cannot force them to follow.” She sounded sad as she spoke.
Echo didn’t like how it tugged at his heart, so he changed the subject. “What about Syx? We don’t even know what the task is, let alone how to win.”
“Skill with a shield and sword are not the only useful abilities in battle,” the Oracle answered cryptically. “Syx will prove himself in other ways.”
“Great, but we still have no idea what’s coming.” Echo threw his hands up in frustration and began pacing through the flowers. “Why won’t you help us?” He practically screamed the words, and his chest rose and fell rapidly as he struggled to control his anger. “If you have nothing helpful to offer, then just leave us the fuck alone!”
The minute the words left his mouth, dark clouds began to swirl in the sky, blotting out the sun and sending the temperatures plummeting. A strong wind whipped his hair around his face, and chill bumps broke out over his bare arms.
Crap! When would he learn to keep his stupid mouth shut? The last thing he needed was to piss off the Oracle. Spinning around with an apology on the tip of his tongue, Echo gasped when he found himself surrounded by a ring of fire.
As in his other dreams, he stood on the fringes, as though looking through a window to the picture within. The Oracle stood in the center of the circle as always, the warriors gathered around her. There were four missing, though. Syx, Eyce, and Onyx didn’t move closer together, however, making the empty spaces where their loves should have been only more apparent.
Only Echo seemed to notice the absence of Hex, Fiero, Myst, and Vapre. He didn’t know what it meant, but it made his gut clench and churn.
Lightning sizzled overhead, and thunder cracked loud enough to vibrate Echo’s teeth. There had never been a storm before. There was something very wrong with this dream, and Echo wanted out.
The Oracle didn’t tip her head back or hold her arms out wide. She didn’t speak in that strong, robotic monotone. She looked directly at Echo, her eyes flashing with a mystical light as her long hair fanned out around her, making her look like a great and angry sea goddess.
“Crops will shrivel, and beasts shall scatter their worries,” the Oracle said clearly, precisely. “The sun will fall.” The lightning instantly ceased and it became even darker in the clearing. “And the moon will bleed.”
“I get it, okay?” This was creeping him the hell out, and he just wanted to wake up.
“Your enemies shall seek out the heart, laying waste to the ones born of the first.” The Oracle paused and tilted her head to the side. “Nurture and protect your sacred bond with your very lives.” She smiled, but it lacked any warmth.
“I’m sorry,” Echo whispered, because he didn’t know what else to say.
The Oracle dipped her head, and in the next second, they had returned to the warm, summery field with lush green grass and bright blue skies. “You are not protecting your bond,” she said quietly. “Unless you find a way to come together, you will fail.”
Echo was still trying to tame his racing pulse while the Oracle looked like nothing more exciting had happened than a little rain. “I don’t know what that means,” he admitted.
“Then you must learn. Your lovers’ struggles are your struggles. Find a way, Echo.”
A picture flashed inside his mind of Hex arguing with some faceless person. The vein in his forehead looked like it would explode any second.
“His mission has proved less fruitful than he had hoped,” the Oracle said softly.
“Their struggles are mine,” Echo muttered under his breath, “but not just mine. A way to come together…” His head snapped up, and he narrowed his eyes at the woman standing in front of him. “I know what to do. Send me back.”
She smiled kindly and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. “I knew you would, my dear Echo. Show them the way.”
Echo chuckled and bobbed his head. “Oh, I intend to do more than that. Trust me, they won’t know what hit them.”
The Oracle laughed as well and stepped away, clasping her hands
together in front of her. “Go and fight for what is rightfully yours.”
* * * *
“Now, darlin’, I have t’ say that’s not my problem.” Craze smiled wildly, his arms hanging loosely at his sides, the complete picture of ease.
Hex’s head pounded, and his hands clenched into fists and relaxed repeatedly. He could only imagine how many different shades of red his face had turned in the last ten minutes. If he were human, his rising blood pressure would have already caused a stroke. “You selfish, arrogant, egotistical bastard,” he said icily. “You think it’s easy for me to come here and ask for your help?”
“I’m guessin’ not. I can appreciate your position, but I’m not seein’ how it’s my problem. I have a nice life here, sugar. Why would I give that up?”
“Why do you talk like that?” Craze’s slow southern drawl was grating on Hex’s nerves. It was nothing like the way the man had talked when he’d lived with them.
“Spent a lotta time in the south, now haven’ I?” Craze arched his eyebrow and shifted on his feet. “After a few hun’red years, you just pick it up.”
“Well, stop it. It’s pissing me off.”
“Hex, what do you want from me?” Craze asked, dropping the accent completely. “What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know. You’re the one that’s been calling me! I thought maybe you’d think about someone besides yourself for a change!”
“I’ve been calling because I thought we could get reacquainted. Now, I find out you have a mate that you share between the seven of you?” Craze frowned and shook his head. “It should have been me.”
“So, you’re just going to let innocent people die because you’re jealous?”
Craze eyed him for a long time. “You look like shit. Obviously, your mate isn’t taking very good care of you.” He looked over his shoulder and waved a hand toward the sofa. “Take a nap, and we’ll talk when you’re rested. We won’t get anywhere if you just keep shouting at me.”
Hex opened his mouth to say something scathing when his cell phone began to vibrate in his pocket. Digging it out, his heart seized in his chest when he saw Myst’s name on the display screen. Fuck! Something was wrong. He knew he shouldn’t have left. Oh, gods, he would never forgive himself.
With shaky fingers he flipped open the phone and pressed it to his ear. “Myst? What’s wrong?”
“Hey, boss man,” Myst greeted jovially. “How you feeling?”
“I’ve been better,” Hex answered in confusion. “What’s going on?”
“Well, we’re on our way there, but we need to know where there is.”
Hex growled and squeezed the phone so hard he actually heard the plastic creak. “You are not coming here.”
There was some mumbling on the other end of the line before Fiero spoke into the phone. “Get your head out of your ass and shut up. Echo said to head south, but that’s as much as we know. Now, either tell us where you are, or we’ll find you the hard way. The hard way means it’ll take longer, and we don’t exactly have time to spare.”
Craze looked like someone had told him Christmas was coming early. “Quitman, just west of Valdosta,” he called loudly.
“I still hate the fuck,” Fiero grumbled. “We’ll be there in two days. Later, man.” Then the line went dead.
Hex roared and only barely refrained from launching his cell phone across the room. He pointed a finger in Craze’s face and snarled. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t fucking leave.”
Craze smiled innocently. “Wouldn’ dream of it, sugar.”
* * * *
“You did what?” Syx closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as though it would help the anger flaring inside him. He honestly couldn’t remember a time he’d ever been angry with Echo, but apparently, there was a first time for everything.
“I sent Fiero, Myst, and Vapre to help Hex,” Echo repeated clearly.
“I heard you.” Syx growled and kept his back to Echo. “Why the hell would you do something like that?”
“Because he needs their help.” Echo spoke as if Syx was slow and dim-witted. “Why are you so mad?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Syx finally turned and crossed his arms over his chest as he surveyed his mate. “Maybe because Hex didn’t want anyone to go with him. Because you sent them off without even consulting me about it. Because Hex can take care of himself while we need all the fucking help we can get here!”
Echo crossed his arms as well, mirroring Syx’s stance. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that I needed to ask permission. I had a little conversation with the Oracle, and she made me realize a few things. The most important thing being that we don’t have just a whole lot of freakin’ time. I did what I thought was right.” Get over it, his tone implied.
“You spoke with the Oracle? Were you even going to tell me?”
“When was I supposed to do that exactly? You come storming through the trees, yelling like a maniac about the damn car being missing. Then you flip out when I tell you why. During what part of your little meltdown was I supposed to mention the Oracle?”
Echo had him there, so Syx changed tactics. “What happens if there’s an emergency? How the hell are we supposed to get out of here without a car?”
“Eyce is bringing Gage’s pickup. He’s going to leave it where we first made camp, and Onyx will follow to take him back.”
Syx blinked at him stupidly. “Do you want to run that by me again? Not only did you send Fiero, Vapre, and Myst off to Georgia, you’re bringing Eyce out here?”
“Well, you just said that we need a ve—” Echo cut off midsentence, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “How did you know Craze was in Georgia?”
Syx opened his mouth, but no words came out.
“We didn’t know where he was, or where Hex had gone. How did you know, Syx?”
A dozen different lies flittered through his brain, but in the end, he just couldn’t bring himself to speak them. With a heavy sigh, he let his arms drop to his sides and dropped his head to rest his chin against his chest. “I looked him up before we left.”
“Why?”
Syx shrugged. He didn’t have a good answer for that. The reminder of their old flame ate away at his curiosity until he’d snuck into the office and did a quick search on Jacob Craven, the name Craze had always used with humans.
“Why?” Echo repeatedly icily.
Syx still didn’t answer.
“Do you still love him?”
“I never loved him,” Syx spat. The sincerity in his words must have shown, because Echo seemed to deflate a little. Well, at least he didn’t look like he wanted to claw Syx’s eyes out anymore. Syx sighed and pushed a hand through his sandy blond hair. “I don’t know what to tell you, babe. I’d like to say that I did it to get an idea of how long it would take him to get here. The truth is, I just wondered where he’d ended up.”
They stared at each other for a long time, neither saying a word. Eventually, Echo’s shoulders slumped, and he made a noise halfway between a growl and a groan. Syx bit his tongue to keep from smiling. He should probably feel bad, but it amused him to no end that Echo could never stay mad at any of them.
“Okay, I want to hear the whole story about Craze—how you met, why you let him stick around for so long if you didn’t want him, and everything about him leaving.” He glared at Syx, making it obvious there would be no getting out of the conversation. “Right now, we have more important things to do, though. It’s been three days, and we still can’t find the cave. You’ve looked into Pax’s and Jet’s minds, and it didn’t work. It’s time for them to shift.”
“You’re right.” At that point, Echo could have said the sky was green, and Syx would have agreed just to stay in his mate’s good graces. “We’ll talk to them as soon as they’re back.”
“Back? Where did they go?”
Syx started laughing. “Shriveling their balls off in the stream.”
Echo considered this for a minut
e then began laughing as well. “Cum dripping down their thighs?” he managed to gasp out.
Syx couldn’t speak, but he nodded his head enthusiastically.
“Oh, that’s priceless. Dirty little hypocrites, I hope their dicks turn blue.”
“Well, have no fear, our peckers are still intact, though not so impressive in size for the experience,” Jet called cheerily as he emerged from the tree line. Pax followed right behind him, looking a lot less happy than his companion.
Jet and Echo snickered as they high-fived and teased Pax mercilessly. The poor guy looked like his entire face would go up in flames.
“Okay, you two, knock it off and leave the man alone.” Syx rolled his eyes and huffed when his mate and Jet simply ignored him. Stepping closer to Pax, Syx bent so he could whisper in the shifter’s ear. “Maybe they need a little bite in the ass to teach them some manners.”
Pax looked confused for a minute before his expression cleared and his eyes lit up. He bobbed his head a few times and began stripping out of his clothes. Echo and Jet were too wrapped up in their self-amusement to even notice.
They certainly took notice when Pax shifted and began to growl at them, though. Jet groaned and closed his eyes, while Echo yelped and fell on his ass in his hurry to back away from the massive beast.
Echo stared up at the wolf in shock, his mouth hanging open like a guppy. Syx started laughing as he scratched behind Pax’s ear. It was good for his mate to learn a little respect.
Pax let out several huffing noises that sounded suspiciously like laughter. Syx couldn’t blame him.
Echo pointed up to Pax, shaking his head back and forth. “That is not a wolf. It’s a fucking bear with a tail.”
“I did tell you we were big,” Jet mumbled.
Big didn’t begin to describe it. Echo wasn’t far off in his assessment. On all fours, Pax’s shoulders rose even with Syx’s chest, his furry body packed with muscle that made him look like a bodybuilder on steroids.
Evans, Gabrielle - Shades of Black [Fatefully Yours 5] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) Page 7