Page 1 of Tides of Fate (Fated in the Stars #3)

Leo wakes up alone in the nest, and he doesn’t like it at all.

Last night, Gideon had dragged him, Finn, and Rowan into bed around 9:00 p.m.—no explanation. Just pushing and shoving, and, in one instance, scruffing Rowan like a kitten before lying on top of him. Rowan had settled surprisingly quickly with the weight of his alpha weighing him down.

He’d returned from the Art House smelling of sadness and frustration, and as usual, he kept the particulars to himself.

Finn had managed to get Riordan on a video call, and—without revealing too much about their situation to his boss—he’d learned that Arlo healed quickly, too. Not in an instant like Nix, but faster than even enigmas.

Nix’s list of “superpowers” was growing longer by the minute, and Finn had told them, in a hesitant voice, when they’d finally settled in the nest, that he was thinking of making omega care his specialty—Omegan Andrology, he called it.

Before, Finn had always maintained that his medical interests were varied, and Riordan had encouraged him to spread his talents across the hospital’s many departments, even going so far as to authorize a rotation schedule that suited their young prodigy.

Finn had once told Leo that he liked all aspects of providing care but had never really found any specialty that gave him that spark—the kind of spark LRH felt on stage or that Grayson felt when he was covered in paint. Finn was happy, but he’d craved a true purpose, and maybe he’d been waiting for Nix to light the fire under his own passion .

It was surprisingly philosophical for their scientifically-minded Finn.

Leo believed everyone deserved to follow their passions, and he couldn’t help but agree with Finn. How many choices in the pack’s life had been made in preparation to welcome their omega? How many more were coming their way?

That line of questioning made Leo feel like he shouldn’t push too far into what life might have been if Hayes had not interfered with his evil. That pendant had hidden Nix when maybe fate—or whatever—had been working to get Nix into their lives all this time.

He wondered where Jay and Nix might have been when they’d met Luca and Leo. How different life might have been for all of them? It was nothing he could change, no matter how much he might have wished things had been different.

There were already too many people in his family harboring enough fear and regrets; they didn’t need any more. That didn’t mean he wasn’t scared for Nix or any of them because this court case—and everything that followed—was going to be hard.

Maybe the hardest thing they’d ever have to do as a pack.

But Leo had never been one to shy away from doing the hard thing. Maybe because his life had been relatively smooth. He’d had wonderful parents, lived a life of luxury, got along with his sister, and loved his job—and usually, it loved him, too.

Leo was an anomaly in this pack. Each of his mates had triumphed over some hardship in their early life—Rowan losing his father, Grayson presenting early, Finn’s parents being absent, and, of course, Jay’s and Gideon’s parents being the scourge of the earth. And, of course, Nix.

Leo knew he was lucky. Or blessed. Or whatever.

He had lived a near-perfect life, and you’d think that would make it hard for him to understand where his mates were coming from most of the time. But Leo had always tried to make it just the opposite. He used his good fortune as a light to shine on those around him, supporting them however they needed, in whatever way they needed.

So, alone in the pack nest, Leo decided he was going to do what his family needed again: be their support where he could and try to focus a bit on his own relationship with their omega today. Although he wasn’t as driven as the alphas, Leo was very interested in cementing his bond with Nix.

He hadn’t asked Finn about how his incomplete bond felt, but to Leo, it felt a bit like a sparking live wire. He imagined it was like when an electrical wire fell from a pole after a lightning strike—bucking and spiraling, searching for a ground. That was his bond with Nix, crackling and untethered in his chest, looking for its anchor in his mate.

It wasn’t painful; Leo’s wolf had never been loud, but this had certainly made him more aware of their man-wolf connection. Leo was happy that Grayson had finally settled his soulmate bond last night.

He knew how hard Grayson had worked at first, respecting Jay’s right to the first bite and then watching Rowan claim him, even if it had been all Nix in the driver’s seat. When Gideon and Luca had added theirs, Grayson had seemed so unsure after so many days of being driven hard by his wolf.

Leo hoped that this connection would mean Grayson no longer felt the need to hide parts of himself—that Nix could be his grounding force, too.

If Gideon and Luca were anything to go by, the soul bond would only strengthen the pack’s foundation.

Just thinking about Luca and the pack brought to mind the shit show from the gym.

Everyone had seen that Nix was, thankfully, alright and that Gideon had been remorseful. It had been an accident.

But it had laid bare the deepest fears Jay had and scraped back the facade of calm acceptance. Frankly, Leo had never, in the almost ten years he’d known and loved Jay, ever seen him so…desperate and miserable. It broke Leo’s heart to see him struggle.

Luca claimed that Jay was being a fucking-jerk-face-alpha-asshole, but Leo wasn’t motivated by the same traumas Luca carried from his own life, growing up with a terrible alpha father. To Leo, it was obvious that Jay’s surface anger was pure terror.

Their Pack Alpha had lived without Nix once, and it had broken off pieces of him, leaving them scattered to the wind .

Leo had been a part of Ripley when rumors of the terrifying Jay Rhodes—who had reduced four rooms in his apartment to dust in his grief—had made the rounds. He hadn’t even had to see it to know he struck fear into every single person, from staff to intern, in the process.

Of course, when Leo had met him for the first time, he had known Jay would be his alpha. And over time, Leo had witnessed the sadness that Jay hid every day. Even though he’d eventually learned to smile, laugh, and make great music, Leo would still catch him in the company’s bathroom, crying or on the rooftop, soaking in the sunshine—his mind far, far away, where Leo couldn’t follow.

That grief had followed Jay until the day Finn called them and begged them to come. When Jay learned it was Nix, Leo saw that same grief roll over his features. He’d watched how the hope that Nix would live, hope that he would survive the transition, hope that he wouldn’t hate them all for making this life-altering decision, slowly wore away at Jay’s inner peace.

It had been worth it, of course—it always would be. No one would ever think Nix wasn’t worth dying for.

But it wasn’t the dying that was hard; it was the living.

Jay isn’t ready to like Nix’s choices, no matter the lip service he’d paid to just that scenario in the previous days. His outburst in the gym was a testament to that. Jay had returned home late, and he and Luca had secluded themselves in Jay’s room—where there was no hiding the yelling, the crying, and then, the making up .

They hadn’t expected them to come to the nest, so Leo had tried to listen and cuddle where he was needed.

But now, the bed is empty, and when Leo finds his phone the group chat is full of his mates’ whereabouts.

7:57 a.m. - from Gideon

At Quest

Back for dinner

Gideon always needed his “home” turf when he and Jay disagreed, and even though there hadn’t been an argument per se, Gideon must be feeling the conflict of Jay’s disapproval—balancing it against the promise he’d made to Nix.

Later, he’d come home with dinner and a determined grip on his position as Jay’s right-hand man, ready to work it out.

Finn said he’d gone to work to see Riordan and talk about his proposal for omega Andrological care. Leo didn’t know how much need there would be, given that Arlo and Nix were the only ones in the U.S. at present, but maybe there were more hiding that they didn’t know about, and surely, there would be more to come.

Besides, if Finn could focus on omega medical care and educate others he might make the lives of people like Nix so much better.

Finally, Rowan said he had mysterious business, and Leo tries not to worry about his cryptic words.

8:30 a.m. - from Rowan

Got shit to do, bishes. Laters

Goddess knows what that means. Leo should probably be worried and can only hope it’s better than the last time—when Rowan met up with his friend Eduardo at a bar in Nashville and got so drunk on whiskey he’d taken the last bus to Clarksville. His mother had called to let them know he had made it “home,” even if it had been the wrong one.

But it’s the last text in his queue that really gives Leo hope.

8:35 a.m. - from Jay

Taking Luca to Ruthie’s

Love you

Jay is seeing Luca’s miracle worker of a therapist, Ruthie, and they are going together . The pack has long held the belief that Ruthie keeps Luca going and, therefore, keeps the entire pack on an even keel.

Her specialty in trauma and the music industry makes her an ideal candidate to help Luca, but she is also a member of the BDSM community. The pack is so grateful to her and if she’s made time to see them on short notice, then Leo is hopeful they can at least get Jay talking about what’s going on in his head.

So, that just leaves the lovebirds in the Art House, and Leo thinks they must really be missing him .

He’s not seen Grayson’s beautiful face at all since he’d tripped over his feet, landed with his ass up and pants around his ankles yesterday. To add insult to injury, Nix hasn’t squeezed Leo’s biceps since yesterday at breakfast.

He must be so sad. Leo should definitely help them.

Leo throws on his pajama pants and a hoodie over his t-shirt, forgoes his shoes, and is out the back door on the path toward the Art House in the blink of an eye.

He has never enjoyed being alone—he is the opposite of an introvert, energized by people and with a constant need for affection. He’s always thought he was fortunate to have been gifted six, now seven, amazing mates—there is always someone to hug, to cuddle, and now, to squeeze his muscles with appreciation.

Leo doesn’t knock on the door because Grayson wouldn’t answer anyway if he were asleep or making Nix feel good for what Leo hopes is at least the third time. He’s had to be dragged out of there for food on more than one occasion.

Leo’s not prepared, though, to find Grayson standing at an easel, angled toward the bed where Nix is scrolling through Grayson’s phone. Leo can see a vague outline of— is that Nix?— on the canvas. His artist mate is so focused that he doesn’t even acknowledge Leo.

Nix does, though. “Leo, come see!”

He’s holding out the phone, and Leo has to skirt an extra large painting on the floor. He does a flying leap and tackles Nix while their omega laughs.

“Look! Gray says I should look at some stuff for the spare— my room. I feel weird about it, but he says everyone likes to be alone sometimes, and if I want to, then I should have a nice room, too.”

His mate is soft and warm and smells like vanilla sugar, with undertones of Grayson’s sweet basil and the subtle scent of incense. He’s thrilled his mate is handling the idea of them buying him things a lot better.

“Show me what you’re thinking. Gray has a talent for interior design on top of everything else he does, but don’t let him talk you into any more beige,” Leo says, just to hear Nix laugh.

Together, they look for a reaction from Grayson—but nothing. Their naked painter is a sight, though, and Leo can’t help but sigh.

“Right?” Nix asks. “How is he so…?”

“Perfect?” Leo replies, eyes still on Grayson’s long, lean thighs and magnificent cock. Rowan’s might be the biggest and Jay’s thickest, but Grayson’s is picture-perfect.

“Yeah, that.”

Grayson turns away to grab a new color of paint—revealing his subsequently perfect peach of an ass, too—and it breaks their concentration.

“Whew. Okay, show me. Where are you looking? Oh, that’s good…we can get whatever you want delivered.”

They spend the next hour adding to cart, and Leo only gets his mate to do it with the promise they can remove whatever is too expensive, or I don’t need three of those right back out. In the end, Leo has the entire cart sent to Nix Rena by express delivery.

Protesting, Nix grabs Grayson’s phone.

“That’s too much. We should cancel this…” Nix has sucked in his scent a bit, and the vacuum it leaves feels weird. He will admit that while it doesn’t make him crazy like the enigmas, it’s just discombobulating instead.

“Nix, stop. I don’t want to upset you or make you feel uncomfortable. We haven’t ordered anything that you don’t need, but I also think it’s nice to have things you want, as well. We missed your birthday, and we always do something big for birthdays.”

“You do?” Nix pinches the edge of the sheet between his fingertips.

“We do. Finn’s is in July, and we flew into Atlanta to see a baseball game and rented a place. It was fun.”

Embarrassing Finn is always more fun than it should be, and Grayson had prepared a pole dance as a treat, giving the birthday boy a lap dance. It was so incredible that Leo is adding it to his Christmas wish list.

If art and architecture didn’t work for Grayson career-wise, dancing sure would.

It’s obvious Nix is battling himself—torn between feeling guilty about the extravagance (which, in Leo’s opinion, it isn’t) and wanting to make him and Grayson happy .

Leo sees the exact moment he chooses the latter.

“Okay. Hey, what did you do for Jamie’s birthday?”

Nothing. They had done nothing except pray and forget the fucking day by accident.

“Well, we were waiting for the biggest gift ever to open his eyes.”

Nix’s eyes pop wide, and a burst of vanilla makes Leo’s mouth water.

“What? Oh . Me. I’m sorry about that. Maybe we should do something now?”

“We can. What do you think we should do?” It’s been a rough time in the Rhodes house, and maybe a little birthday celebration would lighten things up. “Want to think about it, and we can maybe make it a surprise?”

Jay was fun to surprise—Gideon or Finn, not so much.

“Really? Can I help? I love parties. Or, I did.” He frowns. “Just us, though, right?”

“Just us. We can get a cake and decorate and…” Leo waggles his eyebrows.

“Ooh, that sounds fun. Do you think I could bake something? I used to bake this really delicious chocolate cake with my mom. I miss it.”

“Yeah! Just tell me what you need, and I will make sure you have everything.”

Nix squeals and tackles Leo back into the pillows, pressing kisses all over his face. “Thank you! I’m so excited.”

Leo was getting excited, too—and not just for chocolate cake.

He catches a glimmer of pink on the side of his omega’s neck. Leo will never get used to seeing those right-side bites.

“This is pretty.” He runs his fingers over it, and Nix shivers. The bite is sparkling next to Rowan’s. “It’s shimmery.”

Rubbing his fingers over the bite after Leo does, Nix’s eyes go enormous in response. “What? Still? Gray had paint on it last night, but we cleaned it off. Do you think I missed some?”

Leo finds a napkin and a water bottle on the nightstand and uses them to rub gently at the bite. The shimmer doesn’t budge.

“I don’t think it’s coming off. Hey, Gray, this paint you used—it’s not coming off. Yo, Grayson! ”

Grayson finally focuses on Leo with the hazy look he gets when he’s deep into a painting. “Oh, hey. When did you get here?”

“A while ago. Did you put shimmery pink paint on Nix’s bite? It won’t come off.”

“What do you mean, pink-colored paint? We didn’t use pink at all last night, and it’s body-safe paint, anyway. All the paint should have come off in the shower.”

Body-safe paint? Leo needs a closer look at that canvas on the floor.

Grayson approaches the bed and leans in close with a soft smile for Nix, and Nix tilts his head so his mates can see better.

“What the fuck?” The bite is glowing in the morning light. It’s a deep, shimmery rose that stays perfectly within the lines of Grayson’s bond bite.

“Can I see?” Nix asks.

Leo helps Nix up, and Grayson leads them to a gilded mirror on the far side of the room. A bright ray of sunlight illuminates the space in front of the mirror, and it’s easy to see: the bite is glowing.

“Holy fuck, look.” Nix is pointing at Grayson’s groin.

Leo doesn’t know one person with a dick who takes kindly to anyone pointing and saying, Holy fuck, look. But when they do indeed look, Nix’s bond bite on Grayson’s groin is shimmering silver—where it had been well-loved but plain white before.

“That is crazy. Maybe we should have Finn look at them?” Leo can’t believe his eyes. What should be everyday bond bites in various stages of healing are glowing .

They look so pretty— special . It’s hard not to feel left out, but he’s not going to say anything. Not now. He’ll get his bite too, right?

He must smell a bit off because Nix comes to him and takes his cheeks in his palms, just like he had done when they’d first met.

“Handsome Leo, I know our bond will be strong and pretty, too.”

“You think so?” Leo can only smile, kissing his mate softly.

“I do.”

“The bites don’t freak you out? Are you sure you didn’t use that color?” Leo asks, raising an eyebrow and nodding toward the canvas .

Nix follows his gaze. The painting is full of soft pink and stormy gray, streaked with glittering silver—but he shakes his head.

“We didn’t use any of those! You can check the paint pots yourself. Gray would know. Right?”

Leo moves to look at the selection of body paints on the bench for himself, and sure enough, there isn’t any pink or silver. When he looks back at the painting, even he can tell it would be a mess if they’d been rolling around on it, but instead, it looks like a magical depiction of two souls becoming one.

What? Leo can be poetic. He writes lyrics—and damn good ones.

“S’fucking weird.” Leo inhales through his nose. “But it smells really good.”

Nix flushes, shivering.

Grayson has slipped away to stand once more in front of the painting he’d started earlier. Leo can only roll his eyes. Whatever distraction they’d provided with the mystical glowing bites had disappeared, and Grayson was once again hyper-fixated on his newest piece.

“Yeah, it’s weird, but not the weirdest. Know what I mean? I’m trying to keep it in perspective. I mean, I’m a whole new species, right?” Nix grabs a flowy shirt-robe-thingy from the paint table before pulling it over his shoulders. He steps into the sweetest pair of white panties, which also smell divine.

“Does he always do that?”

“What? Just zone in on his art? Yes. Every time. You get used to it. But you don’t have to stay here while he does. Do you want to get some breakfast with me?”

Leo pulls out his phone to see if anyone has texted the group chat since he’d last checked, and… nada . It’ll be just the two of them. Sweet!

“Everyone else has gone to work or has mysterious plans. Come here. Let me tie those for you. It’s cold.”

Leo lays his phone on the paint bench and ties the last of the white robe’s ties before pulling off his hoodie and slipping it on over Nix’s head. It’s so big that it falls to his knees.

Leo pulls the hood up over Nix’s fluffy brown hair and tightens the strings so only his nose is visible.

“Hey!”

Leo laughs and helps him loosen the ties. “Sorry! But you’re so freaking cute. I can’t help it.”

“Come on, you, I’m hungry. Let me tell Grayson I’m going with you.”

Leo watches Nix whisper in Grayson’s ear and kiss his cheek.

“I’m ready.”

“Bye, pretty. Don’t spend all day in here!”

Leo doesn’t expect a reply, and he doesn’t get one.

They’re running through the light fall rain, and by the time they’re standing in the living room, Nix is shivering.

“You should go shower, and I’ll meet you back here in fifteen, okay?”

Leo does the same and dresses in his nicest jeans and a different black t-shirt, throwing his black leather jacket over a kitchen stool. Nix is back in the kitchen in his own blue jeans and a pale, silvery, fuzzy cardigan over a white t-shirt with VERDE in green letters on the front. Nix’s double-sided bond bites are just visible above the neckline, and Grayson’s is still glowing seashell pink.

Nix is so pretty that Leo might expire—or at least write a song about it.

What rhymes with gorgeous?

“Leo?”

Oh shit , he’d been staring.

“Shit. You are stunning. Took my breath away. Give us a kiss.”

Nix throws his arms around his neck and smooches him hard.

“Ready to go?”

Leo puts him back on his feet and grabs the keys to the Lexus.

Nix comes to an abrupt and complete stop.

“Out?”

“Sure. Trust me—you do not want me to make you anything. I broke an egg last week and had to call Jay to come clean it up—slippery sucker. I am useless in the kitchen.”

Nix’s scent goes from sweet to burnt cookies in a second. “I don’t know…I haven’t been out beyond the gate since I came h—home.” He rubs the hem of his sweater between his fingertips, and Leo gets a whiff of thunder and black currant from the garment.

“Well, why don’t we go through a drive-thru and have a car picnic? Then we can come home and watch a movie on Netflix.”

He doesn’t want to push him, but if he can encourage Nix to step out of his comfort zone a bit, then wouldn’t that be good?

“Eat in the car? Without other people—you wouldn’t mind?”

“It would be great, and it’ll be like a date. You and me.”

That’s enough to put a smile on Nix’s face.

Leo understands anxiety—how could he not when he has loved Luca Wilde since he was thirteen? Especially when Nix has more than enough reasons to worry about what’s out there.

“Okay, let’s go before I change my mind.” He slips on his new shoes and takes Leo’s hand.

Nix pauses on the front step but seems to gather himself, and together, they make their way to the garage where Leo’s Lexus sits. Leo opens the passenger side door and bows. “After you, beautiful.”

Nix just blushes harder and rolls his eyes at Leo’s over-the-top flirting, and then they’re pulling out of the gate.

“What do you feel like eating?” Leo turns toward Nashville instead of their little small-town shops. If they’re looking for a drive-thru, they’ll need Nashville’s variety. He’s excited to have Nix all to himself for the first time, and his belly is full of butterflies.

Nix hesitates before finally saying, “McDonald’s? It’s been so long since I’ve had a milkshake and fries. Please? If that’s okay with you?”

Leo feels that same despair he’d felt about those damned yellow towels. “Of-fucking-course you can have McDonald’s.”

Gideon will definitely complain, but if Nix wants McDonald’s every day, Leo will get him McDonald’s every damn day.

In the end, Nix gets his McDonald’s, and he feeds Leo fries dipped in the cold, sweet vanilla milkshake. It’s sweet, just like his mate, and it’s been so long since Leo has felt so giddy.

“Mmmm. So good, Leo. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Leo can only smile and try not to stare at his mate’s mouth, licking creamy white shake off his fries and fingers. Eventually, Leo eats his burger, too, and when he offers his mate a bite, Nix refuses with a smile and a loud slurp on his straw.

What was that song about milkshakes and yards? That’s Nix.

When they’re done, they drive around for an hour, talking about nothing. Leo points out places he wants to take Nix someday and plans for their next album without Ripley, and it’s not long before Leo inadvertently ends up one street over from his parents’ place.

Guess Rowan isn’t the only one who goes back home by accident.

“Shit.” Leo pulls over on the side of the road.

“Are you all right? Is your tummy okay? Finn told me you shouldn’t have so much dairy and—”

“No! Oh my god. How embarrassing. I’m going to kick his ass.” Leo hides his face in his arms on the steering wheel.

Nix only laughs, and Leo has to look because he knows Nix’s face is transformed by the silliest grin. “Okay, if it’s not tummy trouble, then what has you smelling so worked up?”

“This is where I grew up. Just down there. I didn’t come here on purpose. I just—”

“Muscle memory, right?” Leo is so relieved his mate believes him that he isn’t being sneaky.

“Yeah. We can turn around, or we can go in and see my old room and the kittens.” Leo hadn’t planned this, but now he really wants it, and with no one home, it’s the perfect time. “My dad’s in the city at work, and my moms are on a wine tour. We’d—”

“Kittens?”

Leo has him now. “Yeah, my mama says there are two kittens in the pool house. Brand new. My mom isn’t impressed, but she usually isn’t.”

About anything, really.

“You have two moms?” Nix’s voice is wistful.

“I’m pretty lucky. I have a sister, too. ”

“Me too. Or, I did.” Nix breaks off, and he smells sad.

Leo worries that maybe this isn’t a good idea.

“No one’s home? We could just see the cats, and I could see your old room, maybe?”

“We can. Are you sure?” Leo asks.

Nix pulls at a button on his cardigan before giving a decisive nod. “Yeah, let’s do it.”