Gage wrapped up his client work surprisingly ahead of schedule. Normally, after finishing a job, he was ready to jump into finding the next, no problem. But today, he could barely focus on his video game, let alone estimate time frames and costs. After his twenty-sixth death, he gave up. His thoughts were plaguing him whether he was focusing on them or not, so he might as well not add the frustration of dying another couple dozen times. He shut down the electronics and collapsed on the couch. Cole was at work. He did physical therapy for injuries, focusing on the unique needs of wolf shifters. Jess was taking a nap. Which left him and his thoughts alone. Not his favorite place to be.

He held back from texting Luke. Luke had said he was going to be busy today and Gage didn't want to overwhelm him. He checked his phone again. About thirty minutes until he was supposed to meet Dare over at the Williams'. He would have considered going early if Jess hadn't said she wanted to go with him, and he didn't want to wake her up before he needed to.

Instead, Gage wasted time googling reasons why someone might hide surveillance equipment in your house, which did not ease his mood at all. 

Finally, it was time to wake Jess and they headed to the Williams'. 

Jess fell back asleep in the car. The pregnancy sure was taking it out of her already. Was that normal? Did she need to eat more? Neither she nor Luke had been eating a lot. Maybe instead of searching crazy stalker types, Gage should have been researching more about pregnancy. 

Dare's hot rod was already there when they arrived, and Jess opened the front door of the house without knocking, calling hello as they walked in.

"We're in the study," Alice faintly called back, and Jess turned into a hallway Gage hadn't been down before.

Alice's study was beautiful. The far wall was one long window seat, the windows reaching nearly to the ceiling. The left and right walls were floor-to-ceiling bookcases, completely full. Gage turned to see the wall with the door, and it was tastefully covered with original, or at least he assumed they were original, framed artwork. Dare and Alice bent over her desk in the middle of the room, pouring over books.

"What's going on here?" Jess asked, peering over her mother-in-law's shoulder.

"Well," Alice answered, "I still haven't found any evidence that would indicate that Mark knows about or is planning on utilizing Sean's gifts. That doesn't give us much to go on, because he could simply be much sneakier than I give him credit. But right now, since the only lead we seem to have is the surveillance equipment, while we're waiting on Dare's friend to call we're looking up every reference to seers we can find. Maybe we can find something to help Sean focus his gift, to control it more."

Gage’s suddenly stiff posture didn't go unnoticed.

"I have no intention of using your brother for my own purposes, Gage. Nor do I have any intention of exploiting him for the sake of the pack. Though it's not official yet, you are both pack, and I protect my own. Sometimes that means fighting physically, getting down and dirty and renewing my claim. But most of the time, it means finding the right motivator or guidance for one of my pack members. Sean is going to tear himself apart from the inside if he can't figure out a way to use his gifts to truly help. You can see that, can't you?"

He could, but he was shocked that she could as well. She barely knew Sean, but already she'd seen in him what most people never even bothered to look for. He was hard on himself. Their parents had instilled an extremely strong work ethic in each of them, and Sean perhaps more than Gage or Jess. The responsibility of bearing his gift had been impressed upon him from probably a too-young age. But what other option had there been?

"Thank you," Gage said quietly.

"Thank me when I find something useful," she countered. "If you're interested in helping, the books on the side table are the ones we think might have useful information."

"The ones on the floor over there are the ones we've gone through and turned out to be duds," Dare added.

The pile on the floor was significantly larger than the one on the table.

"We'll find something," Jess assured Gage with a hand on his arm. "C'mon. Let's see what we can find."

* * *

They ate in the study, working straight through lunch. Gage didn't realize how late it was getting until his stomach started growling again. He checked his phone. It was five. Luke and Sean should have started heading home about a half hour ago. Luke had said he'd text or call, but there was nothing on his phone. He pulled up Luke’s number and waited, but it rang and rang before going to voicemail.

"What's wrong?" Jess asked, noticing Gage’s agitation.

"I can't get a hold of Luke."

"Are they still practicing?"

"Practice should have wrapped up thirty minutes ago." Gage tried to keep his voice neutral, but he was pretty sure he failed.

Alice and Dare were already on their phones.

"I'll call Janet," Alice said.

"And I've got Roger."

A moment later, Alice was asking Gage what Luke's car looked like.

"Silver. Uh, a Chevy? Not sure what model. Not very old."

"Yep, that's it, thanks, Janet." She hung up the phone. "His car is still in the parking lot, but practice did wrap up a while ago."

"They could still be at the school though, right? In the gym or something?"

"Roger says he saw Luke and Sean head out of the building and he assumed they left," Dare said, then stepped aside as his phone rang again. "Hello?"

Gage concentrated on his breathing. His wolf was ready to bust out of him and track them down. He knew something was wrong the moment he realized Luke hadn't contacted him. Going off half-cocked wouldn't help, though.

Alice was back on her phone, texting someone. "I've just sent Frank out to take a sniff around. He should get back to us in twenty minutes or less."

"That's great!" Dare said into his phone. "Text me the address." He turned back to the group. "Eric was able to track the receiving end of the surveillance equipment." His phone dinged. "And that's the address." He tapped a few more buttons then tossed the phone to Gage. "Look familiar?"

Gage knew it in an instant. "That's my friend Amy's house."