When Gage woke, he was spooning Luke, the freshly healed mating mark just in front of his lips. He pulled back to inspect it, tracing it with his fingers. 

"That tickles," Luke grumbled. 

"That's not tickling," Gage said, and threw the covers off to attack him. "This is tickling!" 

It was a wonderful way to wake up in the morning. Laughing with his mate. Everyone safe, and a child on the way. But there was still the problem of Amy.

Gage’s happy mood faded as he collapsed to the bed and Luke turned to curl around him.

"You okay?" Luke asked.

"Yes. No." Gage turned to face him. "I just don't understand why she did it." He reached out to trace Luke’s full lips with a finger to distract himself.

Luke nipped at it and pushed Gage’s hand away. "First off, I think she's crazy." At Gage’s furrowed brow, he added, "Maybe she wasn't always, but after what little we know about what Peter did to her? How could she not be?"

Fair point.

"She had twisted it up in her head that she was saving Sean, too, because he's an omega as well."

"Saving him? From what?"

"From a forced mating like her own."

"I would never do that to Sean? My parents would have never done that to him!"

"She doesn't know that."

"She should know that. She knows me. Or, I thought she did."

Luke was silent for a moment. "Did she ask you to mate her before you went to college?"

"Yeah, but we were kids. I think she had a crush on me, but you know, gay. That really wouldn't have worked out."

Luke shook his head. "No, she knew all that. I think that's part of why she asked you. You were safe. She feared her parents would hand her off to someone like Peter. With good reason, it seems."

As fucked up as it was, Gage now felt guilty. "I never thought..."

Luke snuggled closer. "Who would? I don't know Amy's parents, but honestly, I hold them as much responsible for her state of mind as Peter."

Gage’s childhood had suddenly been upset, its ears still ringing from the boxing the revelations the last twenty-four hours had brought.

"Do you think she's the reason my parents died?" Gage’s voice shook.

"She didn't say as much, but I think so. Who else could it have been?"

Who else indeed.

"Are you ready to get up?" Luke stroked Gage’s chest, settling the insidious tendrils of anger, reducing them from a growing thrashing to a restless slumber.

"No. But let's get this over with.”

* * *

They met in the First Baptist parking lot, just down the street from Sean's school. It was strange for Gage, standing on the opposite side of an invisible line, looking at his soon-to-be former pack mates. He wasn’t ready to declare anything yet, not without Alice’s say so, but he was making his intentions clear. If he had to fight to keep custody of Sean, he would do whatever it took.

Alice and Mark stepped forward to shake hands. Dare guarded a subdued Amy, his hand on the back of her neck. Luke squeezed Gage’s hand.

"You've reviewed the information I sent over this morning?" Alice asked.

"I did. I agree that you were well in your rights to pursue this matter on my pack lands. I would have appreciated it if you would have done me the courtesy of a call, first."

Alice gave him the most insincere smile Gage had ever seen. He wondered now how he had ever felt afraid of Mark. Compared to Alice, he was a weasel. A small dog overwhelmed in a big dog house. 

"And as is my right," Mark said, "since there were no deaths to you or yours, I will handle the sentencing of my pack member."

Alice stared him down, but to Mark's credit, he only faltered a little. Then Alice nodded and Dare marched Amy forward and pushed her toward Mark. 

"Wait," Gage said. Amy didn't turn to look at him, but he spoke to her anyway. "I have to know. My parents..."

She didn't say anything at first, but for the first time, Gage saw a tear slip down her face. "It was an accident," she said. "Sean was supposed to be with them." She drew a shuddering breath. "That was the first time I tried to escape. I couldn't leave the house for six months after Peter caught me."

Gage turned and started walking away. He hated her. He empathized with her. He wanted her to burn in hell and he wanted to protect her from returning to Peter and he didn't know how to reconcile such disparate desires.

"What of Peter?" Alice asked. 

"It is none of your concern, Alpha Williams." Mark's voice wavered at the end, giving away his uncertainty in standing up to her.

"I'm uncomfortable handing anyone over if they might be put under the control of such a monster," Alice said. "And I understand that you do not generally have to deal with issues of this intensity."

"We take care of our own," Mark snapped.

"I'm sure you do, and will," Alice replied. "What I meant was, your delinquency rates are low, correct? So you have no need of programs to deal with this kind of issue." She didn’t comment on why his delinquency rates were low. It wasn’t because the pack raised well rounded model citizens, that was for sure.

Gage was still standing with his back to them, but Gage could hear the pride as Mark's chest puffed out. "That is true."

"I would like to offer you a trade, then. You have no facilities or programs to handle a complicated case like Amy’s. She will be a burden to your pack, unable to be trusted, unable to be unsupervised. The only reasonable thing to do for the pack would be to lock her away in a basement somewhere, but that hardly seems humane, given what she’s suffered, and as you said, you take care of your pack. You would never do that to pack.” Gage held back the snort that threatened to derail Alice’s smooth words. That’s exactly what Mark would have defaulted to. “I have connections with a rehabilitation program out in Colorado. I will take responsibility for Amy if in return you will release Gage and Sean Carpenter from their pack bond without penalty."

Gage held his breath, waiting for Mark’s answer. How much did Mark actually know about Sean, if anything? Had his interest only been what he’d said when the council had debated Gage’s guardianship? That Gage had bucked the line, strayed from the way things were done? Surely he wondered why Amy had gone after Sean. If he didn't, he was dumber than Gage thought."

"You offer is generous," Mark said cautiously. Gage could tell he was looking for the catch, but he seemed to find none. "I accept." 

Gage turned back to see Amy stumble back into Dare's control. 

"Are we finished?"

Alice nodded. "We're finished."

The two groups split and Luke came to Gage. They climbed into the back of Cole's car. 

Gage didn't feel anything until about a minute after they left the church behind them. He was free. Sean was free. They were safe, with no danger lurking behind their doors. They had a group they could trust who knew Sean's secret, who they could be open with. Gage was mated, and he was going to be a dad. It all hit him at once and he collapsed onto Luke, whispering again and again, "It's over."

"No, Gage," Luke whispered in his ear, "everything is just beginning."