Hex laughed. “Just stay put. I doubt you could move if you wanted to anyway.”
“I can move,” Fiero argued. He wiggled his ass a little, groaned, and went still again. “Never mind.”
Rolling his eyes, Hex made his way to the bathroom and showered quickly. The water felt amazing, the warmth seeping into his tired muscles. Though he would have loved to linger, he knew his mates were waiting for him. No amount of stalling would put off the inevitable, and it would be better to just get it over with.
Shutting off the shower, Hex stepped out of the tiny tub and dried quickly before wrapping the towel around his waist and shuffling back into the bedroom. All seven men gathered inside the room, looking up at him expectantly when he emerged from the bathroom.
“Are you sure?” Syx asked.
“Yes. I want to be done with this. Just tell me what to do.”
Syx motioned toward one of the beds. “Just lie down here. I’m going to put you to sleep, and then me and Echo are going to see if we can try to unlock those memories. You won’t feel a thing, I swear.”
“I’m not worried.” That wasn’t strictly true, but he wasn’t worried that his lovers would hurt him. Settling in the middle of the mattress, Hex rested his head on the pillow and closed his eyes. “Be gentle,” he half teased.
“Look at me,” Syx whispered, his warm breath fanning over Hex’s face.
Hex opened his eyelids, looking right into the jade-green depths of Syx’s eyes, and instantly felt himself falling into the darkness. With no concept of time inside his dreams, Hex didn’t know how long he slept before being plunged into the past. To him, it felt almost instant.
He lay in the middle of a large bed, completely nude and shaking with the force of his emotions. Sobs wracked his body, and he curled into a fetal position, pulling the blankets up around his thin shoulders. Once again, his lover had come to him, used him, hurt him, then left without a word.
A soft hand flitted through Hex’s dark hair, and he jolted upright, yelping when he found the warrior goddess, Athena, perched on the side of his bed. “You can’t be here.” Fuck, he was going to be in so much trouble if his master found out.
“Shh, now, Hex. I’ve come to help you.”
“You can’t help me. No one can help me.”
“I can. It will mean a sacrifice, and most likely I will be punished for my deeds, but I can no longer sit by and watch you suffer at the hands of my brother.”
Hex didn’t know what to say. No one ever tried to talk to him, and they most certainly didn’t try to help him. It was a trick. It had to be a trick.
“Do you wish to stay?”
Before he could stop himself, Hex shook his head. “I hate it here.”
“I know, little one. I hate it for you. What are you willing to do to be free of this place?”
“Anything.”
Athena smiled kindly and rose from the bed. Hex started to panic. Here it came. This was the part where she hurried away to tell Ares of his unfaithfulness. Instead, she surprised him by waving her hand and clothing him. “We must hurry.”
“Where am I going?”
“I have procured a deal for you. If you are willing, that is.”
“What kind of deal? What do I have to do?”
“One thousand years guarding the pits of Tartarus.” Athena smiled sadly. “Everything comes with a price, my dear. When your service is up, I will help you reach the Top World, and there you will be free to live your life as you choose.”
“I can’t guard anything!” Hex scrambled out of bed and waved his hand frantically toward his thin legs, tiny arms, and slim chest. “Just look at me! I’m a runt!”
In the next blink, Hex gazed down at Athena instead of up. He gaped in awe as he examined his body, the huge rippling muscles, the vast size of the new him. He took a tentative step forward, frowning when he almost stumbled. There was a lot more of him to move around now, and he’d have to find a way to get used to it.
“You didn’t think I would send you to the Underworld with no way to protect yourself?”
“Can I hug you?” He might be a massive warrior now, but he still felt like the small, scared boy from moments before.
Athena smiled softly and moved into his arms, giving him a quick hug. Then she stepped away and held out her hand. “We must hurry before Ares returns.”
“Why doesn’t he love me?”
“Oh, Hex. I fear our father made a grave mistake when he gave you to Ares. My brother has no capacity for love. He is a great soldier, but a lover he will never be.”
“What do you mean I was given to him?”
Athena sighed and tugged him along. “Father wanted to reward Ares for his skill on the battlefield by creating the perfect mate for him. You were to complement Ares in every way, being everything to him that he has missed, but he failed you.”
Hex felt the tears pool in his eyes, but he pushed them back and gritted his teeth. “If I was made for Ares, does that mean that I will never have a mate of my own?”
Turning to face him, Athena studied him for a long time before bringing his hand up and kissing his knuckles. “You deserve to find love—more love than you can ever hope to know what to do with. I will see to it personally that you have that.”
“Will I have to guard Tartarus alone?” Hex couldn’t stop himself from asking so many questions. It had been years since he’d been allowed to talk to anyone. Besides, he wasn’t a fool. Whatever he was to face, he wanted to go into it with open eyes.
“No, Hex. You will have warriors at your command. You will guide them, and they will teach you.”
The next thing he knew, they were standing beside a river with the sun beating down on their backs. Hex blinked several times, stretching his face upward. “Why are we here?”
“You must bathe in the river before we travel any farther.”
“Do I smell?”
Athena laughed, a quiet tinkling little sound. “This is the first step to a new beginning.”
Hex closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and waded into the river without further debate. The water swirled around him, coming up to cover his head, and Hex felt his mind go blank, his memories being washed away, and a strange peace descended over him.
Breaking the surface of the river, Hex snapped his eyes open as he gasped and shuddered. His mates sat around him in the small hotel room, all looking concerned and maybe a little sad. Echo’s head rested on his chest and hot tears pooled against Hex’s skin. Quiet sobs wracked Echo’s small frame, and Hex felt so helpless.
“Hey, baby. Hush now. Why are you so upset?”
“Ares is a bastard, and I fucking hate him,” Echo answered vehemently.
Hex patted his lover’s shoulder. “Come here, Echo.” He waited for Echo to wiggle up his body then tapped him on the nose. “Don’t worry about Ares. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t have you guys, and I wouldn’t be so big and tough to protect you.” He flexed his bicep under Echo’s head and wiggled his eyebrows.
“I still hate him.” Echo sniffed and nuzzled against Hex’s ribs. “I’m so sorry he did those things to you.” He paused for a minute, and Hex felt his mate’s lips stretch into a smile against his skin. “You were so little. I think you might have been smaller than me. You were cute.”
Hex felt his face heat, but couldn’t stop the goofy grin that spread over his lips. “Yeah, I guess I was.”
“I like you better this way,” Echo whispered. “You make me feel safe.”
“I think that’s the point. My subconscious must have remembered what it was like to be so small and helpless.” He held his hand up when Echo started to argue. “I’m not saying you’re helpless. I didn’t have any powers like you, though. I couldn’t even heal myself.”
“So, did you get new memories like I did?”
Hex shook his head. “I remember being reborn from the fire, but I think I just made up my own recollections about that.”
“Did Had
es give you the power to heal?” Syx asked quietly. “Or did you always have that?”
“I was born with the power so that I could heal Ares after battle.”
“I really hate him.”
Hex started to soothe Echo when he realized the statement had not come from the small man in his arms, but from the demon sitting at the foot of the bed. He looked into Myst’s eyes for a long time before finally dipping his head. “Yeah, I guess I do, too.”
“So, how do I fit into all of this?” Echo pushed up on his elbow to address the room.
“I think it might be time for your dear mom to give us some answers,” Fiero answered with a slight growl in his voice. “I saw the red moon. If taking down that lab was our final test, I’m starting to think that this so-called war wasn’t about Ares at all. I feel like a fucking rat in a maze, and it’s pissing me off.”
Hex wasn’t too happy with the goddess either, but he didn’t think it was fair to take it out on Echo. Their mate could no more control his mother’s actions than any of them could.
“I agree,” Echo said immediately. “I’ll try to get a meeting with her when we get home.” He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, and his eyebrows drew together. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to, though. Helios said she was busy.”
“You can only try,” Hex whispered, pulling Echo down to kiss his temple. “That’s all we can ask of you.”
“Yeah, I know, but it’s only eleven days until the equinox. It would be nice to know what we’re going into for a change.”
“I don’t think Ares is going to be much of a challenge, to be honest.” All eyes focused on Onyx. The warrior just shrugged. “Think about it. He disappeared after Hex’s test. If our fight with Peter was supposed to be the last challenge, that’s the end of the war. Whatever Ares has to do with this, I doubt he’s going to put up much of a fight.”
“Dude, he’s a freakin’ god,” Myst argued.
“Athena said he’d been stripped of his powers,” Echo offered.
“What about his army?”
“Maybe he was bluffing.” Onyx shrugged again.
“Let’s get some rest, get home, and we’ll figure this out then.” Hex squeezed Echo to his side. “Just like everything else, we’ll face this together, no matter what it is.”
Chapter Fifteen
The wet heat wrapped around the head of his cock brought Echo out of a peaceful sleep. He didn’t open his eyes, though. Maybe he was asleep and still dreaming. Either way, he didn’t want it to stop.
The soft lips clamped around his rigid shaft, moving up and down in a steady rhythm designed to drive him out of his mind. His hands skimmed down his bare chest before plunging into strands of silky hair. He moaned softly, arching his hips up and pushing his prick farther into his lover’s mouth.
Another set of lips trailed down his throat and over his collarbone before moving on to torture one of his erect nipples. Rough hands smoothed over the sensitive skin of his hip as another warm body pressed against his other side. Strong fingers gripped his knee, pulling it back toward his chest and opening him to further exploration.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” Syx breathed against the shell of his ear.
Echo moaned in response. The wet heat engulfing his cock was frying his brain, and anything resembling coherent speech was currently beyond his ability. It had been too long since they’d touched him like this. He wanted it, craved it, and demanded they give him more.
Thankfully, his mates aimed to please. A slippery finger brushed against his exposed entrance, ringing the muscles twice before dipping inside his clenching channel.
“More,” Echo pleaded, rocking his body to impale himself on the thick digit. The finger pumped inside him a few times before a second joined alongside it. When three fingers were sawing in and out of his needy hole easily, they disappeared.
Echo’s cry of protest was short-lived when he felt something cool and hard nudge against his opening. Blinking open his eyes, he stared down his body, unsurprised to find Myst bobbing happily on his hard cock. Fiero knelt between his spread thighs, his brow wrinkled in concentration as he worked the silicone phallus into Echo’s passage. Dropping his head back to the pillow, he closed his eyes again, turned off his brain, and let his body take over.
Fiero worked the dildo like a pro, pumping it into Echo’s ass with just the right amount of force and speed. The hard tip pegged his prostate with unerring accuracy just as Myst deep-throated him, swallowing around the head of his aching cock.
One more brush of the toy against his sweet spot, and Echo went off like a bottle rocket. He whimpered his release, pouring his seed down Myst’s throat as his body jerked and shuddered with his orgasm.
The dildo disappeared, replaced with something just as hard, though very much real. Myst popped off his dick a heartbeat before Fiero rammed into him with enough force to scoot him up the mattress. “Been too long,” the warrior grunted. His hips snapped forward, his pulsing cock driving into Echo’s ass at a demanding pace.
Myst moved behind Fiero, licking and kissing at the man’s neck, and Fiero’s thrusts faltered. Then he stilled completely, groaning as his eyes rolled back in his head. When Myst was finally seated, they began a slow tempo until they slipped into a rhythm they’d used a hundred times.
Hex rolled away from Echo’s side and stood on the bed, straddling Echo’s face with his feet planted beside Echo’s ears. Echo had only a second to wonder what the big alpha was doing before Syx’s knees came to rest beside Hex’s feet and the tip of his long cock brushed over Echo’s lips. “Open up, baby.”
Echo complied with a happy hum, straining his neck up to capture the leaking tip between his lips. Syx groaned and his hips jerked, making Echo feel like a king. Staring up his mate’s perfect body, Echo took in the wide expanse of Syx’s chest, the smooth column of his neck, and finished at Syx’s mouth as Hex pushed his hard dick through Syx’s plump lips.
Groaning at the sight, Echo sucked harder, hollowing his cheeks and swirling his tongue along the throbbing shaft. Reaching between Syx’s massive thighs, he gripped his own prick and jerked it quickly to the wild thrusts of Fiero’s cock pounding into his ass.
It had been way too long, and within minutes Syx’s muffled moan reached his ears and salty semen splashed over his tongue. Hex growled, signaling his own climax a heartbeat before Myst echoed him.
“Fuck!” Fiero shouted, plunging into Echo’s hole and grinding his groin against Echo’s ass cheeks. The sounds and smells, the taste of Syx’s cream on his tongue, and the feel of Fiero’s hot cum filling his depths pushed Echo over the edge.
Pulling off Syx’s still-spurting prick, he cried out his orgasm, loving the feel of Syx’s sticky semen splashing against his cheeks and lips. His own cock erupted once more, covering his hand and stomach in cum.
Slowly and reluctantly, they pulled apart as they each gasped for breath and tried to steady their racing hearts. “More sleep,” Echo slurred.
Hex chuckled and scooped him up from the bed. “Shower, and then I promise you can nap. You’re going to need it.”
Echo groaned. “I don’t want to think about it.”
“Well, the equinox is tonight whether you like it or not. You’re welcome to stay here while we meet Ares.”
Echo slapped Hex’s chest. “Don’t be stupid. I’m going.”
Hex chuckled again and kissed Echo’s forehead. “I never doubted it. We’re going to need you, baby.”
Smirking to himself, Echo let his head loll against Hex’s shoulder. “I know.”
* * * *
“Where the hell are we supposed to meet him?”
Hex wrapped an arm around Echo’s shoulder and squeezed him in comfort. “I’m sure he’ll come to us.” They sat on the back deck, staring out at the setting sun. “Be patient.”
“Yes, be patient for an angry god to come and destroy us. Brilliant plan, Hex. Why didn’t I think of that?” Echo snorted but moved closer to Hex’s side.
“Is the pack here?”
“Over there,” Hex said quietly, pointing toward the tree line to the east. “They’ve got our backs, baby.”
“I feel like I’m waiting for the reckoning,” Myst mumbled. “It’s like this will determine the outcome of the rest of our lives—or the lack thereof.”
“We’ll be fine,” Hex tried to reassure his mate. It still felt strange to refer to Myst or the other warriors as his mates, but that’s what they were. Holding Echo tighter to his side, he smiled. He knew exactly who to thank for giving him the greatest gifts on earth.
“It does feel kind of like we’re being judged, doesn’t it?” Echo looked up at Hex with worry in his eyes.
“No.” Hex shook his head firmly. “If anyone is to be judged, it’s Ares. This is his reckoning, not ours.” He was reluctant to speak further, but he needed to tell his men the plan before their adversary arrived. “This is between me and Ares. Unless he brings backup, I want you all to stay out of the way.”
“Fuck that,” Fiero spat. “We’re not letting you face him alone.”
“Well, if I start losing, feel free to jump in.” Hex chuckled. “I need to do this on my own, though. This is all because of me, even if I don’t know exactly why. Besides, if he wants me, he’ll be less likely to attack me.”
“We’ll hang back,” Eyce said after a long pause. “We’re not letting your ass die, though. I have big plans for it later.”
Hex laughed and leaned across Echo to kiss his beta. “Deal.”
“I still think we should have Craze here,” Echo pouted. “That man is seriously badass.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you have a little crush on him.”
Echo huffed and elbowed Hex in the ribs. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get Athena to talk to me,” he said quietly.
“Not your fault. I doubt it would change anything.” He started to say more, but a rustling from the trees drew his attention, and he watched as Ares stepped into view.
They all rose as one, moving across the field to meet the god. “You’re alone?” Onyx asked skeptically.
Evans, Gabrielle - Reckoning [Fatefully Yours 9] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) Page 12
