Page 68 of Tides of Fate

“Hey, I’m the youngest, and I always choose first. You said, Jay—that’s your rule.”

They bicker and squabble about whose team Nix will be on as he takes his first bite of ragu, and even though it would be impossible for Gideon to be anything less than perfect in the kitchen, he did not, in fact,Fuck It Up.

He feels a feather-light hand on his wrist, and Rowan offers him a smileand then wipes a drop of sauce from his lip while Gray tries to engage Leo in a debate about football across the table.

There’s even a soft, furry Tsuki-flank on his toes under the table.

Taking a deep breath, he lets the chaos and love flow over and around him.

Today was hard.

There’s no denying that, and he’d had to think about things he’d rather not, and worse, he’d spoken them out loud. But Jamie and Gray and Luca, they’d heard some of those hard things and still wanted him anyway.

Maybe the others will, too.

Maybe they’ll love him no matter what, and the least Nix can do is give them the opportunity, right?

Because heissafe here. Safe with them, that much he knows for sure.

It occurs to him that when he’d woken up in the hospital, he’d thought he was being added to an already-perfect thing. Luca had said they were happy, but now, they’re more than that.

But these men aren’t perfect. They’re each working through hard things, and while all their pieces might be irregular and sometimes have sharp edges, they all fit together to make a brand-new whole.

And maybe, just maybe,hisirregular pieces fit in here just fine.

Chapter Thirteen: Jay

(Rewind)

He hadn’t expected to see Nix and Luca for dinner—not after he’d found them under the bed, his bond burning with fear and shame.

Jay wanted to crawl under there and siphon off some of their emotions into his chest, where he could shield them from the worst of it. But that’s how Jay got into this emotional-alpha tsunami in the first place, so he’d pushed the urge down, letting Gideon drag him out—feet first—with one last look at his mates. He had managed what he’d hoped was a supportive wave and pulled the door closed.

It had felt bad, but sometimes the right thing felt like the wrong thing.

Or something like that.

The others had trooped down to the main level, where Jay had corralled them into a group hug—the hug he couldn’t give the other two—so it had been extra squeeze-y.

Even Gideon had clamped a hand on the back of his neck and whispered, “Good Alpha,” before breaking free and dragging the others to the kitchen to ferry dishes to and from the table.

Jay hadn’t wanted a birthday party, never comfortable when celebrations were about him. Too much up-close attention, when all he wanted was to be happy with his family.

To maybe celebrate finally being free of the company that may have opened their career doors but now made sure they controlled how and when they went through them. It was suffocating, and the lack of support for the impending court case had been the last fucking straw.

Tomorrow,Long Road Homewill meet with Margot Duponte at the PR firmSoleil.Margot had arranged a meeting with a potential new manager, and Jay couldn’t help but hope this was the beginning of a new chapter in their lives—one where they could make the music they’d always dreamed of without the other pressures Ripley Records always brought to bear.

But for now, despite the persistent twinge of the bond around his heart, Jay would try to enjoy his mates and eat his favorite dish.

Getting older wasn’t so bad, despite the teasing jokes to the contrary.

“Mmm,” Gideon says, dropping into his seat on Jay’s left.

“Hey, love. Thanks for putting all this together.” He is grateful, and he’s determined to enjoy it, even if the two empty seats rub his wolf the wrong way.

“Wasn’t me. I just cooked. Grayson and Nix did the rest.”

The room looks amazing. There’s a rainbow of balloons in an arc over the windows at the back of the room. A birthday banner, hand-painted with stick figures of eight people holding hands. If Jay squints, he can see tiny colored hearts inked on their t-shirts (None of them are wearing pants).

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