What he knows is that since he’s been bonded, it’s been better. Maybe Nix handles it when his mates are out of sight because he can see the bonds and can feel every one pulsing and alive.
Maybe that’s the answer.
“Hey. You should bond with me.”
Finn spins his head around, and his tear-stained face is entirely horrified. “What? No. I am not fucking you in a dirty hospital bathroom. Absolutely not.”
“I’m not saying you should.” He takes Finn’s face in his hands. “We can do it without sex, right? And what better place than right here where we started? Right? Like a second beginning. And then we can feel each other, and you’ll never have to worry about…not feeling me ever again.”
Nix brushes his mate’s tears away with his thumbs, and it’s almost like he can feel his brain working through the partial bond. When he says it, he knows it’s the right thing.
“Nix,” Finn whispers and touches Nix’s forehead with his own.
“It’s not a ‘no’ though, right?”
Finn sighs and kisses Nix’s palm. Running his hand through his hair, he sighs. “How can I say no to you? Okay.”
“Okay?! Really? Yes!” Nix pumps the air and wiggles—a weird reaction given the solemnity of the moment, but it is something he’s been wanting for the longest time, and it’s hard not to let it show.
He’s rewarded with a soft laugh as his mate gets to his feet.
“Okay. But I am not doing it here in this gross bathroom. We should do it where we met.”
“In the med-bay?” It’s Nix’s turn to have his heart racing and palms sweaty. But this was his idea, and he’s not backing down now.
“Fuck. Ugh, why is it so hard? I’m a doctor and you’re alive and…shit.” Finn presses the heels of his palms into his eyes and bends over, hands on his knees.
Nix stands and brushes off his butt.
“We can do it together. Tsuki will help. Let’s go. It smells like pee in here.”
Tsuki sneezes as she agrees.
Finn laughs under his breath and straightens the white sweater. “Yeah, it does. I’m going to splash water on my face, then we can go.”
Nix washes his hands, and it takes a surprisingly short amount of time before they crack the door open to the deserted hallway. Nix can’t hear anything but the soft hum of white noise.
They follow Tsuki back the way they came, leash back in her mouth like she understands she’s supposed to have it, but not how it works.
She heads past the abandoned nurses’ station in the center of the ER andright to med-bay one. It’s empty and innocuous in its sterility—it holds nothing but the memories and a gurney. She sits down in the doorway, waiting for her people to decide whether they’re going in or going home.
It’s weird not having memories of that second time, especially when Finn can remember every minute of the day Nix’s life changed forever.
It might have been bad, but they’re on the other side together, and it feels good to know that this side is pain-free and filled with so much love.
Finn pulls him forward, and even though his jaw is tense and his scent sour, they’re standing where they were three weeks ago. “It’s not what I had planned, Nix.”
His alpha had planned something special for their bonding, and it made Nix’s stomach swoop. “You planned something? Romantic? Tell me.”
His mate’s face is red, but he meets Nix’s eye without shame. “Nope. I’m still going to knock your socks off. But I can maybe do this one thing now?” Finn pulls out his phone and clicks through until he finds what he wants. “Phoenix Rena, may I have this dance?”
The dulcet tones of Elvis Presley’sCan’t Help Falling in Lovestarts playing, and Nix’s heart melts at how sweet his mate is. How romantic—and how utterly in love Nix is with this man.
“Of course, Dr. Merritt. It would be my pleasure.” He places his hand in the much larger one of the man who continues to rescue him from a life without love—every time.
Finn leads them around the small space.
No one bothers them, even though at one point, Tsuki turns at a noise only she can hear. Elvis gets to theTake my hand, take my whole life, too, and Finn begins to sing.
