Page 90 of Threads of Fate

“Whoa. Hey now. Nix, too much scenting can make you scent drunk, and—like booze—it can make you feel hungover. You don’t want a headache, right?”

Blink, blink. “No, I guess not. Wow, though, that’s wild. I’m sorry, Finn. Was I too much?” Finn has his eyes squeezed shut, breathing heavily, and he’s sitting back on his heels. Gideon can see the outline of an impressive erection in his sweats, and his fingers are now digging into his thighs.

With a cough, the alpha rises ungracefully to his feet and nods. “I’m good, Nix, thanks for…uh…that.” He pivots, goes out the glass door, past the curious Rowan and Jay, and walks right into the pool.

Nix jumps up in shock, and Gideon barks out a laugh. “He’s okay. He just needs a minute. What about me next?” He opens his arms and leans back into the arm of the couch so Nix can reach more easily.

“If you’re sure?” Nix handles it much better this time, running his nose up and down Gideon’s neck, sending shivers down his spine. “Oh wow. Rain, thunder, and s’good.” His words are a bit slurred, but he’s still in control.

“Well, I like vanilla and cookies and…stuff. It’ll get a bit easier every time.” His omega’s aroused scent sends Gideon’s libido to a low simmer.

“I know I sometimes smell like burnt cookies when I’m sad. Did I do something to upset Finn? I noticed his fruity scent wasdifferentwhen I was…scenting him. Before he had to wash it off in the pool.”

“What? No, he wasn’t washing it off in thecoldpool, kitten.” He waggles his eyebrows comically and is rewarded with a giggle.

Their omega looks disbelieving. His eyes flick to where Jay is hauling a soaking-wet Finn out of the pool, his hard-on is still visible in his gray sweats, while Rowan rolls around on the pooldeck in laughter. “Will I be able to smell if anyone is upset? Or happy? What about when someone is…?” Nix waggles his eyebrows, too.

Gideon laughs. “Yup, all of that and more probably, with practice.”

Like a cloud over the sun, Nix’s smile fades away. “Not that it matters for me, I guess. I was just curious.”

“What do you mean it won’t matter ‘for you?’” Gideon asks. Nix is working on getting something out and Gideon could not be more surprised when he does.

“Well, it’s mortifying. I just smell like…this, and everyone will know that I’m feelingthat way.” His face is red, and he’s wringing his hands. “I want Jamie; it’salways beenJamie; there’s never been a moment in my life when ithasn’tbeen Jamie. And Grayson smells like the best sex ever, like I want to lick him and bite him all over. What about sweet, handsome Leo withthe armsandthe smile.” He pounds a tiny fist on the couch, and the pink on his cheeks is making his freckles stand out like stars in the sky, but it’s the scent and sound of his agitation that brings the rest of the pack running on silent feet to converge on the outskirts of their conversation.

“Gah! And Luca with his sexy butt, god, and those cheeks…bothsets of cheeks.Do you think about biting them? I do! And Finn, in those glasses, fuck, and did you see those shoulders? Of course, you did. And excuse me, but Rowan needs to stop wearing that tank top. Like yesterday. He’s so…beefy…and that smirk. And you, I’m sure I don’t have to tellyouthat you are hot as fuck. Sobossy.” He runs out of steam, and the last part is whispered. “And I’m…I’m just me. Why would any of you think I’mhotor whatever when y’all are allthat?”

“Nix,” Jay says. He and Rowan are standing in the doorway to the pool with soaking-wet-Finn’s shoulders covered in a towel and Jay’s arm draped over the top of it. Grayson has dragged Leoand Luca into the room with an armload of swim trunks. They all are wearing matching looks of bewilderment.

Nix looks like he’s ready to bolt in embarrassment.

Rowan frowns, spiced rum scent exuding genuine confusion. “You’re kidding, right? You cannot think that we’re not interested in you? That we don’t all imagine you without that infernal sweater?” Rowan’s face is scrunched up as he speaks as if he can’t fathom the thought that Nix truly doesn’t understand how much they all desire him.

“What? No way. That’s crazy.” Nix is looking from face to face, genuinely shocked and disbelieving.

“I’m dead serious. I don’t think there’s one person here who hasn’t jerked off to the scent of you or the look of you this week at least once. Maybe twice.” Leo raises his hand with three fingers up, and Finn covers his face entirely. “Maybe not Grayson, because he had to take hormone suppressants to just get past the thought of you without losing his mind, and Jay has been at it for almost a decade, so maybe he isn’t doing itmore,but he’s definitely doing it. And Gideon, he—”

“Ya! Rowan, that’s enough secrets from you,” Jay says sharply before approaching Nix, who is frozen, just looking from blushing face to blushing face. “What Rowan is trying to say is that we think you are very, very,veryattractive, inside and out. And that we are glad you feel the same. He’s right, though, when he says we are very interested in participating in whatever physical interaction you are willing to uh…participate…in.”

Nix touches Jay’s face. “You’re still attracted to me? Why haven’t you kissed me? I thought you didn’t want me like that anymore. That because of Daw—him,you thought I was…” He stops abruptly and shrugs, like whatever he’s thinking is obvious.

Gideon is on his feet, holding a red-faced, fist-clenched Grayson from putting a hole in their very nice drywall. “He’sokay, Gray. Breathe.” Everyone is in a similar, but slightly more restrained, state of anger and sadness.

Jay grabs their omega and holds him close, tears in his eyes. But not in Nix’s, as if he’s only told the truth and is surprised no one else sees it. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not true.”

“Then why? If you don’t think I’m gross, then why? I’ve been waiting such a long time for you, Jamie. Feels like forever.”

“Baby, I just wanted to let you get settled before we–”

Gideon smiles when Nix leans in and kisses Jay hard, teeth clacking. He snorts when their leader squeaks.

“Fuck that, James. Fuckyou..wait…fuckme,like now?” He’s standing and ready to pull Jay along to somewhere with a bed, even though none of them would mind the view. The couch is leather, after all; plus, they’ve got a cleaning service on retainer with an ironclad NDA.

Grayson groans, the angry scent morphing into the sweet basil of arousal.

“Nix, I think we should wait until the doctor has checked you over, and you’ve at least been out of a coma for a bit, ya?” Jay huffs out a laugh. His ears are red and even though he’s saying the words, it’s clear to everyone but Nix that he wishes it were different.

Gideon lets a much calmer Gray move past him to the couch, where he once again sits shoulder-to-shoulder with his omega. He doesn’t envy his mate’s uncharacteristic roller coaster of emotions from the suppressants.

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