Their leader just shrugged. “We waited until they were bringing everyone out to load them into the helicopters. Fiero blew the damn thing up. Myst froze the guards and grabbed these two.” He waved a hand at Sony and Mac. “It was almost too easy.”
“Like how I just walked out?” Echo asked.
“Well, not quite that easy. We did get shot at, but it wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be at all.”
“The Oracle,” several voices mumbled at the same time.
“But why did she want you to rescue them in the first place?” Syx crossed his arms over his broad chest. “And why not the others?”
“We have a theory about that.”
Everyone looked at Myst, who in turned looked at Fiero. Fiero glared at the warrior, but addressed the room. “They have powers. Gage is a werewolf. I think either we’re going to find others, or they’re going to find us before this is all said and done.”
“It seems this war is going to be a lot bigger than any of us anticipated,” Myst added.
“It would seem we’re going to need a little help.” Onyx gestured toward the threesome across from him.
“Like an army?” Echo shivered at the implications. Just how many more would join them? How many more did they need?
Hex bobbed his head in confirmation. “Exactly like an army.”
“Are they all going to stay here? Do we have enough room?”
Eyce chuckled, tugging at the ends of Echo’s hair. “We have four empty bedrooms, and two storage rooms we can convert if we need more space. I think we have it covered.”
Echo shrugged. “Well, I think we need to start stocking up on supplies. We’re going to have a lot of mouths to feed, clothe, and keep clean.”
“I’m not cooking,” Myst said at once.
“Me either,” Syx and Onyx said at the same time.
“I’m not doing laundry either,” Myst added.
“We’ll divide up the chores, and everyone will rotate.” Echo sighed in exasperation. “Sound fair?”
“No,” Myst answered immediately. “I’m a warrior. I’ll slay the dragons. You can cook them.”
“You’re right. You can’t cook anyway.”
“Hey! I can cook!”
“Right. Sorry.” Echo pretended to think it over for a minute. “What I meant to say is that you can’t cook anything edible.”
Myst stood from the table, glared at Echo, then stomped over to the cabinets where he began assembling ingredients on the counter. He paused in the act of opening the refrigerator and turned to look at Echo in astonishment.
Echo just grinned back innocently. “Yes?”
Myst snorted and shook his head. “You suck.”
Chapter Eleven
Sitting at the edge of the small pond, Eyce held his hands up in front of him, turning them one way and then the other. The moonlight ghosted through the trees, the lunar crescent reflected off the surface of the dark water.
The wind shifted directions, wafting the pungent odor toward him and causing him to gag as his stomach churned in revulsion. He heard the footsteps approaching, and closed his eyes as small hands landed on his shoulders.
“Nothing?”
“I don’t know what to do, Echo.”
His mate moved around to sit on the cold ground beside him and leaned against his shoulder. “What all have you tried?”
“I tried separating the water.” Eyce opened his eyes and lifted a hand, watching as a wall of water rose up before them. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, trying to push the water to one side and the foulness to the other.
Nothing happened. The wall shifted to the left then to the right, but never separated. Sighing in defeat he dropped his hand, and the water fell back to the pond with a splash. “See?”
“What else?”
“What else is there? I’ve tried freezing it.” Eyce waved his hand again, a thin layer of ice forming on the top of the water. “That doesn’t do anything. When it melts, it’ll be just the same as if I never touched it.”
“What about draining the pond?”
“The water has to go somewhere, Echo. Where do suggest I put it?”
Echo bit his lip, his nose scrunching as he stared out over the moonlit water. “Can you evaporate it?”
Eyce opened his mouth to deny he could do such a thing, but stopped and pressed his lips together. “I would probably need Fiero and Vapre’s help, but it’s possible.” Then he frowned, a sigh bubbling up in his chest. “Only for the smaller ponds, though. We can’t evaporate the lakes or the bigger ponds.”
“Okay, then we get some sleep and regroup tomorrow. We bring everyone with us tomorrow night and put our heads together on this.”
Eyce admired his lover’s determination, but he just couldn’t match his optimistic outlook. Still, with no other alternative, he had little choice but to agree. At this point, he welcomed any course of action as long as they were doing something.
Sighing, he pushed to his feet and held a hand out to help Echo up as well. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, but I really haven’t done anything. I wish I could be more help.”
“I know, baby. I wish I could, too. This is supposed to be my test, and I’m seeing a big fat F on my report card right now.” He held on to Echo’s hand, leading him back through the trees and to the safety of the house. “Why are you out here alone?”
“Don’t worry. Hex walked me to the tree line. I don’t exactly like this whole chaperone thing, but I understand the need to stick together.” Echo shrugged. “If it makes you guys feel better, I can live with it.”
Lifting his mate’s hand to his mouth, Eyce brushed a soft kiss over his knuckles and smiled. “It does make us feel better. Thank you for understanding.”
“Hey, Eyce?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, Echo.”
“See, it gets easier every time, huh?”
Eyce arched an eyebrow. “I suppose it does. Why do you say that?”
“Just wondering when you’re going to tell the rest of the guys you love them.” Echo spoke nonchalantly, but Eyce could hear the concern in his lover’s voice.
“I do love them. I have for a long time. We’re just not very good with words and feelings.”
“You seem to do okay with me.”
“Like Syx says, you make it easy.”
Echo was silent for several minutes as they continued walking toward their destination. When he finally spoke, his words came slowly, as though he weighed each one carefully. “You’re worried that the others will think you’re weak if you tell them how you feel, but you don’t have to worry about that with me.”
“Yes,” Eyce answered quietly. “More than that, I worry that the feelings are not returned. I know they care about me, and that’s enough. We were created as guardians and protectors. Love and devotion weren’t supposed to be part of the plan.”
“How did that happen? I mean, when did you all realize that you felt more for each other than just brothers in arms?”
“Demons or not, we’re still men, Echo. We have needs, itches that need to be scratched. Locked together in Tartarus, we turned to each other to fulfill those needs. It wasn’t until we escaped the Underworld and started trying to build a life on the surface that it became anything more than sex and a mutual respect.”
“So, you were kind of gay by necessity?”
Eyce chuckled as he pushed aside a low-hanging limb for Echo to pass under. “I never looked at it that way. I honestly can’t say if I would have preferred women to men. I only know that I prefer my men. We have a very unconventional relationship, but it works for us. Although I share my bed and body with seven men, I would never go outside of our relationship. It feels…wrong.”
“Like cheating.” Echo nodded his head firmly. “I feel the same way. The thought of any of you touching someone outside of our circle makes my stomach hurt. Is that normal?”
“I feel t
he same way, but who am I to say what’s normal?”
“We’re not going to invite anyone else in though, right?”
“No, baby. No one else.”
* * * *
Fiero leaned against the back porch post, watching Eyce and Echo cross the field behind the house. Their clasped hands swayed between them as the strolled leisurely toward him. They didn’t seem to be talking, but they smiled at each other often, and Fiero watched as Eyce lifted Echo’s hand and pressed his lips to it.
They looked beautiful together. Echo’s hair appeared almost white in the moonlight, and his creamy skin looked paler than usual. The wind drifted through Eyce’s ebony hair, lifting it from his shoulders to fan out behind him. He looked almost ethereal, like one of the gods of Olympus.
The pair gazed up as they approached the house, and Fiero tensed, waiting for their reaction when the saw him standing there. Eyce’s smile stretched across his face, and he lifted a hand in greeting before bending close to their mate and whispering something in his ear.
Echo nodded eagerly then released Eyce’s hand and bounded across the remaining space until he was close enough to leap into Fiero’s arms. Fiero caught him with a grunt, lifting him up until Echo’s slim legs wrapped around his waist.
“Hey,” Echo whispered.
Fiero smiled, one hand gripping Echo’s firm bottom and the other drifting up into his golden hair. “Hey, back.”
“I have a secret.” Echo batted his eyelashes.
“And do I get to know this secret?” Fiero whispered again Echo’s lips. The man just seemed to draw out his sappy side. The little runt was going to kill his reputation as an antisocial badass. He really couldn’t bring himself to care.
“Maybe. What’s it worth to you?”
“Whatever you want, baby.”
The smile slid from Echo’s face, and he suddenly became very serious. “Do you like how things are?”
Fiero’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “Sure, I have no complaints.”
“Do you want to be with someone else?”
Oh! Now he understood. “Never,” he assured his mate.
“Do you think Eyce is hot?”
“Absolutely.”
“And me?”
“Without a doubt.”
“The others?”
Fiero chuckled and placed a quick kiss on Echo’s lips. “Yes. I think my men are gorgeous.”
“Do you like the color blue?”
“Eh, I guess.” Okay, this conversation was getting strange again.
“Just yes or no.”
“Yes.”
“What about eggs?”
“Yes.” Fiero was growing more confused by the minute. Why was Echo asking all these weird questions when they could be playing tonsil hockey instead?
“Hot showers?”
“Yes.”
“Blow jobs?”
“Yes.” Who didn’t like blow jobs?
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.” Fiero’s eyes widened and his mouth hung open in shock. “You little shit!”
Echo didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed. He just smiled sweetly and shrugged. “Do you love the others?”
Fiero pressed his lips together, unwilling to take the game any further.
Echo sighed. “Fine. Do you still want to know the secret?”
Fiero squinted his eyes in suspicion. “No more tricks?”
“Nope.” Echo used his pointer finger to draw an X over his heart. He glanced over his shoulder, and Fiero followed his gaze to where Eyce still stood in the field, giving them a moment alone. Then he turned back and smiled brightly before pressing his lips to Fiero’s ear. “I love you, too,” he whispered.
His eyes burned and a lump formed in his throat. Before he could make a complete ass out of himself, Fiero fisted his hand in Echo’s hair, pulling his head back far enough to claim his mouth in a possessive kiss.
Fiero kissed Echo with everything he had, pouring ever last ounce of the emotions into the kiss that he could put into words. His mate wound around him, clutching at his shoulders and whimpering as he rocked his growing erection against Fiero’s abs. Gods, he loved those sounds.
When the need for oxygen finally became too much, Fiero eased out of the kiss, pecking Echo’s lips once, twice, a third time. “I…I…” Why was it so hard to say the words? They were right there on the tip of his tongue.
Echo just grinned and wiggled until Fiero sat him on his feet then bounced up the stairs toward the back door. “I’m hungry,” he called over his shoulder before he disappeared inside the kitchen.
Stronger fingers gripped his shoulder, and Fiero glanced back to see Eyce smiling like an idiot. “Don’t worry. It gets easier.”
“I guess so. I mean, it was right there, and I wanted to tell him, but…wait! How do you know?”
Eyce grinned impishly. “I got the first one.” Then he pushed past Fiero and climbed the stairs to slip in through the back door.
“I still got the first kiss,” Fiero called before realizing how childish he sounded. Chuckling at himself and at Eyce, he shook his head and jogged up the steps after his men. It didn’t matter what order Echo had said it in, only that he’d said it.
Slipping in through the back door, Fiero paused just inside the kitchen and watched the men moving around the room. They laughed and smiled, pushing and shoving at each other as they joked about one thing or another.
Myst and Hex were standing over the stove, watching something boil in a large pot that smelled like heaven. Vapre, Syx, Eyce, and Onyx were rolling around the floor, wrestling like a bunch of puppies. Apparently, Eyce had gotten his ass jumped the minute he’d walked through the door.
Echo sat in one of the kitchen chairs, watching the scene, much the same as Fiero. He looked up, their eyes met, and Echo held his hand out, palm up, gesturing toward the warriors. Fiero didn’t need it spelled out for him. He understood perfectly what Echo was asking him.
Though he wasn’t ready to just lay his heart on the table, he could at least be honest with Echo. “Yes,” he whispered.
Echo just smirked and nodded as though he’d known all along, but simply wanted to hear the words from Fiero’s mouth. “Don’t wait too long to tell them.”
“Tell us what?” Eyce’s question trailed off into a loud grunt when Syx’s elbow caught him in the rib. “Asshole,” he grumbled, pushing the man away with a palm to his face.
“That Echo likes me best,” Fiero deadpanned. “We’re running off to Fiji, and Echo’s going to have my baby.”
Water sprayed from Echo’s mouth, and he began coughing as he set the glass he’d been drinking from on the table. “What?” he gasped then started coughing again.
“Nice try, man.” Eyce stood to his full height and puffed out his chest. “Everyone knows he likes me best.”
“No fucking way, dickhead. He likes me best,” Myst said and shoved Eyce with enough force to send him stumbling into the counter.
“You’re all full of shit.” Hex smoothed a hand down his thin cotton shirt. “Echo would pick me over any of you.”
They bickered back and forth good-naturedly, and Fiero sighed in relief. Echo wouldn’t let him hide forever, but at least he had a little more time to work up to the pledges of love and devotion.
Chapter Twelve
“Okay, we’ve tried everything!” Echo stomped up and down the edge of the pond. “What are we missing?”
Eyce sat on the ground, the unseasonably warm air drifting over his face, and sighed. “If I knew what we were missing, it wouldn’t be missing, would it?”
“There’s no reason to be a dick. I’m trying to help.” Echo stopped his pacing to turn and cross his arms as he glared at Eyce.
Pushing to his feet with a grunt, Eyce ignored Echo’s comment and walked past him to crouch down on the edge of the pond. “It’s not algae like we originally thought. It’s not blood. It’s not pollution, toxins, or iron. No one can figure out what it is, and I h
aven’t the slightest clue.”
He dipped his fingers in the water, flicking at the cool water. “It looks almost like syrup, but it doesn’t feel sticky or slimy. It’s like someone dunked a big red cloud in the water and it just got stuck there.”
“People are dying!” Echo shouted.
Closing his eyes, Eyce dropped his head as he battled to hold on to his anger and frustration. Nine days since the new moon, and he may as well been banging his head against a wall for all the progress he was making.
He’d heard the news reports over the last week, but he didn’t see how the two were connected. “Those people drowned, Echo. How is that related to this?” He snapped his wrist, sending droplets of water splashing over the surface of the pond.
“I don’t know,” Echo growled. “Doesn’t it seem a little odd to you? The water turns red, then all these people suddenly start drowning—only in the affected ponds and lakes.”
“Fighting amongst ourselves isn’t going to solve this.”
Standing and wiping his hand on his jeans, Eyce turned to face their leader. “Maybe we’re looking at this wrong. We’ve been searching out natural phenomenon, but this is Hades were dealing with here.”
“I’ve considered that.” Syx scratched at the back of neck as he spoke. “Those people didn’t just drown, Eyce. They were chewed and gnawed on.” He grimaced and shook his head. “Echo,” he called, “tell me about the dream you had right before Christmas. The one with the Oracle.”
“Just that it felt like I was drowning, like something was pulling me under the water. There was this awful smell that made me want to gag. It was kind of like dead fish, I guess. I could see everyone, but it no one could see or hear me.”
“Dead fish, drowning, being pulled under the water,” Syx mumbled under his breath as he started pacing. “Anything else?” he called to Echo.
“Not that I can remember.” Echo shrugged. “I remember feeling like someone was pushing on my back, right between my shoulder blades, like they wanted me to bow. I don’t really see how that’s helpful, though.”
Eyce’s head snapped up, and he stared at his mate as the pieces began to fall into place. “Echo, come here,” he said quietly, but firmly. “Get away from the water.”
Evans, Gabrielle - Upon Crimson Waters [Fatefully Yours 2] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) Page 11