Bonds of Fate (Fated in the Stars #2)

Chapter Sixteen Nix

Nix

It can’t have been long since he’s been out because Luca is still lying unconscious, half on and half off him when he comes back to himself.

He’s slipped out of his mate, and there’s come and slick soaking through the very nice white sheet. It hits him suddenly—he bit Luca and made him come without Gideon’s permission when he was asked to help him be good.

The wave of distress is so sharp that he begins to keen, high, and loud. His vanilla scent is a bakery on fire, burning even his own nose.

Luca is gently removed from his tight, protective grasp, and Nix is in Gideon’s arms even as Gideon watches Finn and Grayson tend to his unconscious mate.

Fear surges over him, an impending sense of doom settling in his chest. “No, mine. Luca, please. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

He expects hands to pull him away. He can already hear the words—Get out. You don’t belong.

But instead, there’s warmth. Hands, soft and steady. Fingers threading through his hair. Gideon, Luca. Their scents wrap around him, holding him together when he feels like he might come apart.

“You’re okay, kitten. I’m not angry. Luca wanted you to claim him yesterday already, and I knew it was a possibility. Your instincts are so strong when it comes to him, and I’m happy for you both. I’m happy, ” Gideon murmurs as he smooths a gentle hand over Nix’s sweat-damp hair.

There’s a soothing hand on his back, and then he’s got apple juice in his mouth. It sits cold and churning in his belly, and he tries not to bring it right back up. A swirl of comforting black currant and cinnamon lingers, but it can’t cut through the surging panic.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Please don’t. I’m sorry.”

Please don’t be angry. Please don’t hurt him. Please don’t make him leave.

Nix isn’t clear on what exactly he means—maybe all three.

Gideon had asked him to help Luca, and Luca is Gideon’s, and now Nix has bitten him, too. All without permission. They would be right to kick him out.

He’ll be alone again. He’ll—

Why would he do that?

“Baby.”

Luca is there in an instant—a flood of mocha and musky vanilla—climbing onto the cushioned table and straddling Nix’s thighs. His hands are warm as they find Nix’s, squeezing firmly.

“You can’t be sorry. You can’t. I love it. You gave it to me, and Gideon says we’re not in trouble.”

His black eyes shine with sincerity and pleading. “Do you believe me? Please, I love it.”

Luca’s sweet mouth is flushed red, his gaze bright with emotion. He presses a hand over the inflamed bite, and when he finally lifts it away, Nix’s wolf howls in joy. Their mate loves their bite. The realization crashes over him, settling his panic like nothing else could.

“You love it?”

There’s chocolate on his tongue now—tiny chips, like the ones his mom used to bake into cookies. Bittersweet, rich, and warm. It tastes like Luca.

“We’re not in trouble.” It’s not a question.

He finally lifts his gaze to meet Gideon’s, his trustworthy mate smiling back at him. Gideon isn’t mad. Luca is happy.

When Luca moves back, he sees all his mates around him as close as they dare: on the couch, crouched on the floor, and perched on the edge of the ottoman/table. It’s a cloud of comforting scents that easily overpower his burnt vanilla. They look unsettled though, and his wolf–who has decided he’s still willing to run the show–reminds him forcefully that they are still four mates short on the list of bite-ees.

“Angel, you’re alright. We love our bites, and whenever you’re ready, the others want theirs too.” Grayson offers a few more chocolate bits with his reassurance.

“Now?” His wolf wants this badly.

If their mates belong to them, then Daw— he can’t have them.

He is on his knees, fangs out, in an instant, and leave it to Rowan to immediately pull the top of his sweatpants down so that the musky scent of spicy come wafts up. It’s only Jamie pulling Nix back that stops him from making good on the unspoken request right then.

“Daddy, why are you stopping them? You got yours. Don’t be stingy.” Luca may have said it, but Nix was surely thinking it. Even though he doesn’t remember biting Jamie, the proof is clear on his shoulder. Maybe Jamie will let him do it again?

“I just…What? Are you all serious? Now? On a regular weeknight?” Jamie looks to Finn and then to Gideon, the ones who can usually be relied upon to be the voices of reason.

“Don’t look at me, Jaybird. I have wanted this longer than anyone else here, save for you. Anytime Nix wants to claim me, then I will gladly accept it. Relish it, even.” There isn’t a doubt that Finn means every word.

“Leo? Gideon?” Leo is already removing his shirt and tilting his neck.

“Seriously? He gave you yours on the floor of the pediatric ward ten seconds after he opened his eyes and Gray’s in his room. It doesn’t need to be flowers and champagne to be important. If he wants this and we want it—and fuck, do I want it, then why wait? If you’re serious, Nix, come to me.” His beefy arms are open wide and welcoming.

His Leo is always welcoming, and Nix and his wolf are damned serious.

On shaky legs, Luca helps Nix into Leo’s lap, and with a quick kiss on the cheek for luck, he slips away from their moment with a sigh.

Such a romantic.

Settling his wet butt on Leo’s hardened dick, Nix supposes if it were different and his wolf didn’t need this so badly, he might have dreamed of slowly riding Leo and making him come as he had with Luca and Grayson.

As it is, even though he’s wet, there’s nothing he’s going to be doing about it right now. Instead, he settles for a wiggle and enjoys Leo’s groan.

But that’s not to say he can’t make it special anyway, even in a small way.

“Leo, you are so strong here,” he squeezes Leo’s arm and then rubs a finger over his forehead, “and here. But especially here.” His hand stops over Leo’s strong heart. “You are mine forever and ever. Can I?”

He’s asking, but he’s already found an unmarred spot where Leo’s thick neck meets his shoulder, where the scent of cinnamon lingers—warm treats covered in melty sugar. It’s the scent of the two of them together, and his fangs drop instantly, his mouth watering in anticipation.

With Leo’s tiny nod, Nix threads his fingers through soft, curly hair, meets wet, loving eyes, and gently tilts his mate’s head farther to the side.

Finally, shutting out the rest of the world, he strikes.

It’s deep, maybe as deep as Jamie’s, and Leo seizes up, coming hard and hot with a moan onto the insides of Nix’s thighs, his hands holding Nix’s hips in a firm grip. The others are quiet, holding this moment in reverence. When his wolf senses the unsurprisingly robust presence of Leo Costas in his chest, it soothes the remnants of anxiety he hadn’t realized he was still carrying.

Of course it does.

Leo has been a steadying force in Nix’s new life as part of this pack, and feeling him settled there goes a long way toward easing his fear.

He is filled to the brim with warm gratitude for Leo’s impact on his life already and knows that this feeling will be a regular occurrence around his thoughtful, strong-hearted mate.

He finally lays his newest claimed mate’s head on the back of the couch, kisses his red mouth, and leans in to whisper, “Handsome Leo, I love you.”

Grayson is there, and Nix smiles sweetly at him in gratitude when he pulls Leo into his own basil-scented throat and wipes away their mate’s tears.

Rowan has chosen his groin like Grayson’s, and he’s standing as close as he can to be next and still be respectful—so ready and already so hard.

Nix has to smirk. He’s so delightfully pushy, and so his— a unique blend of chaos and charisma—often mature beyond his years, yet still surprisingly irreverent. Nix can hardly wait to know him better.

Nix isn’t ignorant of the parallel journey they’re on together as they learn to master their wolves and everything it takes to be the best they can be for themselves and their family.

He climbs to his feet instead of falling to his knees, and Rowan’s eyes flicker open in surprise when Nix simply stands there, waiting for his full attention. Unlike Jamie and Luca, this boy could use a little romance in his approach. Rowan has almost a foot on his 5’6” frame, so Nix steps in close, pressing his head under his alpha’s chin, and just hugs him.

That ‘whoa-boy’ cock presses right into the front of his already-ruined pink nightgown, and Nix revels in giving a little shimmy—just to hear Rowan groan.

“Patience, you. Come here.”

He puts his big alpha down on his back on the other side of the sectional and settles between his knees, only to run his hands up and down his eager alpha’s thighs. Rowan bucks his hips up, and Nix is hard-pressed to not climb on and ride, with the way Luca made it look so, so good, but like with Leo, that time is not now.

Later, though? Fuck, yes.

“Please, Nix. I need you. Please.” He’s writhing now, just the idea of Nix’s bite making The Cock? kick up, strong fingers digging nails into the expensive leather.

“I said patience ,” Nix growls, digging his claws into those muscular thighs, looking up his body and into his fevered eyes. “Rowan, you are mine. ” It’s growled out from the depths of his body.

Tucking Rowan’s sweatpants under his balls, he noses along the crease between his thigh and groin, and then slowly up his shaft.

“Finn…does that thing you said about scent glands and blood flow run through here?”

His wolf thinks it does.

Rowan smells of spicy rum, rich and fresh—at its absolute best. A collective gasp fills the room just before Rowan jerks up onto his elbows, eyes wide, his face maybe even a little bit green.

Nix lets his fangs drop all the way down. He knows by now that they’re comparatively long, and his wolf is oh-so-vain about them. He giggles because no man wants sharp fangs in his dick. “I’m joking. Are you ready?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer; he just crawls up Rowan’s chest and grabs him by the jaw. “I’d like to put it here if you don’t mind?”

“Please.”

He sits down on top of The Cock?, and feels it between his slick cheeks and along his perineum. With an undulating grind, he slides his hips in a slow back and forth, causing Rowan to tip his head to the side in reflex. Nix can hear his enigma’s heart pumping fast, his spiced rum scent getting stronger.

“Rowan, I will love you forever.”

Nix grabs his huge hand and holds it over his heart as he bites down on his mate’s strong neck.

He tastes blood and desire—something so hot it melts him from the inside out. Like a supernova igniting in the center of his pelvis, the heat shoots outward, lighting up every nerve, every cell, until he’s burning with it.

Rowan comes with a shout, arching so violently he lifts them both off the couch, and when Nix follows, in his mind, their bodies are glowing.

When Nix feels him settle into that mate space, he finally withdraws his fangs, resting his head under Rowan’s chin, his ear pressed over his heart. His body hums, tingling with residual electricity.

He should be exhausted, but the power has only invigorated him.

That tingling only intensifies when he feels a soft kiss pressed to the top of his head and hears an even softer “Love you, too.”

Their snarky alpha has tears in his eyes, and before Nix can process it, Luca is there—quick to take his place, pressing soft kisses to Rowan’s damp cheeks and making exaggerated kissy noises.

Nix spots his sweet, bespectacled Dr. Merritt waiting quietly.

His second love, even if he didn’t know it then. “Finnie.”

Finn meets him halfway, his lean frame moving with quiet purpose, and Nix reaches for him without thinking. He leads Finn toward the kitchen on wobbly legs, his breath shallow, his pulse hammering in his ears. The world blurs at the edges, but the only thing that matters is the steady warmth of Finn’s long, healer’s fingers entwined with his own. Strong, calloused hands—capable of both mending and holding him together.

No one stops them.

“Nix. What–” They’re standing in front of the breakfast bar, and right away, Finn knows why they’re there.

Just like that first night when he’d lifted Nix onto the hospital bed, and where they’d had their apologies. This seems to be symbolic of their beginnings, and that’s why it’s the perfect place for this.

Nix had nearly swooned then, and this time, when Finn does the honors again, Nix is no less swoony.

“Like this, Finn, okay? That night, when you helped me. I wanted to belong to you. I did. I can’t remember what I thought after that, but I do remember thinking that if I couldn’t have Jamie, then at least I would know what it was to feel attraction and affection for you. I knew I could love you, and I do. So much already.”

Nix grasps his cheeks and kisses his pointy nose and smooth cheeks before removing his glasses so he can kiss each eye, placing the glasses gently on the counter. Then Nix places the final one on his lips.

“I wanted to kiss you that night, and now, I want to do it every day for the rest of our lives. More, even. Would that be okay? Would you be mine forever?” Unlike the others, Finn hasn’t saved his tears for after, and if he knows anything about his Finnie, it’s that they’re not a common occurrence.

His mate is pulling off his sweater and sliding it over Nix’s head, pushing his arms through in the exact way he did over a week ago, and Nix recognizes that it’s the white one from the hospital.

Come to think of it, Finn has worn it off and on almost every day he’s seen him since, and it makes Nix’s heart clench as his mind swirls with all the ways Finn quietly shows him he loves him; and maybe a few he hasn’t shown him yet.

“Phoenix Rena, I will gladly be yours forever.” He tilts his head, and Nix leans in, nose first, to find the strongest black currant scent. It’s right under his ear on that left side, and his fangs are down again.

He hesitates because it’ll be impossible to hide.

“Yes. There. Please.”

He’s careful to hold on tight around Finn’s narrow waist in case his knees buckle, not wanting gravity and sharp fangs to tear such a sensitive spot.

Nix bites down as carefully and as gently as Finn has loved him from the beginning—slow, deliberate, reverent.

Finn comes in shudders, and bucks into Nix’s open thighs, fingers dug in tight around his waist. Nix hopes the bruises will stay, and when Finn’s legs give out, Nix doesn’t let him fall—won’t ever.

He keeps sucking long after his fangs have retreated—just because Finn has moved to hug him tightly. When he finally pulls away, grinning wetly, Jamie is there to catch him.

Nix offers the hem of the sweater halfheartedly, but Finn only shakes his head and helps him down.

Now for the last.

Gideon is the only one who hasn’t followed his mates into the kitchen or even lingered at the edges. He stands alone in the semi-darkness at the end of the living space, just out of reach of the warm lamplight, as if holding himself apart from what’s coming.

But Nix sees him.

He sees the tension in Gideon’s stance, the sharp cut of his silhouette against the dim glow.

And oh, it’s not because he doesn’t want it—no, the intensity of that glittering gaze says quite the opposite. It’s written in the way his fingers twitch at his sides, in the way his breath comes just a little too fast. He is waiting.

It’s a gaze that makes Nix want to strip down and shift , as if he could, into a wolf, and follow Gideon’s alpha wolf into the woods beyond the property under the Goddess’s watchful eye. It’s as if they have done that same thing over and over, year after year, century after century.

It is truly the real definition of forever—an infinity of incarnations of their spirits. Nix sees the same recognition in Gideon’s gaze that this will be a merging of those spirits, as the Goddess has intended from the very first: two wolves in human form, exemplifying all the gifts They offer. It’s love and family, and above all, a strong connection to Them that has existed across time.

So Nix walks into the shadows but waits for Gideon to come to him. Nix knows the Goddess has made sure their wolves would recognize each other as kindred spirits that are truly unchanged from the beginning—Alpha and Omega, in their purest form.

He doesn’t have to wait long, not for his Gideon.

Throwing off the sweater and the ruined nightgown, he moves naked into the beam of moonlight coming through the tall windows, grateful for the Goddess in full-moon form so he can see Gideon remove his tank top and his sweats. Nix can’t spare a thought for how strange it must be for the others, but this is the only way they can do this.

The moon is hot on his skin (isn’t that weird too?), and when he closes his eyes, they’re not at home; they’re under the moon, beside the waterfall from when he was lost as a child. Gideon’s arms are around him, and he’s the one holding Nix up this time. Gideon tilts his head and Nix finds he needs to say nothing because Gideon knows already, like he always does.

Nix’s fangs find the spot on his neck in the exact location where he placed Luca’s bite—matching bites for his mates’ matching souls. Together, they are AlphaBetaOmega. Their wolves howl to the moon in joy as Nix digs his fangs in deep, he can hear them both echoing through the moonlit glade.

With the taste of Gideon still on his tongue, he drags them to the floor of their home, barely holding onto enough awareness to whisper, “Love you, Gideon,” before he’s out like the proverbial light.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he’s in Jamie’s arms, warm water cascading over them in the shower. He remembers—he’d asked to sleep in Jamie’s bed, to finally, finally do what he’s been waiting ten years for—to belong to Jamie Rhodes.

The last thing he remembers is being tucked in beside his true love, wrapped in a pine-scented bed, bathed in the scent of love, feeling seven distinct energies pulsing in his chest.

He’s almost there.

Soon , he tells his wolf. Soon, Dawson won’t be able to take them from us .

Soon.