Page 36 of Bonds of Fate

This is a long-buried, secret dream come true.

His happy-aroused scent must make it worse because Gideon is growling—having bent the book from Dr. Spencer nearly in half horizontally. Jamie is pacing and pulling at his hair, muttering to himself without taking his dazed eyes off Nix for a second.

The door to the powder room opens, and Grayson–clearly having just come–slinks out on hips that are well-oiled by his pleasure. He’s sweaty, and his damp hair is sticking to his neck and face, his lips bitten red, and his sweatpants leaving little to the imagination. He’s gorgeous and so fucking sexy it only adds fuel to the fire.

“Oh,come on!” Finn moans, falling backward on the couch.

Nix can’t help but agree with the sentiment. That low simmer of arousal that always seems present when he’s around his mates is becoming less easy to ignore, but he is determined to getthrough the rest of this before he has that pre-scheduled brain shutdown.

Moving as quickly as he dares, Nix pulls open the door to the pool deck from the original small crack to as far as it will go, and he thinks he sees Finn consider another cold plunge but then decide against it.

“Okay, mates. Deep breaths.”

When Grayson comes up beside him and moves to put his nose in his throat, Nix scoots away. “I don’t think that’s going to help, Gray.” His alpha whines, but Nix pushes him down onto the couch.

Gideon and Jamie have assumed their seats again, with the brisk fall air cleansing it of Nix and Grayson’s arousal. Finn looks relieved, as well. “Finnie, I assume there’s more we need to cover? Then I want to sleep and have five seconds to think about all this.”

Clearing his throat, Finn picks up one of the books. “Right. Okay, is everyone in control again?”

Gideon muttersfor nowand brings Jamie’s wrist to his nose. It’s a sweet gesture, and Nix sends his mates anawwwwwglance, only to receive a huge grin from Jamie and rolled eyes from Gideon.

“Well, aside from…uh…what we were talking about earlier…there’s the matter of heats.” Gideon groans again, and Grayson catches his breath.

“Heats? What is that?” Jamie asks. The other three alphas seem to be knowledgeable, and by their reactions, he’s quickly grasping that this isn’t going to be any easier than the baby discussion.

“Dr. Merritt. Just fucking get it over with. This is killing me.” Gideon has his head in his hands.

“Alright, this isn’t easy, you know. You read the damn books, too. You could be the one doing this. Cut me some slack, please.”

Nix can see how stressed his mate is at having to be the messenger—he hopes it’s not bad. Going to his knees in front of Finn on the couch, he grabs his hand and squeezes. “Whatever it is, it’ll be okay. You’re here with me and the others, too. Just tell me.”

Finn seems to get lost in his eyes for a minute but gives him a small nod. “Of course. Alphas have times in their hormone cycles that occur to create opportunities for peak breeding. It’s called arut.”

Gideon mutters,fuck me.

“Like Rowan? Right now?” Nix has to hold his wolf back from walking down the hall and up the stairs to the nest room and seeing for himself, but he knows there’s more. “Omegas don’t have ruts, though. You saidheatbefore. Omegas have heats.”

“Right. Alphas have biannual ruts, and according to this,” he holds up one of the heavily tabbed books, “Omegas have biannual heats.”

“To maximizebreeding?”Oh. My.

Finn’s response is almost a whisper. “Yes.”

“Knowing I’m going to have one isn’t the same as knowing what it’ll be like, though, is it? Jamie said Rowan isn’t doing well. Is he sick? Will I be sick?”

“For fuck’s sake. Kitten, sit. Rowan has been horny as fuck. All he can think about is fucking for about three days. The books say the same for omegas, but we can’t know for sure what that looks like or how long it lasts.”

“So, I’m going to be horny for maybe three days or longer. More horny than I have been since I woke up? Cuz, wow. That doesn’t sound terrible. It sounds good, though, no? Unless you don’t think anyone will want to help me?” Because enduring that burning need all by himself sounds awful.

Nix keeps his head long enough to check the faces of his alpha to gauge if they suddenly found the idea repulsive. Nope.Jamie’s eyes are red, and Gideon still has his head hanging between his knees as he breathes deeply, Grayson is slowly grinding up into a throw pillow, eyes boring into his, and Finn has checked out, eyes glazed over and panting a little bit.

“Everyone, here on board then? Great. Just need to check in with Leo, Rowan, and Luca. Should I go ask them now?” He stands abruptly, which gets Gideon’s attention.

“No! Oh fuck, no. Now is not a good time to check in with Rowan—maybe tomorrow.”

“Oh. If you’re sure?” Nix would have liked to see them—his wolf is missing them a lot. Especially knowing Rowan might be hurting.

“So, babies, and horny like crazy twice a year. I think that’s doable. Oh, let’s not forget the self-lubricating asshole. For what? Oh—to make it all easier? Makes sense. Anything else for right now? Because this omega is tired.” Nix finds he really is done.

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