by Wood, Vivian
She lay her bandaged hands on the mirror, closing her eyes. A second later she yelped and pulled back, shaking her burning fingers.
“What the hell??” she cried, looking at her reddened fingertips. “They hexed the freaking mirror? Ugh!!”
Echo stared at the mirror for a few moments, then snatched it up off the table. The hex was likely linked to the wards on the Manor, as were most of Gabriel’s spells. Therefore, she needed to step outside the wards for a few moments in order to make her scrying spell work.
Grinning at her own cleverness, Echo practically skipped as she went out the front door. Broad marble steps spread out from the Manor’s front porch to the street, and Echo traipsed down them. The wards ended at the bottom step, so Echo perched herself on a bench a couple of feet away. Close enough to hide in case there was danger, far enough to use the mirror. Probably.
Echo laid the mirror out on her lap and spread her hands out over it, but a soft sound interrupted her work. She cocked her head, listening. It sounded like… someone crying?
Standing up, Echo set the mirror on the Manor’s warded steps before she turned and looked around. It took her a second to identify the source of the sound, but eventually she saw a small figure huddled on the ground, just on the other side of the wrought-iron fence lining the Manor’s yard.
“Hey,” Echo called. “Hey, are you all right?”
The figure turned, revealing a dark-haired little girl with a tear-stained face.
“Are you okay?” Echo tried again.
“I lost my mommy,” the little girl said, her face screwing up to produce a fresh round of sobbing tears.
“Okay, don’t worry,” Echo said, glancing over her shoulder. The front door to the Manor swung over, meaning that Duverjay was going to make an appearance at any moment. Likely he was about to physically return Echo to the Manor’s warded grounds, little girl be damned.
Pushing the gate open, Echo took a step toward the kid.
“Why don’t you come in?” Echo asked.
“I can’t,” the little girl said, giving a sad hiccup.
“Why not? I can call the police for you, and we can just sit on the steps here,” Echo said, glancing back at the house. Duverjay was indeed coming down the stairs, mouth opening, no doubt intending to shout at Echo for her impertinence.
She looked back at the little girl, and Echo’s mouth went dry.
There was no little girl, only a tall, grisly looking creature with slimy blue skin, wickedly curved claws, and more razor-like teeth than Echo could count.
“Shit!” Echo said, scurrying backward, but she was far too slow. “No no no!”
The creature seemed to grin as it caught her arms and yanked her back, hissing at Duverjay. Duverjay raised a silver crossbow and fired off a shot. The monster howled with pain, the sound growing impossibly loud. The whole world slowed for a moment, and Echo’s heart pounded as she realized that the creature was trying to pull her into another bolt-hole.
Echo stopped resisting the creature all at once, sagging against it. Surprised, the creature let her go for a moment, just long enough for Echo to clap her hands on it and release a frisson of power.
The howling stopped as her magic sizzled through the creature’s body, engulfing it in a blaze of light and heat. One second it gaped at her, teeth gnashing. The next second it was gone, destroyed.
Echo sucked in a deep breath even as her knees gave out. She was faintly aware of the fact that Duverjay had picked her up and began to carry her back to the Manor.
Her eyes rolled up in her head, the last thought in her mind being that perhaps she’d underestimated the butler after all.
12
Chapter Twelve
Rhys
Rhys stalked into the Manor, giving Gabriel a sharp glance. Gabriel had an arm wrapped around Echo’s tiny Aunt Ella, who looked as if she might keel over from exhaustion at any moment. Duverjay met them at the front door, giving Rhys an odd sort of bow.
“Your lady is upstairs resting,” the butler told Rhys. Duverjay had filled Rhys in on Echo’s near-disastrous escape attempt via text message, no doubt anticipating Rhys’s fury at the man’s failure to keep her in the Manor for a mere hour.
Rhys gave Duverjay a curt nod, and the butler made himself scarce. Rhys turned his attention to Gabriel, Aeric, and Tee-Elle.
“Gabriel’s going to take you upstairs to rest for a little while,” Rhys said, taking Tee-Elle’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “You and Echo can have breakfast together in the morning, as soon as you’re feeling up to it.”
“You’re too sweet,” Tee-Elle said, giving Rhys a faint smile and patting his arm. “That must be why my Echo likes you so much.”
Rhys’s gaze drifted up to the second floor, and he tried to keep his expression blank. Inside he was nothing but thunderously anger, but poor Tee-Elle didn’t need to know that.
“Must be,” Rhys muttered. “Gabriel, help her upstairs, please.”
Gabriel winked at Tee-Elle, making her laugh, and the two trudged up to the guest room on the first floor. Aeric had already given Rhys permission to put Tee-Elle there until something more permanent could be found for her.
“You’re probably going to have to beat her.”
Rhys’s gaze snapped to Aeric, who was looking far too amused.
“Shut up. I hope that when you find your mate, she tortures you twice as bad. Three times, actually.”
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 could 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.
