by Vivian Wood
Not tonight, and if he could help it, not ever.
Echo finally stirred as Rhys pulled off her shoes and tucked her into his bed. She opened her eyes the faintest bit and squinted at Rhys.
“You’re… good…” she slurred. “Not hurt…”
Rhys sat on the bed next to her with a sigh, tucking a long blonde tendril of hair behind her ear. His bear was fighting to surface, wanting to touch her, taste her. Claim her.
His bear was an asshole who didn’t understand context, and he’d be unsatisfied tonight.
“I’m not hurt, thanks to you,” Rhys said as he peered down at Echo.
“Good.”
Her eyes started to drift closed, and Rhys thought she would sleep again. She surprised him by struggling to push herself up a little bit, her eyes opening wider.
“Tee-Elle,” she said, her voice growing thick with concern. “Where’s Tee-Elle?”
Rhys paused, unsure how to answer.
“I don’t know who that is, lass.”
“We were at her house,” Echo said. Rhys could tell what an effort it was for her to speak clearly, and he pressed her back into the pillows with a gentle touch.
“Just relax. Is that your friend?” he asked.
“My aunt,” Echo said, her words coming out as a whimper. Her lower lip trembled, those big amethyst eyes filling with tears.
“Okay. It’s okay. I’m going to get Gabriel and Aeric, and they’ll find your aunt. Don’t worry, lass.”
Echo studied him for a long moment, then gave a nod of agreement. Some part of Rhys was pleased that she trusted him with this, to care for things when she could not. He brushed a thumb over her cheek and withdrew before he could seek more of her warmth and softness.
After he alerted Aeric to the situation, Rhys shucked his boots and tactical pants, climbing into bed beside Echo. He couldn’t resist pulling her close and inhaling her sweet, bright scent as his eyes grew too heavy to stay open.
Rhys drifted off, his sleep deep and dark and dreamless.
8
Chapter Eight
Echo
Wake up, darling…
Wake up…
Wake up, Echo, darling…
Echo floated up into consciousness from a lovely dream. A dream in which she’d wildly kissed a tall, dark, and handsome stranger, someone who made her whole being tingle with pleasure and excitement. A dream that she was not very happy to end, thank you very much.
She frowned, not quite ready to open her eyes and deal with the world. Where did Rhys get off waking her up after she’d expended herself protecting him?
Also, where did he get off calling her darling?
When Echo finally peeled her eyes open, she found the room dark. It took her several seconds to identify her location as Rhys’s bedroom, and Echo nearly swallowed her tongue when she turned her head to find Rhys sprawled out beside her. She couldn’t help but lift the heavy comforter and peek underneath; when she found that he still wore a t-shirt and boxer briefs, she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.
Dropping the blanket back over their bodies, Echo felt a flare of shame for ogling Rhys in his sleep. Even if she hadn’t gotten much of a look, she had zero doubts that every since inch of Rhys was impressive.
She froze as something moved in her peripheral vision, a ghostly flicker. Echo turned her head oh so slowly, and nearly screamed when she saw the one ghost she’d never anticipated. Floating beside Echo’s bed, brow knitted with concern, was the ghost of Cadence Caballero, Echo’s mother.
Echo’s mouth opened in a shocked O. Of the hundreds or perhaps thousands of ghosts that Echo had encountered, some only once and some over and over again, her mother had never made an appearance. No matter how much thirteen year old Echo had wished it, she’d never once heard so much as a whisper from her mother after her passing.
“Echo,” her mother whispered. “Echo, darling.”
“Mama?” Echo gasped, her hand flying to cover her lips. “Is that you?”
Cadence looked just as Echo remembered, her thick blonde hair held back in a French braid with gentle curls framing her face. While her face was crystal clear, the rest of her body was fuzzy and distorted, as if Echo was seeing her from a great distance. She must be far, far into the next realm, and Echo supposed she was exerting a great deal of effort to come through the Veil.
“Echo, I don’t—” Cadence flickered for a moment, and Echo nearly cried out before her mother reappeared, her image stronger this time.
“Mama,” Echo said again, not knowing what else to say. “Shhhh.”
Echo slipped out of bed and beckoned her mother to follow her out of the bedroom and through Rhys’s rooms. In the guest room, Echo closed the door and turned to face her mother.
“We can, um… talk here, I guess,” Echo said. She wished she could have prepared herself more for this, but she’d long since given up on ever making contact with her mother.
With any other ghost, she just let them talk. Their lives and issues didn’t really effect Echo in any way, so there was no harm done in merely listening and nodding. With her own mother, though… What were you supposed to say to your mother’s ghost?
“I don’t have much time,” Cadence said, giving Echo a pleading look. “You must listen. You’re in danger, darling.”
“I know, Mama. I was attacked twice today,” Echo said, trying to ignore the knot of emotion forming in her chest.
“You must be protected at all costs. You are the First Light, darling.”
Echo paused a beat, confused.
“What is the First Light?” she asked.
“Your Aunt Ella and I researched the legacy of Baron Samedi, just as a laugh. Tee-Elle and I were both too strong, though. We discovered more than we were meant to, discovered the sacred places where the Baron hid the secrets of how to open the Veil.”
Echo wrinkled her nose, not comprehending.
“I don’t understand what that means, Mama.”
“We were caught up in something bigger and more powerful than we understood. We communed with Baron Samedi himself, and he was furious that we found his secret. He hid the secrets of Veil again, but this time he hid the secrets inside three people instead of three sacred places. The Three Lights, he called you.”
Echo’s mouth opened and closed several times as she struggled to understand. Her mother wasn’t here to warn her daughter of peril. Cadence was here to tell Echo that she herself was some kind of fucked up secret Voodoo talisman, and that the secret needed to be protected.
Echo actually laughed. Of course her mother wouldn’t come here for her after all this time.
“Right. So if I’m taken, the Veil is in danger. Which means you’re in danger somehow, right? Is that it?” Echo asked, her gaze narrowing.
Her mother’s lips twitched down into a frown.
“That’s not why I’m here.”
“So you screwed around with stuff you didn’t understand, and now I’m in mortal danger because Pere Mal knows that I can…. Do what, exactly?” Echo asked.
Cadence seemed to take a moment to collect herself before answering.
“The First Light leads to the Second and the Third. With all three in hand, a strong enough witch could open the Veil. It would be the end of the human and spirit realms as we know them,” Echo’s mother said.
“Sounds bad for you,” Echo said, bitterness filling her mouth.
“Bad for every soul, Echo, living or dead.”
Echo thought for a moment.
“How did you know to come now?” she asked.
Cadence’s expression grew irritated.
“There’s an information network on this side, just like on yours. When you opened your powers full throttle today, it caused a ripple. There are many creatures on my side that keep their ears pressed to the wall, so to speak, waiting for someone like you to make yourself known. I expend a lot of resources keeping tabs on you, Echo. You’re just lucky that I came to you before
anyone else did.”
“Frankly, I’m not sure how you’re here at all. The Manor’s wards are extensive,” Echo said.
Cadence softened a bit, as if reminiscing.
“You don’t remember. I was quite strong, Echo. Still am, in my way. You get your power from me.”
Echo jumped on the opportunity when she saw it.
“And what did I get from my father? Who was he, Mama?”
Cadence shook her head.
“You’re not meant to know, darling. He’s no one, not important. You’ll never know him, Echo.”
Echo grew angry.
“So that’s it? You’ve come all this way to tell me you’re powerful, that I’m some kind of key to the spirit realm, and that I should just sort of… what? Be careful? That’s all you’ve got for me?”
“No. There’s more,” Cadence said. “I saw that man you were in bed with. You must be cautious, Echo. If you give away your heart, you give away your power. That’s exactly how I died, trying to save your fool of a father.”
Echo tensed, knowing only a little bit of the story.
“Tell me,” she whispered.
“Your father tried to fight back against the Baron, to take the Light out of you. You nearly died, and he was sucked through the Gates of Guinee,” Cadence said, her voice growing hard with remembered anger. “I went after him, thinking I was strong enough to save him, that our love was a strong enough anchor. Your father is the reason I didn’t rock you to sleep every night, Echo. He kept us apart.”
Echo drew back, startled by her mother’s ire. Before she could respond, Cadence continued her invective.
“Echo, if the dark forces take you, they will find the other two Lights. If they have you, you and Tee-Elle are lost to me. The world will be destroyed. You must—”
Cadence’s mouth kept moving for a moment, but the sound was muted. Cadence flickered and turned away, as if looking over her shoulder. She looked back at Echo for a moment, her expression turning to sadness. She blew Echo a kiss as she dissolved into a mist, fading from Echo’s sight.
Echo sat on the bed, trying to sort through what she’d learned. Personal feelings about her mother aside, none of it made any sense. She needed answers; she needed to find Tee-Elle.
Echo got under the covers in the guest bed, trying to find solace in sleep. She was still drained from the day before, and her body wanted to sleep, but her mind was restless. After an hour of tossing and turning, Echo left the guest bed and snuck back into Rhys’s room, slipping back beside him.
He responded to her in his sleep, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. Echo let his warmth and his crisp, uniquely male scent lull her until she found sleep once more.
9
Chapter Nine
Echo
Echo had never been so tense in her entire life, and it was mostly due to Rhys’s presence in her life and in her bed at night.
It had been three days since the Guardians had staged her two daring rescues, and she had already learned a lot more about them all. For instance, Rhys was sort of the de facto leader, seemingly because neither of the other two were stable enough. According to Rhys, Gabriel was prone to spells of depression and manic magical research, in which he might disappear for days at a time. Aeric, Rhys told Echo, was just paranoid, moody, and blunt in the extreme, plus terrible at dealing with humans. Strangers especially.
Echo had also learned that the three men kept their own hours but generally followed a collective schedule that revolved around patrolling several Kith hot spots where trouble might be had. Each man worked every third night, patrolling in the French Quarter, three of the more sacred cemeteries, Congo Square, and a few other known places of power.
The two men not on patrol on any given night were responsible for responding to any Kith-related incidents or calls of distress, which Echo likened to being some kind of paranormal EMTs. They broke up fights, investigated major crimes, and dispatched demons and Kith who preyed on others.
Echo was surprised to find that Rhys was very rigid and regimented in his daily schedule, rising early to work out and spar with Gabriel or Aeric. Echo hardly saw any of them for the next couple of days, as Pere Mal’s actions caused ripples across the city, making little flares of distress go up all over New Orleans. The Guardians were busy on calls most of the time, leaving Echo to explore the Manor and question Duverjay about all manner of Guardian business.
She’d woken alone in Rhys’s bed on her first full day at the Manor to find that Duverjay had filled the guest room closet with all manner of clothes and shoes and other necessities in her size. That night, she’d tried sleeping in the guest bed, but she’d woken at four to find Rhys wrapped around her, snoring softly. Since it apparently did no good to sleep in a separate room, Echo did sleep in his bed, but they hadn’t yet had a quiet moment to discuss… well, anything.
By day three, Echo was in dire need of a talk with Rhys. To be frank, she was growing quite obsessed with him, but she had no real understanding of what all her… urges… meant. Did he feel the same? Was it just fate, or some crazy bear shifter thing? And what about Tee-Elle - had the Guardians made any progress in looking for her? Duverjay was taciturn and useless on the subject, so Echo knew she needed to pin Rhys down and ask him some questions.
After a long, amazingly hot shower to wash away a little of her awkwardness over sharing a bed with a complete stranger, Echo threw on a soft white t-shirt and a pair of fitted jeans. She headed downstairs in search of breakfast, remembering the amazing French omelet Duverjay had prepared for her the day before. Finding the ground floor empty, she’d ventured out to the gym.
Nothing could have prepared Echo for the sight of the three Guardians stripped to the waist, sweating heavily as they lunged at each other with wooden practice swords. She watched for a handful of minutes, enjoying their taunting banter and shit talking, before Rhys noticed her presence.
He lost his focus on the swordplay and Gabriel immediately took Rhys down, pinning the Scot to the ground with a howl of triumph.
“I finally got you, you bastard!” Gabriel crowed, tossing his sword aside and helping Rhys to his feet.
“He was distracted by Echo,” Aeric pointed out, nodding to draw Gabriel’s attention to their audience. “It doesn’t really count.”
Echo blushed and walked over to them, an apology on the tip of her tongue. She tried her best, but she couldn’t stop staring at Rhys’s perfectly sculpted abs, thick shoulders and pecs, and tautly toned arms and back.
“Doesn’t matter. If this was real, he’d be just as fucked. He taught me that,” Gabriel said with a shrug.
“True enough,” Aeric said.
“Fuck the both of you,” Rhys said, wiping his brow and turning to Echo. “And hello to you.”
Echo gave him a soft smile, finally managing to rip her gaze away from his insane body.
“Sorry I made you lose,” she said, amused. “I thought you might be able to take a break for breakfast with me.”
“Of course. I’m done for the morning anyhow,” Rhys said, though Echo knew perfectly well that he usually stayed in gym at least half the day, sparring or doing target practice with various weapons. She was blown away by that kind of stamina; Echo always felt wiped after a single hour of yoga, for god’s sake.
Echo ignored the lascivious look that passed from Gabriel to Aeric at her invitation to spend time together. Rhys gave them both a threatening glare and then turned back to her.
“I have some news for you as well,” Rhys said, grabbing his shirt from where it lay on the far end of the sparring mat. “How about I shower and then meet you in my library? I can have Duverjay bring up something for us to eat.”
Echo nodded, distracted again. She was a tiny bit sad to watch him put his shirt back on, covering up the sweat-slicked glory of his torso. He caught her looking and arched an amused brow, making her blush red as a tomato. Luckily, he didn’t say anything.
Whatever, Echo had ca
ught him checking out her ass yesterday. Though Echo didn’t consider herself to be the hottest thing on the planet, considering that she had enough curves for three or four skinnier girls, it was obvious that Rhys found her plenty interesting.
Just another part of the conversation they needed to have. And they needed to have it soon, because they’d come close to locking lips two more times since Echo’s arrival at the Manor. She wanted to explore the chemistry between them, more than she’d ever wanted to test things with any other guy, but she needed to know…
Something. She wasn’t really sure what, which was even more frustrating.
Rhys walked her into the main house and upstairs, leaving her in his living area while he headed off to shower. Echo sifted through some of the papers on the table in his library, surprised to find that he had a number of books and scrolls referencing the Three Lights.
Apparently Rhys was much more serious about her situation than she’d given him credit for. She flipped through what he had on the table, quickly becoming engrossed in what she found.
“Anythin' good?”
Echo turned as Rhys’s thick brogue rang out, making gooseflesh break out over her arms. She turned to find him in the doorway, and he was wearing even less than he had been back in the gym.
He was all but naked, a thick navy blue towel wrapped low about his hips, his tanned skin and chestnut hair still damp. He’d trimmed his beard close but the reddish tone of it was still apparent. His eyes sparkled with mischief, and Echo realized that he knew exactly what effect he was having on her.
“Why is this happening?” Echo blurted out, her eyes dropping to his chest, then his abs, then at the way the towel clung to his… hips…
Before she realized it, she’d abandoned the research and moved closer to Rhys, soaking in his muscular perfection.
