Page 84

“Fine. Pinky swear. You can’t break a pinky swear. The babies will know their Finn-Da lied,” Nix says, and crosses his arms.

He’s happy to see Finn shake his head at the new “Dad” moniker.

“No? Not Finn-Da? Fine…leave it with me.”

Gideon has a stack of pancakes waiting by the time Rowan finally gets to the kitchen, walking gingerly, with damp hair and a hickey precisely the size of Grayson’s mouth on his neck.

Grayson blows by them with a wave, barefoot, and goes down into the vegetation in a blink.

The rose-colored bond is calm, and Nix knows that at least his soulmate is content in his reconnaissance.

“Sorry for the delay, Nix. Here.” Rowan offers a bite of pancake.

Nix opens his mouth to accept the offering, then palms the burner phone with the biotech info on it off the counter.

He pages through the pack, and everything is tickety-boo except now, it’s Rowan’s butt that is a bit on the red-light side.

He flashes the phone at Jamie when he comes in fresh from his shower, towing Leo by the hand, who is then towing Luca by the hand.

It looks like a line of toddlers at a daycare who are trying not to be separated.

“Who’s laughing now, Rowan? Huh?”

“Worth it,” Rowan mutters and holds up two fingers to show he came twice in the shower with Grayson.

Nix is envious; maybe Gideon will take him upstairs to shower after breakfast.

He gets to Grayson’s part of the bio-tech, and there is that 103°F, except now it’s rising steadily.

He flips over to the tracking part and stops still.

The bond is flaring, slowly but surely, and he feels a tug under his sternum.

“Oof!” he says and tugs right back.

There’s a tug-of-war for a second until Grayson pulls extra hard, followed by a surge of rainbow light and then…nothing.

“Nix!”

When he opens his eyes, Finn is leaning over him, a cloth pressed to his chin.

He accepts the ice pack Luca brings him.

“Baby, you passed out and hit your face on the way down.”

“Gray,” he says, and holds out the phone.

He can’t see the screen, but he can feel something is wrong with the bond.

“Hurry.”

Jamie hesitates to leave him, but Gideon just bolts out the door.

“Come on, let’s get you to the couch. What the fuck happened? Was it the babies? You haven’t done this since we’ve been here.”

Rowan brings him a glass of orange juice, and Luca hands the phone to Leo.

“Gideon needs help.”