Evans, Gabrielle - The Hunger [Fatefully Yours 7] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (8 page)

Onyx snorted. “Are you listening to yourself?” He waved his hand around the kitchen. “Do you see them anywhere? They’re not here. We don’t know where they are. In my book, that’s the epitome of
missing
.”

“That’s not what I meant, and your shitty attitude isn’t helping.”

“Stop,” Echo said quietly. “This is exactly what Ares wants. Us fighting each other and running around chasing our asses. Let’s just take one thing at a time and go from there.”

Onyx sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Echo was right. “Come here.” The relief was instant when Echo hurried across the room and crawled up in his lap. Onyx wrapped his arms around the man and kissed the top of his head, allowing the scent of his mate calm and soothe him. “I’m sorry.”

Echo patted his chest and nuzzled against his throat for a moment before sitting up straight to address everyone in the room. “Okay, so let’s start over. We know that seven members of this house are missing. We know that there are bad-guy vampires in town running amok.”

“Amok, huh?” Vapre smiled brightly, his eyes shining with amusement.

Echo growled at him, and Onyx had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “Go on, Echo.”

“Well, that’s really all we know. We assume Jinx and Syn are with these vampires because of what Craze said, but his story had a lot of holes in it.”

“We know that Jet and Pax are with Lorcan,” Myst offered.

Echo shook his head slowly. “Don’t you find it odd that Lorcan called right at the exact time that we were going to call him?”

“You’re saying Lorcan is lying?” Hex frowned and rubbed more insistently at his temples.

“Not exactly,” Echo hedged. “Someone convinced this Lexi person they were you and to transfer all that money.”

“So, maybe this conveniently timed phone call came from someone other than Lorcan?” Syx bobbed his head thoughtfully. “Well, we can clear that up easily enough.”

“On it,” Eyce said, rising from the table and pulling his cell phone from his pocket. “Keep talking. I’ll be right back.”

“What did you mean about them not being missing?” Onyx asked again, though much calmer than the first time.

“I didn’t mean that exactly. We think they all left around the same time, right? But we assume they all went in different directions. That doesn’t really seem plausible.”

“I’m still not following you.” Onyx was beginning to understand why Hex had so many headaches.

“What if they didn’t leave? What if they were taken? I mean, yes, they’re still technically missing, but if they’re all in the same place, we have a better idea of where to find them,” Vapre tried to explain.

“And where would that be?” Fiero asked.

Before anyone could offer an answer, Eyce walked back into the kitchen from the living room, and the back door swung open. Everyone was on their feet at once, Myst pushing Mac behind him, while Onyx shifted to stand in front of Echo.

Craze looked at them all with wide eyes and held his hands up in surrender. “I just went for a walk to clear my head.”

“Sit your ass down and start talking,” Hex ordered. “You’re lying, and I want to know why.”

Onyx eyed Craze warily as the man came further into the room and sat down in the seat Fiero had recently vacated. He wasn’t the only one either. They had no way to know if they could trust their ex-lover, and it made him twitchy. He didn’t want Echo anywhere near the man.

Very slowly, everyone resumed their seats, Fiero snagging the chair beside Onyx and leaving Hex to pace. “If something happens to my friends because you’re a lying fuckwad, I will gut you like a fish,” Echo said calmly. “I promise you won’t be able to heal from what I do to you. So, you have about two minutes to make this right and prove to me why I shouldn’t do exactly that.”

“I don’t have a reason why you shouldn’t, and to be honest, I wouldn’t fight back.”

“Explain,” Eyce growled.

Onyx had never heard so much hostility in one word before. If Craze didn’t start giving them some answers soon, things were going to turn ugly fast.

“Your story doesn’t add up.” Echo paced right alongside Hex. “If it’s so dangerous for us to get to Jinx and Syn, then how did you talk to them?”

“I just talked to a member of Lorcan’s pack,” Eyce added. “Lorcan is missing as well, so it definitely wasn’t him who called earlier. None of the pack have seen Jet and Pax either.”

Craze propped his elbows on the table and dropped his forehead to his hands. He spoke without looking up. “I don’t know about Lorcan, or any of the others. I swear, I don’t.”

“Then where are Jinx and Syn?” Myst asked icily.

“Exactly where I said they were.” Craze finally lifted his head to look at them. His eyes were red-rimmed, and he swallowed several times before he spoke again. “I told Jinx and Syn about the vampire clan that moved into the area. I wanted them to be on their guard and understand why they couldn’t go off on their own.”

“So why did they?” Onyx asked.

“They were feeling guilty about attacking Echo. I should have just kept my stupid mouth shut!” Craze shook his head and pulled at his spiky blond hair. “I wasn’t even thinking. I made some stupid comment about how it would be nice if we had someone inside the coven that could feed information to us. I was just thinking out loud, ya know? I fell asleep and when I woke up they were gone.”

“When was this?” Hex paused in his pacing to face Craze.

“The same night as the new moon.” Craze sighed. “I knew exactly where they’d gone, but by the time I got there it was too late. They’d already been initiated into the coven.”

“Why didn’t you just tell us that?” Mac fidgeted in his seat as he spoke.

“Because I fucking ran like a coward!” Craze yelled. “First I plant the idea into their heads, then I get there just in time to watch them being beaten and fed the blood of the coven leader, and I did nothing to stop it!”

“You didn’t try to save them?” Echo asked incredulously.

“They were surrounded by thirty goddamn vampires! If I’da made a move, Jinx and Syn woulda been dead before I could reach ’em.” The man’s southern accent slipped in the more agitated he became. “I’m strong, but I ain’t strong enough to face down thirty vampires. I hung ’round the next day, tryin’ to figure out a way to get to ’em, but this clan is a lot bigger and a lot stronger than we thought.”

“We would have helped you,” Echo said, but he’d abandoned the scathing tone. “Why didn’t you ask for help?”

“This is my mess,” Craze snarled. “I didn’ wanna drag y’all into it. I know y’all think I’m some big asshole, and Jinx and Syn deserve bettah. Yer prob’ly right. I have to get ’em back, though.”

“You really don’t know where Gage and Sony are?” Mac whispered.

Craze glanced over at the smaller man and shook his head sadly. He took a deep breath and looked to be trying to compose himself. “I’m sorry, Mac. I’d tell you if I did.”

“We don’t think this vampire clan showed up out of the blue,” Onyx said slowly before looking to Syx and Vapre for help. Something niggled at him, but he wasn’t sure exactly what. As the brains of the group, if Onyx could spark a thought for the two, maybe they could come up with the answers.

Instead of saying anything, though, Syx smiled at him and nodded. “Keep going.”

“We think they’re mostly likely connected to Ares.”

“Right.” Vapre nodded.

“So, these vampires would already know all about us.” A light went off in Onyx’s head, and he pushed up straighter in his chair. “They would know Jinx and Syn were there to deceive them.”

“Exactly,” Syx said. “Which leads me to believe they somehow used Jinx and Syn to lure the others out of the house.”

“So, you think Gage and Sony are being held by these assholes?” Mac shot up from his chair. “No!”

“Yes.” Syx growled and banged his fist down on the table.

“We have to get them!” Mac yelled.

“If they’re as strong as Craze says, that’s damn near impossible.” Onyx looked away as he spoke. He didn’t want to see the anger, desperation, or disappointment in Mac’s eyes.

“I’m willing to bet they don’t have just Gage and Sony, but Jet, Pax, and possibly Lorcan,” Vapre snarled. “It’s a trap, and they’re using them as bait.”

Chapter Seven

“When do we leave?” Echo knew his men would go. He knew their first concern would be for him. “It will take all of you to get them out, and it’s not safe for me and Mac to stay here alone. We’re coming with you.”

“How long until sunup?” Hex asked. Echo was a little surprised that the demon wasn’t going to argue with him.

Echo glanced out the kitchen window. “An hour, give or take.” It still unnerved him that he could feel when the sun was rising. If he wasn’t a vampire, then how did he know that? There were a lot of questions about this whole
daemon
thing that he needed answered. Shit just kept popping up, though, and he hadn’t had a chance to even think about, let alone understand it.

“Our best bet is to go in during the day. Craze, do you know where they’re being held?”

Crazed nodded and jumped to his feet. “Yeah, I can get us there.” He took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “Thank you.”

Hex waved away the gratitude and focused on Echo. “Baby, we’re going to need a lot of go-go juice. Do you think you can handle that?”

Go-go juice?
Echo chuckled. “Yeah, I can handle it.” Thank the gods his powers were still intact after dying. He shuddered a little but kept the smile plastered on his face. When was he going to get over that? He’d died. Big deal. It wasn’t like he was buried in the ground somewhere. Still, the thought always left him feeling cold—no pun intended.

“Okay, then everyone suit up.”

The warriors all moved as one, rising to their feet and leaving the room with Craze and Mac right behind them. Echo tilted his head to the side as he watched them go. “What are they doing?”

Hex smiled and brushed a stray lock back from Echo’s forehead. “They’re getting their gear.”

“Daggers, swords, and black leather pants—like real warrior stuff?” Echo asked excitedly. The thought of seeing his mates decked out in leather and shiny blades should probably terrify him, but it didn’t. It actually made his dick twitch inside his cotton pajama bottoms.

“Yep.” Hex skimmed his fingers down Echo’s chest and cupped his growing erection. “You like that, don’t you?”

Echo licked his lips and moaned. “I think I like that a lot.”

Hex wrapped his fingers around the back of Echo’s neck and tugged him into a kiss that set his head spinning and his cock throbbing. They were both breathing heavily when Hex pulled away and released his hold on Echo’s groin. “We’ll play after we save the day.”

Gripping his aching shaft through his pants, Echo groaned. “Cock tease.”

“It’s not teasing if I come through.” Hex pecked him on the lips again and swatted his ass to get him moving. “Put some clothes on and meet me at the front door in ten minutes.”

Echo was dressed and waiting in five. He fidgeted nervously, pacing back and forth in the entryway at the foot of the stairs while he waited on his mates to join him. When they finally emerged, Echo thought he’d swallow his tongue.

Hex wasn’t kidding. They were all dressed in black leather pants and plain black T-shirts. Black boots and heavy belts adorned with an array of knives in different sizes rounded out the drool-worthy picture. They looked dangerous—and absolutely the sexiest men he’d ever laid eyes on.