Gage winced as his younger brother Sean slammed through the back door.

“I’ll be right back,” he told his friend Amy, who was helping him unpack while they caught up on life. It had been months since they’d seen each other, but Gage had a lot on his plate, learning to parent Sean unexpectedly.

Not for the first time, he felt an overwhelming sense of sympathy for his parents for having to deal with him when he was a teen and a fresh wave of grief at their loss. It had been nearly a year since they had died, and it had gotten slightly easier, but the pain still surprised him with its intensity and suddenness. Gage had been far too young even as the oldest to lose his parents already, to say nothing of his younger siblings Jess and Sean. He pushed back the dark thought that it might not have been an accident. True or not, he still wasn't ready to face the consequences of that thought if it were true. He had enough on his plate trying to raise and protect Sean.

He said nothing about the slamming of the door as he entered the kitchen and Sean launched his gawky teenage body onto a stool at the breakfast bar. Sean didn't say anything, but his smile stretched from ear to ear.

"You made the team?" Gage didn't have to ask, but they'd made it a habit in the family to verbalize things they already knew, more for Sean than anyone else, and it was a hard habit to break.

Sean nodded. "Position. I knew I would! Not the position, I mean, but that I'd make the team."

Gage's smile fell a little. "Sean, you know—"

"I wasn't trying, Gage. I promise," the teenager protested. He peered around Gage to the living room where Amy was opening another box, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "It's just sometimes when I'm thinking on something a lot, knowings come whether I want them to or not."

The contrast between Sean's contrition and his earlier excitement broke Gage's heart. He pulled his brother into a hug. "I know, buddy. I just worry."

Sean had the gift of foresight. It wasn't perfect. If it was, maybe he would have seen the deaths of their parents coming. Gage certainly didn't blame him for it, but Sean blamed himself. The whole family had worked so hard to keep anyone from finding out, to keep Sean safe. The dark wondering returned, whispering that Sean's gift might be the reason their parents were dead.

Sean relaxed in Gage's arms for a moment, then shrugged them off in teenage embarrassment. "So the first practice is tomorrow. You'll come right?" Gage wasn’t sure whether those puppy dog eyes were instinctual or practiced, but they were sure damn effective.

Gage thought about the client project he was working on. It was due Friday, and even though he was getting better at estimating time, he always felt stressed the week before something was due. But Sean was giving him those giant puppy dog eyes... He sighed inwardly, but didn't let it escape him. If he had to stay up a little later this week, it wouldn't kill him. Jess and her beauty sleep comments could shove it.

"Of course, bud. I'll be there."

"Oh! The coach is a wolf, too! I'm not sure what pack but—"

A car door slammed shut in their driveway. The brothers glanced at each other and Sean nodded. Gage silently urged him toward his room and the boy, who normally crashed about like a herd of elephants in his too-quickly growing body, silently disappeared down the hall.

A moment later, there was a knock on the front door.

Amy passed Gage as walked through the house to open it. “I’m just going to use your restroom,” she said.

“Go for it.”

There were only three types of people who knocked on the front door: delivery men, salesmen of the insurance or religious variety, and Mark, the Cherry Creek Alpha. This time it was the latter.

Gage unlocked the door and slid back the chain. He held back his urge to block the alpha from entering, but gritted his teeth and swung the door open wide. "Hey, Mark. What brings you by? Come on in."

Thankfully, even though they'd moved in a month ago, Gage was just now getting around to unpacking the living and dining room, so there was nowhere to sit and create an environment where someone might invite themselves for longer. There was a sofa and a chair, but they were currently staging areas for sorting the contents of a couple boxes. Mark eyed the stacks of boxes as he entered.

"Just checking to see how you all are settling in," Mark said.

"Oh fine, just fine," Gage said, his smile pasted to his face. He could feel Mark looking around for Sean.

"And Sean?" 

"He made the football team," Gage said, allowing his pride to shine through. No sense holding that information back. It would get to the pack sooner or later.

"Aren't you a bit... worried?" Mark asked.

Gage held back his irritation. He'd been dealing with these kind of comments ever since he'd announced his intention to move to the edge of Cherry Creek's territory and enroll Sean in the human school. "About?" He was going to make Mark spell it out.

"He's going to be faster, stronger than the humans," Mark said. "And emotions are heightened, especially in a boy his age. If he does anything to reveal us..."

Gage heard the unsaid threat. If you're not able to control him, we'll take him. Mark had been looking for any excuse to take over Gage's guardianship. "I'm not too worried. The team's coach is a wolf, and the school is pretty well integrated. I'm sure he's experienced in handling any minor slip ups that might occur." Gage met Mark's eyes momentarily before dropping them to the side. It wouldn't do to challenge him too far. Gage had no desire to become the pack's Alpha. He just wanted to code software and make sure Sean grew up okay. Any other aspirations had died with his parents.

"That's good." The words slid over Gage like oil on water and he suppressed a shiver. "But nobody protects you like your pack, am I right?"

Gage forced himself to smile. and crossed his fist over his heart. "Pack first."

"Pack first," Mark responded, bumping his crossed arm with Gage’s.

"Well, I won't keep you," Mark said. "I just happened to be in the area. Enjoy your evening."

In the area my ass, Gage thought as he closed the door behind Mark. No one else lived this far on the edge of pack lands. The school was technically on White Falls ground, but Cherry Creek and Taylor Road bordered it. Wolves from White Falls and Taylor Road both attended the human school, but Sean was the first from Cherry Creek, and not many in the pack had been happy with it. That had been one of the things Mark had brought against Gage's guardianship. Their mother had raised all of them, homeschooling them like a proper Cherry Creek omega. She'd probably taught them a bit more freedom than prescribed by the pack, however. Jess had taught Sean until she'd mated Cole from White Falls. Gage needed to work; he couldn't homeschool his brother. Mark had offered to take Sean into his home, or to have one of the other omegas school Sean, but Gage had weaseled his way out of it. He and Mark both knew that someday, they would have to decide the issue of Sean, but as long as Mark thought he might gain control of the boy peacefully, he would allow Gage some leeway. If only Gage could figure a way out of this mess without starting a pack war before then.

There was a flush and then running water, and then Amy opened the bathroom door. “I think I can manage another couple boxes before I head home. Ready to knock it out?”

He had a feeling Sean wasn’t the only one avoiding Mark, but he certainly didn’t blame Amy. “Let’s do it!”

There was an unsteady silence between them, and Gage tried to figure out how to breach it. Amy had been strangely quiet all morning, and Gage had blabbered on and on about his and Sean’s lives, and Jess’s when he’d run out of things to say about that. He and Amy had been friends since childhood, and until Gage had left for college, they’d never run out of things to talk about. Amy had been a tiny, bubbly blonde, but now, there was something off about her. Like she was holding a large part of herself back.

“So how are things with Peter?” Gage asked.

“Fine,” Amy replied.

That was about the only answer she’d given any time Gage asked about her life. He knew she and Peter weren’t an ideal match. It had been an arranged mating, but Amy had never said anything negative about the man. Gage had built up a sketchy image of their situation, and from what he knew of Peter, it seemed they simply had completely different personalities and interests. Gage never saw them together. But when he asked Amy if she was happy, she always said she was.

Maybe their relationship was stressed because they didn’t have children yet. Gage knew that had been a desire of Amy’s since she was a girl. Just one or two, she’d always said, but her eyes had lit up at the possibility. Gage didn’t dare ask if they were having issues conceiving. It was none of his business for one, and two, he was pretty sure they were, having been mated for years now.

Gage felt like he’d been a pretty crappy friend since coming back from college. At first he’d been too busy building his freelance work, and then he’d been too busy with actually having work, and then his parents had died and he’d been tasked with raising his kid brother.

All those were just excuses, though. Gage knew Amy didn’t open up easily. As bubbly as she had been, she was very cautious who she accepted into her friend circle. Gage just needed to up his friend game and show Amy she could trust him again. She needed it. Hell, Gage needed it too.