Evans, Gabrielle - Firestorm [Fatefully Yours 3] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (8 page)

“Right sorry about that, I am, but it’s been a long road to find you. We caught a few animals along the way, but it’s damn cold here. Most the beasties are in hiding for the winter, and their blood doesn’t keep us for long anyway. Your mate was kind enough to allow me a little sip to sate the burn.”

“And him?” Echo pointed to Jinx.

“I’m fine,” Jinx responded immediately, waving away Echo’s concern.

“You need to drink,” Syn admonished his friend.

“Does it hurt?”

Jinx shrugged. “It’s not unbearable.”

“Oh, for the love of gods, someone feed the man.” Echo huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t like it, but what was he going to do? Let the man starve to death? Jinx was a vampire. Vampires drank blood. One plus one equaled two.

“I’ll do it.” Gage rose from the sofa, kissing each of his mates on the forehead before walking over to Jinx and holding out his arm. “Wrist only.”

Jinx hesitated, but Echo could see the longing in the man’s eyes. Then he gently wrapped his fingers around Gage’s forearm and brought the werewolf’s wrist to his mouth, sinking his fangs through the flesh as easily as a hot knife through butter.

Echo watched Mac and Sony for their reactions, but the two looked pleased as punch that a vampire was biting their mate. Rolling his eyes, Echo waiting for Jinx to finish and offer his thanks before addressing the newcomers. “We’re going to have to figure something else out, because I really don’t like you using my mates as chew toys. When will you need to feed again?”

“Tomorrow or the next day,” Syn replied. “We didn’t take much, not nearly what we needed.”

“Syx. Vapre.”

“We’re on it,” Syx responded immediately, leading the way down the hall toward the office with Vapre right behind him.

“You’re awful bossy, mate.” Syn smirked and lifted his eyebrows before pointing over Echo’s shoulder to Hex. “I thought he was the alpha.”

Hex groaned as he stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Echo’s waist. “I thought so, too, but my mate was kind enough to inform me of how wrong I was.” Echo felt the man’s massive shoulders lift in a shrug. “Now, I’m just here for my looks.”

Snorting, Echo bumped Hex with his hip. “Hex calls most of the shots, but if I feel strongly about something, I don’t have a problem speaking my mind. This handsome guy you were chewing on is Eyce.” Echo went around the room introducing his lovers. “The two that left were Syx and Vapre. They all belong to me,” he said firmly, then gestured toward the threesome on the sofa. “And these are our friends, Gage, Mac, and Sony.”

“The sun will be up in a couple of hours, so let’s get you guys fed, bathed, and set up in the basement. It’s a little drafty, but the only place you’ll be safe from the sunlight.”

“We’d appreciate that.” Jinx nodded respectfully. “Thank you.”

“Speaking of the sun.” Gage rose from the sofa again and fidgeted nervously. “We have another issue.”

“The full moon,” Hex muttered under his breath. “Tomorrow night?”

Gage nodded.

“We’ll deal with it.”

“There’s supposed to be a storm moving in tomorrow,” Fiero said, speaking for the first time since Echo’s little episode.

Hex groaned and rubbed at his temples. “Okay, okay, I’ll figure something out.”

“Wait!” Echo held his hands up. “Why is this a problem? Are you not sentient when you shift?” Granted, he didn’t know a damn thing about werewolves, but his demons still maintained their intelligence and memories when they shifted. They looked a lot different, a little creepy, but that was the only change.

“Yes and no,” Gage answered. “I have some sense of who I am, and I will recognize my mates. I can’t say the same for the rest of you. I’m sorry.”

“So, what do you normally do on the full moon?”

“I lock myself in the basement.”

“And now we have vampires in the basement.” Echo groaned. Why couldn’t things just be easy? “Maybe we could lock you in another room?”

Gage shook his head quickly. “No. I was always alone when I shifted. I won’t risk hurting anyone.”

“You said you’d recognize your mates, right?” The thread of an idea drifted through Echo’s head. “I think I have a plan.”

* * * *

“Are you sure about this? It seems kind of mean, not to mention dangerous.” Fiero rubbed the back of his neck as he address Hex.

“It’s the best plan we have. We’ll stand guard and make sure everything is okay before we leave them for the night.”

“I don’t like this,” Gage said as he climbed under the covers on the big king-size bed.

Fiero didn’t like it either. The idea of having a werewolf loose in the house with his mate during the full moon did not sit well with him. They had no guarantees Echo’s plan would work, but as Hex had pointed out, there weren’t any other options.

The snow had blown in sometime after lunch, dumping a foot of the white, fluffy mess on northern Montana within hours. As dusk approached, the storm raged, showing no signs of retreat. Their resident vampires were still sleeping soundly in the basement, and Fiero and Hex waited for the full moon to rise so they could subdue and bind a possessive werewolf…while his mates were in the room.

Yeah, it was a fucking peachy day.

“The sun has almost set,” Gage said tightly.

Fiero peered out the window, a look of skepticism covering his face. “How can you tell? It’s been dark all damn day.”

“I can feel it. Another couple of minutes or so.” Gage’s breathing was coming more rapidly, and he groaned in what sounded like pain as he threw his head back on his shoulders, the cords in his neck flexing and straining.

“Are you okay?” Sony whispered, crawling across the bed to kneel in front of his lover. “Does it hurt a lot?”

Gage looked like he wanted to answer, but couldn’t. His body began to transform before their eyes, growing in mass and height and sprouting dark brown fur over the majority of his body. His nose and mouth elongated into a strange-looking muzzle, part human, part lupine, and his irises turned a vibrant yellow, bleeding out to the corners to cover the whites.

The change was complete within minutes, and the enormous werewolf stared back at Fiero, his upper lip curling over his canines as saliva dripped from his mouth and ran down his chest. The beast snarled, taking a threatening step toward him, but Fiero stood his ground. He’d faced much worse in his lifetime, but he didn’t relish in the thought of hurting a friend.

“Gage?” Mac’s little fingers wrapped around the monsters wrist and tugged lightly. “Hey big guy, you in there?”

Gage turned his attention to his smallest mate, and his entire body softened as he mewled softly.

“You’re you, but not.” Sony frowned at his convoluted statement, then crawled across the bed to pat Gage’s chest. “You’re really big.”

Gage rumbled, his eyelids drifting closed as his mates lavished attention on him. Fiero understood how the man felt. He loved nothing more than when Echo petted and stroked him. While he craved the touch from each of his lovers, something about Echo soothed like nothing else could.

“Do you think it’s safe to leave them?” Hex asked out of the corner of his mouth.

Gage’s head snapped up, and he roared at them, prowling closer and gathering his mates behind him protectively.

“Go,” Sony said, flicking his wrist to shoo them away. “We’ve got this.” He wrapped both hands around Gage’s hairy forearm and pulled him toward the bed. “C’mon, babe.”

“Are you sure?” Fiero would never forgive himself if anything happened to the men.

Mac giggled and rolled his eyes. “He loves us. He’s not going to hurt me or Sony.” Shifting his eyes sideways, he smirked at his lover. “Isn’t that right, big guy?”

Gage rumbled again, rubbing his cheek against the top of Mac’s head. Mac giggled again and swatted at Gage’s chest. “You can leave now,” he called over his shoulder without even looking at them. “Besides, Sony can handle him.”

Fiero hadn’t even thought of that. Sony was bigger than any of them when he unleashed his power. “How long can you hold that form?”

Sony shrugged. “Not long. It’s really draining, but I should be able to maintain long enough to subdue our big, bad wolf and call for help.” He laughed when Gage picked him up and started rubbing his face all over Sony’s chest. “I don’t think we need to worry about that, though.”

Fiero looked at Hex and shrugged. The little runts had Gage practically exposing his belly and panting to be petted. Hex shrugged as well, and jerked his head toward the exit. “Lock the door and call if you need us.” Then he led the way out of the room, holding the door for Fiero before shutting it firmly behind them. “That was damn weird.”

“Never a dull moment,” Fiero agreed. He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Where’s Eyce?”

“Still kissing Echo’s ass, if I had to guess.” Hex chuckled, but Fiero didn’t find much humor in the situation.

“Good. I can’t believe he did that shit.” Anger and jealousy bubbled inside of him. He understood the vampires need to feed, but Eyce should have consulted the rest of them. They should have all made the decision together.

Instead, Eyce had just let some bloodsucker munch on his vein. If Fiero hadn’t been so busy trying to calm his mate, he would have punched the asshole right in his handsome face.

Growling, Fiero shoved both hands in his hair and pulled roughly. He didn’t understand these feelings, and it pissed him off. Not one time in his life had he remembered being so jealous. Not even when Ares came for Hex. Maybe that was because Hex hadn’t wanted to go with the arrogant god.

The look of Eyce’s face as he’d let the little leech suck at his neck had been enough to curdle Fiero’s stomach. He could only imagine what it had done to Echo. “Fuck it!” Fiero turned on his heels and marched down the hall toward the staircase.

“Where are you going?” Hex called after him.

“To punch Eyce in his stupid, handsome face!”

Chapter Eight

“Would you stop it?” Echo growled in exasperation when Eyce apologized yet again.

He put his book aside and sat up on the sofa. “I get it, okay? I don’t like it, but I get it. You were just feeding the little snake. It was nothing sexual. You didn’t enjoy it, and you have no designs on running off and shacking up with him. I. Get. It!”

“But you’re still mad,” Eyce mumbled.

“Yes, I’m still mad. Did you even stop to think about what that would do to me? Not to mention the others. Did you even see the look on Myst’s face? Do you care? You keep spouting these apologies, but it’s not going to take away what you did. Why did you do it?”

Echo’s chest heaved, and he sucked in a huge lungful of air. Okay, so maybe he was more pissed off than he’d been letting on. He just still couldn’t figure out why the hell his lover had done that without even talking to the rest of them.

Before Eyce could answer, Fiero came storming down the stairs, marched right over to him, and punched him square in the face. “That’s for being a deceiving, lying, stupid bastard.” Then he hit him again. “That’s for pissing me off, upsetting Echo, and acting like you’re the only goddamn person in this relationship.” Before Eyce could move to defend himself, Fiero hit him again. “And that’s because I fucking felt like it!”

Echo’s eyes rounded and his heart thundered. This was wrong. Though Eyce deserved the things Fiero was saying to him, Echo couldn’t let them fight like this. “Fiero.” He meant to speak firmly, but it came out more of a croak. He cleared his throat to try again, but it was too late.