Page 76 of Bonds of Fate

And oh, it’s not because he doesn’t want it—no, the intensity of that glittering gaze says quite the opposite. It’s written in the way his fingers twitch at his sides, in the way his breath comes just a little too fast. He is waiting.

It’s a gaze that makes Nix want to strip down andshift, as if he could, into a wolf, and follow Gideon’s alpha wolf into the woods beyond the property under the Goddess’s watchful eye. It’s as if they have done that same thing over and over, year after year, century after century.

It is truly the real definition of forever—an infinity of incarnations of their spirits. Nix sees the same recognition in Gideon’s gaze that this will be a merging of those spirits, as the Goddess has intended from the very first: two wolves in human form, exemplifying all the gifts They offer. It’s love and family, and above all, a strong connection to Them that has existed across time.

So Nix walks into the shadows but waits for Gideon to come to him. Nix knows the Goddess has made sure their wolves would recognize each other as kindred spirits that are truly unchanged from the beginning—Alpha and Omega, in their purest form.

He doesn’t have to wait long, not for his Gideon.

Throwing off the sweater and the ruined nightgown, he moves naked into the beam of moonlight coming through the tall windows, grateful for the Goddess in full-moon form so he can see Gideon remove his tank top and his sweats. Nix can’t spare a thought for how strange it must be for the others, but this is theonly waythey can do this.

The moon is hot on his skin (isn’t that weird too?), and when he closes his eyes, they’re not at home; they’re under the moon, beside the waterfall from when he was lost as a child. Gideon’s arms are around him, and he’s the one holdingNixup this time. Gideon tilts his head and Nix finds he needs to say nothing because Gideon knows already, like he always does.

Nix’s fangs find the spot on his neck in the exact location where he placed Luca’s bite—matching bites for his mates’ matching souls. Together, they are AlphaBetaOmega. Their wolves howl to the moon in joy as Nix digs his fangs in deep, he can hear them both echoing through the moonlit glade.

With the taste of Gideon still on his tongue, he drags them to the floor of their home, barely holding onto enough awareness to whisper, “Love you, Gideon,” before he’s out like the proverbial light.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he’s in Jamie’s arms, warm water cascading over them in the shower. He remembers—he’d asked to sleep in Jamie’s bed, to finally, finally do what he’s been waiting ten years for—to belong to Jamie Rhodes.

The last thing he remembers is being tucked in beside his true love, wrapped in a pine-scented bed, bathed in the scent of love, feeling seven distinct energies pulsing in his chest.

He’s almost there.

Soon, he tells his wolf.Soon, Dawson won’t be able to take them from us.

Soon.

Chapter Seventeen: Jamie

Jamie

Jamie is no stranger to waking up under, over, or beside someone he loves.

He’s been so lucky and blessed to know love in the past nine years that during the past week, he’s had a few minutes of panic about maybe having taken more than his share. More than he deserves. More than anyone couldeverdeserve.

It’s usually followed by wondering what he might have done to earn it because, as far as Jamie is concerned, he lives no more an exemplary life than anyone else. But Gideon is always sure there’s a bigger picture, and for someone so mired in the details, his mate has always had an eye on the big picture. It goes hand-in-hand with the idea that Gideon really trusts no one except their pack but still puts his unwavering faith in the Goddess.

Yeah, that’s the dichotomy that is his love, Gideon Carnell.

Jamie is certainly faced with the result of Gideon’s faith this early Monday morning, the sun streaming in through the curtains he’d forgotten to close.

His first love—beloved—is lying on his tummy, hand tucked under his perfect chin. A smooth, pale thigh is bent slightly, and the navy sheets are pulled down over the curve of his tiny, bouncy butt. He’s fast asleep, smelling like the best vanilla dessert Jamie can imagine.

His presence in Jamie’s bed is surely a sign of a higher power, if ever there was one.

A sudden burn of unshed tears pricks behind his eyes as he thinks about how much his life has changed in the past week compared to a month ago. Where there had been a perpetual ache of loss—one that easily turned to agony if he allowed himself memories, fantasies, or even lost dreams—there is now hope, pleasure, and so much joy.

Someone once told him that hope is a double-edged sword, poised on the edge of success and ruin, leaving you to pray it will tip one way and not the other. Finding Nix has been such an exercise inhope.

They had almost lost him, and when he had survived the transition, they have perpetually stood on the brink of some disaster, some revelation, and it’s been fucking exhausting.

Even last night, when Nix claimed the last of them, it had stretched Jamie’s emotions—and his desire—to the limits. Jamie is too practical not to acknowledge all the ways last night could have gone wrong, but here in the quiet of his personal space, Jamie thinks that he can turn the tide toward love and success for his pack—for his Nix.

Finally, Jamie can find a moment to keep his promise and do what he has wanted to do since the moment he met Phoenix Rena at that beach house a decade ago.

He can claim him for himself and his pack, and maybe then Jamie’s enigma can settle.

From the first moment when his love was unconscious in the ICU—until this very minute—his enigma has been obsessed with the fear that someone will take Nix from them.

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