Page 28

Gideon realizes suddenly that it is freaking winter, and he has Nix’s bare ass out and it’s snowing now. Large white snowflakes are melting on his hot pink ass.

Fuck.

He’s quick to stand and put Nix over his shoulder like a sack of flour. He pauses, briefly reconsidering the position.

“Is this okay for our babies?”

“Yes, thank you,” he murmurs sweetly, as he slides his cold hands down into the backs of Gideon’s pants. They are so cold on his ass that he barely holds back his high-pitched yelp.

“But also, fuck you.”

It’s so funny that Gideon laughs with the joy of it. It’s the first time really in months that he’s let himself feel this kind of freedom.

He jogs toward the house, letting his hand slide up the inside of Nix’s thigh, and then sucks those fingers into his mouth. Nix’s slick has always been delicious, but now it’s truly ambrosia, as Grayson had once called it. The nectar of the Goddess. Silky, smooth, and sweet like the best candy.

The house is closer than Gideon thinks, and maybe Nix hadn’t been running that fast when he’d set off into the wintry afternoon. The cover is off the pool and there is a mound of wet clothes on the pool deck, already covered in a light layer of snow.

Shit, what happened?

Wet-headed Rowan and Grayson are surrounded by blankets on the couchwith the others, and Gideon can only imagine what had them looking like wet cats and smelling like dead leaves and chlorine.

“Everyone okay?” They’re looking at Jay’s phone, and Luca’s cheeks are pink. But Grayson nods.

Nix wiggles like he might get down and give Gideon another reason to chase him, so he smacks him again and turns toward the left-wing and his bedroom. Gideon will give him a nice shower and maybe warm him up in other ways, too.

“Put me down, Gideon Carnell. Right now. Fuck you. Fuck you, I say! You’re not the boss of me!”

It’s all for the benefit of the others, of course, and he hears Jay chuckle.

Gideon takes the stairs two at a time, and when he pushes open the door his room smells stale. He’d not been spending any time here really, choosing to sleep with the mates he missed like a limb when he was home.

He wastes no time in the room proper, instead heading into the en suite to turn the shower on and dump Nix under the warm spray, fully clothed.

“Ow! That’s hot.”

“It just feels hot because you’re cold. Give it a minute.”

Gideon undresses him and throws their sopping wet, likely ruined clothes into the hamper, before joining him under the spray.

“See?”

“Mmm,” Nix hums, resting his petal-soft cheek on Gideon’s chest while Gideon reaches for the soap.

He washes his mate’s back and butt, then up under his hair and along his shoulders. He slaps his butt gently.

“Let me see your front.”

“Okay,” Nix says drowsily.

The water courses down over the planes of Nix’s narrow chest, and Gideon follows it with soapy hands, slipping in the divot of his belly button and over his rounded tummy.

Going to his knees, Gideon places two soft kisses on the silky, firm shape of their pack babies. He looks too small to be carrying the pack’s future, but he’s undeniably beautiful.

There’s a giggle, and when Gideon looks up, Nix is smiling. “You’re actually sweet, you know?”

No, Gideon did not consider himself sweet.

He shakes his head and lets the water rinse the soap and his “sweet” kisses away. He squeezes Nix’s bum with both hands—and promptly gets a hard cock nudging his chin for the trouble.