Page 32 of Threads of Fate

“Gray?” Luca pushes his ass back in invitation, still mostly asleep. Finn made them promise there would be no fuckingin his workplace, and Gideon backed him up. Only Luca and Rowan had balked a little, the horny exhibitionists that they are, but even they won’t go against Gideon.

At that moment, Grayson knows he has to go home. He isn’t getting any answers here, and the constant temptation is wearing his resolve not to challenge his pack alpha.

Pressing his lips to Luca’s ear and nipping the lobe, he whispers, “Let’s go home for a bit today. What do you think? Gideon might want to go home for supplies and stuff for Jay.”

“Really? Will you fuck me in the nest, Gray? Let’s ask if we can go. We can say goodbye to Nix and make sure he knows we’ll be back.” Unshowered, hair flying everywhere, and completely naked, Luca is a beautiful sight as he scurries to open the discreetly closed door to the corridor.

“Luca Wilde. Where are your pants?” Finn asks, with his eyes still closed.

“Finn, how did you know? You aren’t even looking!” He stomps his bare foot.

“I know you better than you know yourself. Put them on.” He cracks a single eye and holds out Luca’s sweatpants. “Has anyone seen my shirt?” Grayson can tell Finn thinks he might have to chase a naked Luca into the corridor and plans on being prepared, but Luca cuts his losses and sits on Leo’s belly so he can pull his pants on.

Grunting, Leo groans, “Why must you always sit on us? What has the furniture ever done to you?”

Giggling, Luca finishes with his shirt and pulls on his shoes. “Big Guy, if your ass saw as much traffic as mine, you’d prefer laps and tummies, too. She deserves the best,” smacking his hip for emphasis. Even Finn laughs, because:facts.“Can I go ask Gideon now?”

Luca pulls the door open, and the resulting transfer of air floods the room with the most delicious scent. It is Nix in thepurest form. His human scent ramped up to a million. It flows right into Grayson’s wolf brain, triggering everything dark that Grayson hides. His fangs drop, muscles bunching, and in an instant, Grayson is out the door and into Nix’s room, barreling into an excited Luca and knocking him over in the process.

His gaze locks on the biggest threat in the room: Jay. Vision bleeding red, fangs bared, and claws extended, his wolf surges forward in challenge. In that moment, nothing exists but the primal urge to claim what’s his.Mine. Mine. Mine.The word pounds in his head, drowning out everything else.

What he doesn’t expect is for Rowan to tackle him, just as he feels something sharp in his side.

Before he loses consciousness, he sees Nurse Yasmine holding a tranquilizer gun.

“I am hella tired of this alpha bullshit, Mr. Rhodes,” he hears as his vision fades out.

“Yasmine, I cannot blame you one bit.”

Chapter Fifteen: Finn

Finn

Finn could only ever characterize Grayson as regal. The bearing and countenance of fae royalty, but paired with the passion of a Were. Finn has often lain watching his beautiful mate sleep and thought he might be a fae changeling, such is his beauty. But that his beauty transcends the mere physical is the most magical part of him. Finn is not alone in thinking that they are lucky to have such a caring man in their life. Even when his temper is flaring, he’s a more cold shoulder than a fiery argument; an ice prince, rather than a raging beast.

But itisa raging beast that charges half-dressed out of the lounge and into their mate’s sick room, and Finn is almost paralyzed with shock. Leo is quick-thinking, only a second behind Grayson. But by the time Finn arrives in Nix’s room, Yasmine has used the alpha tranquilizer gun that usually sits in a glass case on each floor to knock his normally sweet mate unconscious.

Rowan is nursing a smashed elbow in a bloody shirt that looks like it belongs to Finn, and Luca follows with a lacerated forehead and a (more) sore ass. Leo is using his t-shirt in one hand to apply pressure to the cut and is rubbing the sore butt with the other. Jay is trying to keep Nurse Hannah, who has freshly arrived for her shift, from calling security, and Gideon is checking the unconscious Grayson for injuries.

Nix lies sleeping like a princess and smelling like heaven.

His scent distracts Finn for a moment, and he takes a step toward his new mate but stops short.

Flabbergasted at his own audacity and overstimulated by the cacophony in the room, he yells the only thing he can think of: “What the fuck is going on here?!”

Everyone but Nix and Grayson turns to look.

“That’s what we’d like to know.” This is from Riordan and a stranger standing behind Finn. It makes him suddenly, uncomfortably aware that he is half-naked in front of his boss. “Finn, I leave you all for twelve hours, and you’ve already lost control of things.” It appears Riordan’s sense of humor is unaffected; his joy in teasing Finn is still intact.

Good for him.

Riordan is joking, but he’s certainly not wrong. Time to get things back under control. Gesturing to Grayson, where he lies with his head in Gideon’s lap, “Everyone but Jay out. Hannah, please arrange for my mate to be placed into care. Preferably not on this floor.” Checking with Riordan, who nods, Finn continues, “Ninth floor. Gideon, could you…”

Hannah returns with two orderlies, who carefully position the unconscious Grayson on his side on a gurney, preparing him for the trip up to the alpha ward. Gideon trails behind them, his tired but proud smirk unmistakable. As he passes by, Gideon offers a whispered, appreciative “rawr” for his take-charge attitude, earning an even deeper blush in return. Hannah interrupts the moment by handing him a scrub top, muttering under her breath that it’s hard to take him seriously with his nipples exposed. The quip sparks a flicker of relief—at least everyone’s sense of humor is intact because his own is sorely tested.

With a raised eyebrow, she turns her attention to Finn’s other injured mate. “Luca, let’s get you to the nurse’s station sowe can get someone to look at your head.” Luca pouts at her, angry that he’s going to be excluded from what is sure to be more interesting than getting stitches or a bandaid. It takes both Rowan and Leo to wrangle him, and finally, after getting kicked in the shin, Leo throws him over a naked shoulder and smacks his butt.

“But I haven’t even smelled Nix yet! Put me down! Hey, can I have a tranquilizer gun, too?”

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