Page 102 of Bonds of Fate

Leo resolves to find his sensitive Grayson when he returns and gets his fill then.

Jay finally surrounds them with his arms, and there’s the reassuring weight of his alpha’s hot palm on the small of his back.

They surround Nix, and Leo wishes they could continue to shield him in just this way from all the hardships yet to come, but he knows Nix doesn’t want that.

Instead, they will do what they can to hold him up and help him stand his ground.

Leo only hopes it will be enough.

Chapter Twenty-One: Grayson

Grayson

It burns with betrayal.

His mates think that they canhelpNix instead of protecting him. That they are going to let him–no,encouragehim to meet Dawson Hayes in the courtroom, on the field. It’s a betrayal of the worst kind.

As mates, they hold each other first in all things. Family takes precedence over work and other pack obligations, even their birth packs. Just last year, Finn had his wisdom teeth taken out, and Jay had canceled a cover shoot withRolling Stone Magazineso he could be there with the rest of them.

Mates come first. It’s love and commitment and protection. How isthisany of those things?

Jay’sI will help youflung the last of Grayson’s hope for any reason out the window, and he heard it break into a million smithereens on impact.

Worst of all, is that Nix is determined to do this crazy—unnecessary—thing that hurts the most.

Does he not know Grayson canfeelhis fear?

Feel how it burns like acid, searing away the tranquility he deserves?

His Angel says he has earned this chance to pay for his suffering with blood and violence, but he couldn’t be more wrong.

Nix has earned rest—he’s earned endless pleasure and joy. He hasn’t known anything else but suffering, so how else can he know the perfect serenity of a life of contentment? Of a happy, safe, andordinarylife? Can he not see that there is merit in justletting it beand walking away?

Rage is not an emotion Grayson is familiar with.

Yes, he understands annoyance and frustration—sometimes even anger at the world’s injustices. But never the kind of burning rage he can’t escape.

Yet that’s exactly what sears through his veins as he bolts from the house, slipping through the passcode door at the side of the gate.

He’s lucky he remembered the code instead of ripping the panel out. Gideon would have been less than impressed at dealing with a security breach—not to mention the time it would take to fix.

Right now, he’s the only one who seems to understand that Nix’s chosen course of action is pure insanity. And Grayson needs an ally in that.

Turning north on the residential street, his feet settle into a steady thumping pattern on the pavement. It’s not as fast as the beat of his heart, and it certainly isn’t enough to drown out the pain that is sparking along his unfinished soul bond.

The idea that he should turn around and head back the way he came, barge into whatever ludicrous planning is going on, and cement that bond permanently is incredibly powerful. Powerful enough that he comes to a dead stop on the sidewalk, breathing heavily, pedestrians flowing around him like water.

He can envision the moment: grabbing his mate, forcibly baring his neck, and sinking his teeth in over Jay’s bite, obliterating any chance that anyone could ever take him away could think about harming him again.

It would cover Jay’s bite, and everyone would know Nix was his—his alone to protect and to shield. Grayson’s wolf wants this so badly that it is near impossible for him to not head back home and do it.

The thought is quickly followed by a fiery wave of horror.

Grayson staggers out of the flow of people and up against the brick facade of the storefront—even the humans give him a wide berth without knowing why. His aura must be radiating danger and triggering prey instincts.

His wolf hadn’t been so loud since he had met Jay’s eyes over Nix’s unconscious body.

Grayson had fallen into a sense of complacency since the dulling effects of the suppressants had faded away, and he had thought the wolf was content with Nix’s bite. Not even afterward, with Nix’s teasing, had he been more tempted than he thought he could handle—he’d thought the wolf tamed.

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