Echo Book 2

7. Never Been Happier

I'm in bed. I run to the balcony and jump up and down. "I NEED THOSE SLIDES AND THAT AQUARIUM. I WANT THAT ALL. MINE."

"No. That's Tye's, babygirl. Maybe he can add some stuff to our pool at home."

"TYE." I run to the hallway. "TYE."

Tye carries me back to the balcony. "I was already here." He sits down.

I sit on his lap. "I NEED THAT AQUARIUM. I NEED THE BIG FISH WITH TEETH. I NEED..."

Tim picks me up and puts me in the chair beside him.

"I NEED THE CORAL FROM CRU N. I NEED THOSE FISH. MAKE MY AQUARIUM FROM THERE. I NEED..."

Eriska runs out. "WE NEED THOSE SLIDES. I WANT THE TUBE SLIDE."

Malax puts his hands up so we stop talking. "I think they liked your pool, Tye."

"TYE MAKES THE BEST POOLS."

I nod fast. "Nadine wasn't wrong."

Tye smiles. "Thank you. I don't know if we can move the Cru N ocean stuff to other places. But I'll look into it. I would love to put that here for a few months. The animals have to be changed for cleaning and their health."

Eriska sits down. "That makes sense. Animals don't do well in captivity. And honestly, the oceans can't possibly be the same. You would have to bring enough ocean to fill the tanks too. That would be a lot."

I point at my brain. "Check the Cru N oceans. I want to know everything that is in that water."

"Yes, ma'am. Where is Cru N?"

Eriska laughs. "Somewhere you're not. We'll get some brains there soon. You can do it then."

"Of course."

Tye smiles. "We'll see if it's even possible. If it is, I will do it here too. People would love to see the glowing fish."

"Wonderful, let's have dinner." Omar signals a brain. "How did the marking spot search go, Echo?"

"I have 3."

"So, you'll get another mate?" Eriska scratches her head.

"I have no idea." I take a bite of something amazing.

"It's tuna and no, it doesn't mean you'll have 3. You have the possibility of 3. More than likely, you'll have 2. But the gods can always add more spots if you have more than 3."

I rub my face. "What was the point of the test?"

"It narrows it down. Nadine had 7 marking spots originally. Mason is a werewolf. They can mark anywhere. He picked her shoulder. The gods added Leo's marking spot to the back of her other shoulder. She ended up with 9."

"What's a werewolf?"

"It's a wolf. We can turn into them like we do dragons."

"Can Malax turn into these things too?"

"No. He will get his dragon from yours. Once she's awake. I believe Nadine has to bite you to give you the wolf form. The wolf will not come with a soul though. It will not talk to you. Only the dragon will do that."

"I understand."

Omar smiles. "I think the shock is wearing off."

Eriska nods. "Yea, Rye hasn't tried to get the car for a whole day now."

I laugh and glance around. Tye, Marcus, Tobias, and Victor are here with us. Tim looks like he's been crying. Or he's fighting tears now, I can't tell which.

"So, what are you girls doing tonight?"

"Drinking coconuts." We answer in unison.

"I will not be here early tomorrow. Here's an empty box. Tim can carry it around for you. Spend an hour collecting stuff before you start on the coconuts."

I take it from Omar. "Thank you."

Tim takes the box and leaves.

"I guess I'll do that now."

"I'll come with you." Eriska jumps up.

"No. Let them walk around."

"Fine. I'll order our drinks."

Rye shakes his head. "They're $20 each, Eriska."

"Don't be mean to Tim. He's the only one of us with money."

I get to the hallway, and he's standing there wiping tears off his face. I don't like it when he's upset. But I don't know what the hell to do. I drag him to the elevator.

He follows me down the beach and tries to get control.

"Sit." I take the box. "You're falling apart."

He falls to his knees. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I ever liked her. I'm sorry I hurt you like this. I'm not in love with her. I've never been in love with her. It really was kisses on her cheek. I searched for her. How could I not? I..."

"You heard the recording?"

"After you left, Malax had me and Omar come in. He played it. I'm so sorry."

"That's my sister."

"I'm so sorry."

I put shells in the box. I don't know what else to do. There's nothing to say. He cries for a long time.

"Please give me a chance."

"I can't. I'm not her. I'll never be her. I'm not going to pretend to be ok with this."

Omar pulls him up and drags him off. "It's been an hour. You can go drinking now."

I watch the ocean. I don't even know the man, but I feel like my heart was ripped out. I tell myself it's better this way. I'm not my sister and that's who he wants.

Malax picks me up and I wrap around him. I cry and he rubs my back. "You'll be alright, babygirl."

"I don't even know him. Why does it hurt?"

"Part of the bond. He was always supposed to be yours. And she is your sister."

"How can you even be ok with anything?"

"How do you mean?"

"You're mine. I would murder you if you kissed someone else. But you let Tim be around me with no problem."

He chuckles. "I talk to Nadine's mates a lot. Omar even more. That man won't shut up. If someone is your soulmate, I don't want to take them away from you. You're still mine. You're still his. We would both be yours. It doesn't take away from us. But you can't kiss anyone but your mates. Then it is cheating and I will rip them apart."

"It's hard to wrap my head around."

"I know, baby. But we would work together to keep you safe and happy. That's what matters. We want you to be safe and happy. We want you to feel loved. If there are 2 of us, there's more love for you. Plus, I know we don't know what we're doing right now, and we have no other planets. But maybe someday, he could help with that too."

"Are you mad?"

"Never. I'm going to marry the woman of my dreams. Someday, I'm going to watch your belly grow with a baby I put in it. We're going to live a long time and see so many places. I could never want anything more than this."

"I can still have babies as a vampire?"

"Yes, you have to talk to them, but Kehlani has 1. Marcus has a son. We still get to make babies someday."

"I love you and I can't wait."

"Me either, baby." He kisses my head. "I love you so much."

He carries me in and Alden, Victor, and Omar nearly run us over trying to get out. They jump in a shuttle and are gone so fast. They went straight up.

"Something must have happened somewhere, babygirl."

"Yea, seems like it."

He takes a step and Dipak, Marcus, and Tobias run out. They jump in another shuttle.

"Maybe we should figure out what it is."

Tye is there when we get to our room. "Problems on another planet. They'll be back soon. Figured I would let you know."

"Thank you. We were wondering."

Malax carries me to bed. "Nobody is here, baby. Let's see how deep in you I can get."

After an hour of making love, we cuddle together and he falls asleep.

I lie there thinking about my mate having a baby with my sister. How could he? Then to ask me for a chance.

I get up and puke. I know Malax didn't wait. But we were never supposed to. Some people do, but it's odd. We pick someone and make a life with them. I'm lucky he didn't pick someone else. Usually, people settle down by his age.

I put on a t-shirt. Then I move to the balcony and watch the water. But Tim had a whole soulmate. He's over 1,000 years old. He lost his first family. Then he went after my sister. I know she can't be the only one. He's probably had a million relationships. A million kids out there somewhere. And why would my sister lie and say a kiss 500 years ago? She lies about so much stuff. It was more than a kiss. Hell, it's a whole baby. And recently. She hides everything. Even the black ore from Nadine. Why is she like this?

"What you thinking, babygirl?"

"I'm not so sure if I want any part of this. We could go home and live forever. We could be happy and make a family."

He kisses my head and gets us comfortable on the couch. "We could. But how long would we be there before you want to see somewhere new? I remember your eyes when we landed on Cru N. This life is ours now baby. We got your ship. There is no turning back. We'll be home for a week, and you'll be ready to go see somewhere else. This is what you've dreamed of."

"We could do it alone. See other places alone sometimes."

"Yea, like vacations. Or we could vacation at home and live on the ship, traveling all the time."

"LET'S DO THAT."

He laughs. "This is our life now. And it's going to be amazing. Sometimes we'll be alone. Sometimes others will be with us. It's going to work out in the end. I promise. We'll figure it out together."

"Are you happy with me?"

"I have never been happier, babygirl."

"Even in bed?"

"We've had this conversation." He kisses my fingers. "You blow my mind. You are everything I could ever dream of, in bed and out of it. I will never need anything else. I damn near lost control when you put a couple kisses on my neck today. That was only a couple of kisses, but I have never had feelings like that go through me. When I make love to you, it honestly feels like heaven. My d**k is hard thinking about it. I can't dream of anything feeling better than you. You are the best I've ever had, and I'm convinced you're the best there is. I wish I would have waited so you wouldn't question this."

I rub his d**k and laugh. "It really is hard."

"You're the only one who has ever been able to get me hard that fast. Hell, you don't even have to touch me." He adjusts his pants. "f*****g rock hard and ready to go." He kisses my neck. "You make me hard when you send those pictures too. You are so damn sexy."

I slide my hand in his pajama pants and rub it. He must have thrown them on to come outside. He has nothing else on. I grab it and move my hand up and down on the shaft.

It takes him half a second to kick the pants away and lean back.

I can't help but giggle. "You get naked so fast."

"This is heaven woman. Every time you even touch me."

"What about when I kiss you?" I drop to my knees in front of him and that big d**k throbs so hard.

He watches me with black eyes. "Babygirl."

I work my way from his balls up the underside of his c**k with licks. Then I circle the head with my tongue.

He grabs my hair and holds it so he has a better visual. "f**k yes."

Leaning forward, I part my lips and take it in. His body tenses and he moans for me. I love that sound. I take as much in as I can.

"Uuuhhh" His hips move as I suck it.

It's mine. I speed up and suck it like I own it. It's mine to make c*m.

He moans and tenses again. I can tell he's almost there. "Yes" He grabs the back of my head. "f**k"

I push it in deeper, and it explodes in my mouth. I feel it throbbing. I feel the warm c*m sliding down my throat. I watch his stomach muscles spasm. I love this.

I push him back on the couch and lay on his chest. I make shapes on his shoulder while he rubs my back.