by Vivian Wood
Aeric merely smirked and shrugged.
“I’m a thousand years old. If I haven’t found my mate yet, the chances that I will do so are almost zero,” Aeric replied.
Rhys tried not to gape at Aeric as the other Guardian turned and headed into the living area. A thousand years old? Rhys knew that bear shifters could live for hundreds of years, but a thousand years? He’d never heard of the like. Not to mention the fact that Aeric was in the prime of his life, as fit and sharp as anyone Rhys had ever encountered.
Aeric’s little revelation helped cool Rhys’s temper a bit, a welcome distraction. His anger dissipated somewhat as he headed upstairs, and when he found Echo sleeping soundly in his bed he found it difficult to maintain his ire.
When Rhys sat next to her on the bed Echo stirred, blinking awake and stretching. She froze when she saw him, biting her lower lip.
“I wasn’t trying to run,” she blurted out, a lovely flush spreading across her cheeks.
“No?” Rhys asked, raising a brow. It was difficult to keep a smile from his lips; she was sweet and vulnerable like this, wrapped up in the comforter as she brushed her mass of blonde hair back from her face.
“I just wanted to watch,” she sighed. “That’s why I had the mirror. But someone put a charm on the mirror to sting me if I tried to use it, so I needed to go outside the wards.”
Rhys chewed on that for a moment, shaking his head. She’d not only circumvented his wishes, but she’d actually managed to put herself in more danger doing so. Echo didn’t seem one to take orders well, and Rhys should have expected something like this. He had, actually, going so far as to warn Duverjay. Unfortunately Echo had proven too sneaky for the butler, nosy though he was.
“I understand,” Rhys said, choosing to let the subject lie.
“Yeah?” Echo said, pushing herself up to sit closer to him. “I thought you were gonna be really mad.”
Rhys smirked.
“Oh, I am,” he assured her. “Furious, in fact. With you, and with Duverjay. He was supposed to be babysitting you.”
Echo’s expression darkened, and he could see that she wanted to argue with his statement. She stared at him for several long moments, then rolled her eyes.
“Whatever,” she concluded, dropping her challenging gaze.
“Echo,” Rhys said, moving closer and cupping her jaw.
She flashed those stunning amethyst eyes at him, her lips parting to speak, but Rhys killed her response with a kiss. He tried to keep the kiss light and playful, but Echo couldn’t even let him have that much self-control. She answered his kiss with infinite passion, her hands clutching at his shoulders, a little moan vibrating from her throat.
Rhys deepened the kiss, tongue twining with hers, teasing and dancing until they were both breathless. Rhys had to force himself to pull back.
“Are you hurt? Tell me the truth,” he demanded, scanning her face.
“No,” Echo whispered. “Not a scratch.”
Rhys took her lips again with a hungry groan, releasing her only to strip off green sundress she wore. When he realized that it was his shirt she wore, a dam within him burst. He stared down at her, wearing nothing but a pair of skimpy white panties and his scent, and he knew he had to have her. There would be no more waiting. Rhys yanked his own shirt up and tore it off, then he laid Echo back against the thick, downy comforter.
He pulled her arms up over her head, pinning them there as he admired the graceful arc of her bare torso, the perfection of her naked breasts. Her nipples were already hardened peaks, and Rhys could see goosebumps covering her arms and ribs.
He leaned down, holding her wrists with one hand, and flicked his tongue over one perfect, dusky nipple. His mouth watered as he nibbled and sucked, drawing a breathy stutter from Echo’s lips. Releasing her hands, he cupped both of her breasts and lifted them higher, teasing her with his lips and teeth until she was writhing beneath him.
Echo’s fingernails trailed up and down his back in lazy lines, and Rhys had the distinct impression that she would be marking his flesh in a matter of minutes. The thought of Echo in the throes of passion urged Rhys on, and he rose to strip off her panties. Echo raised her hips to help him, but before he could descend on her again she stopped him with a hand to his chest.
“I want to see all of you,” she said, nibbling her bottom lip.
Echo’s hands fluttered to the waistband of his pants, unbuttoning and unzipping them before shoving them down his hips. Rhys stepped back from the bed and shucked his pants altogether, appreciating the startled look on Echo’s face as she examined him fully nude. His cock jutted proudly from his body, thick and hard with want for her, and when he returned to her side he groaned as Echo encircled his girth with shaking fingers.
He would have laughed at the awed expression on her face, but Echo explored his length with several tentative strokes, making every muscle in his body tense and shudder. When Echo swiped her tongue over her bottom lip and looked up at him with a questioning glance, Rhys shook his head.
“If you use your mouth on me, I’ll never last,” he said. “I’ve been hard for you since I laid eyes on you.”
Echo surprised him with a grin.
“I’ll be quick, I promise,” she said, pushing him onto his back.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Rhys said, but he made no effort to stop her as she crawled down his body.
Echo fisted his cock and teased the crown with quick lashes of her tongue, making Rhys wild. When the soft heat of her mouth engulfed the head of his cock, it took every ounce of Rhys’s control to let her be. All he wanted in that moment was to put a hand at the back of her head, angle her just the right way, and fuck her mouth with complete abandon. God knew he’d imagined it enough over the last week, the way it would feel if Echo took him all the way to the back of her throat.
His heart thundered in his chest, and it nearly killed him to pull her away. He needed to fuck her properly, seal their bond with a mating bite. Besides, he wanted to keep her in awe of his bedroom skills, something that surely wouldn’t happen if he spent in her mouth like a teenaged virgin.
But damn if her mouth wasn’t the sweetest thing he’d ever felt.
Easing Echo back from his cock, he pulled her up until she lay sprawled over his body. Kissing her deeply, he growled at the earthy taste of his cock on her tongue.
Echo slipped her hand between them and grasped his length once more, aligning their bodies. Rhys was shocked at her slickness when the crown of his cock met her sheath; the feeling of her readiness clawed at his control, and he knew he needed to take over lest she unman him.
Rhys smirked at the little gasp Echo gave when he flipped her over and spread her legs wide, gripping his dick and rubbing the head up and down her sex from clit to channel.
Echo whimpered, and Rhys was floored as much by her desire as his own. He took a slow minute to tease her clit with his thumb as he pressed the thick crown of his cock to her entrance, enjoying her frustrated moans. She clutched at his shoulders, trying to pull him closer, but Rhys let the moment build, wanting to savor the first moments.
When Echo bucked her hips up against him, forcing Rhys’s cock the barest inch into her body, Rhys lost some of his precious control. Gripping her hips, he watched her face as he pushed inside, sliding deep in one forceful thrust, stretching her body to accommodate him.
“Oh!” Echo cried, even as Rhys growled at the feel of her.
“Fuck, you’re so perfect,” he gritted out. “So tight.”
He thrust again, disbelieving. He’d known she would be amazing, but this was far beyond that. Every slick, clenching inch of her channel gripped him, and it took all of his concentration not to spend right then and there.
“Rhys,” Echo whimpered. “I—”
She didn’t have to tell him that she was close, he could feel it. As a matter of fact, as Rhys built up a steady rhythm, working in and out of her tight heat, he began to feel more than his own pleasure. He cou
ld actually sense a bit of the pleasure that she felt as well, doubling his own delight.
It was overwhelming in the most glorious sense. Rhys slowed so that he could pull Echo’s knees up over his shoulders, then drove into her more forcefully.
“Rhys!” Echo shouted. If he hadn’t been able to sense her enjoyment, he’d have thought he was killing her.
He took her deep and hard and fast, losing himself in the feel of her body, palming one of her incredible breasts as he pumped in and out, feeling Echo’s muscles begin to tense around him.
He slid his hand around to her lower back, lifting her up a few inches, trying to get the perfect angle…
Echo screamed, her voice shattering his concentration, but Rhys only grinned. Apparently he’d found the right spot, because Echo convulsed against him, her core clenching, milking his cock. Her expression was complete bliss as she came, her orgasm stunning and forceful.
Only then did Rhys drop her ass back onto the mattress and let himself focus on his own completion, managing only a handful of thrusts before his body tightened impossibly. His completion took him almost by surprise, jerking a hard shout from his throat as he spilled deep into Echo’s body. He cursed as he pumped jet after jet inside his mate, her body draining him utterly.
Rhys buried his face against Echo’s neck, sinking his teeth deep into the sensitive spot where her shoulder met her nape. Echo cried out and shuddered with both pleasure and pain, the sensations so strong that Rhys felt them in his very bones. When he released her he took his time licking the mark, using their bond to heal the wound, leaving a fresh red mating mark behind. His brand on her flesh, his seed in her body, his claim on her heart.
Rhys was suddenly, finally complete.
Rhys gave Echo a final long, deep kiss before withdrawing and collapsing beside her. He pulled her close, content for the moment to lie there and catch his breath, and listen to Echo’s harsh breathing.
13
Chapter Thirteen
Echo
“I want you to come work for the Guardians, lass.”
Echo turned her head to look at Rhys, her heart welling with feeling the second their gazes met. Her mind drifted, thinking of how he was hers now, and her body began to flush as she considered all that meant. It had only been two days since they’d completed the mating bond, but Echo and Rhys seemed to be competing to see who could wear whom out first, their mutual lust only growing by the hour.
“Echo?” Rhys said, breaking her train of thought.
“Huh?” she asked.
A grin spread across Rhys’s face, and Echo had to physically resist licking her lips and drawing him in for a heart-pounding kiss.
“I asked you to come work for the Guardians,” he reminded her.
“Oh. Uh… what?” Echo asked, confused.
“I talked to Mere Marie, and she agreed that we should ask you to come work for us.”
Echo frowned.
“You just want me close so you can keep an eye on me,” she said. Today had been her second day back at her job in the French Quarter, and Rhys had made his dislike of her leaving evident enough. If a man like Rhys could be said to pout, that was exactly what he’d done.
“Aye,” he agreed, catching her hand when she reached up and smacked him on the arm. He turned her fingers in his, giving them a kiss. “Don’t be angry. I just can’t stand the idea of you going around unprotected.”
“Rhys,” Echo said, giving his fingers a squeeze before pulling back. “You’re going to have to get used to it. You can’t follow me around all day every day no matter where I work. I’m an independent person, and I deserve privacy if I want it.”
Rhys’s gaze narrowed, but he didn’t dare disagree.
“That’s not the only reason I want you to come work for us,” he said, changing tacks.
“Oh yeah?” Echo asked, skeptical.
“We need someone to manage the day-to-day business of the Guardians. Take calls, keep a database of information, that kind of thing.”
“Doesn’t Duverjay do that now?” Echo asked.
Rhys snorted, and Echo’s lips twitched. He was being perfectly genuine about this part, at least.
“Hardly. He does the domestic tasks, and nothing more. Duverjay has been perfectly clear about that,” Rhys said.
Echo considered his words, pursing her lips.
“I’m not sure I’d be suited for it. I’ve never had an office job or anything,” she said.
“I don’t think this would be much like that, unless most office jobs require someone to keep spreadsheets tracking vampire attacks and rumors of witches raising the dead,” Rhys told her.
Echo couldn’t hold in a giggle.
“No, I guess not,” she agreed.
“Besides, from what you’ve told me, you have all the basic skills. At your job, you make the employee schedules, which would be similar to keeping the patrol schedule for us. You track inventory and sales, which would be a lot like doing the Kith activity database. You deal with a lot of drunk assholes in the French Quarter, which should prepare you for dealing with Aeric.”
Rhys’s eyes twinkled with amusement at his joke, but they both knew he wasn’t too far off. Aeric was prickly in the best of circumstances, and Echo hadn’t even seen him in a bad mood yet.
“I’ll think about it,” Echo said. She caught Rhys’s eye and gave him a long look, then smiled. “I will, I promise. It’s just… a lot. We haven’t even talked about some of the other important stuff, like my apartment.”
“You can move in here, obviously,” Rhys said with a frown.
“What about after you leave the Guardians?” Echo asked.
Rhys went quiet, and Echo realized that she’d touched some sort of nerve.
“You don’t know when that will be?” she asked.
“No,” Rhys said, rising abruptly. “I work for Mere Marie until she releases me.”
“Hey,” Echo said, snagging his hand and tugging him back to the bed for a kiss. “It’s okay. That just means that I’m here until she releases you, too. Okay?”
Rhys looked down at her, several emotions warring on his face. Echo hugged his bare, muscular waist, dropping a kiss next to his navel.
“I should get ready,” Rhys sighed. “It’s my turn to patrol. Aeric and Gabriel have been taking up the slack since you got here, and I think they’re growing annoyed.”
“More like jealous,” Echo said, waggling her eyebrows.
“Aye,” Rhys said, leaning down to give her one last kiss. He turned and padded off to the bathroom for a shower, giving Echo a glorious view of his naked backside in motion.
“Unf,” she whispered to herself, collapsing back on the bed.
On one hand, there had been some growing pains in the last few days. She and Rhys were connected deeply, but they were also both independent by nature. Not to mention hard-headed, a feature they both had in spades. In between bouts of spectacular and gymnastic sex, they’d argued about what their shared future would look like. Rhys was vague about his specific desires, only demanding that he should be able to “protect his mate” as he saw fit. Echo, on the other hand, was more practical and needed to know where they’d live, how they would resolve disagreements, that kind of thing.
So far, they had mostly just bickered and then ended up fucking for several hours until they were both too tired to mouth off. One big point of contention remained, centering around Pere Mal and the Three Lights.
Tee-Elle had finally grown tired of the Guardians’ overprotectiveness last night, insisting on returning to her house. Before Echo’s aunt had left, though, everyone had gathered downstairs at the big table to discuss the whole situation. Tee-Elle had laid out everything she knew about the Three Lights, and Gabriel had added a few bits and pieces of research he’d found.
The obvious conclusion was that Echo was the First Light because of her abilities as a medium, meaning that the Second and Third lights would likely be discovered by contacting a spirit beyond
the Veil. Who that spirit might be, no one knew, but Echo had offered what she found to be the most likely solution.
“I should go to the Gates of Guinee and explore what’s just on the other side of the Veil,” she’d said, looking around at the others with a measure of exasperation.
Rhys had immediately lost it, of course, angry at the very idea despite the fact that he knew next to nothing about mediumship or what lay on the other side of the Veil. To be fair, Echo didn’t know a lot about it either, but she had a strong feeling that she could easily answer a lot of their questions with a simple trip across the Veil. After all, that was why Pere Mal wanted her in the first place, wasn’t it?
Echo snuggled back into Rhys's bed. Their bed now, she supposed. Rhys was amazing, making her feel safe and wanted and cherished, but his insistence in not letting her help wasn’t going to do.
Echo let her eyes close, thinking to catch a couple more hours of sleep before she rose and started her day. If she really was going to put in notice at her job, the shop she’d basically managed all by herself for over five years, she was going to need to be well-rested. She loved the shop’s owners, and telling them goodbye would require some serious emotional fortitude.
Echo must have drifted off without realizing it, because the next thing she knew she was standing on the Manor’s front steps, face to face with a familiar-looking man. Wickedly tall, vaguely Hispanic good looks, a tuxedo… and those fascinating, frightening flame-orange eyes.
“Pere Mal,” Echo breathed.
“The one and only,” he said, looking her up and down.
She glanced down at herself, frowning when she realized that she was dressed in nothing but Rhys’s oversized t-shirt. When she looked back up, Pere Mal seemed amused.
“Can you at least dress me?” Echo snapped, crossing her arms over her breasts.
“It’s your dream, cher,” Pere Mal said, his apologetic pretense thin as tissue paper. “You dress yourself.”
Echo wrinkled her brow and willed herself to be wearing jeans and a proper blouse, and when she looked down, she was.
