Page 1 of Bonds of Fate

Chapter One: Nix

Nix

The warmth of the pack still clings to Nix like Finn’s sweater as he drifts between sleep and wakefulness. For the first time in years—maybe ever—he is surrounded by safety, wrapped in the unshakable presence of his mates.

Dull morning light fills the room, when Nix turns his head, he’s face-to-face with Grayson. His beauty is staggering, even in sleep, and there is something magnetic about him that pulls at Nix in ways he doesn’t entirely understand.

They’re curled together like brackets on a page, with Rowan spooned up behind Nix, one hand draped over his waist, Rowan’s nose snuffling softly in Nix’s hair.

Luca is tucked up behind the larger man, barely visible—just a hint of fluffy dark hair and the newly familiar scent of sleepy mocha.

After they’d all managed to squeeze into the large hot tub last night, there had been laughter and innuendo and the occasional welcome slippery hand on his back or belly or the inside of his thigh.

It warmed more than just his belly, and Luca had been there to help him navigate it all. Nix found that if he used Luca’s mood as a barometer to set his state of mind, things were much easier. If Luca was safe, then so was Nix.

His mind had rested because of it, and Nix had never felt anything like it. He knows how that sounds, he does. That he’s been given yet one more person fulfilling a need in him, who fits him like a glove, when he’d only ever thought he had had Jamie—it seems too good to be true.

Who could blame him if he’s leary that this might be a psychotic break or that he’s in some sort of Matrix delusion? Well, if it is, he’s happy where he is, thank you very much.

After they’d showered and dressed, Luca had shown him the nest: a giant, ten-foot-diameter bed piled high with blankets in every color and the softest pillows. It was certainly nicer than his closet from before, but even then, a surge of anxiety had hit him at being so out in the open.

He had pushed it down, climbed in, and the entire pack piled in after him, all jostling to put a hand on Nix or at least get close enough to scent him. It was new and wonderful, and being immersed in the closeness and whispers of people who cared about him turned out to be the best way to sleep. His anxiety floated away on the comforting scents of his new family.

Now, though, the thing in his head is so loud. It’s nothing he’s ever heard before, focused on scents and demanding he burrows close under Gray’s chin and maybe stay there all day—maybe forever.

It isn’t just a thought; it’s instinct, raw and overwhelming, bigger than anythinghuman.His skin prickles with the need to touch, to hold, toclaimsomething he doesn’t fully understand yet.

When he’d finally seen Grayson yesterday, the universe had just stopped spinning. Touching him and hearing his heartbeat connected them in a way he’d never felt before—like his body recognized something his mind couldn’t name, an ancient, undeniable truth buried deep in the part of him that was no longer entirely human.

He hadn’t had a lot of experience with love; he’d loved his parents and his sister and even his grandmother in her way. But Nix has only ever loved one other person for real and that hasn’t faded a single iota.

Oh, he’d thought he could love Dawson at first, he’s ashamed to admit that to himself, but it hadn’t taken long for him to realize that it hadn’t been love at all. Only loneliness and loss turned against him.

This is surprising because it feels similar in intensity to the love he feels for Jamie. It’s a love so deep that it feels like it’s embedded in his cells and that thistransitiononly made it more. Like there’s a place inside him and Jamie lives there, except now he’s not alone. Now there’s room for sweet Luca and Gideon, Finn and Rowan, and Leo—and especially Grayson.

That together, they are more than they could ever be separately.

He can tell the nest is mostly empty—everyone but Luca, Rowan, and Grayson is already awake and probably somewhere in the house. His grumbly belly reminds him that last night’s dinner and snack are long gone.

With one last lingering look at his mates, he sits up and climbs out of the nest as quietly as possible. With a last look, he admires the nest room, and Nix thinks he could sleep there for the rest of his days.

He follows his nose into the kitchen and finds Gideon and Finn kissing just inside the wide open fridge door, soft old music playing in the background as if they’d been dancing while making breakfast and had stopped to kiss. It’s romantic, and it’s silly, and that thing in his mind wants to push up between them—not to interrupt, but to soak up some of that warmth for himself.

He’s one step into the kitchen to do just that when both men turn to smile and beckon him close enough to be squeezedbetween them so they can sway to the music together just like he’d wanted.

“Kitten, did you sleep well?” Gideon’s voice is raspy, and there’s a mouth-shaped bruise under his jaw that hadn’t been there last night.

“I did. You?”

Finn’s nose is in his hair and running down behind his ear. The ticklish feeling has goosebumps popping up on his arms and legs. “Mmhmm.”

Gideon chuckles. “Finnie was up late and isn’t up to speed yet. Do you want coffee? Or maybe juice?” He seems to realize they’re still standing inside the open door to the fridge and reaches in to grab the orange juice.

“Tea, maybe? It looks like it might rain.” He shivers in his borrowed t-shirt, wondering where “his” white sweater from yesterday went.

The thunderstorm begins in earnest at that moment, and Finn kisses his cheek before breaking away to turn on the lamps in the living space. Despite its spaciousness, the room feels remarkably cozy, especially when he lights the enormous fireplace. He grabs a blue blanket from the couch, then lifts Nix onto the breakfast bar to tuck it snugly around his legs.

Nix wonders if it reminds Finn of that first night in the ER, the way it does for him—the instant connection zapping into place. His heart beats faster, and he pulls Finn in close, between his knees, just like he’d wanted to back then.

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