Chapter Twenty-Seven Leo
Rewind - Leo
When the elevators closed after his mates at his father’s firm, Grayson had taken his hand before directing him to the Lexus. After making sure he’d had his seatbelt on, they’d taken off after Rowan, who had peeled out of the drive intent on living his Grand Theft Auto dreams behind the wheel of Gideon’s Escalade.
Leo takes a slower, much more sedate pace, and it’s not long before he can tell that Grayson is working up to saying something that he is sure he’s not going to like. Even with their scent blockers running interference, it’s easy to see the uncharacteristic fidgeting out of the corner of his eye. He gives his mate a break and puts his hand on Grayson’s knee.
“All right, Pretty. Out with it.” Grayson is normally so self-contained; his body does nothing without his express consent. Gentle and deliberate, graceful and calm are just a few characteristics Leo would use to describe his beautiful mate.
Grayson sighs again, this time deeply. “I want you to take me home. Please.” He’s braced for Leo’s disapproval and Leo refuses to be the reason he’s even more worked up.
When he offers no more, Leo asks, “Why? We’re going to see Nix awake for the first time. As a pack. Are you not feeling well?”
“Leo, I don’t think I can do this. Not at the hospital. I’m not ready.” He sounds like he might cry and Leo cannot imagine one scenario where he’d think Grayson would miss out on seeing their omega today. Not a single one. But he takes the next right that will put them on the path toward home.“I just can’t see him yet. I’m afraid…”
Afraid? Again, Leo can’t imagine why.
They’re pulling onto their street. It’s lined with mature trees, and there are well-kept sidewalks. Jay calls their home the “compound” because it has gated access and a security system to rival the city’s banks. In fact, Gideon used his “connections” and two years ago, a battalion of strange men in black had shown up with two nondescript white vans and a hundred-thousand-dollar system which they’d installed under his watchful eyes.
As soon as Leo puts the Lexus in park, Grayson is out of the car and past the security system. Leo follows, just in time to hear a door slam upstairs. There are nine bedrooms officially, so they each have their own space, and Leo doesn’t want to leave before trying one more time to change Grayson’s mind.
Taking off his loafers, he gets to the top of the stairs and sees that Grayson’s door is wide open. “Gray?” When he pops his head in, he can see the room is empty. Where the fuck did he go? It’s not like he’d go into another mate’s space without an express invitation, except maybe Luca’s, who loves an open-door policy even when Gideon is in there, too.
He hears music and the only door that’s shut is the “rut room.” Jay had it built with the house because it seemed like a good idea if, for any reason, one of them didn’t want to “rut” in the nest with the others. It’s equipped in much the same way as their nest room, with supplies and a designated restroom, but this comes with one thing the nest room does not: a zero-tolerance, Do Not Disturb policy. If any of the pack has chosen to be in the room, they are not to be approached. Period. On the flip side, the occupant must check in every two hours day or night, or Jay will intervene.
Well, that’s a surefire sign Grayson does not want to be convinced to change his mind. Dammit.
Leo changes into a t-shirt and cargo pants and sees a text from Gideon, but doesn’t stop to text back. The others are probably busy with Nix, and he doesn’t want to interrupt. What would he say that wouldn’t ramp everyone up, anyway? He’ll just grab lunch and be there in forty-five minutes. When he’s in the Lexus, he checks his phone one more time, just in case Gray has changed his mind.
He hasn’t.
**
The burgers are making his mouth water and he’s so hungry he could gnaw a limb off. He’d ignored Gideon’s text to bring a vast selection of food offerings, because who has time for that when his mate is waiting? He hopes Nix likes burgers and fries, but just in case, he’d also ordered some side orders of veggies. Of course, if it’s not right, he’ll just go out and get whatever their omega wants. Leo grins like a lovesick fool to himself, and the other person in the elevator gives him a side-eye.
The floor is quiet when he gets there, all the doors closed and no one manning the nurses’ station. It’s like a ghost town. Then he spots Rowan, hair wild and sweaty, standing still outside the door, completely alone. The scent of vanilla wafts toward him and his mouth waters; differently than it does for the burgers cooling in the box he’s carrying. Holy shit. That’s the stuff right there.
He approaches slowly so as not to startle the zoned-out Rowan. “You okay there, Ro?”
The alpha is on him in seconds, taking the box and unceremoniously dropping it to the floor. He’s got Leo’s scent blocker patch off and the beta is pushed hard up against the wall, a hand in his hair to pull his head to the side so Rowan can get at his neck. He looks like he’d gone a round with Gideon in “Alpha Instructor” mode, which always leaves Rowan looking wired.
He gets his answer when Rowan starts his rambling but stops, checking the corridor for their missing mate.
“He…thought he should go home.” Leo does not know how to explain what’s going on with Grayson and he’s not sure he would tell even if he did. Grayson is so private, and they have always respected his choices to sometimes keep aspects of himself to himself.
He decides he’ll answer his mate the best he can. “I honestly don’t know, Ro. We got halfway here and he panicked. Said he couldn’t do this right now. I’m not even sure what ‘this’ is, for fuck’s sake. We got home, and he was inside before I could even get the car door open. I left him holed up in the rut room.” It hurts him that he can’t help his mate, that he’ll miss this milestone in their pack, and especially, that he doesn’t have answers.
Rowan pulls his phone out and Leo can see he’s texting him. He can pretend that he didn’t know about the rut room, unlike Leo.
He doesn’t share the conversation except to say, “He’s not okay, I think.” Rowan sighs and Leo feels his sweat-damp hair against his cheek. He turns to smell his mate, taking comfort in the almost imperceptible scent of spiced rum.
He’s a little embarrassed when his stomach growls.
“Really? We’re having a moment here.”
“Hunger waits for no man,” Leo defends, and the door to Nix’s room opens and Gideon is standing there, assessing the two of them seated on the floor.
Rowan pulls Leo up, sticks his patch back on, and picks up the box. As the three of them stand in the doorway, Gideon speaks quietly. “Nix is ready to meet you. Where’s Gray?”
“He’s not feeling himself, so he’s at home. I texted him and he said he’ll see us later.” Leo can see the minute Gideon decides that’s a problem for later-Gideon.
“Then let’s go. No sudden moves and go quietly. Burgers, Leo? I said a selection .” Leo ignores Gideon’s disregard for the greatest food ever, leaving it unsaid that Gideon wouldn’t be happy anyway because his pack is once again eating food he didn’t cook, and follows Gideon into the room.
Rowan stops so abruptly that they almost collide, much to Luca’s amusement.
Seated in the center of the couch, Nix is a vision. Leo is afraid to blink lest he disappear. His golden hair sits in a fluffy halo around his small face and falls almost to his narrow shoulders; he’s got large, silver-gray eyes and a tiny nose covered in freckles. His jaw is sharp and his neck is long and slender. His bare shoulder is peaking out of the neckline of Finnie’s favorite sweater and his lap is covered by Rowan’s chick blanket.
“That idiot is Rowan Foster,” Gideon deadpans.
Nix is so beautiful, and he’s turned him and Rowan into drooling idiots. In seconds, Rowan is stepping over the coffee table instead of going around and he’s on his knees in front of their mate in what looks like supplication.
Jay almost reaches for his phone camera, like he always does when he’s happy or proud. He told Leo once that he likes to have tangible memories. In the end, he decides against it and reaches for Leo’s hand instead.
After that Leo loses track of the conversation, he’s forgotten about his hungry belly. Seeing their omega smile and giggle has turned his brain to mush. It’s not even just Nix’s scent that has him so dazzled, it’s also the light that shines from every pore. Not literally, of course; but every person in the room is basking in the glow of how sweet and gentle and kind he is.
“Sure is, baby. I want you to meet Leo, too.” Jay grabs his shoulders, and Leo has a millisecond to tune back into the conversation. Just in time to see Rowan help Nix to his feet.
The white sweater falls off his thin shoulder even farther and most of his lean legs are bare. They look so soft that Leo has to force his eyes up to meet his new mate’s gaze. He’d not expected their omega to actually approach him, as he’s been told more than once that he comes off as intimidating. Leo is the first person to admit he fosters the opinions a little bit around strangers because he’s not an alpha; he still needs to garner respect in their industry, and sometimes in the world at large.
So, when Nix is almost in front of him, he freezes so as not to startle him. Jay squeezes his shoulder and steps back a bit. His jaw drops and he hopes he doesn’t look half as dopey as Rowan had not five minutes ago.
“Hi.” Nix’s voice is so deep, and it sends that familiar zing down Leo’s spine. Up close, he’s smiling, and his eyes are sparkling. Together with the hands on his cheeks, it makes Leo’s breath catch and his face flush.
“Hi, Nixie,” he whispers and he’s smiling so wide his cheeks hurt.
“Handsome! Right, Jamie? Handsome Leo!” And Leo has died, and this is heaven. To hear that this divine creature thinks he is handsome is more than he could have expected. Oh, he knows his mates find him attractive and they tell him, but he’s fully aware that he’s not everyone’s ideal. He’s a bit on the shorter side at 5’9, but he likes to think he makes up for it with sheer muscle mass and charisma.
“Yes, baby, so handsome.” Jay smiles at him.
Then he presses his nose to Leo’s cheek, and he can feel their omega breathe him in. It tickles, so he chuckles. Then Nix’s tiny hands are around his arm, massaging the muscle there. He vows he will make working out a priority, more so than he always does, if it means he’ll feel those soft hands on his muscles. With a last squeeze and a tiny sigh, Nix makes his way back to the couch and the modesty of the blanket.
He’s not sure how much time passes after that, but soon Jay is handing him the hamburger he’d been thinking about the entire drive over to the hospital. Except now, he’s only picking at his food as he watches Rowan feed their omega french fries and Finn holds up a juice box for him.
Nix giggles and finally takes the box from him. “I can do it, Finnie. Thank you.” He eats about a quarter of the burger and finishes the juice. Gideon clears his plate away with a frown.
“Don’t you like burgers?” Leo’s heart clenches, not like burgers? The horror!
“I did when I was a kid. Right, Jamie? We ate burgers at the beach.” His eyes are hazy, and Leo checks in with Jay, who’s frowning a bit.
“That’s right, Nixie. These are good, too.”
Nix shakes his head. “Mmhmm, I’m just not used to too much food. But you should eat mine too. Rowan. Would you like the rest of my burger?”
Rowan had fed most of his fries to their omega, but he declines politely, and he couldn’t hide his grimace at the reminder that Nix had lived in a state of starvation.
“Is there something else we can get you, Nix?” Finn has put his half-finished plate on the table and Gideon collects his plate, then works to clear up the food trash and the recycling. Leo knows that if Gideon weren’t wearing his scent blocker, the smell of a destructive thunderstorm would roll through the room in anger.
“No, thank you.” Nix smiles sweetly, then his face looks uncertain. “Can we go home with Jamie now? See Gray?”
“Can we? I want to show Nixie the nes–house.” Luca is wiggling in his seat, and he looks like he’s changed out of the skirt-and-sweater combo he’d worn this morning, and traded it for a pair of Leo’s pink sweatpants and Gideon’s purple hoodie with Quest’s logo on the front. He and Nix have hands clasped under their chins now and they look like mischievous twins, with their big pleading eyes and sweet smiles.
Leo thinks they might be in trouble. Luca’s beta chocolate-mocha scent is combined with Nix’s sugary vanilla and Leo’s not the only one wiping a bit of drool off the corner of his mouth.
Together, they’re good enough to eat.
“If you want to. Our home isn’t far from here. Let’s get this cleaned up and I’ll find out what we need to do to go home.” Jay heads out to find a discharge nurse and Gideon directs the rest of them to clean up the laundry, blankets, and things from the restroom. Leo is surprised when he points him toward the couch to keep their mate company.
Plopping down beside Nix, he’s rewarded with a smile.
“What?” Nix asks sweetly, at his intent look.
Leo tilts his head, a mannerism he no doubt picked up from Gideon. “I am amazed at how well you are handling all of this.” He twirls a finger around, referencing the chaos that is Rowan chasing Luca with a dirty sock and Gideon and Finn arguing quietly about something while they stuff the blankets into the bag Luca brought.
Nix just smiles wider. “I love it already…but it’s weird, right? When I—” He stalls for a minute and gives his head a tiny shake. “I know something bad has happened to me. I think Jamie thinks I don’t know that much. But I do. I can’t remember it, so it must be bad . But Jamie is here and even though it’s been so long, it feels like the same. You all feel like home. I feel as safe as I’ve ever felt. That can’t be wrong, right?”
“No, it’s good. You’re right, Jay is the best of men.” Hearing that their omega feels safe cracks open a place inside him that he didn’t know was there. Leo usually leaves overt expressions of protection and possessive protectiveness to his alphas—Goddess knows someone has to keep a level head—but Nix’s words make him want to beat his chest and howl with victory. He settles for rubbing a hand over it instead. He’s further rewarded when it catches Nix’s attention briefly as he bites his lip.
“The last five years have been bad.” He looks at Finn who’s holding a giggling Luca up so he can blow raspberries on his belly, he smiles and continues, “And this is so far from before. Is it bad if I want to just forget that and be a part of this with Jamie…and with you? With Luca and Gideon and Rowan and Finnie? Maybe even Grayson too, if he likes me?”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that, Nixie.” The words, I think he might already go unsaid. “We’re so lucky to have you, Nix.” Leo wants to tell him they’ve always missed him so terribly, but Nix doesn’t know that Jay had thought him dead all this time.
Nix throws himself at Leo, and he’s suddenly got a lap of mostly naked omega. Nix is crying softly, and it causes the room to come to a complete standstill. The silence is deafening and Rowan is suddenly growling, looking for the threat.
“It’s okay, Ro. Happy tears, right Nixie?” Leo gets his first feel of Nix’s baby-soft hair and he smooths it down over and over, hoping to soothe his mate.
Luca brings him a tissue and dabs away his tears, before he, too, falls into Leo’s lap. Leo carefully shifts their omega over, so he has a bit more room for them both. Luca is worrying the front hem of Nix’s sweater in his fingers, anxious at smelling tears, and Leo nudges them away, offering his own instead. He knows that Nix is naked under there and no one wants to know what an accidentally naked Nix would do to pre-rut Rowan.
Leo enjoys the weight of his mates in his lap and just breathes in that heady mix of contented mocha and vanilla until he feels every muscle in his body go lax.
“Alright, the nurse says we can go when we’re ready and that Riordan will stop by tomorrow to do an exam to reassure himself you’re doing well. Does that work for you, Nix?”
He’s pushing an empty wheelchair, a sheaf of papers in his hand. “Oh, hey. You’re crying?”
Jay abandons the chair to crouch beside Nix, still sharing Leo’s lap with Luca.
“I’m okay, Jamie. Leo was just really nice.” He leans up and kisses his cheek softly. Leo’s cheeks are red again and he can feel that cheek-hurting smile on his face.
“Hey! I want Nixie kisses, too!” Luca is puckering up and Nix is blushing, but leans forward and gives him the biggest smooch on his lips. It smacks loudly in the room and Luca totally hadn’t expected it. His eyes roll back, and he pretends to swoon over Leo’s arm.
Nix is looking at Jay and he whispers, “Was that okay? That I did that?” He smells uncertain, and Leo can’t imagine why.
“That you kissed Luca and Leo?” Their omega nods.
“Of course, baby. Gideon told you, right? I don’t think there’s one person here who would turn down any affection you want to give. But that’s up to you; you should never feel like you have to.” Jay is holding both Nix’s hands in one of his.
“Did you hear that, Luca?” It’s Gideon, and he’s right to be sure their bratty beta isn’t pushing too hard. Leo understands what it means to want to shower their perfect mates with love.
Luca sighs and lets Leo give him a boost out of his lap. “Yes, Gideon. I’m sorry, Nixie.”
Nix reaches out to grab Luca’s hand. “I wanted to, Luca. I liked it. I like you. ”
Leo has to hold Nix up as Luca throws himself onto Nix and his heart bursts with joy to see them giggle. Luca lays a tiny kiss on their mate’s freckled nose and throws himself at Gideon next. “He likes me!”
Gideon grabs Luca under his thighs and hoists him up, whispering in his ear.
“Should we go home?” Jay stands up and Nix holds his arms up; their pack alpha pulls him up, and Leo follows.
Luca lets out a squawk. “I never thought I’d be the one saying this: but…um…shouldn’t Nixie have pants on?”