He wished he didn’t have to have an audience for what he was about to do, but it couldn’t be helped. His pride and insecurities could go to hell if this is what it took to save his mate. He stroked Echo’s cheek with the pad of his thumb and tried to smile. The attempt was weak and fake, but he did manage to part his lips in a shaky imitation.
“Echo, you’re putting us all in danger. If you can’t fight this, you’ll have to leave.” The words tasted sour on his tongue, but he needed to be sure his angel could hear him. Ignoring the gasps and growls of the other men in the room, Vapre continued. “Do you want to leave us?”
“You fight dirty,” Echo murmured, and he began to shudder violently as some of the sapphire color returned to his eyes.
“There you are.” Vapre pulled Echo to him, kissing his lips slow and tender. “Come back to me, baby,” he breathed. “I love you, Echo. Come back to us.”
Echo cried out, his body going rigid though he continued to shake as he fell forward into Vapre’s arms. Vapre held the smaller man to his chest, running his fingers through Echo’s damp hair and nuzzling the top of his head with his cheek. “I love you,” he whispered repeatedly, chanting the words like a magical spell.
Echo continued to convulse as he screamed and wailed until his voice sounded raw and abused.
The demons moved as a unit, surrounding Vapre and Echo, wrapping their strong arms around them and whispering words of, maybe not love, but caring and devotion. If this had been a movie, Vapre guessed this is where they’d cue the dramatic music and dim the lights. Tension buzzed around them, filling the air with an electrical charge and building up to something explosive.
So when Echo finally quieted and sagged limp and unconscious against Vapre, he found it to be a little anti-climactic. “Is it over?” he asked uncertainly.
Syx pulled Vapre around to face him and rested their foreheads together. “He’s sleeping, dreaming about pumpkin pie of all things.” Syx chuckled at this. “Echo is broadcasting louder than usual, especially since he’s asleep, but there’s no one else in his head with him.”
Before Vapre could express his relief, Myst disentangled himself from the group, jumped to his feet, and sprinted for the door.
“Where the hell are you going?” Hex called after him.
Myst popped his head back into the room and grinned from ear to ear. “To make a pumpkin pie.”
* * * *
Echo licked the last of the gooey goodness from his fork and set it on his plate. “That was amazing. I was having a dream about pumpkin pie.”
“We know.” Syx smiled so huge, Echo thought the demon’s face would split in two. He snatched the plate out of Echo’s hand and set it on the nightstand beside the bed. “How are you feeling?” he asked seriously.
“Tired,” Echo answered honestly. “But I think that’s a good thing, right? I feel weak and shaky, a little cold, and I have a headache, but other than that, I feel like myself.”
All of his men huddled around him on the bed, staring at him with a mix of relief and worry. “You scared the hell out of me,” Fiero whispered into Echo’s ear. “Don’t do it again.”
Echo rolled his eyes and bumped Fiero with his shoulder. It wasn’t like he’d meant to be possessed. He wasn’t sure if that’s exactly what had happened, but it seemed close enough. He didn’t say anything, though. He knew Fiero wasn’t really chastising him. The man had been afraid, and big, macho demons did not scare easily.
“Do you think it will happen again?” Onyx asked quietly, and the atmosphere instantly sobered.
“I think we need to go back to that clearing in the woods,” Hex said equally as quiet. “There’s something out in those trees that is obviously a threat to us.”
As much as Echo wanted to deny the obvious, as much as he wanted to beg and plead for his mates to stay home where it was safe, he didn’t. Home wasn’t safe anymore. The enemy had infiltrated their sanctuary, and Echo was pissed. “You’re right,” he agreed to everyone’s astonishment. “The Oracle said that we will have to defeat the evil to succeed in our tasks. Of course, I never know what the crap she’s talking about, but that seems pretty clear to me. So when do we leave?”
“You don’t,” Eyce said flatly, his voice brooking no argument. No argument from anyone except Echo, that is.
“Oh, can it with the Me, Tarzan bullshit. I can help, and you damn well know it.”
“We need you here to help Vapre in case we don’t return in time,” Hex said diplomatically.
Echo glared at their leader for a long time before he finally deflated, the air rushing out of his lungs in a huff. “Who’s going?”
“All of us,” Eyce answered immediately, “except for you, Vapre, Mac, and the vampires.”
“Sony’s going?” Echo lifted a brow skeptically. After what had happened to Mac out in those woods, he could not picture Gage letting Sony within twenty miles of that place.
“Yep. He was very…insistent.” Eyce snorted, his shoulders shaking as he tried not to laugh. “Pax and Jet are coming as well. They know that place better than we do.”
“Did you ask them? Or did you just tell them they were going?” Echo could only imagine how terrified the shifters would be of returning to the place where Sage had more or less held them captive.
“They volunteered, actually.” Vapre rubbed Echo’s knee through the thin sheet and smiled. “They want to help, and we can use all of it we can get.”
“Take care of them.” It was more of a command than a request, but Echo felt he deserved a little leeway after the week he’d had.
“Don’t worry, baby.” Fiero kissed Echo’s temple. “They’re pretty tough, but we’ll watch out for them, okay?”
Echo nodded briskly. “Okay, so the new moon is…” He trailed off and darted his eyes around the room. “What is today anyway?”
“February seventeenth,” Myst answered. “The full moon is tomorrow night, and it’s two weeks before the next new moon.” He beamed proudly at being able to recall the information.
Echo blew him a kiss in reward. “Okay, so, what are you going to do about Gage on the full moon?”
“I think he’ll be fine if he has Sony with him. Plus the shifters said they could help control him. We have to trust that will be enough for now,” Hex answered with a scowl. He didn’t like the plan, and Echo could see why. Too many things could go wrong with that little scenario.
Resigned to the inevitable, Echo sighed and bobbed his head. “When are you leaving?”
Everyone looked hesitant to answer, but Syx eventually bolstered his courage and whispered, “Tonight.”
Chapter Twelve
“Did you mean it?” Echo asked when he and Vapre were alone. Their men had left just minutes before, and Echo felt the loss as a deep pain in his chest. He had the unshakable fear that some of them wouldn’t return, and it had taken every ounce of willpower to not beg them to stay.
Pushing away his panic, he shifted on the sofa, turning so that he could face Vapre, and arched one eyebrow expectantly.
“Yes,” Vapre said clearly. Well, kudos to him for not playing ignorant and making Echo drag the answers out of him.
“And the others?”
“Yes.”
“Have you told them?”
“I told Syx, but not the others. I will soon. I didn’t want to add any undue stress to them before they left, though.”
“Coward,” Echo teased.
Vapre smiled crookedly and shrugged. “It’s not easy. I’ve had these feelings for a long time, but I never did anything about them. After a few thousand years, it became easy to just push them to the back of my mind, ignore them, and enjoy the companionship that was offered.” His eyes softened along with his voice. “Then you came and changed everything. Now, I don’t see how I can keep it all bottled up anymore.”
“Good. You guys are going to drive me nuts with all this evasiveness.” Echo wiggled his eyebrows and scrunched his nose to make his lover laugh. It wor
ked, and the mood lightened considerably. Then he had to go and ruin it. “I miss them already.”
Vapre gathered Echo into his arms and sighed. “I do, too, but they’ll be back soon.” His voice held little conviction, and the hole in Echo’s chest stretched a little wider.
Running his fingertips lightly under Vapre’s eyes, Echo found himself lost in the stormy gray depths. It didn’t escape his notice that each time one of his mates finally faced the truth of his feelings, his eye color changed. Echo didn’t know what it meant but hoped it was a good sign. “Your eyes are beautiful.”
“They’re different,” Vapre agreed offhandedly. He bent and touched his lips to Echo’s, and suddenly, conversation didn’t seem so important.
“Make love to me,” Echo whispered. “Make me forget for just a little while.”
Vapre didn’t ask questions, didn’t say he thought it was a bad idea. His warm fingers slipped under Echo’s chin, holding his face steady, and his mouth descended on Echo’s lips. They held each other for a long time, their tongues sliding and twining together, and everything else began to slip away until only Vapre remained in Echo’s world.
Slowly but confidently, Vapre’s hand slid under the hem of Echo’s T-shirt, lifting it up his chest and breaking the kiss only long enough to pull it over his head. Then their mouths collided again, the tempo and intensity increasing. Need and hunger akin to pain coursed through Echo, and he worked feverishly to divest his lover of his clothing. Minutes passed that felt like an eternity, and then they were both naked and sweating, wrapped around each other as they panted and moaned on the sofa.
The day had given way to the night, the sky pitch black, and the dark oppressive. A small voice in the back of his mind argued that Syn and Jinx would be awake and could walk down the stairs at any moment. Mac had said he was going to bed, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t wander down for a late-night snack.
Echo didn’t care.
Even those small concerns faded away as Vapre demanded his full attention. Echo was happy to let go and give it to him. His lover ended up sprawled on the cushions, Echo draped over his chest and straddling his waist as their tongues and lips continued to duel. Echo rocked against his mate, rubbing their hard cocks together in a silent plea for more.
Vapre reached over his head and around the arm of the sofa, fumbling with the drawer of the end table while his mouth continued its assault on Echo’s senses. Growling in frustration, he ripped the drawer out and emptied the contents on the floor.
Echo giggled into Vapre’s mouth at his mate’s impatience. Then a deep sigh rose up from Vapre’s chest, and Echo figured the man had found what he was searching for. Sure enough, seconds later, there was the unmistakable snick of a bottle cap, and then slippery fingers nudged at his eager hole. Echo pushed back against the digits as he trailed his mouth down Vapre’s neck and over his collarbone.
Then one finger slipped into his opening, wiggling and pumping, causing his dick to jerk and throb against Vapre’s belly. It disappeared as quickly as it had entered, leaving Echo feeling empty and lost. “What’s wrong?” he mumbled against Vapre’s throat.
“I want…I want you to fuck me.”
Echo’s lips paused in their trek for just a moment before a greedy smile stretched them from ear to ear. “On your knees,” he ordered as he rose off of his lover to stand beside the sofa.
Vapre flipped over instantly, presenting his upturned ass for Echo’s viewing pleasure. One knee slid under him, the other foot braced on the floor, and he lowered his chest to the arm of the sofa.
Scanning the floor, Echo found the little bottle of lube and snatched it up, flipping open the cap and pouring a generous amount into his palm. He coated his cock carefully, lingering a bit and moaning from the pleasure. Then he dribbled more of the slick over his fingers, tossed the bottle aside, and eased onto the couch behind his mate.
Gods, Vapre had a gorgeous ass. The pale skin stretched taut over the well-developed muscles, and it rounded and dipped in the perfect heart shape. “How do you want it?”
Vapre groaned. “Hard and fast. I need…I don’t want…” He seemed to be having trouble voicing his needs, but Echo understood.
Smoothing his hand over the supple flesh, Echo skimmed two oiled fingers along Vapre’s crease, burrowing between the rounded cheeks, seeking out his prize. He found Vapre’s entrance and caressed it gently, ringing the fluttering muscles with two fingers. “Shh,” he cooed. “I’ll take good care of you.” Then without warning, he shoved both fingers into Vapre’s hole, clear to the second knuckle.
Vapre growled, a primitive sound that made Echo shiver in anticipation. He gave his lover only a second to adjust, then pumped his fingers in and out of the velvet heat in long, hard strokes. “You’re going to come for me,” he demanded. “You’re going to come so hard that you forget your own name. Then when you think you can’t take anymore, I’m going to fuck you until you come again.”
“Fuck,” Vapre breathed as his entire frame began to shake.
Echo smiled in approval, adding a third finger and pumping in and out of Vapre’s ass. “That’s right. You’re going to love every second of it, and you’re not going to touch yourself.” Hey, he was pretty good at this dominating stuff!
The hand that had been drifting toward Vapre’s straining cock stilled, then hesitantly began its downward trek again. Echo slapped his mate’s ass hard. “No,” he growled.
Vapre cried out and lifted his hand back to the arm of the sofa. “Again.”
Echo’s cock pulsed and jerked, weeping freely from the tip as he worked a fourth finger into Vapre’s clenching passage. “If you want more, then come for me.” He pushed his fingers into Vapre’s ass hard, twisting and curling them until he found the walnut-sized gland he sought. He stroked it relentlessly, pumping in tiny movements as his other hand landed another heavy swat to Vapre’s pale cheek.
His demon roared, his inner walls clamping down on Echo’s fingers as semen erupted from his swollen cock. Echo didn’t even give him a chance to come down from his high. As creamy ropes of cum continued to shoot from Vapre’s slit, Echo removed his fingers, lined up the head of his cock, and thrust in to the root.
Vapre groaned again, his fingers digging into the upholstery of the sofa. Echo wrapped one arm around Vapre’s lean hips for better leverage and began a hard, demanding pace, slamming into his lover as though he could reach his warrior’s soul if he could just bury his cock deep enough.
He expected the urgency to fade, but it only escalated until Echo felt it would consume him. Releasing his hold on Vapre’s waist, he sat up straight, one hand gripping his lover’s hip firmly as the other began a steady rhythm, spanking Vapre’s ass on every outward glide of his cock.
Vapre went wild, snarling and growling, pushing back against Echo and meeting him thrust for punishing thrust. Stilling his hips, Echo let his mate take over as he used both hands to swat his demon’s ass until the skin glowed red and hot, his handprints standing out in sharp relief against the milky skin. Damn, it was a beautiful sight.
“That’s it, babe. Fuck yourself on my cock. Take what you want.” He growled. The heat and tightness surrounding his dick felt like heaven. Dominating his partner left him feeling high. His skin burned, his balls tingled, and every thought floated. “Come for me. Come on my cock and make me feel it!”
One last hard smack to Vapre’s rounded globes, and Echo abandoned the spanking, dug his fingers into Vapre’s hips, and drove forward with enough force to rock his lover into the arm of the couch. Echo swiveled his hips, grinding his groin against Vapre’s ass, then pulled out slowly, inch by inch until his cock only nudged at Vapre’s hole.
He pushed just the tip in and then retreated. He did it again. Once more. Then on the fourth invasion, he plunged into the base as he jerked back on Vapre’s hips. Vapre’s loud cry mingled with Echo’s scream, and they tumbled over the edge together.
His warrior’s passage convulsed in waves, squee
zing and strangling Echo’s cock, milking his orgasm until he had nothing left to give. His balls unloaded, filling Vapre’s ass to the brim until the cum began seeping out around Echo’s still-hard dick. He didn’t think he’d ever come so hard or so much in his life.
Panting heavily, his heart about to explode inside his chest, Echo slipped out of Vapre’s body and fell back on the cushions with a grunt. “Holy shit,” he breathed. “I need a nap.”
Vapre struggled to catch his breath as well, but apparently, he had other ideas that didn’t include sleeping. Peeking at Echo over his shoulder, he grinned mischievously and lifted his eyebrows. “Again?”
“Yes, please,” a voice moaned from near the stairway.
Echo jerked around, his mouth falling open when he say Syn and Jinx standing shoulder to shoulder, pants open, dicks out, and stroking themselves vigorously. Echo figured he should probably be embarrassed, but he wasn’t. That might have something to do with the fact that his brain wasn’t exactly firing on all neurons, but he’d examine that later.
An idea wiggled into his brain, and Echo smiled. “You’ve seen us. Let us watch you.” Well, that sure got their attention. The two vamps stilled their movements but continued to palm their leaking cocks.
“You want to watch us wank off?” Jinx asked slowly.
“No.” Echo shook his head. “I want to watch you fuck Syn.” Echo glanced over his shoulder to see what his mate thought of the idea. Judging by the heat in Vapre’s eyes, the way his nostrils flared at the corners, he thought it was a pretty fucking good one. Turning back to the vampires, Echo smirked. “It’s only fair,” he said innocently.
Both men hummed with desire, but there was a hesitancy about them. Echo remembered what they’d said about not being lovers, but he had a feeling there was a whole lot of miscommunication going on there. Just to make the offer a little more appealing, Echo pulled Vapre down to sit on the sofa and squirmed up in his lap. “You can watch Vapre fuck me, while you fuck Syn.”
Evans, Gabrielle - Hell's Tempest [Fatefully Yours 4] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) Page 10