Page 38 of Threads of Fate

There’s nothing more he can say to make any of this better, so he doesn’t; he just holds his mate as they both cry. Nix’s hands are under his shirt in the small of his back and his nose is in his neck. If he didn’t know better, he’d think the boy was Were, considering how tactile he’s always been.

The front door slams and the scent of annoyed wet clay overtakes Nix’s subtle vanilla. “Junior, say goodbye, and let’s go.” Jamie hates that his father being rude to Nix is nothing new.

When his parents are finally inside the car and the doors click shut, the nausea resurfaces, clawing its way up Jamie’s throat. It’s sharper now, paired with a dull, insistent ache in his chest as if his body itself is begging him to stay. Telling him he shouldn’t drive away. But Jamie has never let what he wants to do outweigh what heshoulddo.

He takes a shaky breath, steadying himself. “Okay, baby. I gotta go. But I’ll text you when I get to the new place.” His voice wavers just enough to betray him.

Nix doesn’t respond with words, just tightens his grip, fingers digging into Jamie’s jacket like it’s the only thing keeping him upright. He shakes his head once, a silent plea that doesn’t need words. It rings in Jamie’s ears anyway.Don’t go.

The blare of the car horn cuts through the heavy stillness, and they both flinch, the spell broken for just a moment. Jamie’s jaw tightens as he glances over his shoulder. He decides right then that they will not be rushed, so he shoots his father an uncharacteristically sharp glance over his shoulder.

“You’re going to make him mad, and your flight doesn’t leave until 11:00. It’ll be a long wait.”

“Do I look like I care? Fuck. We’ve got time.” It’s not true, not at all.

“I’m going to miss you, Jamie.” Nix presses his nose into his shoulder and breathes in, goes up on his tip-toes so he can turn his soft mouth against Jamie’s neck, and with a soft kiss, he steps back. “I’m going to go. I—don’t want to watch you walk away. So…uhhh…” His voice breaks as he whispers, “Bye.”

Nix makes a break for his car, his hitching sobs trailing behind him. Jamie can’t let him go so easily despite his earlier misguided attempts to save them both from this torture. “Wait!”

Suddenly he’s chasing after him, he spins him around and pushes him gently up against his mother’s car. “Wait. Please. Nix…” Jamie is afraid that the life of an up-and-coming artist won’t allow for long-distance romance, especially when Nix is so young and—so, so human. But he will be damned if he doesn’t at least kiss him one time, just to get them through the hard parts over the next four years.

Nix’s lips are soft and wet from his tears, and it’s more of a press of their open mouths, but it’s the best kiss he’s ever had. With one last look into his mate’s eyes. He whispers: “Love you, Nix.” He boops him on his tiny nose and shows his best-dimpledsmile as he walks backward toward his father’s car so he can keep his beloved in sight for as long as possible.

He’s got the car door open, and he’s sliding in when he hears Nix shout: “I love you, too.”

His father backs the car out, and he can see Nix trying to smile, raising his hand to wave. Jamie watches until he can’t anymore, the pain in his chest making it hard to breathe.

The rest of the time before his flight is spent listening to his father lecture him on how the life of a famous musician will leave no room in it for a young human boy. His mother takes a more philosophical approach about how it’s unlikely a human boy like Nix is his fated mate, and wouldn’t it be better to have a clean break for both of them?

He’s not sure if their arguments would be any different if he’d told them what he already knew: that Nix really is his mate. He’s known it since the very first glance and every minute since. The distance between Florida and Tennessee will not change that, and neither will anything they have to say to the contrary.

So he pretends to listen and bides his time until his flight, trying to battle the nausea, the ache in his chest, and the urge to cry. Or worse, to give up on his dreams, miss his flight, and go get his mate. He doesn’t, of course. Even though his parents are wrong about a lot of things, they have something right: Nix is young and knows nothing of the Were community. But once he is an adult? Jamie has plans. So. Many. Plans.

All he has to do is wait.

Chapter Eighteen: Gideon

Gideon

The shower is blissfully hot, soothing the muscles in Gideon’s back and arms. The marks Grayson left on his neck throb faintly, and he can’t resist pressing on them with his fingertips, savoring the sharp sting. Reaching for the body wash Leo had brought from home—a familiar scent of green tea and basil—he squeezes it into his palm and works it into a lather, scrubbing away the remnants of the night. Sweat, blood, come, and an almost ridiculous amount of lube swirl down the drain in rivulets. A bath would have been better for his aching thighs and the dull burn deep in his ass, but the rut room wasn’t exactly designed for comfort. It didn’t have a tub, just the utilitarian shower he was now grateful for. At least he’d be clean.

Grayson had refused to let his three mates leave the nest for most of the day and well into the night. During the worst of it, he was almost entirely nonverbal, his usual control subsumed by wave after wave of hormone-driven desire. They eventually had to sedate him by putting something in his water because he’d fucked both Luca and Leo happily unconscious.

Since the rebound showed no signs of slowing, they’d drawn some blood, only to find alarmingly high levels of alpha hormones. After his shower, Gideon was headed back down to the ICU to chat with Jay about the options Grayson’s endocrinologist had suggested: sedation or suppression. Bothcarried risks, especially since they still didn’t know what had triggered the rebound or how long it might last.

Sighing, Gideon dries himself off, and throws on the sweats and a t-shirt that Leo had brought from home. Grabbing his bag, he opens the door as quietly as possible, sneaking out to find Leo sitting gingerly on a pink donut-shaped pillow the nurses had brought hours earlier.

“Not one word,” Leo whispers, pointing a finger at him. “Not a single fucking word. My ass is wrecked.” Besides the sore ass, Leo’s chest, back, and thighs are riddled with bite marks.

Chuckling at Leo’s misery, as he tends to do, Gideon checks on Luca, who is mostly hidden beneath Grayson in the middle of the bed. It’s a mess of come and other fluids that makes Gideon think he might have to send the cleaning staff a muffin basket. Or seven. Trying not to wake the sleeping Grayson, Luca has one hand on his alpha’s bare ass and the other on his phone. Gideon realizes Grayson may be unconscious, but he’s inside the beta and still hard.

“You okay, honey?”

“I’m so, so good. Totally in my happy place.” And he is. Luca is happiest when he’s stuffed full on both ends, being cared for and loved by his mates. “Water, please?”

Leo limps over, water bottle in hand.

“I’m going to go talk with Jay about what the doc had to say. Gray’s going to be pissed when he finds out I’m gone. Finn offered to tag in though, if you needed.” He reaches over so he can run a hand down his gorgeous back, tracing over the Rhodes’ Pack tattoo on his left side. The alpha doesn’t even twitch.

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