Luke sat back at Gage's accusation. He couldn't imagine the kind of stress Gage must be living under. Luke knew that Alice Williams was an exceptionally good alpha. He wasn't near the historian his mom was, but he had certainly read enough to know how bad it could get. What Gage was accusing his alpha of... it put him up there with the worst. 

The position of an alpha was more important to the pack than the president of the United States. An alpha could literally hold their pack's lives in their hands. The abuse of that power... well, it was on the same level as abusive parents, but with a lot more room for damage.

"Do you have a plan to get out?"

Gage's shoulders seemed to sag in defeat. "No," he croaked. "I've been trying. Moving out here was the closest I've gotten so far. But it's brought a lot of Mark's attention on us. Your alpha has offered to take us in, but I'm pretty sure Mark would start a pack war if he is after Sean, and that's the last thing I want. I can't put your pack in danger."

"Have you thought about running away? Like out to the west coast? Or another country?" Luke’s throat tightened at losing the chance to really get to know Gage, but Gage had to do what was right for him and Sean, first and foremost.

Gage nodded. "But what kind of life does that leave us? There is just going to be another alpha out there. So we can either hide that we're wolves and avoid packs completely, or keep on trying to hide what Sean is. And what kind of life is that? It's already hard enough for him. He can't always remember when someone has actually told him something or when it's something he's seen. I can't even imagine how difficult it is to keep all that straight. He does so well, especially for a kid, though."

Luke relaxed a little, knowing Gage and Sean weren't going to take off in the middle of the night with no warning. Well, he reconsidered, they might, but it wasn't a primary plan.

"Does Alice know about Sean?"

Gage shook his head and a wild look came into his eyes. "Please don't tell her. I'm not ready for that. I don't know if she'd try to use Sean. I mean, I know she's your alpha, so please don't take this the wrong way. It's hard enough for me to trust you."

That stung, but Luke couldn't  help but sympathize with where Gage was coming from. And he'd known Alice Williams his whole life. She'd been the alpha since he was a kid. And as much as Luke believed she wouldn't betray Gage and Sean, that she'd protect them even to the point of starting a pack war, he didn't know that for sure. And it wasn't his place to promise it. "What about Dare, or Cole, if you're not ready to talk to her?"

Gage gave him a look. "Do you really think that's any different than telling her directly? When it all comes down to it?"

Luke grimaced. Gage had a point. Gage knew he was already asking a lot of Luke to keep all this to myself, and the alpha wasn't Luke’s mother. Luke took a deep breath. "Okay. So what do we do now?"

Gage stared at his hands. "I know I need to do something. I'm just not sure. I'm running out of options. I have been saving up, in case Sean and I do need to split. But that's really a last resort. And Jess would never forgive me."

Luke had nearly forgotten Gage’s sister with this big revelation. "How much does she know?" Luke asked cautiously. 

"She knows about Sean's gift. That's about it. I didn't want to worry her with my suspicions."

"So you've been carrying all this by yourself?"

Gage's shoulders seemed to sag even more and Luke stood to spin his chair around and scoot closer to him. Luke stuck a finger underneath Gage’s chin and pulled Gage’s eyes up to meet his. "You're not alone in this anymore," Luke promised him, and kissed him. He’d meant it to be soft and reassuring, but the moment their lips touched, it was like a match strike. Fire exploded between them and Gage crushed his lips to Luke’s. His tongue slid between Luke’s lips, asking for entrance, and Luke gave it to him. Gage’s fists buried in Luke’s hair and it was as if he were trying to unload the weight of everything he'd been holding onto for so long. And Luke could take it. He was more than willing to take it. He’d been waiting for Gage to open up to him like this for months. But there was one little problem...

Luke pushed away and pressed a finger to his lips to keep Gage from pursuing him. "What about Sean?" he asked.

Reason and caution began to return to Gage’s eyes. Luke sure was shooting himself in the foot here. He wanted to take Gage’s cares away, even if it was just for one night, but he knew Sean would always come first, as he should. Gage took Luke’s hand and kissed his knuckles as he had that first day in the coffee shop. "Wait," he commanded.

Luke could hear the faint sound of music coming from somewhere in the house. A few minutes later Gage was back with a mischievous grin. "Sean is busy doing homework with some really loud music on."

"You didn't tell him..." Luke’s cheeks were burning.

"Of course not," Gage said. "I just checked on him, and that's what he was doing. Though I'm sure I would have thought of something if I needed to."

He took Luke’s hand and pulled him to his feet, urging Luke to follow with a look of promise in his eyes. They snuck up the stairs toward the music and Luke felt like a damn teenager, but instead of sneaking past the parents, they were sneaking past the kid. Sean's door was closed and Gage pulled Luke to a door at the end of the hall. He softly shut the door behind them and then turned to Luke with an uncertain smile.

"I realize I might have been a little presumptuous, pulling you up here. If you were just reminding me of Sean because we were going too fast for you—"

Luke lunged at Gage and silenced his lips with a kiss. They crashed awkwardly into the door and it rattled, making them both freeze, listening to see if they had disturbed Sean. When nothing changed, they laughed and Luke kissed Gage again, this time softly, slowly, like he'd initially intended. Gage let him for a moment, then he grabbed Luke’s thighs and lifted him to his hips, walking Luke to the bed. He lay Luke down on the bed, following him, breaking the kiss only momentarily. 

"Not gonna lie," Luke said. "That was hot."

"You like being man handled?" Gage asked.

"Depends completely on who is doing the handling." Luke tugged at Gage’s shirt, pulling it out of his pants so Luke could get his hands on Gage’s skin. Gage was lean and smooth. Luke had more of an aging-jock body, muscles under a small layer of fat, but Gage was... sinfully sinuous. Gage followed his lead, pulling his t-shirt up and then practically tearing it over Luke’s shoulders and head. Luke dug his fingers into the small of Gage’s back and Gage arched as Luke scratched down his sides. Then Gage dropped his head to Luke’s chest and tugged his nipple into his mouth. Luke hissed, the hot, wet heat of his tongue and mouth capturing all of his attention as Gage teased him with his teeth. Luke slid his fingers under the edge of Gage’s pants, but his ass was too far away for Luke to really get a grip, so he slid his hands back up under Gage shirt and held him tight as Gage continued to tease Luke with his tongue and breath. 

Luke jerked his hips up, getting desperate for some kind of friction, but unwillingly to move his hands from Gage's skin. Gage pressed his hips down to meet Luke’s and their clothed erections brushed in a tortuous grazing. Luke finally slid his hands out from under Gage's shirt and grabbed Gage’s hair, pulling Gage off his chest. Gage’s lips were slick with spit, his eyes shining wolf yellow, and Luke leaned forward to kiss him before growling, "The rest of our clothes. Off."

Gage slid off him and began shucking his clothes with speed. Luke did the same, shoving his pants and boxers to the floor. Gage didn't pounce on him immediately. He took his time, looking over Luke’s body with a predatory grin, stroking his own erection. Luke tucked his hands behind his head and stretched, his cock bobbing against his stomach. "See something you like?" he asked.

"Something's missing..." Gage said, then dropped to his knees at the edge of the bed, pulling Luke’s knees toward him. Luke propped up on his elbows to see Gage better just as he licked a slow, hot stripe up Luke’s erection and then slid down over the head of his cock. Luke’s eyes rolled back in his head at the pure pleasure of Gage’s wet mouth sucking at him, his tongue moving with the same acrobatic precision he had used on Luke’s nipples.

"Dammit, Gage." Luke’s muscles had locked up and his entire body was tingling with sensation.

"Open your eyes, Luke. Watch me."

Luke forced his eyes open to watch Gage's pink mouth slowly swallow his dark cock, Gage’s eyes fixed on his. 

"Gage, if you don't slow down, I'm going to come," Luke warned him.

Gage pulled off slowly, swirling his tongue around the head of Luke’s cock before popping off completely. "Mmm, that sounds promising. But another time."

He crawled up the bed to kiss Luke, and Luke could taste himself in Gage’s mouth. Gage ground his hips against Luke’s, their hot and hard erections burning against each other.

"I want to see your face when you come. Like this," Gage whispered, lifting his hips so he could get a hand between their bodies. He wrapped his long fingers around both of their erections and started jerking them off. Luke was already so close. He leaned forward to nip and lick at Gage’s neck and shoulder, but Gage stopped the smooth, building motion of his hand and pushed Luke back down. "I said I wanted to see you. Let me take care of you. If you're not good at behaving, I may have to tie you up next time."

Luke gasped and his cock gave an involuntary twitch. 

"Apparently that works for you." Gage said, his voice caressing Luke’s ears.

"Not the hard stuff, but a little rope? Maybe a tie? Hell yes."

Gage returned his hand to our erections and picked up the pace. "I burned all my ties when I started freelancing. But I think I could pick one up for special occasions."

"Don't bother—ah—I have plenty."

And then there was too much sensation to speak. It wasn't easy, holding Gage's gaze. It was intense, and intimate and too real. Luke felt like their eyes were making promises neither of them fully understood. Like the universe was there, in the meeting of their eyes, if only they could understand it. And then they were coming, first Luke, the universe suddenly so clear as stars went supernova, and then Gage followed. Gage collapsed on Luke and Luke wrapped his arms around him, holding on as tightly as he could. Every thought, every concern beyond the comfort of this man in his arms, had fled.

But slowly, as our blood cooled, the concerns of the world returned. The sense of warmth and belonging stayed, but the uncertainty and the fear of Gage and Sean's situation wound its way into Luke’s thoughts.

"I probably shouldn't ask you to stay the night," Gage said. "What with Sean here."

"I probably shouldn't say yes," I replied. We held to each other tightly, and then breathed in a giant sigh, as if we were one body with two sets of lungs.

Gage kissed Luke’s forehead. "But you don't have to leave right now, do you?"

"Another hour shouldn't hurt," Luke agreed.

“Why don’t you stay for dinner? I’ll order pizza in.”

“Sounds great.”

They adjusted themselves and Luke wrapped himself around Gage, spooning him. They didn't talk any more about the problems of the evening. There would be time enough for that tomorrow.