Jace turned to look at her, but in a blink of his eyes, she had shoved him off the bed and he hit the floor with a solid thud.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Echo bristled at Jace's callous words. "You, all high and mighty, have no clue what you are talking about. That fleece is part of my ancestry with Poseidon and my great grandmother. It belongs in my family. That's the least your family could do to remedy the wrongs already committed against the nymphs. I have just as much right to it as you do, probably more. shifter." Jace stood stark naked in the light of day before her, his cock still hard. The perfect body wasn't enough to calm her anger.
"Where is this proof of yours? Why would you need it? Fahd has been defeated. Are you like the other nymphs in that aspect where treasures are something you covet and will do nearly anything to have? Perhaps you will steal it out from under me again." His body tensed, and a vein bulged along his forehead. He was pissed.
"That fleece can do more than just hang out with you. If you would just stop and think for a second about all the good it could do instead of selfishly keeping it for yourself." His naked form in front of her was hard to ignore. Echo licked her lips, clutching at her anger, trying desperately not to want him. "You should let me use it to save my trees. Just because Fahd is gone doesn't mean the damage he left behind isn't relevant." The truth was, she could still feel the emptiness of her oak and the other trees Fahd had killed by consuming their magic. The land was weakened. If the fleece could heal... it could very well help the land. "Why guard something no one can use? What’s the point?" Echo threw her hands up in the air. He really had no clue what the fleece could do. He seemed oblivious to the possibilities.
Jace stormed out of the room, coming back moments later with his pants buttoned and throwing his shirt on. "You have no proof, which means you are just like them. If not, you would understand that the fleece must be protected at all costs. Gold digger."
Echo blinked in shock. At what point had she said the fleece shouldn't be protected? Hurt and anger coursed through her like an electric shock to her system as if Jace had hooked her up to a live wire and left her there to thrash on her own. "Get out of my house. You have what you came here for. Leave!" Tears threatened to spill, but she sucked them up, determined not to let them fall in front of him. He could have the damn fleece then, she didn't need all the crap or pain from him. This is why she liked living alone. No one could hurt her. It didn't matter how much she had believed Jace might be different. His words just proved her otherwise.
Jace glared at her and ran his fingers through his hair as if he might say something else to her. He opened his mouth, and she cut him off. "No. I don't want an excuse or more hurtful words. Get. Out!" She was yelling by this point to keep her tears from streaming down her face. Please leave before they fall. By the gods get him out of here. Why in all of Hades had she let him so close to her heart. Because he saved me and looked at me like a real person. He wanted who I am not what he thought I should be. Echo ignored her internal voice. Cast it aside. She should have kept him out like she did everyone else. Why let the hurt in? Lonely wasn't nearly as damaging. And she had her trees.
He picked up the golden fleece by the bed, the muscle in his jaw ticking. His eyes bore into hers as if to say this wasn't over. But the truth was, the minute he left he wouldn't find her again. She would cloak herself with her nymph magic. She didn't want him to find her. She couldn't bear to have more name calling from him, more ridicule just like she’d received from everyone else she had ever gotten close to. She was nothing like those other nymphs, but showing him that clearly didn't convince him, so nothing she could say would change his view either.
Again, he opened his mouth and Echo put her hand up to stop him. She was still completely naked and didn't care. "Nothing you can say will change my mind. Just get out." Her voice was low, even. She hadn't expected it to come out that way. She was glad it did though.
"Have it your way..." Jace headed for the bedroom door.
Just before he walked through, Echo said, "I will." And crossed her arms.
And then he was gone. She listened to the front door open and close. The sound made her tears fall, and she allowed herself a little pity party. She had almost died, by any right should have been dead. She had faced Fahd. She had lost her beloved oak tree, which, in essence, made her feel as if she had lost a part of herself. And now Jace had turned against her. She had every right to cry. This week had been a bunch of human bull. She called upon her nymph magic and twirled her fingers into a figure eight. She could feel every step Jace took off her land. She waited for him to be gone, and once she couldn't feel him any longer, she let the figure eight go into the air, creating the spell to keep her invisible from those who wandered.
The land cried with her, not because of Jace, but for the loss of her trees, of the oak. Echo could feel the pain all throughout her, and she let the land's sadness consume her. There had to be some other way to help the trees who were still dying after being milked of their magic, and maybe help the ones who had already died. Could the fleece have brought them back in the end anyway? Echo wasn't sure, but she wished she’d had the chance to try. She would never know. She had thrown Jace and the fleece out. Good riddance.
Echo wiped her tears away and stood. Her body ached in the contented sort of way after good sex. Great sex actually. The kind she wouldn't be having again any time soon. She hated him for being a good lover, for making her body want him. She wouldn't let anyone else in. It hurt entirely too much. It was easier to seclude herself, to just commune with the land and nature.
The only thing she refused to give up on was saving her forest. What did the humans mumble? Where there was will, there was way?
***
Jace's anger boiled over. They were having such a good time. Women. They were all the same. They wanted more than a man was willing to give. He could never give her the fleece. Even if she really was the ewe’s ancestor, he couldn't let her have it. Jace stomped through the trees, over rocks and roots, inherently knowing how to head back to his truck. Tomorrow, he would leave this place and he would never have to deal with the nymph again. It would be so long for him. Envy ate at him. He wished he could stay in one place, could make a family, form roots like she had and would do again. Jace would never have a true home. He could have women. he could technically have a family, but never a home. Jace shook his head. Why did it hurt so much that she kicked him out? She wasn't even willing to talk about it. She just made him leave. But then, that was the one thing she had wanted to begin with, wasn't it? For Jace to be gone. Had she pushed him away because she didn't care, or couldn't come to care about him? Jace shook the thought from his head. It shouldn't matter since even if she had opened her heart to him, and he her, they would never survive it. He was cursed to move every single year. Damn. Her words shouldn't ache in his heart this much.
Jace rubbed at his chest as his truck came into view. A sight he hadn't seen in three days. He took a deep breath, calming his nerves, falling back into his normal pattern. He would move, there would be other women. He could slake his need each night with someone knew and never be lonely...only the truth was, even amongst those other women, he felt alone...but as he looked back on Echo…he had been entranced by her from the very beginning, and until he thought he would lose her, he hadn't felt lonely around her. She brought something out in him. Something he needed to tuck back away into a deep dark part of him and lose the damn key.
He pulled the truck door open and flung the fleece to the other side of the bench seat. He pulled himself in and turned the engine over. The truck came to life within seconds. He looked begrudgingly over at the fleece as if he could blame it for all his problems. Though none of them really had anything to do with the fleece. Jace put the truck in reverse and turned around. Throwing it into drive, he sped down the road, watching the lively trees go by basking in the sun. If he hadn't defeated Fahd, would they still be here?
It didn't take him long until h
e was in the area where many trees had fallen sick or died because of the insects eating them. Neither the humans nor Jace had known it was Fahd's insects. Echo's words ran wild in his head. Why have the fleece if no one could use it? What was the point?
Truth was, Jace had never thought about actually letting others use the fleece. He could have. No one had ever asked, and he didn't know what all the fleece was capable of. Hell, he still didn't know all the secrets to its magic. The mythical object nearly had a mind of its own, though Jace fully believed fate played a huge role in life. Right down to the nymph. Even the dead trees he was passing. He slammed down on the brakes, pulling to the side of the road. He was meant to do something here.
Jace grabbed the fleece and got out of his truck. Cars sped by him, but he barely paid any attention to them. Instead he walked further into the trees, the ones that were broken by Fahd. There was an emptiness about the land that made his heart ache. He was a right jerk to Echo. She cared so much about the land and trees; she had a loyalty to them as strong as his responsibility as an Aries Guardian for protecting the fleece. Had he spoken to soon, letting his anger get the better of him? What had he called her...just like all the other nymphs...gold digger. Guilt assaulted him, and he damned well deserved it.
After he had walked into the forest a fair way, Jace unrolled the fleece. It brightened in the sunlight, reflecting against the brightness, or perhaps soaking it in, Jace couldn't be sure.
"All right. Show me what you can do." He lay the fleece along the ground and moved away, unsure how this kind of healing might work, or even if it would work. Could Echo be wrong and the fleece couldn't help this way? Just as the thoughts entered his head, the fleece beamed out waves of magic. The magic pulsed through everything, including him. It barely took any time at all before trees started rejuvenating themselves, with sprigs of green sprouting along limbs of anything that hadn't fallen over already. Basically, if it was still attached to roots, the fleece was healing it! By the gods, it was a flat miracle. Jace stared in awe as flowers bloomed along the ground.
Within minutes, the fleece had stopped pulsing. Jace didn't feel it giving off waves of energy anymore. And everything he could see that had been dulled and on the brink of death was restored. Of all the wonders...he could hardly believe the fleece was so powerful. It defeated every kind of darkness they had faced in the last three days. How could he keep this all to himself? The amount of good that could be done...Echo was right, it needed more than to be tucked away. It needed to help heal what had been harmed by the bad in this world.
Jace smiled as he picked up the fleece, and then nearly dropped it back to the ground.
His helm mark was gone.
Which only meant one thing. Echo was his life mate. How had he not noticed? Jace stilled feeling for the pull in his body the curse had caused, but there was nothing. Being preoccupied with the little nymph both sexually and being pissed at her, must have kept him from noticing. She had lifted his curse. How in all the gods would she ever be convinced to take him back?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Echo slammed things around her kitchen, angry at everything, hurt by Jace’s words, and just plain soured for the day. She had no idea what to do next in order to help the trees Fahd had already harmed. She could try to call on her fellow nymphs, even though she had a poor relationship with them, and see if they knew of anything to help. After all, they cared for nature as well. The very thought made her stomach turn. Contacting them ment letting them know where she was and taking the brutal words that would be headed her way.
No. She would find some other way. There had to be more out there. Since she was no longer bound to the tree, she could go search for one on her own. She no longer needed human males to do things like steal a fleece for her. She could follow the trails of other mythical beings and see if someone along the way knew how to help. Mythical beings such as herself couldn't spend so long on this earth without learning a few things...there had to be a way other than the fleece or her fellow nymphs. The mere thought of Jace and the fleece made her eyes water. As Echo headed into the living room, a warmth traveled through her. The land was telling her something. An elevated feeling of joy rushed over her. Something had healed her trees! The land was rejoicing, sending out waves of happy energy.
Echo rushed out of her front door. She wasn't sure why, maybe she hoped her oak would also be back. But alas there was no oak. Just Jace staring off into the trees, turning in circles. He wouldn't find her unless she wanted to be found. She was impressed he had made it basically back to her land. Echo crossed her arms and leaned against her cottage, waiting to see what he would do. Why had he come back?
"I know you are here somewhere." Jace looked toward her, but through her. He couldn't see where she actually was, and Echo had no reason to show him. "Echo, you were right. What good is having something so special if no one, not even someone I care about, can be helped by it. I was wrong. I wish my apology would be enough to give me another chance, but I'm most certain it is not." Jace took a deep breath, twisting his fingers, still staring in her direction.
What was she supposed to do? Jump for joy because he said he was sorry? He hurt her, said mean things, just like everyone else, when she wanted so badly for him to be an exception.
"Echo, I healed your trees." Jace looked up at the sky. "Well, the fleece did, but as I left I realized the gods and fate had more to do with this than us. We were put together for a reason." He looked back towards her. "You are my life mate. I was cursed by Aries as Krios descendant to forever walk the earth, never staying in one place. I was born with a helm tattooed on my wrist—the curse mark." Jace lifted his arm. The helm Echo had seen earlier had disappeared.
Echo had heard of those cursed by Aries. It had been a curse brought on because of Aries’ jealousy. In a fit of rage because he’d lost a female to Krios, Aries murdered the woman and cursed Krios to forever walk, immortal, until he found his one true love. And since Aries had killed her, the cruelty of it was he never would. Had the sins of the father passed down to the son?
"I want the option to make it up to you. I am not a perfect man. Actually, I screw up more than I like to admit. Please Echo, just lift your spell so I can talk to you face to face. I need to see you. You can tell me to go blow myself, lift a knee, whatever, but I need to see you. Can't we talk this out?"
Echo considered his words. He had been so upset about her wanting to know more about the fleece. Could it have been just a misunderstanding between them? That didn't change what he called her. And while actions spoke louder than words, especially words said in anger, that didn't give him the right to call her things like gold digger. Such a derogatory human term. But if he could see things her way, and fate had put them together...she felt it, and deep down knew she cared a great deal more for him than she had any other person in her life, and she'd only known him a few days. Had the gods and fate pushed them together, knowing they needed each other? Echo walked over to Jace. He stood with his legs slightly apart, eyes scanning the area, searching for her. She lifted her knee to right before his crotch and snapped her fingers to release the spell. "One false move and your balls get it, shifter." Her stomach twisted into little fluttery knots at the pure male smell of him. Damnit, why did he have to be so attractive and apologetic?
Jace's hands went up in mock surrender. "I promise no funny business. I just want another chance with you. Can you please talk this out with me?" His dark eyes pleaded with her.
Echo wasn't immune to his charms... she wanted to say she would forgive him... but pain doesn't just go away. "You hurt me. I probably could have explained myself better regarding the fleece, but you still hurt me." She stuck her bottom lip out for effect.
"I did hurt you. I was angry, and words flew from my mouth. I didn't realize how much the fleece could actually help until I saw the dead trees on my way back. You had been in so much pain over your oak. I'm really not a heartless person. I..." He glanced at her lips then back up at her eyes.
"How can I make it up to you?" Hestarted to reach for her but then dropped his arms back down to his sides.
Echo raised an eyebrow but moved her knee away from his balls. He visibly relaxed. His eyes filled with hope. "How would you make it up to me? What could you possibly do that would fix the harm you caused?" She truly wanted to know because the longer she looked into those hopeful eyes the more she wanted to forgive him.
"I will let you dictate the next thing we do with the fleece—other than loose it or give it away, of course. There are strict rules that I can't let it actually go." He stood before her stock still. Holding his breath, she was sure waiting for her answer.
She cocked her head sideways. In that small moment, she understood something about herself. She didn't want to be alone. She didn't want to spend her life without feeling loved. And despite his words, she did believe Jace cared a great deal for her. He could have left her with Fahd. Could have chosen not to help her, could have chosen to keep driving instead of healing the forest and coming all the way back to plead with a nymph who may never speak to him again. She scanned his hopeful gaze, already wanting to touch him. Even the land was urging her to move closer to him, a subtle push. "Other than the life mate bit. Why would you want me?" His answer would help her decide their fate.
"Because I've never had a home. I... I hadn't known what a home even was until I met you. You feel like home for me. Home is where my heart is and, little nymph, my heart lies completely with you. Do with it as you wish." His face grew serious, his body tense.
Damn it to Hades, that was a good answer. "Anything I want to do with the fleece?" She smiled.
Ram Wild_A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance Page 7