As much as Mikel hated leaving Brogan and Peyton that night, he eventually returned to his apartment, only to pace and worry and not sleep. He doubted Brogan was getting much sleep either, but Mikel didn’t want to chance interrupting any rest he might get by calling or texting. So he fretted until sunrise, and then collapsed on the futon to nap.

Brogan called him a little after ten with a tremor in his voice. “The hospital called. Will you go with me to get the results?”

“Of course, I will,” Mikel replied, stomach erupting into a ball of acid. “I’ll call a taxi so we don’t have to worry about the bus schedule.”

“Okay.”

The brief call spoke to how much Brogan was quietly freaking out. Mikel called for a taxi and waited on the sidewalk for it to arrive. Brogan must have been watching from the front window, because the driver didn’t have a chance to honk before the door opened. He exited with Peyton strapped into a carrier, which they situated between them in the back seat.

Mikel desperately wanted to hug Brogan but settled for holding his hand the entire drive to the hospital. The driver dropped them off at the front entrance. Brogan seemed to know exactly where to go, so Mikel followed him to the elevators. They got out on a floor of what appeared to be offices, rather than labs or patient rooms.

Brogan announced himself to a receptionist, identified Mikel as his bondmate, and they were sent directly into a small office, where a gray-haired beta greeted them both with firm handshakes.

“Mikel is my bondmate, Dr. Wells,” Brogan said, “so anything you have to say, he has my permission to hear.

“Congratulations on finding your bondmate,” Dr. Wells replied. “As my receptionist said on the phone, the results of both tests are in, and the DNA test is conclusive. Peyton and Francis Hamilton are a genetic match.”

“Fuck.” Brogan put Peyton’s carrier down on a chair as he sank into the other one. With both chairs occupied, Mikel squatted next to Brogan and squeezed both his hands. “I mean, now I know, right? Who it was.”

“What about the other test?” Mikel asked. The most devastating of all.

Dr. Wells pulled a sheet of paper out of a brown envelop. “I’m so sorry.”

“No,” Brogan gasped.

“Peyton tested positive for the Donal Syndrome gene.”

“Fuck. Fuck!” Brogan’s frantic cry upset Peyton into screaming. Mikel’s heart broke for his bondmate’s obvious pain and terror, and he helped Brogan un-snap Peyton from the carrier so Brogan could hold him. Mikel tried to hold them both, to comfort his omega, but there was no fixing this.

Peyton squirmed and cried, pushing his little fists against Brogan’s chest, until Brogan finally released him to the floor. Then he tried to climb inside Mikel’s body, and Mikel held him as best he could while Brogan broke down for the second time in two days. Mikel didn’t wipe away his own tears, too focused on Brogan to care he was crying in front of a stranger.

Except Dr. Wells had left the room, giving them privacy to absorb the devastating news, and Mikel was grateful to the man for his tact. He pulled Brogan down to the carpeted floor so he could hold him better. Brogan clung to his shirt, tears soaking the material.

“We’ll figure this out,” Mikel said. “I promise. If I have to go to medical school myself to find a cure, I will.”

“It’s not fair.”

“No, it isn’t fair, love. But I’m here and I’m not leaving you two.”

Brogan didn’t respond. He simply sat there, tears streaming down his cheeks, eyes slowly going distant and glassy in a way Mikel didn’t like. Mikel shouted for a nurse. Dr. Wells returned and suggested a sedative, but Mikel didn’t like making that decision for Brogan. His omega needed support right now, not drugs.

“I need to take him home,” Mikel said. He wasn’t sure he could handle his nearly-catatonic mate and Peyton, though, so he used Brogan’s phone contacts to call Jaysan.

“Hey, Brogan, tell me you got good news,” Jaysan said.

“It’s Mikel, and it’s not.”

“Oh fuck.”

“I need your help, Jaysan, please.” He explained the situation and where he was in the hospital.

“Shit. Morris will kill me if I go wandering the hospital this close to my due date, so I’m going to call some friends. Someone will be there soon, okay?”

Fuck, now Mikel felt like an idiot for forgetting how very pregnant Jaysan was. “I appreciate it, thank you.”

“I’ll meet you guys at the Li house.”

Mikel hung up, forever grateful for the huge circle of support Brogan had. The constabulary should know the DNA results, though, for their investigation, so Mikel called the non-emergency line and asked to be transferred to Senior Constable Higgs. Higgs seemed surprised Mikel was making the call, but Mikel didn’t explain. He simply promised to have the hospital fax over a copy of the DNA results for their records and hung up.

Ten minutes later, the office door opened and two familiar, almost identical faces appeared. Mikel knew brothers Kell Cross and Braun Bloom from television and their very vocal fights for omega rights in Sansbury Province, but he’d never met the pair before today. Their physical resemblance was uncanny, but Kell had an air of sadness around him that—even while celebrating a milestone on television—never seemed to go away.

Kell was also pregnant with his second child, according to gossip, and his somewhat rounded belly seemed to verify the rumor.

Mikel introduced himself to them. Jaysan must have filled them in on the situation, because they didn’t seem surprised by the bondmate part. Braun scooped up Peyton before the boy could climb a bookcase, while Kell knelt next to Brogan.

“Hey, it’s been too long since we’ve had a visit,” Kell said. “You think you’re ready to go home now? I’ll fix tea and we can talk.”

Brogan didn’t respond.

“Did they drug him?” Braun asked.

“No, I wouldn’t let them,” Mikel replied. “He’s devastated.”

“Jaysan said he got some horrible news, but not what.”

“My baby,” Brogan wheezed. “He’ll die before he’s my age.”

“What?” Kell asked, a horrified look on his face. “What do you mean?”

Brogan went away again, so Mikel explained the Donal Syndrome diagnosis. Braun hugged Peyton tighter, despite the boy’s resistance. “Goddess, that’s unbelievable,” Braun said. “Oh, Brogan, I’m so sorry.”

“We don’t need to focus on that today, love,” Mikel said to Brogan. “Let’s go home, okay?”

“Peyton,” Brogan replied.

“He’s right here.” Braun crouched in front of them and put Peyton down. Peyton seemed confused by all the attention, but he went to Brogan, as if sensing his omegin needed him.

Mikel often heard that omegins had special bonds with their children, and in that moment, Mikel believed it. Peyton hugged Brogan. “Don’t cry, Omi,” he said.

“I love you so much,” Brogan whispered.

After a little more coaxing, Brogan relaxed his hold on both Mikel and Peyton, and their group relinquished Dr. Wells’ office back to the man. Brogan shuffled along like an elderly man, but they eventually made it to Kell’s car in the parking garage. Mikel didn’t know many omegas who drove, because they needed their alpha’s permission to learn. But from what he understood, Kell and Braun’s mates were both very progressive alphas.

I’ll let Brogan learn if he wants. Definitely.

Public transportation in Sansbury was a finely-tuned system, but everyone should have the freedom to drive, if they so chose, alpha mate or not.

Brogan was completely silent for the drive back to the Li house, one hand resting on Peyton’s chest, the other holding Mikel’s above the carrier. The occasional tear still trickled down Brogan’s cheeks, but he seemed to be past the initial torrent of emotion. As promised, Jaysan and his son Aeron were waiting in an idling taxi.

Their circle of support got Brogan inside, installed on the couch with a blanket around him, and a glass of water in his hands in short order. Well, Braun and Kell did most of it, while Jaysan supervised from an armchair, hands clasped over his belly. Mikel simply sat with Brogan and tried to be present for his omega. Peyton and Aeron entertained each other on the floor nearby.

“Where are your kids?” Jaysan asked.

“Dex and Serge were over with Gaven,” Kell replied, “and when you called, they agreed to stay and watch all the kids.”

“I thought Dex worked full-time for the constabulary?”

“He did, but with Serge’s salary increase and them adopting Gaven, Dex cut back to part-time a few months ago.”

Mikel had no idea who Dex, Serge, or Gaven were, and it didn’t seem like the right time to ask. This was supposed to be about Brogan.

“How about some hot tea?” Mikel asked Brogan. “Or cocoa?”

Brogan shrugged.

“I’ll put the kettle on for tea,” Braun said.

“I’d never heard of Donal Syndrome before today,” Kell said. “Is there any sort of preventative medication Peyton can take?”

“Not that Dr. Wells mentioned,” Mikel replied. “And apparently, Peyton’s sire didn’t know he was a carrier until it was too late. There’s no cure, but if there is something that will help, we’ll find it. I’ll travel to any province necessary to make sure Peyton stays healthy and lives a long, happy life.”

Brogan finally raised his head and looked Mikel in the eyes. An odd kind of relief burned there. Mikel kissed his forehead. “I’m right here, my omega, and I’m not going anywhere. We’ll figure this out together.”

“Thank you,” Brogan replied. “I’m just so…numb. Knowing he’s got this ticking time bomb in his body…my boy.”

“I know.” Mikel’s own grief over the diagnosis tried to come out and play, but he smashed it back down. He could grieve later. Right now, Brogan came first. “We’re all in this together.”

“Yes, we are,” Jaysan said. “We’re family.”

“Thank you, guys,” Brogan said to his friends. “For coming. It means everything to me.”

“Of course.” Kell perched on the arm of the couch next to Brogan. “Like Jaysan said, we’re family. And from what little I’ve seen, you seem to have found an incredible bondmate.”

“I have.”

“Perhaps not the most ideal bondmate on the planet,” Mikel said with humor in his voice, “but we’re working our way through it.”

Brogan poked him in the chest. “You are the perfect bondmate.”

“Who’s in therapy.”

“Therapy doesn’t make you weak,” Kell said. “I worked with someone for months after my trial ended. I may never have found the courage to ask my mate for what I wanted if I hadn’t worked through my emotions.” He slid his hands around his slightly swollen belly. “Now we’re having another baby, and I regret nothing.”

“Thank you for that,” Mikel replied. “Alphas tend to look down on psychiatry in general, so it helps to hear it.”

“Even though I’m an omega?”

“Screw gender. From everything I’ve seen and heard, you’re the bravest person I’ve had the honor to meet.”

Kell blushed.

Brogan huffed in an adorable way, so Mikel kissed him lightly on the lips. “You are, too, my bondmate.”

“Better,” Brogan said.

The gentle teasing gave Mikel hope Brogan was pushing through and coming back to him. Pulling out of his grief and into the present where people had lined up to help him through this crisis.

Braun deposited a tray of mugs and assortment of tea on the coffee table, then went to fetch the now-whistling kettle.

“Which one do you want, love?” Mikel asked.

“Lemongrass,” Brogan replied. “With a little honey, thank you.”

Mikel fixed Brogan the requested drink, making a chamomile for himself to sip. Braun had discovered a box of tea biscuits, which they all shared. The other omegas kept up light conversation, most of it stories about their respective kids whose names Mikel didn’t know, other than Aeron. But he hoped to get to know them. Brogan was obviously important to these men, and Mikel liked the idea of being part of their extended family through Brogan.

I hope they learn to trust me.

It absolutely helped that Jaysan had forgiven Mikel for his crime. Hopefully, all his friends followed his example.

Peyton and Aeron both came asking for biscuits. The little pair of alphas was close in age and got along splendidly—which, duh, they should. They’d grown up around each other. Being on the outside of things, it was easy for Mikel to forget how much history these four omegas had. But he saw it in how they smiled, laughed, and teased each other. Mikel had never had those kinds of friends before.

The late morning passed into afternoon, and when the biscuits weren’t enough, Kell treated them all to pizza delivery, since the kitchen didn’t yield much in the way of feeding five people.

“Ugh, I need to buy groceries,” Brogan said. “It’s my turn.”

“That’ll keep for one more day,” Mikel said. “I doubt your guardians will mind a bare pantry after the day you’ve had.”

“True.”

“So bondmates,” Braun said, as if the idea had just now occurred to him. “Have you guys talked about when to mate?”

“Not yet, no.” Brogan’s cheeks pinked up. “We’ve got time on our side.”

Everything inside Mikel wanted to mate with Brogan during his next heat. To claim his omega in the rawest, most primal way possible, and to give him a new life to carry. But the intellectual part of Mikel knew waiting was a better option. Mikel was in no position to support a mate and two children.

“Stop being so nosy,” Kell said to his brother.

Daiya called Brogan’s cell right after the pizza arrived, and Brogan excused himself to his bedroom to take the call. His guardians were probably antsy about the test results, too, and Mikel imagined Brogan needed some privacy. He’d been everyone’s primary focus for hours today.

“How are you holding up?” Jaysan asked.

It took Mikel a moment to realize the question had been directed at him. “I’m doing okay. I hate being in a position where I desperately want to fix something, but I can’t. I was there far too much growing up, and I want to help Brogan.”

“You are. By being here and being present. You’re letting Brogan tell you what he needs and not forcing anything on him.”

“Goddess, I’d never force him to do anything.” His face heated as memories of his last two encounters with Jaysan flashed into his mind. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, I’m fine.” Jaysan stood and walked to the couch so he could sit next to Mikel. “More than fine, if you can’t tell. I always knew that deep down, you were a good guy. It’s why I came back more than once. And you are amazing with Brogan. Keep doing that and you two will be fine.”

“It helps having you guys here, too. Alphas don’t like to admit to having limitations, but I was really scared today. Thank you, all of you, for helping us.”

“You’re welcome,” Kell replied. “Omegas stick together, and we support each other, and that includes supporting each other’s mate. Welcome to the family, Mikel.”

Family. A new family to replace the one he no longer deserved. The family he didn’t protect.

He’d do better this time; he couldn’t bear to lose Brogan or Peyton now that he’d found them.

After making Daiya promise to tell Yeoman the bad news—he didn’t have the strength to say it again today—Brogan returned to the living room and indulged in a slice of warm pizza. He wasn’t hungry but knew he should eat. Needed to keep his strength up for Peyton’s sake.

Mikel seemed more relaxed, too, and Brogan wondered what the quartet had talked about during his absence. But he also trusted his friends and let it go. Around three o’clock, the doorbell rang. Braun sprang up to answer it.

Brogan wasn’t at all surprised when Constables Higgs and Bloom entered the house. And neither man seemed surprised by the passel of omegas supporting Brogan. “I take it this is about the DNA results?” Brogan asked from his spot on the couch, practically in Mikel’s lap.

“It is,” Higgs replied.

“Would you like us to stay or go?” Kell asked.

“You guys have been more than amazing,” Brogan replied. “But you and Jaysan should rest. I’ve got Mikel, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.”

After a round of hugs, Kell, Braun, Jaysan and Aeron left. Peyton seemed put out that his playmate was gone, but he quieted when Brogan gave him his pizza crust. The kid liked bread.

Higgs and Tarek each took armchairs, while Brogan and Mikel remained together on the couch. “First of all,” Higgs said, “we are so sorry about the Donal Syndrome diagnosis. I can’t imagine the shock.”

Brogan swallowed a wave of grief. “We’re dealing, thank you. But I guess you’re here because Peyton is a Hamilton heir.”

“We are definitely here about the Hamilton angle. It’s why we needed DNA evidence linking you to that family.”

“For what reason, other than the obvious that Francis is a dead rapist who gave my son a deadly disease?”

“We can confirm that one of the two pictures you identified yesterday belongs to Francis Hamilton.”

Brogan didn’t find much comfort in that old news; they’d practically admitted as much already. “Okay. I mean, DNA proves he was the guy, picture or not, right?”

“Yes, but since we don’t have physical proof you were drugged during that heat, the photo ID helps with the identification. You couldn’t pick him out of nine, you had to narrow it down. It speaks to your state of mind at the time, beyond regular heat hormones.”

“What are the odds Senior Hamilton comes after Peyton?” Mikel asked with unexpected anger in his voice. “And what about Hamilton’s mate?”

“Freya Hamilton’s mate passed away about ten years ago. Francis was their only surviving child.”

“Surviving?”

“Their firstborn was beta, and he died as an infant. Official record is an undiscovered hole in his heart.”

Mikel growled softly. “What about Hamilton trying to claim Peyton as an heir?”

“Very unlikely,” Tarek replied. “This may sound odd, Brogan, but what do you recall about the deaths of your parents?”

Brogan’s entire body jolted with the shock of that question. “What do you mean? They were both accidents.”

“Humor me.”

Confused and annoyed by the sore subject, Brogan thought back to the final six weeks or so before his life went straight to hell. “Dad died when the brakes in his car failed and he crashed. No fault there, it was an accident. A month later, Papa was mugged and killed in an alley a few blocks from home.” Old grief squeezed his chest tight. “Why does it matter how they died? They’re gone, and I was given to Lawry, and you know the rest.”

Tarek’s expression remained even. “Did you know Senior Hamilton approached your parents two weeks prior to your Dad’s death with an offer for you? To mate with his heir Francis?”

Brogan nearly fell off the couch. “He did what? No. I mean, I know my parents entertained suitors and potential mates, and they were super picky, but are you kidding me? Hamilton? How do you even know that?”

“Late last week, we received an anonymous package in the mail, and it contained a voice recording. In it, you can clearly hear two adults speaking with Senior Hamilton about you. Specifically, his offer of a half-million credits if those same adults agreed to cut off all contact with you after the mating took place.”

Brogan clamped a hand over his mouth as his stomach threatened to revisit that slice of pizza.

“You can’t be serious,” Mikel said.

“I am completely serious,” Tarek replied. “It’s what helped us connect Hamilton Media to a payment made to Fynn Lawry the same day Brogan took a home pregnancy test. We worked backwards and came to the same conclusion. What we need from Brogan today is confirmation that the voices on that tape do, indeed, belong to Brogan’s parents.”

Brogan didn’t know if he could hear their voices today without losing it. His parents had been loving and supportive for eighteen years, and had apparently turned down a huge sum of money to stay in his life. Except they hadn’t stayed in his life, because they’d both died not long after. “Do you think Senior Hamilton has something to do with my parents’ deaths?” he asked.

“We don’t have concrete proof yet,” Higgs said. “But it’s a working theory.”

“Fuck.” The world tilted, and Brogan put his head between his knees, grateful for Mikel’s warm, steady hands on his back. Rubbing. Grounding him.

“That makes no sense,” Mikel said. “If Senior Hamilton wanted Brogan to mate with Francis, why not petition as soon as he was an orphan? Why the whole charade with Lawry, and then the fight ring?”

“We don’t know for certain,” Tarek said. “But the discovery of Brogan’s pregnancy and the onset of Francis’s Donal Syndrome happened within days of each other, so it’s possible Senior Hamilton was too distracted by his son’s illness to bother. Again, a lot of this is theory, but someone turned us on to Hamilton for a reason, so there is something to find.”

“Like what? Senior Hamilton tries to get Brogan as his son’s mate for a lot of money, and when Brogan’s parents say no, he has them killed? Then he has his heir impregnate Brogan during heat, only for Brogan to be sold to that fight ring? Why? To punish him?”

“Yes,” Higgs said. “Hamilton Media had ties to Iverson Financial. A little bit of digging there uncovered the fact that Haus Iverson and Freya Hamilton have a long personal history.”

Brogan really was going to vomit. Haus Iverson had gone to prison for all kinds of crimes, including raping his own son-in-law. Was Hamilton the same sadistic sort? “Do you have a photo of Senior Hamilton?” he asked his knees.

“Why?”

He finally raised his head and looked the senior constable dead in the eyes. “Because of what happened when we lost a fight. Of the faces I remembered, you haven’t caught one, because you didn’t know who he was.”

Mikel growled.

Higgs and Tarek shared a long look.

“Show me!” Brogan hadn’t meant to scream—as much as his damaged voice could scream—but he was beyond his limit for emotional discoveries today.

Higgs reached into his coat pocket and withdrew two four-by-six pictures. One was a photo of the artist sketch Brogan had dictated eons ago, while trying to remember the faces of the wealthy men who’d paid to rape him after losing a fight. The next was a photograph of a man in a tuxedo, smiling for the camera, possibly a newspaper clipping. The lack of a mustache and sideburns in the photo was the only real change from the sketch, but it was a telling change.

Brogan had never forgotten the way that mustache scraped over already bruised skin.

My son’s own grandsire paid to rape me while I was still pregnant with him?

Brogan bolted for the bathroom.