Authors: Gabrielle Evans
Hex seemed to regard him for a long time before he finally nodded and sat down in one of the chairs. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and rested his forearms on his knees, palms up. “You get my wrists,” he said coldly. “You come anywhere near my throat, and I will kill you.”
“Hex!” Echo didn’t want the vampires sucking at Hex’s neck either. The wrist seemed somehow less intimate to him. Still, Hex didn’t have to be so violent about it.
The demon just shrugged, looking completely unapologetic. Jinx and Syn moved hesitantly, shuffling forward, then kneeling at Hex’s feet. They wrapped their small hands around his forearms and took deep breaths. “Thank you,” they whispered in unison.
“I can’t watch this.” Syx closed his eyes and shook his head. “We’ll go into town now and get the blood.” Opening his eyes, he looked at Vapre and jerked his head toward the front of the house. “Let’s go.”
Vapre looked a little sick as he watched the vampires suck greedily at Hex’s wrist. “Yeah, let’s go,” he agreed thickly.
“I’m coming, too,” Onyx called. Myst nodded and hurried after the trio, disappearing through the entryway that led to the living room.
Fiero and Eyce moved to stand beside Echo, each wrapping an arm around his shoulders and squeezing. “It makes my stomach burn to watch this,” Eyce whispered. Then he sighed and hung his head. “I don’t want them to starve either, though.”
“Don’t watch,” Fiero said as he reached over Echo’s head to grip Eyce’s chin. “Look at me, right here at me.”
Echo appreciated what Fiero was doing for their lover, but he couldn’t look away. Watching the newcomers extract their fangs from Hex’s wrist and lick the wounds clean, Echo felt nothing. Not anger or jealousy. Not relief that the ordeal was over. He felt only numbness.
Syn and Jinx licked their lips as they rose to their feet and took several hurried steps backward. Echo barely noticed them. His eyes were locked with Hex’s, and finally, some feeling returned to him, warming him right down to his toes.
Pride.
His fierce demon had taken charge of the situation and handled it with calm authority, proving why he was their leader. Disengaging himself from Fiero and Eyce, Echo drifted across the kitchen floor, almost as though he were in a trance, until he stood between Hex’s parted thighs.
Reaching up, his movements felt heavy and sluggish, as though playing in slow motion on a movie reel. He cupped Hex’s jaw in both hands, tilting the warrior’s face up until they were nose to nose. “Thank you.” He started to say more, to tell Hex how much he loved him, but his words were cut off when Hex jerked him into his lap and attacked his mouth with earth-shattering enthusiasm.
Relaxing into the kiss, Echo let his lover take over, giving Hex whatever he needed. Words could definitely wait.
* * * *
“What is that awful noise?” Fiero groaned as he stood straight and arched his back. He’d been bent over Vapre’s shoulder for the better part of an hour as they pored through information on the Internet. Not a damn bit of it did he find useful.
Walking toward the office door, he pressed his ear against the wood and listened to the sounds drifting down the hallway. “Is that country music?” He shuddered at the very idea that someone would be playing that in the house. He despised the stuff.
Vapre laughed and shook his head. “Echo,” they said in stereo.
Fiero’s eyes lit up, and he motioned for Vapre to join him at the door. “Let’s go see what our little mate is up to.”
Vapre nodded eagerly as he rose from his chair, the biggest Cheshire grin on his face. They slipped out of the office, Fiero leading the way, and crept down the hall quietly. Keeping to the shadows, they stopped before they reached the living room, and Fiero had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
Echo, Sony, and Mac were trying to teach Jinx and Syn how to do some ridiculous line dance. Fiero wasn’t even sure you could call it a line dance, per say. There was a lot of wiggling and giggling going on, feet moving, and asses shaking, but that was about it. What they lacked in coordination, they certainly made up for in enthusiasm, though.
“No, no, no.” Echo huffed as he went to place his hands on Syn’s hips and shake him a bit. “You’re too tight. Loosen up a little.” He took a step back, and Fiero could practically see his body vibrate with what ever thought had snuck into that cute little head of his. “I’ll be right back.” Then he took off in a flash, disappearing out of sight in the direction of the stairs.
Fiero looked over his shoulder at Vapre with wide eyes. Vapre just shrugged and pressed a finger to his lips, then pointed to the living room. Within minutes, Echo was back, flinging white button-down shirts as his companions. “Put these on, and only these.” He paused for a minute and shook his head. “Well, leave your underwear on. I don’t want dicks flopping around everywhere.”
Cramming his fist in his mouth, Fiero tried like hell not to laugh. Hearing movement behind him, he looked over his shoulder again, and motioned for Eyce and Myst to come closer, but remain quiet.
“What are they doing?” Eyce asked in a hushed voice.
“No clue,” Fiero replied. “It’s bound to be entertaining, though.”
Once Echo had stripped out of his jeans and donned the shirt, he rushed across the room to the stereo and pushed a few buttons. An upbeat tune began playing, followed by a woman’s voice as she sang about feeling like a woman. This had to be the strangest thing Fiero had ever witnessed.
Wide smiles spread over the five men’s faces, and Echo started twirling around the room, shaking his ass and singing at the top of his lungs. His friends joined in, dancing up a storm as some sang along with Echo, and the others just laughed and cheered.
Echo whipped his head in a circle, slinging his blond hair around his head as he cocked one hip to the side and slapped his cotton-covered ass. Then he giggled like a maniac and began strutting across the carpet, bobbing his head and wiggling his ass.
“Gods have mercy,” Myst breathed. “I love this song. I have no idea what it is, but I love it.”
Myst’s whispered words only pushed Fiero’s amusement higher until he felt like he would need to have his fist surgically removed from the inside of his mouth. He bit down on his knuckles and squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to hold in his mirth.
Vapre slumped against his side, his whole body shaking with the effort to hold in his own laughter. The demon’s face had turned the most magnificent shade of red, and he was making steady progress in shoving his own hand into his mouth.
Myst just looked completely enraptured…and a whole lot horny. Eyce actually had tears streaming down his face as he chewed on his lip so hard, Fiero just knew the warrior would draw blood. Eyce shook his head frantically when Fiero arched an eyebrow at him and pressed the heel of his hand against his mouth as little snorts escaped his nose.
“I know you’re watching,” Echo called. “Come dance with us.”
Fiero jumped at being caught, but didn’t move as he watched Echo dance over to their hiding place. The little mischief maker took his hand and pulled him into the living room, rubbing against him as he purred and gyrated. “Hey, handsome.”
He didn’t move—couldn’t move. Fiero stood immobile as his mate danced around him, running his hands all over him in feather-light touches. “Don’t you want to dance with me?” Echo asked seductively.
Fiero nodded his head slowly. Then shook it. Then nodded again.
Echo smiled up at him knowingly and clucked his tongue. “Don’t tell me you don’t know how to dance. It’s very easy, love.” His hands gripped Fiero’s hips from behind as he pressed up against him and began swaying his hips, forcing Fiero to move along with him. “See? Easy.”
His small hands drifted from Fiero’s hips, up his sides, then around to press flat against his chest. He nuzzled his face into Fiero’s back, rubbing against him like a kitten. “I like this,” Echo said quietly.
Glancing around the room, Fiero found that Syn, Jinx, and Sony had pulled the others from the hall and were instructing them on the proper way to dance. They looked like idiots, each and every one of them, but the smiles on their faces were priceless.
This is what it was all about. This is what they were fighting to keep.
Fiero placed his hands over Echo’s and squeezed gently as he continued to move with his lover. Their mate had made their house a home, and their little group of misfits a family. Fiero would die before he let anyone take this from him.
Chapter Twelve
Echo watched Syn and Jinx sink their fangs into the bags of blood, and wrinkled his nose. He understood it was their reality, and was grateful they wouldn’t need to drink from his men anymore, but it sure didn’t look very appetizing to him.
“Thank you,” he whispered to Syn and Vapre. “How exactly did you get it, though?” It wasn’t as though blood banks just dished out their supply to any person that walked in off the street. His eyes narrowed and he pointed a finger in their faces. “You didn’t steal it, did you?”
Syx laughed and shook his head. “No. It’s amazing what you can buy for the right price.”
“We’re going to have to find alternate means soon, though,” Vapre added in a whisper. “The banks can’t really afford to part with much. We paid out the ass and were lucky to get the twelve bags they gave us.”
“It’ll last for a few weeks,” Echo replied with more confidence than he felt. “We’ll figure out something by then.” The talk of money did bring up another issue he’d been wanting to discuss, however. “How do you have so much money? None of you work.”
Syx pressed a hand to his chest and adopted a look of offense. “I work very hard, thank you very much. Do you think it’s easy keeping all of these hooligans in line?”
Snorting, Echo rolled his eyes and waved a hand at the demon. “Please. You are just as bad as the rest of them. You know what I meant.”
Vapre shrugged. “We’ve been around for a while, babe. Two thousand years is a lot of time for money to accumulate. We own a few companies around the world, are majority stockholders in others, and even have a few real estate investments. We don’t really have to do anything but watch the money roll in.”
“How do you keep people from finding out, though? I mean, how long have you own these companies?”
“Not long,” Syx answered. “Fifty or sixty years. They’re in my name, and in another ten years or so, I’ll sign them over to Vapre, and so on down the line.”
“Surely you don’t use your real names.” Echo could just imagine the looks on people’s faces.
“Of course not,” Syx scoffed. “Steven Sexton.” He offered a hand. “Please to meet you.”
“Vincent Sexton,” Vapre said with a smile and a nod.
“Wow,” Echo breathed. “So, I’m mated to seven insane, rich men.”
“Don’t you mean
insanely
rich?” Syx cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Nope.” Echo smiled and scrunched his nose. “I know what I said.” Then his mood sobered, and he rubbed a hand over his face. “The new moon is in two days. Have you found anything?”
Vapre shook his head slowly. “Nothing more than we already had. I’m sorry, baby. I just don’t know how to help him.”
Opening his mouth to respond, Echo clamped his lips shut again when Mac burst into the kitchen, his eyes wide, his face pale, and his lips trembling. Moving swiftly, Echo hurried over to his friend and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Mac, what’s wrong? What happened?”
Mac moved his lips, but made no sounds. He looked up at Echo, panic written in the lines of his face and the shining of his eyes. “Did you see something?” Echo tapped the man’s forehead right between his eyes to elaborate.
“Ares is here,” Syx growled.
Mac glanced at Syx and bobbed his head mutely. “He’s not alone,” he whispered.