Evans, Gabrielle - The Hunger [Fatefully Yours 7] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (5 page)

Echo nodded slowly. “What if I forget my safe word? Onyx, I’ve never done anything like this before. What if I mess up?” He was beginning to reach a new level of anxiety and seriously reconsidering if this was such a good idea.

“Shh, baby.” Onyx reached up to caress Echo’s cheek. “We’ll start slow this first time, okay? Something fairly mild. If you like it, we’ll go from there, okay?”

A little of the tension ebbed, and Echo sucked in a deep breath. “Do I still need a password?”

“Safe word, sweetheart, safe word, and yes. What if we use a color code at first—red for stop, yellow for slow down, and green for go? Would that make you feel better?”

Onyx was trying so hard, and Echo already felt like a total loser. They hadn’t even started, and he was already questioning everything to death. “Please don’t be mad if I mess up, or I don’t like this.”

“I promise. I told you, Echo, I don’t need this from you. We don’t have to do this if you’re not comfortable.”

“And it’s just sometimes, right?” He didn’t know why he felt he had to ask, but it seemed important.

“Right. With Hex being in charge around here, and me being in love with seven insanely stubborn men, it’s not exactly conducive for everyday life. I do like having control. I like when my partners submit to me. It’s more of a kink than anything else and does not extend outside the bedroom.”

Echo knew this of course. How long had he been living there? Gods, he was making a complete fool of himself. Sitting up a little straighter and squaring his shoulders, Echo nodded firmly. “Okay.”

Onyx stared at him for a long time before he finally dipped his head and rose to his feet. “Stand up.” He voice was low, deep, and commanding.

Echo shivered, but rose to his feet instantly.

“You will not speak unless I ask you a direction question or to use your safe word. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Echo didn’t think he imagined the hungry look in Onyx’s eyes when he addressed him as sir.

“Undress and place your clothes on the dresser.”

Without a word, Echo slipped out of his clothes, folded them neatly, and laid them on top of the dresser. He moved back to stand in front of Onyx, his hands linked behind his back, and waited for his next directive.

Onyx didn’t say anything, just turned and walked out the door. Echo hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should follow or not. He still didn’t know the rules, but he hadn’t been told to follow. Maybe Onyx expected him to just know? Gods, he couldn’t do this.

“Echo.”

A deep sigh of relief escaped his lips, and Echo hurried out of the room to find Onyx waiting for him in the hall.

“Follow me.”

Onyx led him down the hallway, around the indented staircase that led up to the attic, and through a door behind it. The corners of Echo’s lips tugged down in a frown. He’d been there for months and never noticed that door. Then his eyes widened when he stepped inside the small, dimly lit room.

Three tables were pushed against the wall, all displaying an arrangement of toys and objects—some he recognized, some he couldn’t begin to identify. Another large table stood in the middle of the room, padded in black leather, with cuffs attached at each corner. A rather odd-looking swing hung from hooks in the ceiling.

There was a couch, an ottoman, and something that reminded him of the pommel horse that gymnasts used. There was also a wicked-looking contraption that brought to mind medieval torture devices. It stood tall in the corner of the room, leather cuffs attached to each corner, much the same as the padded table.

Crap, crap, crap!
Echo’s heart hammered inside his chest, his stomach rolled, and sweat broke out over his skin. He tried to take a deep breath but couldn’t seem to pull enough air into his lungs. So, he breathed shallowly, sucking in oxygen as quickly as possible. Bad idea, he realized, when his head began to swim, and the room started to tilt.

A strong arm wrapped around his waist, catching him before he could crumple to the floor. Onyx swung him up in his powerful arms and carried him over to the sofa. He eased down on the cushions, settling Echo in his lap, and stroked his face gently.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Catch your breath, and we’ll leave. I’ll get you something to eat, we can watch a movie, whatever you want, baby.”

Echo shook his head vehemently. “No. I can do this.”

“You’re pale, sweaty, and shaking like a leaf. You have nothing to prove to me, or whatever it is you think you’re doing. I told you, sweetheart. I don’t need this.”

But, Onyx was wrong. He did need this. Echo had given himself completely and without reservation to his other mates. “I want to do this,” he said firmly and pointed toward the door. “Outside that door, I’m too much of a control freak. I’ll never roll over and just let you guys tell me what to do. It’s not how I’m built.”

Echo reached up and covered the warrior’s mouth when it looked as though his mate would interrupt. “Sometimes, I just need to let go, not think, and allow someone else to be in control. And, sometimes, not always, you need to have that control.”

Onyx curled his fingers around Echo’s wrist and kissed his palm. “I don’t want to always be in charge. I can’t imagine having to make the decisions that Hex does. But, yes, sometimes I need that control. That’s why I have this room. In here, I have final say. Things are however I want them to be.”

“Then, I think we complement each other perfectly, don’t you?”

A strange look played over Onyx’s face that Echo couldn’t decipher. He looked thoughtful, awed, and completely lost all at the same time. “I think you’re right. Inside this room, we can give each other what we need.”

Echo slid out of Onyx’s lap and knelt on the floor in front of him, waiting.

“What is your safe word?” Onyx asked.

“Red for stop, yellow to slow down.”

“Good, baby.” Onyx reached down and caressed the side of Echo’s cheek before standing and pulling Echo up with him. Onyx led him to the padded table and smoothed his hand over the dark, supple leather. It looked much bigger up close, somehow intimidating.

Echo moved to climb up on the table, but Onyx stopped him. Without a word, he pressed his palm between Echo’s shoulder blades, urging him forward with gentle but firm pressure to his back. Echo bent at the waist until his chest met the cool leather, and he bit his lip to keep from groaning.

“Do not move,” Onyx said sternly. He took each of Echo’s wrists and moved his arms to stretch out in front of him on the table. Echo watched as Onyx crouched then stood straight again with a pair of velvet-lined handcuffs, one end secured to the floor with a thin chain. The other end locked around Echo’s wrist, and then Onyx moved around the table to do the same to the other wrist.

Echo breathed slowly, in through his nose, out through his mouth. He could do this. Onyx disappeared, and it seemed like a torturously long time before he returned. Echo’s body thrummed with nervous anticipation, practically vibrating as he waited to find out what Onyx would do to him next.

The demon’s palms began smoothing over his skin, light caresses at first, then harder, more hungry as he kneaded the muscles in Echo’s upturned ass. “So, beautiful,” Onyx whispered. “You will not come until I give you permission.”

“Yes, sir.” It wasn’t a direction question. Hell, it wasn’t really a question at all, but Echo instinctively knew that Onyx wanted an answer.

“Good, baby,” the warrior purred.

Echo’s head popped up from the cushioned table, and he sucked in air through his teeth when cold liquid dripped over his skin and ran down his crease. The slight hiss instantly turned to a strangled groan before Echo could cut it off. One thick finger pushed between his ass cheeks, stroking his hole and coating it in lube. He wasn’t sure if moaning counted as speaking, but he clamped his lips together just in case.

His fingers dug into the sides of the table in a white-knuckled grip when the slippery digit pushed into his quivering hole. Damn, it felt so good. He rocked back, arching his hips to take in more of the finger invading his ass.

A stinging swat landed on his left cheek, and Echo bit down hard on his lip to trap the whimper that rose up in his throat. “Be still,” Onyx commanded.

“Yes, sir,” Echo choked out.

One finger became two, two became three, and eventually Onyx had four long fingers pumping into Echo’s clutching passage. Echo rolled his damp forehead against the table, his body quaking as he struggled desperately to keeps his sounds of pleasure locked inside. His dick swelled and pulsed, hardening almost to the point of pain.

Then his mate’s fingers disappeared, replaced by something thick and unyielding. The silicone toy pushed inside his aching hole, and Onyx pumped the plug a few times before thrusting it deep into Echo’s ass until the flat base pressed against the flushed skin of his cheeks.

Something soft, almost feathery drifted across his shoulders next, then down his spine and over his hips. It brushed over his bottom, up and down his crease, then disappeared. The next time it connected with his skin, it didn’t feel feathery any longer.

A sharp sting lashed across his right buttocks, sending fiery heat shooting straight to his rock-hard dick. Onyx didn’t stop with one, didn’t even take it slowly. Over and over the flogger smacked against his bare skin. His hips, the back of his thighs, but it only occasionally struck against his ass.

“Your skin marks so well, baby. You should see how beautiful you look right now. Are you okay to continue?”

“Yes, sir,” Echo answered shakily. His backside burned, but it was a good burn, and he wanted more.

Something flat and hard landed on his left cheek, and Echo tensed as he bit on his lower lip so hard that he tasted blood. That was definitely not a flogger, and it wasn’t a goddamn hand either. The swats came slower this time, but with more intensity. Onyx paddled his ass, each strike harder than the last, until the muscles in Echo’s ass actually began to twitch and throb.

The fire consumed him. His balls churned, his heart kicked hard against his sternum, and pre-cum leaked freely from the engorged crown of his cock. His nerve endings sizzled, and Echo didn’t know how much more he could take before he went off like a bottle rocket.

It surprised him a little at how much he enjoyed the flogger and the paddle. He liked Vapre spanking him, but the warrior’s hand had nothing on the sting of the leather that whipped over his skin. Nor had he even thought about the restraints until he’d gone to reach for his throbbing cock. His brain felt a little fuzzy, high, almost disconnected.

Another swat landed on his aching ass, and Echo’s fangs shot through his gums, descending until they pierced his bottom lip. His throat began to burn, his mouth watered, and he sucked in air through his nose, trying desperately not to make a sound.

He certainly wasn’t thinking anymore, though, and that’s exactly what he’d wanted.

* * * *

By the time Onyx set aside the satin-lined paddle, his hands were shaking, his body quivering, and his cock throbbed painfully inside his jeans. Echo hadn’t moved, other than the slight tensing and trembling of his body. He hadn’t made a sound either. He was so proud of his baby.

Picking up the small bottle of salve, Onyx dipped his fingers in the goo and spread it gently over Echo’s flaming skin. “You did so well, baby. How are you feeling?” When he didn’t receive a response, Onyx began to worry. “Echo, talk to me.”

He set the gel aside and moved slowly around to the side of the table to look at his mate. What he saw made his chest tighten and his heart bleed. He didn’t think he’d lost control. In fact, he’d held back from what he’d have normally delivered to one of the warriors.

But Echo’s eyes were squeezed closed, his face dripped with sweat, and he bit into his bottom lip so hard that blood trickled down his chin. Onyx had been overjoyed to hear Echo say that they complemented each other. He’d been waiting centuries to finally fit with someone. Oh, he knew his men cared about him, but he often found himself floundering, trying to find his place in the relationship.