Evans, Gabrielle - Upon Crimson Waters [Fatefully Yours 2] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (6 page)

Echo stared down into the glass, his eyebrows drawing together at the fizzy looking liquid. “What is it?” He bent closer, but pulled back immediately when the bubbles tickled his nose.

“Morning After Relief,” Hex said around his chuckle. “Just sip it slowly. I promise you’ll feel better in no time.”

Deciding he was in no position to argue, Echo brought the cup to his lips and took a tentative sip. It didn’t taste too bad, but he still didn’t like the bubbles that kept trying to leap up into his nasal passage.

By the third sip, his belly began to settle a bit, and his head didn’t throb quite so much. He sat on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor, sipping his fizzy water until he’d drained the last drop and passed the cup off to Eyce. “Bed.”

Eyce nodded and leaned forward to kiss his brow. “That’s probably a good idea. You’ll feel better when you wake up.” He lifted Echo into his arms and carried him back to Hex’s bed, placing him gently in the middle of the mattress.

The other warriors gathered around, helping to get him tucked into the bed with the blankets pulled up around his shoulders. Echo sighed, letting his eyelids drift closed as he snuggled down into his pillow. “Stay.”

“Who, baby?” Eyce eased down on the edge of the bed and began softly stroking Echo’s hair.

“Everyone.”

“I’m not sure we’re all going to fit in the bed.” Eyce chuckled, but Echo heard the rustling of the warrior removing his clothing. “How about we take turns staying with you until you feel better?”

“Okay.” Echo didn’t feel like arguing, but he made a mental note to talk to his men about ordering a custom-made bed, big enough to fit all eight of them. Silly maybe, but sometimes he hated all the bed-hopping. They were a family, and even if his men wouldn’t admit it, they cared for each other as much as they cared for him.

The blankets lifted, and cool air rushed over his back, causing him to shiver before Eyce’s heated chest pressed against him, and his massive arm wrapped around Echo’s waist, pulling him closer. He eased his other arm under Echo’s head, cradling it in the crook of his elbow and sighed.

Echo’s eyelids drew back slowly when he felt a weight on the bed in front of him. Smiling softly, he nodded his head at the question in Fiero’s eyes. “Please,” he whispered.

Fiero didn’t return his smile, but he did slip under the blankets and pressed close to Echo, his arm wrapping around him, so that Echo was sandwiched between him and Eyce.

“Well, it’s my bed,” he heard Hex huff. Then the bed dipped again, and Echo felt another large hand caress his hips.

“Make room,” Myst mumbled, and Echo felt more than heard him crawl into bed on the other side of Eyce.

“I guess that means we’re out,” Vapre pouted. “I’ll go get breakfast started.

“Yeah, I’m coming, too.” Echo could hear the disappointment in Onyx’s voice. He hated it, but he didn’t know what to do about it. Maybe they could all sleep on the floor like a big wolf pack or something.

“They’re fine,” Syx said softly. “We’re not jealous, baby. We just want to be able to hold you, too. We understand, though, and we’ll come give you lots of attention later.”

“Just sucks,” Echo returned.

“I know,” Eyce whispered in his ear. “I don’t like it either.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Hex said from Fiero’s other side. His fingertips skimmed up and down Echo’s thigh, drawing light circles over the skin and causing Echo to shiver. “We’ll make this work.”

* * * *

“It’s snowing.” Eyce stood by the sink, staring out the kitchen window as he sipped his coffee. They’d traded off about an hour ago, and Syx, Onyx, and Vapre were taking their turn with Echo.

“How bad is it supposed to get?” Hex hissed as he pulled the bread from the toaster and dropped it quickly, blowing on his burned fingers.

“Not sure, but it doesn’t look good.” The wind whipped and howled, swirling the heavy falling snow around the field behind the house. Eyce didn’t know precisely when the snow had begun to fall, but he guessed already two inches covered the frozen ground.

Hex stepped up beside him, bumping him with his shoulder. “We’ve seen worse, and there’s not much we can’t survive.”

“Echo’s not a demon, though,” Eyce reminded their leader.

“Right.” Hex sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Bring in more firewood, and get the candles and flashlight from the attic in case the electricity goes out. I think there’s an old battery-operated radio up there as well.”

“I’m on it.” Fiero jumped up from his seat and hurried out of the room immediately.

Hex watched him leave with a slight frown on his handsome face. “What’s gotten into him? He seems…different.”

“I think he’s got a crush on Echo,” Eyce said loudly, hoping his voice would carry to the fleeing demon.

“I do not,” Fiero yelled back indignantly.

Chuckling, Eyce looked at Hex with his raised eyebrows. “See?”

Hex joined in his laughter and bobbed his head up and down. “Got it.” Then he became serious again as he pushed away from the counter and began pacing the kitchen. “We have enough supplies to last for about four days, so I guess the main thing is to just keep warm and ride out the storm.”

“Four days,” Eyce groaned. “The new moon is coming, and we still don’t have a plan. We don’t even know what’s coming. I’m pretty sure when the Oracle said that rivers would run crimson, she didn’t actually mean they’d turn to blood.”

Hex shook his head thoughtfully. “I don’t think so either, but I don’t know what else could turn the waters red.”

“Google it,” Myst mumbled around a mouthful of toast.

“Excuse me?” Eyce swung around and stared at Myst in confusion.

“Google it,” Myst repeated. “You know, like do a search on the internet for natural phenomenon that could turn rivers and lakes and other bodies of water red. I bet you’ll find something. Maybe not on the scale we could be facing, but it might help.”

Eyce raced across the room, grabbed Myst’s face in both hands, and placed a loud, smacking kiss on his lips. “You’re a genius.”

Myst pushed him away, his face flushing with embarrassment. “It’s not a big deal, dude. If I was really a genius, I would have thought of it long before now.”

Eyce just rolled his eyes as he stood up straight and headed out of the kitchen and toward the office. Why couldn’t anyone in the damn house just take a compliment? “Grab the coffee and meet me in the office!” he yelled over as his shoulder as he jogged down the hallway.

Entering the office, he plopped down into the chair behind the desk and immediately powered up the desktop computer. Syx’s laptop sat off to the side of the desk, and Eyce stared at it for several minutes before finally shaking his head and returning his attention to the screen in front of him.

Syx had been spending a lot of time by himself in the office, or even barricaded in his room with his laptop. He’d been very mysterious about it, not letting anyone touch his computer, or even giving them a hint as to what he was working on. It had Eyce worried, but he would respect the warrior’s privacy…for now.

“Find anything yet?” Hex asked as he entered the room with Myst.

Eyce rolled his eyes and waved a hand toward the computer screen. “I just got here. Still booting up.”

“Do you have any ideas?”

Eyce shook his head. “Syx and Vapre are the smart ones. I’m just here for my good looks and to keep you assholes in line.”

“Yeah, same here.” Hex sighed and plopped down on the sofa near the bookshelf on the other side of the room. “Maybe we should go wake them up.”

“Nah.” Myst moved to sit at the other end of the couch. “Echo still looked like dog shit when we traded places. Besides, we had our time with him.”

“Agreed. We can always ask them later if we don’t find anything.”

“Ask who what?” Fiero asked as he entered the room, his arms laden with candles and flashlights, and a small radio hanging from his fingers by its strap.

“Myst had the idea that we might be able to find something on the internet that would explain why the waters would turn red. Other than blood, that is. I don’t think even Hades can do that, but then again…” He trailed off and motioned around the room to include the four of them.

“Good point.” Fiero dropped the supplies to the desk and strolled over to the window where he leaned against the wall and stared out into the storm. “It’s getting worse. I’d hurry before we lose power.”

“Okay, so what do I search for? Red water?” Eyce typed the words into the search engine and hit enter. He frowned as he read over the results. “There’s just a lot of shit here about the Red River that forms the border between Oklahoma and Texas. Doesn’t exactly help us here in Montana, though, does it?”

“Try searching for causes of red water.” Myst rose from his seat and hurried over to stand behind Eyce, looking over his shoulder at the computer screen.

Eyce dipped his head and typed in the words. “Ah, here we go.” He scanned the results, clicking on the one that seemed to be the closest to what they were looking for. “Red tides…red algae…pollution…toxins,” he mumbled the keywords under his breath as he read.

“There’s not much pollution around here,” Myst said slowly as though he were turning the idea over in his head. “It says that red algae grows in either cool, damp places, or in direct sunlight when temperatures rise suddenly—depending on the type of algae. It doesn’t really fit. It’s winter here, below freezing, and the snow is falling like crazy.”

Eyce shook his head. “It’s still a couple of days before all the craziness hits. Anything could happen before then.”

“I’m not buying it.” Myst frowned as he buried his hands in his shaggy hair and pulled roughly. “Keep looking.”

“We also need to decide what we’re going to do about that lab.” Fiero spoke quietly from his place near the window then turned slowly to face the room. “They’ll be back for Echo.”

Hex pushed to his feet with a grunt and scrubbed his hands over his face. “I know. Can’t we just deal with one fucked up situation at a time, though?”

“Actually, that’s what I mean.” Fiero moved away from the window and started pacing. “We don’t know exactly what’s coming from Hades, but we do have a good idea of when. The opposite is true with the people from the facility.”

“We know what we’re facing, but we don’t know when they’ll make their next move,” Myst finished the thought. “I get what you’re saying. We need to eliminate the threat to our mate so we can focus on the prophecy.”

“We need to have a meeting,” Hex said after several minutes of silence. “Go wake the others, but let Echo sleep. He doesn’t need to hear this yet.”

Eyce started to rise from his chair, but Myst’s hand landed on his shoulder, holding him in place. “You keep looking. I think the one thing we can agree on is that whatever this first round has in store for us, it’s coming for you specifically.”

Slumping in his chair, Eyce closed his eyes and groaned. He’d already worked that much out for himself, and he wasn’t looking forward to the challenge.

Chapter Five

“You have not surrendered.”

Eyce squinted against the warm rays of sunlight that beat down on his face. “No, Oracle. I have not surrendered.” This was damn strange. He’d never spoken directly to the Oracle before. Nor had her voice ever sounded so pleasant—almost musical.

“You must surrender, Warrior.”

Frowning in confusion, Eyce looked out over the vast field in which they stood. The green grass, the newly bloomed flowers, the gentle breeze that floated through his hair—it all reminded him of spring. “I don’t understand,” he finally admitted. “I have to surrender to Hades? Not to be thick, but doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of this war?”