Evans, Gabrielle - Shades of Black [Fatefully Yours 5] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) Read Online Free PDF Page A

pushed Echo aside to leave the kitchen. He made it to the staircase before he heard Echo scream.
    “What the fuck do you mean he was your lover?”

Chapter Three

    Echo swallowed hard while his legs shook, threatening to drop him. He didn’t know why the news upset him so much. He knew Hex and Ares had been…well, they’d had sex. If the others had taken someone to bed outside of their relationship, none of them had mentioned it. Hell, he hadn’t been a blushing virgin when he’d wandered to them, either.
    But, this felt different. Maybe it was the way Myst had said the man’s name. Maybe it was Hex’s cold refusal to discuss it. Mostly, it was the look in his lovers’ eyes that made his heart ache inside his chest.
    “All seven of you?” he asked quietly, looking around the group, trying to get someone to meet his eyes.
    “Yes,” Eyce answered, but still looked somewhere over Echo’s shoulder.
    “Were you ever going to mention that there had been an eighth?” He knew the answer just by staring at their faces, but he had to ask.
    “It wasn’t important until now,” Vapre mumbled, then gave a scathing glace to Syx.
    “How long?” Echo watched the others rise slowly from the table and creep out of the room behind him. He couldn’t blame them. He wouldn’t want to be caught up in the middle of this mess either.
    “Four,” Myst whispered.
    “Four years?”
    “Four hundred,” Eyce said clearly. “Craze was with us for four hundred years.”
    “Oh, gods.” Echo covered his mouth with a trembling hand. “When did he leave?” Before anyone could answer, he waved his hand in front of them. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
    “Echo, baby, it was a long time ago. Over a thousand years ago,” Fiero tried to reassure him. He brushed past the others, holding his hands out for Echo to come to him.
    Taking several hurried steps back, Echo shook his head. “How could you keep something like this from me? You said it had always been just the seven of you. You lied to me. If you felt you needed to lie about it, that makes me worry that you’re not over him.”
    “You’re our mate,” Fiero said as if that just explained everything. It did very little to calm Echo’s growing panic.
    “I can’t…I have to go. I’m sorry.” Spinning around, he sprinted out of the kitchen and straight up the stairs to his room. He slammed the door, clicking the lock into place, then stripped out of his clothes. Crawling into his bed, he wormed his way under the blankets and closed his eyes against the terror of losing the men he loved.

    * * * *

    “Why the fuck did you have to bring Craze up?” Fiero snarled.
    “He can help,” Syx replied automatically, then pursed his lips and frowned. He hadn’t even known he was going to say anything about their ex-lover until the words were spilling out of his mouth.
    Sighing, he scrubbed a hand over his face and regarded his men. “I’m sorry. I haven’t thought about him in hundreds of years. I really don’t know why I said that. It wasn’t to hurt Echo, though, I swear.”
    “We know,” Vapre said softly, winding his fingers around the back of Syx’s neck and pulling him close. His lips pressed against Syx’s temple, and he sighed. “Why, though? Just why now? Don’t we have enough shit to deal with?”
    “It just slipped into my head,” Syx tried to defend himself, “like it wasn’t even my thought. Then it came rushing out of my mouth before I could stop it.”
    “The Oracle,” all five men growled at once.
    Closing his eyes, Syx felt like a moron. “That didn’t even cross my mind. Why does she think we need Craze, though? How could his presence possibly be a good thing? You saw how upset Echo was when he ran out of here.”
    “I think I know,” Myst said, surprising them all. Not that the demon wasn’t smart, but he rarely applied the gift. He was usually too busy causing problems to help think up solutions. When everyone turned to him with