Page 85 of Bonds of Fate

Jay suddenly realizes his baby boy doesn’t have his own space. The guilt slams into him. What kind of alpha forgets something like that? He adds it to his ever-growing list of failures he should feel guilty about and promises himself he’ll get on it as soon as the dust settles.

How many times has he said that?

Finn just leads the way into his private sanctum. The alpha rarely hosts anyone in this space, and Luca is blatantly gawking as if he’s not been in here ever. “Mouth closed, Luca. It’s not a zoo.” Jay taps him under his chin.

“It’s so nice and cozy in here.”

It certainly isn’t. It’s pristine and calm—but not exactly cozy.

Finn’s room occupies the space directly next to the second floor of the library; it’s narrower than the other rooms, save Gideon’s.

Where Gideon had made concessions for his fireplace, Finn had done so for the second floor of his library. While his library office holds tools of his trade and of his active mind, this space was designed for tranquility—it suits their calm, private mate.

Grayson places his mate on the neatly made bed, and indeed, there are hospital corners for his Finn. Gideon has taken Leo and Rowan in hand, so they haven’t followed, and when Luca goes to climb up beside their omega, Finn draws the line.

“No! Ugh. Not in your outside clothes, Luca.”

“Sorry, Finn, I forgot.” It takes him 10.8 seconds to pull his sweater and knee-length skirt off and let the tiny panties fall to the floor. “Now?”

With an imperceptible shudder at the thought of Luca—fresh from the mall and the cafe—climbing into his pristine bed, he shakes his head. “No. Let’s clean Nix up, and then you can. Come on.”

Jay feels a bit superfluous, but he can’t bring himself to leave his newly bonded mate, so he finds Finn’s reading chair and plops down with a sigh.

Cursing and quiet laughter are coming from the bathroom, followed by the sound of the tub running. When there’s a scuffle and Luca’s whine, he almost gets up to make sure there aren’t any of those broken bones he was worried about before.

His phone playsBeautiful Dayfor the second time in two days, and he startles, a sinking feeling settling in his gut. Fucking Pavlov again.

“Riordan. How are you?”

“Jay, good. We want to come and see Nix this afternoon.”

Jay tenses. “Dan, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He isn’t even sure what excuse he’s going to give—he isn’t a good liar, and Riordan isn’t good at being stupid.

“I’m not really asking.”

What?

“Dan?” Jay asks, thrown. Riordan is always polite. Always solicitous. In that moment, he forces himself to remember—he’s a damn fine friend. If he’s being pushy, if he’s demanding an audience, it’s completely out of character, and it must be big.

Jay exhales sharply. What the hell hasn’t been out of character this week? That familiar vortex of chaos is swirling around him again, and Jay has never been good at ignoring the obvious.

“Who’s ‘we?’” Jay doesn’t think Nix took to Ewan at all during their last visit, and his mate is still unconscious. It is bad timing. It says something that he truly can’t say it is theworst timing, though.

Riordan knows he has him. “You’ll see when we get there. Sorry, but…” Riordan hesitates but doesn’t clarify despite being regretful. “See you in an hour. Bye, Jay.”

The line goes dead.

Chapter Nineteen: Nix

Nix

Nix wakes up with a dull ache in his abdomen and his back pressed against Grayson’s chest in the warmest bath. It’s a lovely way to wake up, and he feels gratitude that his new life is filled with such soft awakenings instead of…well…the other kind.

He knows it’s Grayson by the steady cadence of his heart against his spine.

Both sides of his throat are sensitive, Rowan’s new bond tingling in his chest. With the connection between them and Jamie now running both ways, he turns inward, giving Rowan’s magenta-colored line a subtle tug.

Jamie’s red bond isn’t hard to find either, but it feels different—steadier, more settled around his heart. Different colors, just as bright.

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