Evans, Gabrielle - Reckoning [Fatefully Yours 9] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (14 page)

“Echo, can you tell us where you went?”

“I don’t know where I was exactly, but I think it was Olympus. He said that time was different in the immortal realm.”

“Who?” Hex growled.

“Helios. I guess he summoned me there. I really don’t know. I thought I was dreaming.”

“But…” Syx trailed off and looked to Vapre. The two exchanged some kind of silent communication, and Vapre eventually nodded. “Only those of your blood can summon you to Olympus against your will.”

“Yep.” Echo nodded, but he didn’t look very happy about it. “You were right. Helios is my sperm donor.”

“Your father is a Titan?” Myst sounded properly impressed.

Echo growled, though. “He is not my father. To hear him tell it, I’m merely the byproduct of a bargain made with my mother.” He took a deep breath and seemed to regain some composure. “I did get some information out of him, and I have a lot to tell you.”

“It can wait,” Syx said immediately. “Just let us hold you for a while.”

Echo smiled but shook his head. “We only have two weeks until the equinox. Unfortunately, there’s not much time.”

“Not time for what?”

“We have to rescue the residents from the lab, and it needs to happen before we face Ares. Have you found out where the compound is located?”

Vapre shook his head. “We haven’t done anything but look for you since you disappeared.”

Echo’s eyes softened, and he reached out to cup Vapre’s jaw. “I’m okay, my love. I’m so sorry you were worried about me, but I’m back. We need to focus now. There’s not much time.”

“Can we just sleep and talk about it in the morning?” Myst moved to the floor and rested his head in Echo’s lap. “Please? I can’t even think right now.”

Echo combed his fingers through Myst’s hair and sighed. “I suppose a few more hours won’t hurt.”

Eyce rose from the sofa and motioned for Hex, Onyx, and Vapre to follow him. It didn’t take long for them to gather blankets and pillows from their rooms and bring them downstairs to pile in the middle of the floor.

“Good thinking,” Echo approved. “I need all of you tonight.”

Eyce nodded but couldn’t form words around the lump in his throat. Echo might need them, but not nearly as much as they needed him.

* * * *

Pacing the floor inside the office, Syx listened to Echo recount the conversation he’d had with his father without interruption. When Echo finally ran down, he slumped back on the sofa and sighed. “So, that’s it. I don’t understand what half of it means, and I have so many questions.”

Syx stopped pacing and leaned against the desk. “Let’s see if we can answer your questions first, then we’ll go from there.” After being apart from his mate for so long, Syx had the uncontrollable desire to give Echo anything he wanted.

“I’m so glad you said that.” Echo flashed him a smile, and Syx thought he’d melt into a big pile of goo right there on the desk. “I don’t get this soul thing. How is it that some people are immortal and others aren’t? It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“When we escaped the Underworld, we had no souls.” This was one of the easier questions for Syx to answer. “We were immortal because Hades couldn’t recall our souls.”

“Then why did the prophecy say that you’d have to go back to Hades if we lost this war?”

Syx smirked. “I didn’t understand that for a long time, either, but I get it now. As creatures of the darkness, we were empty shells. Once we let the light in, we earned our souls and the right to live among the righteous.”

“What light? Huh?” Echo tilted his head, looking too damn cute.

“You, sweetheart. You taught us to love, pushed our moral compass a little closer to north. To put it simply, you saved us.”

Echo snorted. “I didn’t do anything but give Hades another weapon against you.” He chewed on his lip for a minute before he finally nodded. “Okay, fine. If I can accept the fact that I’m now some kind of spirit, I guess I can accept that you suddenly have a soul. What about me, though? I’m still confused about that. And if you have a soul now, does that mean that you’re no longer immortal?”

“Helios is correct that you are immortal. By being bound to us, that guaranteed it, but as we had no souls, your light couldn’t penetrate the darkness.”

“Okay.” Echo waved his hand around. “What about you being immortal now?”

“I think so.” Syx bobbed his head slowly. “We are bound to you.”

“You think?” Echo yelped. “So, you don’t know for sure?”

“Echo, calm down. There’s a reason we’re all together. Just trust in that.”

Echo calmed a little. “So, is that the thing that’s going on with your eyes? I mean, is that why they changed colors?”

Syx nodded. “Our eyes swirled with infinite color because we were nothing more than a void. When you opened us to the light, the color of our eyes reflected the changes within us.”

Echo smirked. “So, Myst has a purple soul? Oh, I can’t wait to tell him.” He paused for a minute to think through his next question. “Okay, so what did Helios mean about riding a bicycle?”

“Remember when you said that the answers wouldn’t be nearly as important if they weren’t discovered on our own?”

“What does that have to do with a fucking bicycle?”

Syx bit his tongue to keep from laughing. “You can learn the basic mechanics of riding a bicycle by watching someone else do it. Until you touch it, sit on top of it, learn to balance your weight, you can’t hope to ride it on your own, though.”

“You are just as confusing as everyone else.” Echo crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. “I just feel like I’m being made to suffer.”

“That’s kind of it. You won’t appreciate the good times unless you suffer through the bad.”

“That’s bullshit. Why can’t everything just be the way I want it?”

“If there was nothing wrong in the world, then there would be nothing right.”

“Did you just quote Shinedown lyrics?” Fiero asked as he stepped into the room.

“Who the hell is that?”

Fiero gasped and clutched his chest as though he’d been wounded. “You did not seriously ask me that. We need to educate you in fine music, babe.”

“Anyway,” Echo said loudly and cleared his throat. “So, who’s this Protector, and what am I supposed to do with this?” He pulled the little ball of light from his pocket and held it up for them to inspect.

“I believe Helios’s Protector is your Peter.”

“He’s not
my
anything,” Echo spat. “If he’s so bad, why was I sent to him?”

“I don’t think he was always bad, love.” Syx pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought of how to explain it. “Even with the powers from the gods, Peter is still mostly human, ruled by greed and hungry for power.”

“I don’t think that’s a trait unique to humans.” Echo tossed the ball in the air and caught it in his palm. “So, he was supposed to protect me until…whatever happened.”

“Until you were ready to find us. That would be my guess.”

“You guys make my head hurt.” Fiero turned and walked back out the door. “I’ll bring food,” he called over his shoulder.

Echo laughed. “I’m glad things haven’t changed since I was gone.” Then he became serious again. “Okay, so how do I use this to defeat him?”

“I have a feeling you’ll know when the time comes.”

“You know he’s connected to Ares somehow, right?”

Syx nodded. “I’m not too concerned, however. I think Ares was merely using him to get to you. I still think it was Ares, or at least his idea to take the money from our accounts. It’s exactly the type of game he’d play.”

“So, why can’t the gods just kill Peter? Or take away his gifts?”

“I don’t know why they can’t take back his immortality, but it is forbidden for the gods to kill a mortal.”

“Ares killed me,” Echo argued.

“And we haven’t seen or heard from him since Hex’s test. I’m sure he was severely punished.”

“I hope so.”

“Now, we just have to figure out where he is.” Syx growled in frustration.

“Gage said they were moving the facility to the Olympic Peninsula, right?”

Syx nodded.

“Then I suggest we start looking near Mount Olympus. If Peter is so hungry for power, then I have a feeling that he wants to be more than just a half-god. It seems fitting that he’d want to rule
Olympus
.”

“You are a freakin’ genius, Echo!” Syx couldn’t contain his excitement. “I need to talk to Vapre.”

Echo pushed up from the sofa and sauntered across the room to give Syx a deep kiss. “I’ll go help Fiero get us something to eat. Find Vapre and be brilliant.”

“If we can pinpoint his location, we need to move fast.” Syx hated bringing Echo into more danger, but they’d need his help. He wasn’t too proud to admit it, either.

“I’ll be ready to roll the minute you give me the word. I think we should bring Gage and Craze along as well. Maybe we can get Lorcan to babysit again.” Echo bit his lip, but it looked like he was having a hard time not smiling.

Syx had no such issues. He threw his head back and laughed like a loon. “I wouldn’t put it that way to your friends, but Lorcan did everything he could to help us find you. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to play bodyguard again.”

“We’re going to have to help Hex remember,” Echo whispered, all traces of his previous amusement vanishing. “Do you think we should do it before or after?”

Syx gave it serious thought before answering. “I think after. We can’t afford distractions, and whatever he needs to remember, I think it’s going to be big.”

“I agree.” Echo sighed and kissed Syx’s lips again. “We’re running out of time.”

“We’ll be ready.” Syx prayed he hadn’t just told the biggest lie of his life.

Chapter Thirteen

“Are you ready?”

Echo looked up at Hex and shook his head. “Not at all. Let’s go.” His stomach twisted into knots, and his heart galloped inside his chest. He bit back his fear, clutched the golden sphere in his hand, and slid out of the SUV. He still didn’t know how Syx and Vapre had managed to find the place, and it didn’t matter. They’d tried to explain something about GPS signals, and bank transfers, and blah, blah, blah. He didn’t understand, and he didn’t care.

“There are four guards on the main gate, two perched on top of each roof, and that’s the easy part,” Gage whispered from the cover of the trees when Echo and Hex approached.

Echo crouched low, peering out through the chain-link fence to the three cabin-like structures contained within. “This is nothing like the lab.”

“No, but it was constructed on short notice,” Gage reminded him. He pointed toward the house closest to them. “I think this is the bunkhouse for the residents.”

“Why do you say that?” Fiero asked.

“There are more guards surrounding it than the others.”

“What about the other two?” Damn, there were so many guards. Echo had no idea how they were going to get out of the mess alive.

“I don’t know for sure, but I’d guess the smallest one is the doctors’ living quarters. The other is probably a makeshift lab and infirmary.”

“Gage,” Echo spoke quietly, “no offense, but you’re probably the weakest link. I’m going to have to juice you up.”

“No offense taken, and I agree. Do what you need to.”

Echo was a little surprised, but damn grateful that the werewolf wasn’t going to argue with him. Now came the next part of his plan, and he wasn’t sure if his mates would be as agreeable as Gage. “I want to combine all of your powers, including, and especially Craze’s.”

“Whatever you’re going to do, just do it fast,” Eyce answered immediately. “The sun will be up soon, and we want to be out of here before then.”

“Okay, everyone gather ’round and hold hands.” Once they’d done as he said, Echo concentrated every bit of strength he had to absorb their energy and filter through it. It was a lot harder without being able to touch each of them directly, and by the time he’d finished, he was panting for breath and dizzy.

“You okay, baby?” Onyx wound an arm around Echo’s waist to keep him upright. “Maybe you should sit this one out.”

“Nice try, but I’m fine. The guards on the rooftops have to go first, followed quickly by the ones at the gate. Myst, we’re going to need you to get that gate open.”

“I’ll get Echo to the doctors’ quarters.” Hex took up his command. “It’s going to be up to the rest of you to clear the way and get the residents out. Gage, you should probably hang back. These guys are going to be scared, and I doubt they’re going to be willing to go with a guard.” With that said, Hex grabbed Echo around the wrist and pulled him through the trees until they were right next to a small dirt road that led into the compound.

“What now?” Echo breathed.

“We wait. Once the gates open, it’s going to be a fucking war zone. Stick right beside me, and we’re going to run like hell to that building.” Hex pointed to the smallest cabin. “When we find Peter, I’ll do everything I can to help, but it’s going to be up to you.”