Page 44 of Bonds of Fate

“No can do, Buttercup. You said you wouldn’t leave me, and I am sure you have plans to Spiderman that wall if I do, and Goddess knows where you’ll end up, but you are mine. It’s my responsibility and my privilege to care for you and protect you. I’ll just wait here until you want to come down.”

The wolf sees their chance to leave the compound slipping away—they are irate. They should have remembered that no one has more patience than Jamie Rhodes. They’re steadily growling now so that even the birds and other creatures are quiet at the sound. But their alpha mate doesn’t back down.

It’s not long before they hear reinforcements approaching at a run.

Gideon breaks into the small clearing with Luca right behind him. His Luca.

Luca.

The wind steals his mocha scent, and the wolf growls, shaking their head in frustration. Luca looks up, eyes wide—frightened. Of them? Orforthem? Nix doesn’t know—but the thought that they might be scaring their Luca makes the wolf whine.

And yet, despite the fear, Luca is determined.

He shivers, then steps directly beneath the tree, arms lifting like he’s ready to catch Nix if he jumps.

“Luca. Go.”

“Hi, baby. Not going without you. Alphas say you had some scary news.” Jamie smacks a hand over his face, and Nix can see him sayLuca!“No, Jaybird, shush. You asked me out here, let me do it my way. Please.”

Jamie brings both hands up in surrender but still doesn’t let Nix out of his sight.

The wolf takes up growling and flashing their fangs at the reminder.Hayes.

“Baby! Could you come down and be with me? I’m cold, and I’m scared you’re going to fall.”

The wolf snorts. They couldn’t fall. They could jump and still be good, but Luca wouldn’t know that.

“Hayes,” the wolf growls. And every single person in the clearing, including Nix, flinches.

“I know, Nixie. He’s a terrible man, but you can’t ki–er–get to him like this. He’s in jail. You have to wait.” AnotherLuca!“I am doing my damned best here—you want him out of that fucking tree? Please be quiet.”

“Nixie, I am hungry and cold, and you made me a promise before that lawyer came. Do you remember?”

The wolf tries to remind Nix of the rage, flashing images behind their eyes of Dawson Hayes’s blood and pain, but Nix shakes him off. Nix wants his Luca and wants the feelings to go away, back in the box, where they don’t hurt like fire in his belly. He looks at Luca’s face andpushesthe wolf back deeper into his mind.

“Hungry?” His mate needs food, and hedidmake a promise.

One that is about love.

“Yes, I want pizza and cuddles and for you to keep your promise. But I can’t come up—I’m afraid of heights, and I might fall. Can you come down?”

Luca’s upturned face is beautiful, his cheeks flushed red from the crisp autumn breeze.

Nix needs to get down—he needs to warm Luca up.

With the wolf silenced temporarily, Nix realizes for the first time just how far up the tree he’s gone. The wolf has decided to bide its time and offers no help now that it’s not going to get flesh in its teeth. It has dragged the rage into its box but doesn’t let Nix put the lid or the locks back on. The rage slows to a simmer, and it lets him think clearly for the first time since he left the safety of the house.

“Fuck. I hate heights, too. What was I thinking?”

There’s a collective sigh of relief.

“Nix?”

“Jamie, how am I getting down?”

In the end, Jamie climbs up and helps Nix navigate the way down until they get to the final ten feet, where there are only claw marks, not branches. Gideon reaches his arms up, and Nix jumps into them like thePrincess Brideending sequence, and Gideon is Fezzik.

Nix thinks he wants to watch that movie again.

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