Page 75 of Bonds of Fate

He tastes blood and desire—something so hot it melts him from the inside out. Like a supernova igniting in the center of his pelvis, the heat shoots outward, lighting up every nerve, every cell, until he’s burning with it.

Rowan comes with a shout, arching so violently he lifts them both off the couch, and when Nix follows, in his mind, their bodies are glowing.

When Nix feels him settle into thatmate space,he finally withdraws his fangs, resting his head under Rowan’s chin, his ear pressed over his heart. His body hums, tingling with residual electricity.

He should be exhausted, but the power has only invigorated him.

That tingling only intensifies when he feels a soft kiss pressed to the top of his head and hears an even softer “Love you, too.”

Their snarky alpha has tears in his eyes, and before Nix can process it, Luca is there—quick to take his place, pressing soft kisses to Rowan’s damp cheeks and making exaggerated kissy noises.

Nix spots his sweet, bespectacled Dr. Merritt waiting quietly.

His second love, even if he didn’t know it then. “Finnie.”

Finn meets him halfway, his lean frame moving with quiet purpose, and Nix reaches for him without thinking. He leads Finn toward the kitchen on wobbly legs, his breath shallow, his pulse hammering in his ears. The world blurs at the edges, but the only thing that matters is the steady warmth of Finn’s long, healer’s fingers entwined with his own. Strong, calloused hands—capable of both mending and holding him together.

No one stops them.

“Nix. What–” They’re standing in front of the breakfast bar, and right away, Finn knows why they’re there.

Just like that first night when he’d lifted Nix onto the hospital bed, and where they’d had their apologies. This seems to be symbolic of their beginnings, and that’s why it’s the perfect place for this.

Nix had nearly swooned then, and this time, when Finn does the honors again, Nix is no less swoony.

“Like this, Finn, okay? That night, when you helped me. I wanted to belong to you. I did. I can’t remember what I thought after that, but I do remember thinking that if I couldn’t have Jamie, then at least I would know what it was to feel attraction and affection for you. I knew I could love you, and I do. So much already.”

Nix grasps his cheeks and kisses his pointy nose and smooth cheeks before removing his glasses so he can kiss each eye,placing the glasses gently on the counter. Then Nix places the final one on his lips.

“I wanted to kiss you that night, and now, I want to do it every day for the rest of our lives. More, even. Would that be okay? Would you be mine forever?” Unlike the others, Finn hasn’t saved his tears for after, and if he knows anything about his Finnie, it’s that they’re not a common occurrence.

His mate is pulling off his sweater and sliding it over Nix’s head, pushing his arms through in the exact way he did over a week ago, and Nix recognizes that it’s the white one from the hospital.

Come to think of it, Finn has worn it off and on almost every day he’s seen him since, and it makes Nix’s heart clench as his mind swirls with all the ways Finn quietly shows him he loves him; and maybe a few he hasn’t shown him yet.

“Phoenix Rena, I will gladly be yours forever.” He tilts his head, and Nix leans in, nose first, to find the strongest black currant scent. It’s right under his ear on that left side, and his fangs are down again.

He hesitates because it’ll be impossible to hide.

“Yes. There. Please.”

He’s careful to hold on tight around Finn’s narrow waist in case his knees buckle, not wanting gravity and sharp fangs to tear such a sensitive spot.

Nix bites down as carefully and as gently as Finn has loved him from the beginning—slow, deliberate, reverent.

Finn comes in shudders, and bucks into Nix’s open thighs, fingers dug in tight around his waist. Nix hopes the bruises will stay, and when Finn’s legs give out, Nix doesn’t let him fall—won’tever.

He keeps sucking long after his fangs have retreated—just because Finn has moved to hug him tightly. When he finally pulls away, grinning wetly, Jamie is there to catch him.

Nix offers the hem of the sweater halfheartedly, but Finn only shakes his head and helps him down.

Now for the last.

Gideon is the only one who hasn’t followed his mates into the kitchen or even lingered at the edges. He stands alone in the semi-darkness at the end of the living space, just out of reach of the warm lamplight, as if holding himself apart from what’s coming.

But Nix sees him.

He sees the tension in Gideon’s stance, the sharp cut of his silhouette against the dim glow.

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