Evans, Gabrielle - Hell's Tempest [Fatefully Yours 4] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) Read Free Page B

open in a little O . “Is there anything else?”
    “Yes,” Syx and Vapre said simultaneously. “The bleeding moon,” Syx continued after a pregnant pause. “From what I know of literature, and from the research I’ve done, this most likely refers to the war.”
    “The red moon is symbolic of the blood spilled during battle,” Vapre said almost to himself.
    “There was another warning after that, wasn’t there?” Echo recalled something about those born of the first, but he didn’t know what the hell it meant.
    “Right,” Syx answered, but said no more. His face looked pinched, and his shoulders seemed tense. Then he spun around and began digging plates out of the cabinet. “Echo, can you go get the vampires? The sun has set, and I’m sure they’re hungry.”
    Echo wasn’t stupid. He knew he was being dismissed so that Syx and Vapre could talk privately. Sighing, he rose reluctantly and started toward the basement door. “Have you guys figured out how to set up a light-tight space for them?”
    “I’ll make some phone calls in the morning,” Vapre answered readily. “We’ll have them moved into the main part of the house by the end of the week.”
    Nodding, Echo offered a small smile as he opened the door and a breeze of cool air hit him in the face. He shivered and looked over his shoulder again. “Any way we can have it ready sooner?” Though he hadn’t much cared for the vampires upon their arrival, he now considered them friends—family even—and it made his heart hurt to think of them in the dank, drafty basement.
    Vapre’s brow wrinkled, and he rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe I can come up with something a little less drastic than steel plates on the windows. Let me think about it.”
    Echo snorted and rolled his eyes as he shut the door quietly and crept down the basement stairs. Steel plates, indeed.

    * * * *

    “Okay, so why did you want him out of the room?” Vapre rose from his seat and sauntered over to Syx. He stood toe-to-toe with his lover where the man still leaned against the counter. “Talk to me.”
    “Did you know that Fiero is in love with Eyce?” Syx said out of the blue.
    Vapre’s eyes rounded, but he couldn’t think of a thing to say. Was Syx jealous? Was he angry? The demon didn’t look to be either of those things. In fact, he looked almost melancholy. “Well, I know there’s been a lot of changes going on around here,” Vapre said carefully. He couldn’t read Syx’s mood, so he figured treading lightly would be the best course to follow.
    Syx sighed and pushed away from the counter. To Vapre’s further shock, Syx stepped forward and dropped his head to Vapre’s shoulder. “Some days I wish things would go back to the way they were. Things were much simpler then.”
    “Boring, you mean,” Vapre teased, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Reaching up, he curled his fingers around the back of Syx’s neck and massaged gently.
    “Predictable,” Syx countered. “I don’t like not knowing what’s going to happen from one day to the next.
    Yes, that sounded like Syx. The demon thrived on regimen and organization. There were some deep thoughts going on inside the warrior’s head, and Vapre wondered how long Syx had been thinking them. “What’s going on?” He spoke quietly, barely more than a whisper.
    “I think Echo should leave,” Syx mumbled.
    Vapre’s fingers paused mid-squeeze around Syx’s neck. Surely he hadn’t heard that right. “You want him to leave?”
    “I don’t want him to, but I think it’s for the best.”
    They stood there for a long time, neither saying a word. Vapre felt torn between the man he’d loved for centuries, and the little sprite that had blown into their lives and insinuated himself in Vapre’s heart in a matter of weeks. How was he supposed to choose between two people he loved more than anything?
    “I can’t live without him,” Vapre finally whispered. Closing his eyes, he rested his forehead