Page 26 of Tides of Fate (Fated in the Stars #3)

Leo brings his considerable influence—and money—to bear, and the private aircraft company agrees to a late afternoon departure. Both pilots are familiar, which puts Luca and Gideon at ease. They’ve declined a cabin crew, as Rowan refuses to tolerate any outsiders near Nix, and avoiding any aggressive posturing at 30,000 feet seems like a helluva fine idea—especially since Grayson finds even Rowan’s blinking the epitome of aggravating.

The old tarmac is cracked with time, and nature has begun to creep in around its edges. It’s no surprise the pack is glad to put boots on solid ground again just as the sun begins its descent into the tree line. But more than anything, it’s Gideon and Nix who seem to relax further when they set foot on mountain soil.

“Feels like coming home,” Gideon says, stretching his arms overhead and working out the kinks.

“I was thinking the same thing. I’ve only been here once—with my parents and my grandmother—but it’s sunk into my bones, maybe? Might be the magic.”

Nix has a tiny, self-effacing smile on his lips.

Gideon’s eyes widen at his words. “Magic?”

Nix laughs and has a brief tug-of-war with Grayson over carrying his bag. He lets the alpha win and turns his attention back to Gideon.

“Yeah. When I was a kid, I used to tell this story about a person in the forest. There was a blue lagoon and a—”

“Waterfall,” Gideon finishes.

It’s Nix’s turn to look dumbfounded. “Yeah…but I made it up, right? I— how did you know?”

Gideon crouches on the tarmac, hand digging at a tiny crack in the asphalt where a sliver of earth has pushed through. There’s a single dried-up weed, but it’s the soil he’s after. He digs and digs until he can wedge a fingertip into the black earth beneath.

Gideon breathes deeper, tension easing from his shoulders.

Jay feels like he’s missing another critical piece of his Gideon puzzle. The rest of them form a loose circle around him and Nix, and Jay is pretty sure they look like some kind of cult performing a mystical ritual.

“I know because I’ve been there, too,” Gideon says, his gaze locked with Nix’s.

It’s like they’re the only ones present, lost in a world with its own language and memories—connected by something tangible, something only they can feel.

“Maybe we can look for it,” Luca says quietly, breaking the tension. “If you miss it so much. We can look when we check out your Mama’s land. Maybe even before we go home.”

Nix jerks suddenly, both hands flying to his midsection.

Jay isn’t exaggerating when he says they all jump to attention, waiting for him to say something momentous—something profound—after what looked like a spiritual communion.

Instead, Nix deadpans, “Can we get food? The bean and I are starving.”

He turns toward the parking lot, heading straight for the white car rather than the black, pulling Luca into the backseat with him. He ignores Grayson and Rowan as they start scuffling—again—this time over who gets to drive. Grayson seems to forget he doesn’t have a license, and the argument escalates fast, an alpha pissing contest in real-time.

Jay loses patience.

“Enough!” he shouts, voice cutting through the cool mountain air. “What the ever-loving fuck is wrong with you two?”

Gideon points toward the white car. Jay nods.

Leo climbs into the passenger seat, and the four of them drive away, dust following in their wake .

“Give us a minute, Finn?”

“No problem. I’ll go warm up the car.”

Finn glances around for Tsuki, who has trotted off into the long grass to do her business. She returns at a run, ears flopping.

“Come on, girl. We do not want any part of this.”

Grayson rubs his abdomen—again. Jay has seen him do it almost every time since yesterday. It’s different from the BBS: less I’m going to puke and more I want to crawl out of my skin.

“Sorry,” Grayson mutters. “ I’ve got no excuse. I’ll do better.”

Rowan huffs rudely but keeps his thoughts to himself, walking away.

“Pretty? Something I should know?” Jay asks, catching Rowan sliding into the car’s driver’s side out of the corner of his eye. For fuck’s sake, Jay can just see them now, taking the hills and curves of winding back roads at 80 mph.

Just…no.

Grayson rubs that spot again and hesitates.

Jay thinks that maybe he’ll share what’s on his mind with Jay for once. But it’s wishful thinking because his mate just shakes his head, long black hair wild around his head, swirling in the wind. He looks wild and regal, and Jay has no trouble imagining him as an ancient warrior from when these mountains were still rife with magic.

“We should go,” Grayson says, heading toward the car, leaving Jay to wonder what the hell is happening with his family.

The only way Jay can convince Rowan to let him drive is by tempting the bigger man out of the driver’s seat with a video call to Nix in the other car. He can’t gaze fondly at their omega if his eyes are on the road.

Once the young alpha is seated quietly in the backseat, watching their omega, Grayson closes his eyes beside him and occasionally nods his head or hums in conversation with himself.

The road to their rental is winding and rough, the late afternoon sun at the perfect angle to fill the car with golden sunshine. It takes more concentration than Jay would like to keep them on the road and not in the ditch .

Beside him, Finn shifts Tsuki’s bony butt around on his lap in the passenger seat and sighs occasionally until he finally just blurts out what ever has put ants in his pants.

“I hope he settles down soon, or the next forty-plus weeks will be a nightmare.”

“Your face is a nightmare,” Rowan grumbles vaguely, like it’s an automated response to an age-old song and dance.

“I know you are, but what am I?” Finn mumbles as he turns up the GPS.

Jay can still hear Rowan cooing or humming at Nix through the phone. The ride won’t be short enough for Jay if Rowan and Nix start sexing each other up in a car full of alphas, who are fresh off a rut or going through emotional and physical turmoil.

But at least Tsuki seems nonplussed.

“Are they going to be okay?” It’s not the more complex question that Jay wants to ask. Not when he what he really wants to know is all the specific whys and hows. But it will do in a pinch.

“Yes. I think Rowan is just doing what…uh… fathers do. You know?” Finn says.

Jay feels his penetrating gaze on the side of his head and a warm hand on his thigh. Tsuki lies down and then puts her head in Jay’s lap. It’s comforting. They both are.

“Are you okay with it? That it’s this way?”

They crest a rise in the road, and the GPS tells them they’ve almost arrived.

You have arrived at your destination.

Have they, though? Is this where they’re headed, or just another stop on the road to only the Goddess-knows-where?

Instead of sharing his momentary existential crisis, he asks, “Why so cagey? It’s not like he doesn’t know— wait . You don’t think he’s figured it out?”

“No.” Finn shakes his head. “No, I do not.”

“Does everyone else know?” Jay’s questioning his own perceptions now. He turns down a long lane toward the ocean and sees a large modern home on the edge of a cliff overlooking a lake.

“Nix does, and the rest for sure. Might be why…” Finn pointedly nods his head in Grayson’s direction.

“I can hear you. And yes, I know Rowan is the father of my soulmate’s baby. No, I am not upset. Now fuck off,” Grayson growls, as annoyed as he’s ever sounded in all the years Jay has known him—making his statement a blatant lie.

Jay stops the car just in time for Rowan to jolt out of his Nix-gazing stupor.

“What did you say?”

But Grayson just gets out and slams the door, jogging into the house. Jay can hear Nix’s surprised laugh through the closed car windows.

Rowan leans forward between the two front seats, looking back and forth between them. “Wait. Wait. Wait. What did he say? Finn?”

Shaking his head, Jay exits the vehicle, letting Tsuki out on his side so she can wander around the front yard and mark her temporary territory. She finally runs into the wooded area just to the south.

He’s happy to leave Finn handling the new-father freakout.

No, he hadn’t answered Finn’s question. Not because he was upset or jealous—but because he wasn’t.

If anyone had asked him at the start of this if he would be jealous that his beloved wasn’t carrying the Pack Alpha’s child first, Jay might have had to lie when he said “no.”

But now? It’s the truth.

He and Nix talked about it a few times—whether in passing or as a joke, but always honestly.

Does he want a child with Nix? Of-fucking-course—it’s the dream. Just thinking about it makes his heart glow inside his chest, and his cock kick in his jeans.

It will happen someday—when they’ve talked about it, planned for it, and when Nix wants it.

When they both do.

Besides, any child Nix has will be a pack-baby, regardless of who donates the genetic material. They will have eight parents who love them, care for them, and protect them from all the scary things.

Scary things like Tsuki dragging something big out of the woods.

If Tsuki wanted to indulge her hunting instincts, Jay would expect the puppy to bring back a squirrel or some other appropriately sized woodland creature. Then Jay would just have to quickly hide the poor thing before Luca caught sight of it.

But this is three times her size.

What the ever-loving fuck?

Jogging over, it’s not hard to see that it’s a body—a big dude in black.

There is a huge, very long sniper rifle trailing behind him as Tsuki drags him by his pant leg onto the driveway and sits, looking pleased with herself. There’s no scent coming from the body, and Jay isn’t sure if that’s because he’s dead or because he’s wearing military-grade blocker patches.

Jay could only hazard a guess about the blockers because Dead Dude’s throat is an enormous gaping hole.

There’s no need to check for a pulse, then.

The front door swings wide open, and Leo and Gideon are beside him in a flash. They must have been watching for them. Finn drags Rowan back toward the house, where the others are stuck in the doorway, staying well out of the potential danger.

Gideon gets there first—smelling like a thunderstorm but looking calm—bumping his arm.

“You do that?”

“Ha, ha. No. She just brought him out.” Jay nods toward the woods, and thank the Goddess she did, too.

That rifle was intended for someone in the house—maybe more than just one person.

Tsuki heads over to Leo, trying to woo him with her proximity instead of the usual tried-and-true offer of shared kibble.

“Good girl,” Leo whispers, roughly patting her head. “You think she did that?”

Gideon calls Tsuki to him. “Open. ”

She huffs but obeys, baring her clean teeth.

“Thank you, girl. Sorry, I doubted you.”

“It’s an animal bite, though, for sure,” Gideon says, crouching down and using a pair of tongs he’s pulled from somewhere to hold the collar of Dead Dude’s coat back. “Part of a neck tattoo.”

He must recognize it because he looks at Jay and gives him a minuscule nod.

Carnell’s organization.

Well, now at least the police can consider this something .

“Let’s call it in. They’ll be pissed Tsuki relocated the remains, but at least we’re already on their radar. Everyone, get back inside—blinds closed and away from windows. I’ll worry about getting us moved.”

“Moved?” Leo says. “But we just got here!”

Jay pats his shoulder before gently pushing him inside.

“Go. Break the news that we’re heading out after the police are done. No phones, no internet. Please, Leo.”

“Yeah, yeah. But that tub was big enough for everyone.” He sighs, his dreams of a post-rut bathtub orgy swirling down the drain.

Jay calls 9-1-1, and the dispatcher says they’ll send someone right out, while Gideon makes call after call, speaking quietly and seriously.

Twenty minutes later, the police and evidence unit eventually crawl up the drive.

“Fuck, I’m going to make dinner,” he nods toward the house clacking his tongs in goodbye.

Jay understands his desire to avoid muddying the waters with his affiliation to Carnell.

Only Leo and Jay remain outside in the cold, standing well away from both the house and the spot where Tsuki dragged the body. The puppy continues to sniff the perimeter as a navy sedan and a forensics van pull up and block the drive.

The older detective speaks briefly with a forensic specialist before making his way toward the woods alone. The other detective approaches them, pulling her phone from her jacket pocket to take notes .

“Mr. Rhodes, I’m Detective Bender. You told the 9-1-1 operator that your dog dragged the victim out of those woods?”

She sounds skeptical, understandably so. The dead guy is an easy 200 pounds, and the DSR-1 another six or seven. Tsuki is a generous forty at most.

She’s obviously just a three-month-old puppy—so happy to see the newcomers that she spends five minutes chasing her tail as if to prove how sweet and friendly she is.

Something she had never done—not once in the ten days she’d been with the pack.

Bender narrows her eyes and glances at Tsuki again, her lips twitching like she’s holding back a snort.

Jay can’t blame her for her skepticism, but it’s the truth. “Yes. She’s stronger than she looks.”

Tsuki suddenly stops just out of the detective’s eye-line and tilts her head.

Detective Bender also tilts her head in precisely the same way.

“Hmm. Mr. Rhodes, you say you just arrived? I’m wondering why a sniper was waiting for you outside your vacation home—and why you think I’m going to believe your forty-pound dog dragged this guy three hundred yards?”

Her partner emerges from the woods, an evidence bag in one hand and his phone pressed to his ear with the other. He pauses, glances at Jay, then speed-walks toward them as he hangs up.

Jay isn’t a novice when it comes to managing uncomfortable questions—he’s spent his entire adult life dodging prying interviews about his mates, his music, his past.

And that’s just from his mother.

Detective Bender has nothing on Miranda Rhodes.

“Mr. Rhodes, are you certain you weren’t in the woods with your dog? Perhaps you came across the man with the rifle?”

“And what, Detective? I avoided being shot and then tore his throat out?” Jay deadpans. Then, just as effortlessly, he flashes his best rockstar smile—dimple popping, teeth dull, white, and unmistakably human .

She’s not wrong, though, because if Jay had come across the guy with the rifle, he would have torn his throat out—but that’s neither here nor there right now.

This guy was already dead.

“Well, maybe you disposed of evidence before you called.”

Leo snorts, crossing his magnificent arms, and nods toward the older detective approaching.

The forensic investigator intercepts, whispering to Detective Bender. She doesn’t intend for Jay to hear—but he does.

And that’s when he learns that the exact time this man died was the moment his family’s future shifted.

The moment he learned they’d welcome a new pack member next summer.

In Nashville. This morning.

If Jay were a lesser man, he might have laughed at Bender’s expression of disappointment. Instead, he just raises an eyebrow.

The senior detective coughs. “Bender. We’re done. Thank you for calling this in, Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Costas. Next time, though, maybe keep your dog out of the woods. There are bigger things than little Tsuki out there.”

He pats Tsuki on the head and receives a friendly lick on his hand in return.

The evidence bag is in his other hand, and when he catches Leo trying to get a better look, he shoves it inside his coat pocket.

“We’ll get out of your hair.”

“But, Ayre—” Bender sputters. “We haven’t questioned the rest of his pack!”

“Let’s go. Forensics is done. These nice people have bigger things to do than entertain inane lines of questioning.”

Detective Ayre heads for the car, raising a hand in a lazy goodbye before slamming his door shut and starting the engine. He follows it up with a honk on the horn to get Bender moving.

Leo coughs to hide his laugh.

Bender grinds her teeth so loudly that Tsuki cocks her head at the high-pitched noise, ears flicking. But instead of arguing, she just narrows her eyes, gives a tight nod, and turns on her heel.

Jay should feel bad—she’s just doing her job, after all.

But as soon as she’s in the car—her door barely shut—Ayre throws it into reverse, kicking up a cloud of dust, and they’re gone before the air even clears.

All he and Leo can do is watch as forensics loads the dead guy into a black bag and then into the van before following suit. The whole thing took less than forty-five minutes from start to finish.

“Wonder who he was on the phone with,” Leo muses as the front door swings open, and their family spills out. “And what was in that bag? And did he call her Tsuki? And what did he mean, bigger things?”

All good fucking questions.

Jay turns just in time to catch his mate. Nix throws himself into Jay’s arms, scenting him in a flood of warm vanilla and dough. “She looked mean, Jamie.”

“She was mad at her boss, baby boy. Can’t blame her. He cut her off at the knees after that phone call. The whole thing was strange.”

Tsuki takes off toward the woods again, retracing the detective’s steps with Rowan close behind.

Leo whistles, and they both return at a run.

Neither offers anything up, but Rowan presses up behind Nix before tilting Jay’s chin and kissing him deep, tongue and all.

“Whoa. What’s that for?” Jay isn’t complaining, no sir-ee.

“Smells weird out here. Wanted to get her scent out of my nose.” Rowan’s enormous hands slide between Jay’s belly and Nix’s.

“Ro,” Jay exhales, half a sigh, half a warning.

He’ll have to curb this possessiveness—or at least talk to Nix about setting boundaries. Their mate is not a bone to be fought over in the yard.

The car trunk slams shut, and Gideon hands the remaining bags to Grayson and Leo.

“I thought we weren’t staying?” Jay asks as Nix slides his legs from around Jay’s waist. Their omega jogs over to help Luca drag his bag across the rocky driveway, and when Rowan moves to follow, Jay catches his arm.

“Hang back, Ro.”

Gideon’s voice is firm. “We’re staying.”

The front door slams behind the others, leaving Jay and Rowan alone in the fading light.

Rowan crosses his arms and spreads his feet like he is physically bracing himself for whatever Jay has to say, and Jay has seen too much of the defensive posture to last a lifetime. It’s argumentative and unnecessarily belligerent. Worse is that it’s not Rowan’s usual state of being.

“Rowan,” Jay sighs.

“Not challenging you. I just wanna be in there, not out here. You know?”

“I know. Do you know why?”

Rowan pulls at his hair, his shoulders sagging. “Fuck. I can’t talk about this right now. My wolf is going crazy.”

Raising an eyebrow, Jay crosses his arms. “Like before?”

Rowan laughs wryly. “I wish. That was at least predictable. Fuck, Nix is all I can think about. I can’t even let him out of my sight for a single second to fucking blink. I don’t mean to, but my wolf can smell that he’s…”

Rowan seems to fold in on himself even further, pressing his eyes with the heels of his palms. Only to open them with tears in them. “I can’t even take care of myself most days. What kind of dad am I going to be?”

That might be the most straightforward question Jay’s been asked all fucking day.

“You’re going to be a great one.” Jay grips Rowan’s shoulder, voice steady. “You are the best of men. Try not to worry so much. This is a pack-baby. It’s not like when you were growing up with just your mom. She helped you be great, too, but you’re not alone like she was.”

It’s not lip service—Jay truly believes Rowan will be an amazing parent. All his mates will. Together, they’ll make sure this child is loved above all else.

“You think so? I mean, you would know.” Rowan steps in, pressing his forehead to Jay’s shoulder.

“What? Me? No. My dad was shit— is shit. My mom, too, for that matter. ”

“No, not your dad. You. ”

Rowan kisses his cheek and turns toward the house, leaving Jay standing in the driveway, heart racing, love and gratitude thick in his chest, burning at the corners of his eyes.

“Even if your dick is smaller!” Rowan shouts over his shoulder, cackling.

Jay barely registers the words before instinct takes over. “Oh, you little—” He bolts after him, reaching the door just as Rowan tries to slam it shut.

Rowan shrieks, diving for cover behind Leo, who’s attempting to put something on the TV. “Save me! Dad’s mad.”

Leo doesn’t even look up, just sighs when Rowan slides his freezing hands under his shirt, up over his abs, and cups his pecs. “Damn it, Rowan.”

Jay shakes his head and heads toward the kitchen—where Gideon has Luca on the counter, tongue down his soulmate’s throat, one hand gripping his dick. He is not—as he promised—finishing dinner.

The pasta water is boiling on the stove, but there’s nothing in the pot. His stomach growls in protest at the delay and Jay debates whether to risk adding the pasta and pissing off the chef or just going hungry and checking on the others.

Yeah, no point dying over spaghetti.

He backs out of the room and finds Grayson and Nix curled up on the couch under a blanket, Tsuki sprawled out in front of the crackling wood fire. They’re deep in a whispered conversation, eyes locked on each other.

They wouldn’t turn him away, but something about the moment feels private—so he detours down the hallway where he finds Finn holed up in the borrowed office, typing furiously on his laptop.

“Hey. No internet, yeah?” Jay leans against the doorway, admiring how his mate’s blue-black hair shines in the glow of the desk lamp, the light glinting off his glasses.

“Gideon disconnected the router and confiscated our phones. He said he’ll check them later, make sure they’re clean.”

“Good. We’re heading out to see the site tomorrow. Erin meeting us there?” Just saying it makes Jay’s chest feel tight.

Finn nods and finally closes the lid. “Yeah. Just her. The courts have closed the arena to non-essential viewers. That means us, Hayes’s people, our attorneys, and all three judges. Plus guards.”

Guards. So, no one can panic and leave the field.

It hits him then. This is really happening.

He’s going to stand by and watch his beloved mate fight for his life against his abuser—to the death.

“Finnie. What am I doing?”

A warm arm curls around his shoulders as Finn guides him to the couch, where they can watch the orange-pink sunset reflecting off the lake through the window. Finn pulls off Jay’s borrowed slippers, helps him lie down, and then stretches out on top of him.

This time, it’s Finn’s shoulders that are broad enough to block out most of the setting sun’s light, and Jay whispers, “It’s going to be okay. Right?”

And it’s Jay who turns his face into his alpha’s neck, opening his legs so Finn can fall into the space between.

It’s not the way things usually go, but it’s not unwelcome.

Maybe someone will look for them soon, but it’s just them for now.

He can’t think beyond this, though, because it’s been a hell of a day, and it will only get harder. So, for now, Jay will enjoy this brief calm before the storm.