How had things gone to shit that fast?
Rowan doesn’t blame Leo for wanting time alone with Nix.
Who doesn’t around here?
Cementing new bonds takes proximity, but there hasn’t been time for that, so they’ve all just been taking what they can get.
Rowan hasn’t been able to escape the feeling that everything’s beengoing to go to shitsince he finished his rut.
The puppy and Luca have Nix on the floor, both taking turns licking Nix’s face while he gasps and giggles.
Rowan thinks about joining them but instead asks Grayson, “You okay?” while bumping his shoulder and turning his nose into his hair.
Grayson smells like Nix and a bit like sickness—wet basil moldering in the garden.
Rowan still remembers Luca collapsing fifteen minutes after Gideon had left for work, following their week of bonding. He had beenterrifiedto be left holding a tiny, convulsing mate while everyone but Jay ran around like toddlers at a bubble party, trying to get Gideon to turn around before he got stuck in the worst of Nashville traffic.
Jay had made sure everyone had a job to do, and Rowan had been to keep Luca from biting his tongue clean off in a seizure.
If Grayson had been alone, who had done the same for him?
Grayson seems to still have the appendage in question because he answers, “Mmm, as soon as he was close, I felt a thousand times better. Was bad there, for a while.”
But given the bruised bags under Grayson’s perfect eyes and the pinched set of his mouth, Rowan is pretty sure he’s underplaying it.
“What about you?” Rowan shoulder-bumps Finn on the other side.
Finn jerks at another series of deep barks, then laughs. The puppy’s bark is almost the same timber as Nix’s voice.Uncanny.
“I’m great. Now that everyone’s on their feet.”
His mate’s scent is off. Rowan may not be emotionally intelligent in the ways that Grayson or Finn are, but his nose isneverwrong.
What Finn just said? That was a lie.
Finn smells like Nix’s vanilla and a bit like rotten fruit. The former is probably from the sweater, and come to think of it, Rowan can’t remember a minute Finnhasn’tbeen wearing it since Rowan woke from his rut.
Maybe once.
That’s weird, right?
And why is Finn so damn twitchy?
Every time the dog barks or Luca squeals, Finn jerks like the noise is too much. The red nose and puffy eyes are clearFinn-has-been-cryingclues.
Something’s off.
It all feelsoffsuddenly, and when Rowan looks around, he sees Gideon has taken up his usual hovering spot behind Jay’s chair, watching the others roughhouse with the dog. Meanwhile, Leo istryingto look cool while almost standing on the back of the couch.
But Jay—Jay looksexhaustedlike he’s come off forty-eight hours straight in the studio.
Only Luca and Nix look happy.
Oh, and maybe the dog—who Luca and Nix have wedged between them, kissing her face and then each other.
So fucking cute.
They’re whispering something sweet, probably about Rowan, and the dog barks again.
