Page 11 of Bonds of Fate

Luca snorts, “Say what now?”

“Sorry, what I mean is that we can’t turn humans without breaking the Alliance, and it wouldn’t make any real difference in the end. The source of the fertility decline remains the same.”

“That makes sense. But if mates are chosen by the Goddess, like Gideon said this morning, and you have three enigmas in your pack, shouldn’t you guys be overrun with toddlers in various stages of cuteness?”

Well. That’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it?

The problem seems to occur to Nix only a second after he asks the question.

“Oh, you don’t have any female mates. Unless you are waiting for one or two like you were waiting for me…?”

Finn cannot tell himenoughhow that would not be happening. Every single one of the Rhodes pack is gay. Really,reallygay.

“No girl parts, Nixie. They’re great—boss-babes for the win, etcetera, etcetera, blah blah blah. But not in my nest.”

Rowan nods vehemently. “So, so gay. We all are.”

Clearing his throat and trying not to join in on Rowan’s enthusiastic head bobbing, Finn says, “How about a bit of biology?”

“Oooh, this is the good part,” Luca says, rubbing his hands together.

“There are no pictures, Luc. Calm down.” Rowan pokes him in the side. “Right?”

Luca’s face falls dramatically. “Boo, hiss. I’m leaving a bad teacher evaluation, Dr. Merritt.”

Nix giggles, and Luca springs to his feet, grinning as he moves to tickle him.

“No, no, no tickling! Luc! Nooooooooo.”

Nix’s laughter rings out, his joy radiant, and Finn is captivated. His omega is breathtaking in his happiness—and maybe that’s why Finn misses the signs.

He’s a second too late.

Nix jumps up and makes a break for it—lightning-fast, intent on escaping Luca’s devilish fingers—all the while letting out a high-pitched, joyous wail. Rowan’s eyes flash red, and he’s off the couch in an instant. Taking Nix to the ground, he pins their omega’s hands above his head and holds his hips down with his pelvis.

Rowan’s pre-rut gives way to a full-blown rut with barely a pause in between, the shift as sudden as it is intense. The scent of spiced rum explodes in the large space, pumping out in thick, heady waves as Rowan tries to lure their omega.

Nix’s eyes flash blue, and his fangs drop as he flings Rowan off, laughing, before making a break for the back hallway—all the while trailing a lush, sex-vanilla scent in his wake.

Rowan shakes off his surprise and sprints after Nix with a growl.

Finn isn’t as fast as Rowan or Nix, but he manages to reach the hallway just in time to see Nix power straight through the heavy fire door, fall flat on his belly, and then present himself on his hands and knees in front of the entire room—laughing maniacally the whole time.

Jay will later say that it was the exploding door—and the sight of their omega laid out, ass-up—that allowed Gideon to knock him out cold.

Chapter Four: Rowan

Rowan

Sitting around listening to Finn tell their species’ boring origin story has, for some reason, caused the tension in the room to rub his wolf the wrong way. He knows there are things Finn is dancing around, whereas Rowan has always preferred a bit more of a direct approach. That he finds Finn’s prevarication provoking might be because Gideon has been his primary alpha-socializing agent since he presented just shy of two years ago.

Sort of analpha-see-alpha-dothing.

If he’s honest with himself, Rowan spent most of his teen years horny and annoyed, and sometimes he feels like not much has changed. Unpresented alphas are only slightly less horny, slightly less aggressive, and slightly less inclined to want to dominate everything in their path than fully presented ones.

It hadn’t been easy to suppress those urges when his peers were presenting on track and on time, all through his last year of high school. While they’d been hooking up with each other or at least dating, no one had wanted to spend any time with too-tall-too-intenseunpresentedRowan Foster.

Instead, he’d spent his time driving his mom crazy with near-constant drumming, channeling all that extra alpha energy into honing his music. He’d had a few close friends who jammed with him or shared tickets to concerts. No one would be surprised to learn that his favorite band was the three-man group Long RoadHome. He’d been captivated, not just by their sheer talent across the board, but by the deep bond the alpha lead singer shared with his two beta packmates at such a young age.

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