Authors: Gabrielle Evans
“You!” Echo sobbed. He felt his orgasm barreling down on him, and prayed he’d last just another few minutes. He never wanted it to stop. “Harder!”
Releasing the grip on his hair, Fiero’s hands moved to grasp Echo’s hips in a bruising hold, pushing him forward, then jerking back roughly as his hips thrust forward, his thick cock plunging in and out of Echo’s greedy ass. “Who do you belong to?” Fiero asked again.
“You,” Echo choked as the next inward glide nailed his sweet spot and sent stars exploding behind his closed eyelids. “All of you!”
“That’s it, baby. Scream for me. Scream loud enough to wake everyone in the house. Let them know how I make you feel. Do you like how I make you feel, Echo?”
Just when Echo didn’t think he could take anymore, a long finger slid into his ass beside Fiero’s huge cock, stretching him further, and the head of Fiero’s prick pegged his prostate again. “Yes!”
“I know you do. Your ass is strangling my cock, baby. Sucking it right in like it never wants me to leave.” Fiero’s other hand wrapped around the back of Echo’s neck, pushing his face down into the sheets as he continued to ride his ass hard and fast. “Are you gonna come for me, baby? Gonna come on my cock?”
“Fuck!” Echo screamed, his body igniting in flames as pure white-hot pleasure spiked inside his balls, his release rushing up the throbbing length of his cock and bursting from the slit in long, creamy ropes of semen. “Fiero!”
“Love the way you scream my name. Again!” Fiero roared, the sound fierce and primal, loud enough to shake the windows as molten lava filled Echo’s hungry channel, coating his inner walls and causing him to yell out his lover’s name once more.
Echo slumped to the bed, hissing when Fiero’s prick slid from his hole. He curled there, gasping for air and willing his heartbeats to return to a less frantic pace. “Thank you,” he panted. He’d never experienced anything like what Fiero had shown him, but he hoped for a repeat performance, and often.
Fiero dropped beside him on the mattress, gathering Echo into his arms and peppering kisses over his face. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”
“Sleepy,” Echo answered around a yawn. “That was amazing. You wore me out.”
Fiero snorted, his hands touching Echo everywhere as if he couldn’t get close enough to him. “Thank you,” he breathed reverently. His breath caught in his throat, and Echo was sure he would say more, but when the seconds stretched into minutes without any further conversation, he sighed heavily, reaching up with both hands to cradle his mate’s face.
“I know it’s hard. As long as you continue to show me, I don’t need the words.” Then he claimed his lover’s mouth in a toe-curling kiss that left them both panting and moaning once more.
Fiero moved on top of him, never breaking the kiss as his still-hard cock pressed against Echo’s hole, and eased in slowly. Echo thought his heart would leap out of his chest at the tender way Fiero cradled his body, holding him close as he made slow, easy love to him.
He hadn’t lied. He didn’t need verbal acknowledgement of his mate’s feelings. The gentle glide of his lover’s hips, the way Fiero moved inside him, as though he were special and precious, spoke louder than any words ever could.
Echo couldn’t hold back, though. He needed Fiero to know, to understand how much he meant to him. Breaking the kiss, Echo trailed his lips up Fiero’s jawline to his ear and sucked the lobe into his mouth, nipping it lightly. “I love you,” he whispered.
Fiero whimpered, an odd and strangely endearing sound coming from such a large man, and he stilled completely just before Echo felt his lover’s seed fill him once again. Winding his arms around Fiero’s neck, he pulled the warrior to him, caressing his back as Fiero shuddered in his embrace. “You don’t have to say it back, but I needed you to know. I love you, Fiero. So much.”
Rolling to his side, Fiero brought Echo with him, crushing him close as his choppy breath fanned over the top of Echo’s head. They were quiet for a long time, just enjoying the feel of being wrapped in each other’s arms.
Echo knew they needed to get up and shower, but he was too comfortable where he was, held close and surrounded by Fiero’s heat. So comfortable in fact that he had almost drifted off to sleep when Fiero’s lips pressed to his forehead, and a deep, contented sigh rose up from his lover’s chest. “I love you, baby.” The words were barely more than a breath on the air, but filled with so much emotion that Echo had to swallow around the lump in his throat.
“I love you, too, big guy. It’ll get easier.”
“I love you all,” Fiero said, his voice still soft and a bit strained. “I just don’t know how to tell the rest of them.”
“The same way you told me, love. I think you’ll be surprised by their response.”
Fiero went quiet again, then patted Echo’s hip a moment later and rolled from the bed. “Shower,” he announced.
Echo groaned. “Too tired.”
Chuckling, Fiero scooped him up and carried him from the room, down the hall to the bathroom. “You have cum leaking out of your ass, babe.”
“Your fault,” Echo mumbled sleepily as he nuzzled his face into Fiero’s neck.
“Yeah, I know.”
Echo rolled his eyes. The man didn’t have to sound so damn smug about it.
Chapter Five
“What the fuck happened to you?” Myst was up out of his seat before Fiero had even cleared the kitchen threshold.
Startled, he jerked back as the demon approached him and began patting his chest and stomach. “What? What are you talking about?”
Myst grabbed his face, staring right into his eyes with such intensity, Fiero almost felt the need to look away. One hand left his jaw, moving up to grip a handful of his blond hair and tugging it lightly. “Tell me,” he demanded.
Fiero growled, pushing the man away from him and striding to the cabinet to retrieve a coffee mug. “Tell you what? What the hell has gotten into you?”
“What’s all the growling about?” Vapre yawned as he padded into the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of loose-fitting boxers. “It’s too early in the morning for this shit, so cut it out.”
Fiero couldn’t agree more. He was happier than he’d ever been, and he didn’t need Myst ruining his good mood. He poured a cup of coffee, inhaled the rich aroma, then tilted the mug to his lips, sighing at the smooth, bold taste.
“Where is everyone?” Vapre nudged Fiero out of the way, reaching into the cabinet for his own coffee mug. “Thank you for making the coffee by the way,” he tossed over his shoulder to Myst.
Myst didn’t answer. He sat back down at the table, snatched up a piece of toast and bit into it violently. Apparently he wasn’t over his little snit yet. Shrugging, Fiero started to move around Vapre in the search for something to eat, but the man stopped him with a hand to the middle of his chest. “How…”
Fiero’s eyebrows drew together, and he batted the man’s hand away from him. “What is wrong with everyone today?”
“Your eyes, man.” Vapre removed his hand, but wouldn’t let Fiero pass.
“What about them?” Fiero figured they were a little bloodshot considering his lack of sleep. Remembering the reason for his current state of exhaustion, he smiled softly, his body heating and his dick twitching inside his sweatpants.
“They’re different.”
Well, that was clear as mud. “Could you be a little less vague?” Fiero was running on fumes at the moment, and he didn’t have the patience for this cryptic bullshit.
Ripping the cord from the outlet, Vapre snatched up the chrome toaster and shoved it in front of Fiero’s face. “Look.”
Fiero almost dropped his cup of coffee, his legs shaking and his knees going weak as he stared at his reflection. Reaching up hesitantly, he patted the skin around his eyes with his fingertips. No longer the swirling mass of infinite colors, his iris appeared to be a soft gold, a shade lighter than amber, and they practically glowed in the overhead light. “What happened to me?”
“That’s what I want to know!” Myst threw his hands up in exasperation then crammed an entire piece of toast into his mouth. “First Eyce,” he managed to mumble around his mouthful, “then you, and no one will tell me a damn thing.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he slumped back in his chair, looking like an overgrown, sulking toddler.
“I think I might know,” Fiero answered quietly.
“But you’re not going to tell me are you?” Myst glared at him, and Fiero couldn’t help but chuckle as he shook his head.
“Nope. You’ll find out eventually.” He didn’t fully understand the significance of his and Eyce’s sudden change of eye color, but he knew exactly what had brought about the change. It wasn’t something he could explain to the warrior, though, just as Eyce couldn’t explain it to him. The lightness in his heart, the unadulterated joy that filled him couldn’t be expressed in words. It was something each man would have to discover on his own.
Knowing their little mate, Fiero had no doubt that his lovers would be finding out soon enough. Echo just had a way of bringing out the best in all of them, and forcing them to examine things they’d rather keep locked away.
Fiero would forever be grateful to his mate. He’d never pictured himself as the kind and gentle sort, but he wanted to be those things for Echo—be everything the man desired and needed from a lover.
Looking back at his reflection in the toaster, he grinned hugely as he ran his fingertips under his eyes once more.
Love looked damn good on him.
* * * *
“Okay, gentlemen, gather ’round.” Vapre sat on the middle cushion of the sofa with his laptop propped open in front of him on the coffee table. “So, here’s what we’ve found.”
“We’ve narrowed it down to about four possibilities,” Syx said, taking up where Vapre had left off. “And not a damn one of them make sense.”
Vapre nodded in agreement. They’d found several probable causes of fire, some natural, and some a bit more fantastical. Echo plopped down beside him, snuggling against his side, and Vapre wrapped an arm around his mate’s shoulder, strangely calmed by the man’s presence. Echo just seemed to have that effect on all of them.
“Okay, let’s start with the most likely then work our way backward,” Echo suggested before leaning up to kiss the underside of Vapre’s jaw.
“Well, I don’t know how likely any of them are, but we’ll start with the natural sources first.” It took everything in him not to pull his mate into his arms and kiss the breath out of him. Sharing a mate between the seven of them left little time for one-on-one sessions with Echo, and Vapre cherished every second he got with the man.
Not that he was jealous. He cared about each of his lovers equally, and often wished he had more alone time with each of them as well. Maybe that’s something they could work on when they’d gotten themselves out of this mess.
Syx cleared his throat, drawing Vapre out of his thoughts and smirked. “It’s a great idea, but we need to focus here.”
“Right.” Vapre dipped his head in affirmation and used the wireless mouse to open one of the windows he’d pulled up in the Internet browser. “Okay, first we have volcano eruptions.”
“Is that likely?” Mac piped up from his position on the floor where he was cuddled with his mates. “Are there even volcanoes in Montana?”
“No active ones,” Vapre replied. “The last volcanic eruption happened sometime between thirty and a hundred million years ago. So, no, it’s not very likely that it would happen now.”
“But, this is Hades we’re talking about,” Hex added. “Anything is possible.”
“True.” Vapre nodded again as he opened the next window. “Next we have lightning-caused forest fires. This one seems the most logical, but it doesn’t really fit.”
“Why not?” Echo sat up a little straighter and tilted his head to the side. “That seems the most plausible.”