Page 35 of Bonds of Fate

“Enough, you menace. We have ground to cover, and then we can sleep.” Jamie ties the robe closed, knotting it twice for good measure.

Finn sighs—a sound that somehow manages to be both disappointment and relief.

Nix drops onto the couch, landing on his butt. Suddenly, sleep sounds so good.

“While we wait for the blood to return to Dr. Merritt’s brain–”

“Like you aren’t hard as a fucking rock, you hypocrite,” Finn mutters.

Rolling his eyes, Gideon starts again. “While we’re waiting on Dr. Merritt, let me start with the books from Dr. Spencer. Gray, Finn, and I have given them a read, and I’ll add them to our pile of resources here when we’re done.” There are two old books with colored tabs sticking out the sides sitting on the coffee table in front of them.

“I’ve told Nix about the rarity of omegas, but I think he’s more interested in the changes to his biology. The slick is not so bad, right, Angel?” Grayson is so enthusiastic it’s sweet—but he’s also not the one making his own fucking lube.

“I’m sure there will be lots of time to appreciate it, but right now, it’s inconvenient and weird. How do people with vaginas do it?”

It hits him like it did when he realized he could smell the Weres in his pack. “Wait. Are you telling me I have avagina?!” The urge to open his legs and bend over his lap to see if he could see one is strong. Would that even work? Can people with vaginas see them? Will his dick be in the way?

“Nix!” It’s too loud, and he flinches, but it brings him back from his spiral. His apparent panic has brought Finn back from his horny daze. “No! No vagina. Of course not.”

“What do you mean ‘of course not?’ I’m a Were. I am probably the only omega in the world. I have a self-lubricating sex organ. Is it a stretch to think I might wonder if I have a vagina? Really?Thisis the thing we’re calling weird?”

Grayson finds his fisted hand and gently pries it open. “Breathe, baby.”

It’s damn fine advice, given he’s feeling a bit light-headed, so he breathes deeply in and out a few times.

Suitably chastened, the doctor grimaces. “Sorry, you’re right. Do you want me to share a bit of the information we have about omega biology? As Grayson mentioned, we don’t have anything really by the way of actual modern science, but the accounts are good, and I do have your scans.”

“Lay it on me.” There’s a nervous anxiety building, but he’s trying to remain open to whatever Finn is about to say.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until tomorrow…er…today? Some things are better handled in the light of day.”

“Finn, please, I’ve waited long enough, don’t you think?” He had. It’s only been two days, but it feels like his body is on a journey, and he has no guidebook to tell him where it’s going. He needs the basics at the very least, and right now is preferable.

“You’re right again. Here’s the layman’s version: when you transitioned to an omega Were, your internal reproductive organs altered in such a way that you now have a functioning uterus, Fallopian tubes, ovaries, cervix, and birth canal—but novagina. ” Huh. He wants to laugh at the irony, but there’s noise in his ears; it’s static-y and buzzing.

“I have a baby factory in me now? Omega males make babies? Holy shit.” He finally gives in and opens the robe, looking down, and sees what he’s always seen. His dick (a bit on the small side), his balls (also small and now hairless, which he hadn’t noticed). He supposes it’s not any weirder than him smelling people or having fangs and claws.

Then, it occurs to him. “Wait, does that mean any ofyoucan put a baby in me?” The idea doesn’t sound that bad, actually, even if he currently doesn’t know the specifics of how it would get out. His wolf is thrilled, and the only self-lubricating ass in the room seems to celebrate the idea with a trickle of sweet vanilla.

Grayson groans loudly. “Jesus. Fuck. Excuse me a minute, Angel. I’ll be right back.” The powder room door slams shut, and the fan kicks on.

“Jamie? Can you? Can you put a baby in me? For real?” His beloved mate’s jaw is clenched so hard it might crack, and the scent of pine is making that floaty place beckon yet again.

“Please stop saying that.” Gideon sounds tense, and Nix’s stomach drops. They don’t want him? They don’t want babies with him? It’s ridiculous because two minutes ago, he didn’t even know he could.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

He must have said it out loud because Finn whimpers and almost doubles over. “Please, you have to stop. We do. All of us really,reallydo, but you’re making it hard for us to not want to do itright the fuck now.”

Oh. He lets his wolf claw back on their panic and feelings of rejection to let himself think about how this news makes him feel. He’s happy—weirdly unphased by the idea. Enthusiastic, even.

“Sorry, uh yeah. Sorry. Can we talk about it later, though? Because of all the things I have heard in the last forty-eight hours, thinking I can have babies with you all is the best yet.” At their collective groan, Nix wants to giggle—not at their misery, but in joy.

They might actuallywanthim for real, and maybe forever.

Nix has always loved children. He’d loved his part-time babysitting jobs and his caregiver job in the nursery with the babies at church when he lived with his mom and dad. Even the little girls in the apartment building, with their hand-drawn pictures. He loved them all.

He remembers when his first-grade teacher was pregnant—how excited he’d been to tell his mom that he wanted a baby in his belly like Ms. Martin. How inconsolable he’d been when she gently explained that he wouldn’t be able to have his own in exactly that way.

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