Evans, Gabrielle - The Hunger [Fatefully Yours 7] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (9 page)

Hex laughed and kissed him on the forehead when he reached the foot of the stairs. “I told you.”

“Told him what?” Fiero asked.

“Echo seems to have a fetish for leather and knives,” Hex answered with a smirk.

All eyes turned to him, and Echo swallowed hard. “I want to strip you down and lick every inch of each one of you.” Good grief, he’d actually said that out loud. Shaking his head to try to clear a bit of the lusty haze surrounding his brain, Echo turned and reached for the doorknob. “This is going to be a distraction,” he mumbled under his breath.

Hex’s hand landed on the back of his neck and urged him around to face the big alpha. “No distractions,” Hex said seriously.

Echo dipped his head. The magnitude of what they faced finally crashed down on him, and his knees began to tremble. “Don’t you dare die.”

Stroking his fingers down the side of Echo’s neck, Hex frowned. “Where’s your necklace?”

“Upstairs in my nightstand.” Echo’s throat burned at the hurt look in Hex’s eyes. He curled his hand around his mate’s wrist, moving the warrior’s palm to his cheek to nuzzle against it. “I haven’t worn it in a while. It’s too important to me, and with everything happening, I was afraid it would get lost or broken.”

His answer seemed to appease his lover, because Hex grinned crookedly and stroked Echo’s cheek. “This is a two-way street, Echo. You will do exactly what we tell you to do, and no arguments. Not this time, baby. Don’t you dare die.” He growled Echo’s words back to him.

Echo nodded, though he wasn’t even sure if he could die anymore. Would he re-die? Was that even possible? It was definitely something he needed to find out, but this probably wasn’t the best time to test it.

One final check to make sure everyone had what they needed, and they hurried out to pile into two separate vehicles. Echo slid into the backseat of his SUV between Onyx and Mac. Such a beautiful car his men had bought for him, and he’d only driven it once. He didn’t much like driving, though, so he wasn’t too fussed with it.

Hex drove as usual, with Eyce in the passenger seat. Everyone else piled into Syx’s SUV and off they went to face down rogue vampires and rescue their friends. Cakewalk, right?

Echo fidgeted, squirming in his seat and wringing his hands together. So many things could go wrong and probably would. If all the vampires would be sleeping and they couldn’t come out in the sun, how hard could it be? Judging from the amount of steel his mates were packing, he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“I still don’t understand why this is going to be so hard,” he finally admitted. “I mean, we have powers, and the vampires can’t come out in the daylight. Why is everyone acting like we’re facing down Armageddon?”

“I imagine that they’ll be holding Gage and everyone else in the lowest part of the building—a basement or something similar where sunlight won’t reach,” Eyce answered, turning in his seat to face Echo. “We have to get in, find them, and get out.”

Echo nodded slowly. “But how hard could it be to kick their asses?”

“Craze said there were thirty or so vampires at Jinx and Syn’s initiation. Which means there is probably double that in the coven. Vampires are fast, Echo. Yes, we have powers, but we usually need a moment to concentrate before we can use them. They won’t give us that time. It’s eight of us facing sixty or more of them.”

“Nine,” Echo amended. “I’m not just here to look pretty.”

No one argued with him, but he saw the way Eyce’s eyes tightened at the corners and knew his mates would do all they could to keep him out of the fray. Well, just let them try. He had no intentions of sitting on the sidelines while the men he loved put themselves in danger.

Watcher
, daemon, angel, or whatever they wanted to call it, he was now faster, stronger, and his power was easier to manipulate. If he had to kick his mates’ asses for their own good, well then so be it.

They sped along the dirt road that would lead them into town. Well, Echo assumed that’s where they were going since he’d never actually been into the town before. No one said anything, and he was grateful that Syx had chosen to ride in the other vehicle. Hatching a plan would be damn near impossible with the demon listening in on his thoughts.

Echo stared down at his hands, concentrating with everything he had. He didn’t know how he’d produced the bright light when he’d assaulted Gage in the kitchen that day. He did know it was powerful, though. He’d been trying to reproduce the glow ever since, but so far nothing. A crying shame, because he had an inkling it could be very useful against the vampires.

It felt like no time at all had passed when brake lights in front of them drew Echo’s attention. The SUV pulled off the country road onto an even bumpier dirt trail and stopped completely. Hex pulled in behind Syx, pulled the emergency brake, and cut the engine.

“Are we here?” Echo looked at the trees surrounding them. He was really coming to hate the forests surrounding their home. Nothing good ever came from trekking out into the woods. And what about the town? Had he been lost in thought and missed it?

“You didn’t expect us to just drive up to the front door, did you?” Eyce winked at him, his smile big and eager as though he was looking forward to the battle.

Echo guessed he probably was. His mates had been born for this. The last two thousand years of having nothing to fight had probably been wicked boring for them. He rolled his eyes and gave Mac a little shove to get him moving. “Let’s go before Eyce wets himself.”

Mac looked at him with wide eyes but hurried to scramble out of the vehicle. “Echo, I can’t help,” he whispered when they were both standing beside the SUV. “I
want
to help, but look at me.” He spread his arms wide. “I’m just a human, and smaller than average at that. I can’t fight vampires and win.”

“No one expects you to,” Echo said calmly. “Just stay behind the rest of us, and do exactly what we tell you. If someone tells you to run or hide, you do it. Okay?”

Mac nodded firmly. “I don’t care about dying. I just want my mates back, and I don’t want to fuck anything up.”

“You won’t.” Echo grabbed his friend’s wrist and pulled him toward Syx’s vehicle. “Just don’t say anything. They’re going to try to talk us into staying, but it’s not going to happen. Got it?”

“I’m not staying here.” A rather impressive growl rumbled up from Mac’s thin chest.

Echo had no intentions of being left behind. He wasn’t above using whatever weapons he had in his arsenal to get his way, either. So, when Onyx called his name, instead of groaning like he wanted to, he pasted a winsome smile on his face and turned to his mate.

“Mac, would you please wait with the others? I need a word with Echo.”

Mac looked at Echo for confirmation then nodded reluctantly when Echo waved him on. Stepping closer to the warrior, Echo kept the smile on his face. “Yes?”

“You need to feed.”

The smile slid right off of Echo’s face. He’d expected Onyx to argue with him and demand he stay behind. He even expected a little begging and bribing. This, however, he never saw coming. “Why?”

“Do you feel stronger after you feed?”

Echo thought it over for a minute. “Yes.”

“You need to be at top strength, babe.”

“Not you.” Echo wanted to smack himself in the forehead when Onyx instantly shut down.

His entire body tensed and his eyes became shuttered. “I’ll get one of the others,” Onyx responded in a monotone.

“I didn’t mean it that way.” Echo grabbed his lover’s wrist to prevent his escape. “I took blood from you last night, and a lot of it.” He reached up and stroked Onyx’s face. “You need to be strong as well, love.”

Onyx’s eyes softened, and he leaned into Echo’s touch. “I’m sorry that I jumped to conclusions.”

Echo didn’t know what had happened in the demon’s past to make him think he wasn’t good enough for the love Echo felt for him, but once they rescued the others, he intended to change Onyx’s way of thinking. The man never said much, but Echo guessed Onyx felt more than any of them. He was hurting, that much was obvious, and it broke Echo’s heart that he couldn’t take that pain away.

“I love you,” he whispered. They were only words, but it was all the comfort he could offer in their given situation.

Onyx closed his eyes, his shoulders relaxed, and a contented sigh escaped his lips. “I love you, too.” His eyelids fluttered open, and he smiled. “You still need to feed.”

“If it will make you feel better. Though, I really don’t think it’s necessary. I just fed a few hours ago.”

“It couldn’t hurt,” Onyx countered. He glanced over his shoulder toward the east. “We need to hurry.”

The sky had lightened considerably since they’d arrived, and Echo could feel the tingle in his spine heralding the sun’s journey toward the horizon. “Ten minutes or so,” he mumbled. Gods, he was such a freak. He vaguely wondered if he could predict the weather as well. “I don’t need to feed, and none of you can afford to give me the blood.”

Onyx frowned at him. “It doesn’t make me feel weak or tired. I think one of us could spare a little.”

“No,” Echo said firmly. “I’m good.” He took Onyx’s hand and squeezed it. “Let’s go kick some vampire ass.”

His mate gave in, just as Echo knew he would, and they hurried over to join the others. “Why do you have blankets?”

Craze looked over his shoulder at Echo, then out toward the eastern sky. “Jinx and Syn are vampires, Echo, and the sun is almost up. I’d rather not bring my mates home as charcoal.”

Duh!
Echo did smack himself in the forehead that time. Damn it, he needed to get his head on straight. “Right. Sorry.”

“How far from here?” Hex asked.

“About a half mile through those trees,” Craze answered, pointing toward the north. “It’s a large house, a lot like yours. I couldn’t get close enough to see inside, but all basements are underground.”

“Do you know if there’s an outside entrance?”

Craze shook his head and tucked the blankets under his arm. “Not a clue.”

“I really don’t want to go inside that house.” Hex began pacing, his fingers clenching and relaxing at his sides.

Echo stepped in front of the alpha to halt him. “I think it’s time for some go-go juice.”

It didn’t take long for Echo to go around the group, recycling and redoubling the demons’ powers. He reached Syx last, unsure what to do. Maybe he should give Syx some of the others’ powers?

Syx chuckled and kissed his forehead. “Don’t worry about me, sweetheart.”

Echo shrugged.
Right
. Like he wasn’t going to worry.

“Hey.” Syx slipped his fingers under Echo’s chin and tilted his head up. “Look at me.”

Echo did and yawned immediately. “I feel sleepy.”

Chapter Eight

“Why am I sleeping?” Echo glared at the goddess, Athena. “This is bullshit! Send me back!”

“I did not do this to you, young one.”

“Syx,” Echo snarled. He should have known. Just wait until he got his hands on the asshole! “You can still send me back. They need my help.”

“Yes, they do. More than they realize.”

“You can say that again,” Echo scoffed. “If I ask you some questions, are you going to be all mystical and vague?”

Athena arched an eyebrow at him and smirked. “It would depend on what questions you ask.”

Echo shrugged. As long as he had the goddess there, he might as well try and get some answers. “Why did I die?”