Bonds of Fate (Fated in the Stars #2)

Tides of Fate Chapter One - Leo

How far would you go to be free of your past? And how far would those who love you go to protect your future?

The pack’s bonds have been forged in love, tested in fire, and strengthened by fate. But in Tides of Fate , they face their greatest challenge yet: letting Nix confront his past, even if it means risking everything. As secrets unravel and their world expands, each member of the pack must confront the limits of their strength, the depths of their connection, and what it truly means to belong—not just to each other, but to themselves.

This is the epic conclusion to Fated in the Stars , where freedom comes at a price, love defies all boundaries, and the journey doesn’t end—it evolves.

Are you ready to see how far destiny will take them?

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Chapter One: Leo

Leo

Leo wakes up alone in the nest, and he does not like it at all. He hadn’t started that way last night. Gideon had dragged him, Finn, and Rowan into bed around 9:00 PM; no explanation, just pushing and shoving, and in one instance, scruffing Rowan like a kitten and then lying on top of him. Rowan had settled surprisingly quickly with the weight of his alpha weighing him down.

He’d returned from the Art House smelling of sadness and frustration and, as usual, kept the particulars to himself.

Finn had managed to get Riordan on a video call–and without sharing too much about their situation with his boss–he’d learned that Arlo also healed quickly—not in an instant, like Nix, but faster than even enigmas.

Nix’s list of ‘superpowers’ is growing longer by the minute, and Finn had told them in a hesitant voice when they’d finally settled in the nest that he was thinking of making omega care his specialty—Omegan Andrology, he called it.

Before, Finn had always maintained that his medical interests were varied, and Riordan had always encouraged him to spread his talents over the hospital’s many departments, even authorizing a rotation schedule that suited their young prodigy.

Finn had once told Leo that he liked all aspects of providing care but had never really found any specialty that gave him that spark. The kind of spark LRH felt on stage, or that Grayson felt when he was covered in paint. Finn was happy, but he’d craved a true purpose, and maybe he’d been waiting for Nix so he could light the fire under his own passion.

It was surprisingly philosophical for their scientifically-minded Finn.

Leo believes everyone deserves to follow their passions, and he couldn’t help but agree with Finn. How many choices in the pack’s life have been made in preparation to welcome their omega? How many more are coming their way?

That line of questioning makes Leo feel like he shouldn’t push too far into what life might have been if Hayes had not interfered with his evil. That pendant had hidden Nix when maybe fate–or whatever–might have been working to get Nix into their lives all this time.

He wonders where Jay and Nix might have been when they’d met Luca and Leo. How different life might have been for all of them. It’s nothing he can change, no matter how he might like things to have been different.

There are already too many people in his family harboring enough fear and regrets—they don’t need any more. It doesn’t mean he isn’t scared for Nix or any of them because this court case and anything afterward is going to be hard—maybe the hardest thing they’ll ever have to do as a pack.

But Leo has never been one to shy away from doing the hard thing—maybe because his life has been relatively smooth. He had wonderful parents and lived a life of luxury. He gets on with his sister and loves his job, and usually, it loves him, too.

Leo is an anomaly in this pack—each of his mates has triumphed over some hardship in their early life, what with Rowan losing his father, Grayson presenting early, Finn’s parents being absent, and, of course, Jay’s, Luca’s and Gideon’s parents being the scourge of the earth. And, of course, Nix.

Leo knows he is lucky or blessed—or whatever.

He has had a near-perfect life, and you’d think it would make him unable to understand where his mates are coming from most of the time, but Leo has always tried to make it just the opposite. He uses his great life as a light to shine on those around him and support them however they need, in whatever way they need it.

So, alone in the pack nest, Leo decides he’s going to do what his family needs done again—be the support where he can and try to focus a bit on his own relationship with their omega today. Although he’s not as instinct-driven as the alphas, Leo is very interested in cementing his bond with Nix.

He’s not asked Finn about how he feels, but the unfinished bond feels a bit like a sparking live wire. Leo imagines it’s like when an electrical wire falls from a pole after a lightning strike, and it bucks and spirals, looking for a ground. That’s his bond with Nix, bucking and sparking in his chest, looking for its ground in his mate.

It’s not painful—Leo’s wolf has never been loud—but this has certainly made Leo a bit more aware of their man-wolf connection. He is happy that Grayson could finally settle his soulmate bond last night. He knows how hard Grayson had to work at first, respecting Jay’s right to first bite and then watching Rowan have him, even if it was all Nix in the driver’s seat. When Gideon and Luca had added theirs, Grayson had seemed so unsure after so many days of being driven hard by his wolf.

Leo hopes that this connection will mean Grayson can finally feel he doesn’t have to hide parts of himself. That Nix can be his grounding force, too. If Gideon and Luca are anything to go by, the soulbond will only steady the entire pack’s foundations.

Just thinking about Luca and the pack brings to mind the shit show from the gym. Everyone could see Nix was thankfully alright and that Gideon had been remorseful. It had been a fucking accident.

But it had laid bare the deepest fears Jay had and scraped back the facade of calm acceptance. Frankly, Leo had never, in the almost ten years he’d known and loved Jay, ever seen him so desperate and miserable. It breaks Leo’s heart to see him struggle.

Luca claimed that Jay was a fucking-jerk-face-alpha-asshole , but Leo wasn’t motivated by the same traumas Luca carried from his own life living with a terrible alpha father. To Leo, it was obvious that Jay’s surface anger was pure terror. Their Pack Alpha had lived without Nix once, and it had broken off pieces of him and left them scattered to the wind.

Leo had been a part of Ripley when rumors of the terrifying Jay Rhodes—who had reduced four rooms in his apartment to dust in his grief—had made the rounds. He hadn’t even had to see the alpha to know he struck fear into every single person, from staff to intern, in the process.

Leo had witnessed the sadness that Jay hid every day. Even though he’d eventually learned to smile and laugh and make great music, Leo would catch Jay in the company’s bathroom crying or on the rooftop enjoying the sunshine, his mind far, far away, where Leo couldn’t follow.

That grief followed Jay even up until the day Finn called them and begged them to come. When Jay learned it was Nix, Leo could see that same grief roll over his features. He’s seen how hope that Nix would live, hope that he would survive the transition, hope that he wouldn’t hate them all for making this life-altering decision, wore away at Jay’s inner peace.

It’s been worth it, of course, it has. No one would ever think Nix wasn’t worth dying for, but it’s not the dying that’s hard—it’s the living.

Jay isn’t ready to like Nix’s choices, no matter the lip service he’d paid to just that scenario in the previous days. His outburst in the gym was a testament to that. Jay had returned home late, and he and Luca had secluded themselves in Jay’s room where there was no ignoring the yelling, the crying, and then, the fucking.

The others hadn’t expected them to come to the nest, so Leo had tried to listen and cuddle where he was needed. But now the bed is empty, and when Leo finds his phone, the group chat is full of his mates’ whereabouts.

07:57 AM Gideon

At Quest

Back for dinner

Gideon always needed his “home” turf when he and Jay disagreed, and even though there hadn’t been an argument per se, Gideon must be feeling the conflict of Jay’s disapproval and doing what he promised to do for Nix. He’ll come home with dinner and a determined grip on his position as Jay’s right-hand man, ready to work it out.

Finn said he’d gone to work to see Riordan and talk about his proposal for omega care. Leo didn’t know how much need there would be, given that Arlo and Nix were the only ones in the US at present, but maybe there were more hiding that they didn’t know about, and surely there will be more to come.

Besides, if Finn can focus on omega medical care and he can educate others, he might make the lives of people like Nix so much better.

Finally, Rowan said he had mysterious business, and Leo tried not to worry about his cryptic words.

08:30 AM Rowan

Got shit to do, bishes. Laters

Goddess knows what that means. Leo should probably be worried and can only hope it’s better than the last time when Rowan met up with his friend Emilio at a bar in Nashville and got so drunk on whiskey he’d taken the last bus to Clarksville. His mother had called to let them know he had made it ‘home’ even if it had been the wrong one.

But it’s the last text in his queue that really gives Leo hope.

08:35 AM Jay

Taking Luca to Ruthie’s xo

Jay is seeing Luca’s miracle worker of a therapist, and they are going together . The pack has long held the belief that Ruthie keeps Luca going and, therefore, the entire pack is on an even keel. Her specialty in trauma and the music industry makes her an ideal candidate to help Luca, but she is also a member of the BDSM community. The pack is so grateful to her, and if she’s made time to see them on short notice, then Leo is hopeful they can at least get Jay talking about what’s going on in his head.

So, that just leaves the lovebirds in the Art House, and Leo thinks they must really be missing him.

To be continued…