Adam’s brain started functioning again when he was staring into the bottom of an empty bowl, spoon in hand. He looked over at Casey, who was sitting pressed against his side, on the edge of the bed in their hotel room. Casey had pulled an end table over, and it was covered with what was obviously the remains of their dinner.

Casey took the bowl and spoon from him and offered a beer bottle with a few swallows left. Adam finished it off, realizing as he did that he had also been the one to drink the rest of it. It was a werewolf brew; he could feel that faint pleasant wobbliness in his limbs that meant he’d probably drunk most of it before he ate anything.

He set the bottle down, considering how many more of them he’d need to render himself unconscious. Even as he thought about it, the smell of sweet wolfsbane smoke came back to him, and a dreamy smile on his dad’s face while Adam tried to convince him to eat the lunch he’d made for both of them. He’d been... six or seven at the time.

Adam squeezed his eyes shut, and he said, “Casey? You said you could. Fix me something. Help me sleep.”

“Yeah,” Casey said, leaning into his side again, closing both hands around one of Adam’s. “And I will, if you think that wolfsbane is really the way you want to go right now.”

Adam frowned and looked over at him. Casey was giving him a level look back, suggesting nothing. “You—there’s nothing wrong with medicating when—when you need it. I’m sorry I—”

Casey shook his head, leaning in to hush Adam with a kiss. “I know that. And you know that. And I also know that a lot of people who had a parent who had trouble knowing their limits, they like to be cautious about going down the same road. I don’t think you’d be doing that, but I think you might feel better if we try something else first.”

Adam wasn’t so far out of it that he couldn’t guess what that would be, and... he did want it, wanted Casey under him and around him and Casey’s warm scent turning sweet-salt and satisfied.

But what he wanted even more, selfishly and exhaustedly, was for Casey to just... fix this for him. Just handle it, without Adam having to do anything at all. “I... Casey, I don’t know if I can.”

Casey kissed his cheek, then moved to perch on Adam’s thighs. “I’m not asking you to do anything, Adam. I’m asking you to let me take care of you. Okay? You got me through my heat, made sure I had a good time. Now it’s my turn.”

It was like Casey had reached inside him and seen exactly what he couldn’t ask for; he felt broken open, more than naked. Still, he knew he shouldn’t ask for this. Shouldn’t need this. “You—you already...”

“Hush,” Casey said, and kissed him to press the point. It was a soft kiss, slow and sweet and gentle, but Casey was unmistakably the one making it that way. Adam only let him. “You can say no if I’m going someplace you don’t want,” Casey said, his voice soothing and firm all at once. “But I’m not going to do anything I don’t want to do, so don’t tell me no because you think you have to, for me.”

Bedside manner, Adam thought, already relaxing under Casey’s hands, one on his shoulder and one on the nape of his neck.

“Okay?” Casey prompted, already pushing him back to lie flat on the bed.

“Okay,” Adam murmured, letting his eyes close.

A second later he opened them again, just far enough to watch Casey unbuttoning his shirt, kissing the skin beneath as he uncovered each inch. He made his way all the way to the top of Adam’s jeans and then looked up, meeting Adam’s gaze like he’d felt Adam watching.

Adam nodded as best he could without picking his head up, and Casey smiled, a little more wicked than gentle now, and nuzzled at the fly of Adam’s jeans. Adam’s breath caught, a shiver running through him. He wasn’t hard yet, but he could feel himself starting to respond even to that much of Casey’s touch. “Case...”

“I’ve got you,” Casey murmured, unfastening Adam’s jeans, and then his hands—how had Adam never noticed before, how strong Casey’s hands were?—were on Adam’s hips, moving him this way and that so Casey could undress him. He got Adam’s shirt off, too, and moved him to lie properly on the bed, his head on a pillow.

All the time, Adam was thinking that he should move, should take control—any other time he would have—but it was all right, this once, to let Casey handle things. Casey had said so. Adam didn’t want to say no to any of this, so he kept quiet, letting Casey have his way.

Then Casey’s mouth was on him again, kissing over his hipbones, his unprotected belly, and lower, where his cock was definitely responding to having Casey’s hands all over him. Casey pressed a kiss there first, and Adam couldn’t help a groan at the tease.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” Casey said, his breath puffing warm against Adam’s most sensitive skin, and Adam opened his eyes again to see Casey looking up at him. His blue eyes were bright with mischief, and Adam exhaled a ghost of a laugh and smiled helplessly back.

Then Casey closed a hand around Adam’s cock, stroking him slowly while he parted his lips over the head.

Adam slung one arm over his eyes and gripped the bedcovers with the other hand, reminding himself to be still and let Casey handle him. Handle this. Handle... whatever he wanted to, if he kept moving his tongue like that, soft and hot and—

“Fuck,” Adam breathed. “Casey, fuck.”

“Well,” Casey said, pressing a hand to the inside of Adam’s thigh, making more space for himself between Adam’s legs and sliding that hand higher. “That’s a thought.”

Adam opened his mouth and couldn’t make a sound, just shuddered. He was caught between fear—not of Casey hurting him, but of Casey being disgusted, of ruining this somehow—and a strange sense of inevitability. Wasn’t that how it should go? If he was going to give himself up, wasn’t that what it should mean?

“Hmm,” Casey said. “That looks like a definite maybe. But, hey, I’ve been meaning to prove to you that whoever did this for you before was really bad at it, so—”

“Nobody,” Adam said, and then stopped at the hoarse sound of his own voice.

Casey raised his eyebrows skeptically.

Adam shook his head. “Nobody ever did this. Not like...” He swallowed, and shook his head a little. He’d bent over for it sometimes, when he couldn’t bear giving in to his alpha urges without wanting to claw his own skin off, when he wanted to be reminded why he didn’t dare trust his instincts. But he’d never so much as gotten completely naked with those guys, let alone had one of them undress him, lay him down like this, with care and tenderness.

Casey seemed to understand without Adam finding the words, or the courage to speak them. His expression softened, and he pressed a kiss to Adam’s hip, to the top of his thigh, to the base of his cock, and then he pushed up and braced himself above Adam to kiss his lips.

“Glad I get to be your first, then,” Casey murmured. “Try to relax for me, I think you’ll like this.”

“I think I like you,” Adam mumbled against Casey’s lips, and Casey smiled and kissed him once more—twice. Three times. Then he was making his way down Adam’s bare body, kissing here and there, teasing brushes of lips and tongue that kept Adam guessing. His skin was singing with eagerness, every inch begging for that touch—and then Casey’s hands were on his thighs, pushing them apart and up.

He planted his heels against the bed and closed his eyes tight, like he wouldn’t be exposed if he couldn’t see.

He didn’t need to see. It was enough to hear the quick, eager beating of Casey’s heart, to smell the warm scent of him mixed with Adam’s own arousal but muffled, because Casey still had all of his clothes on. It was enough to have Casey’s hand on him, Casey’s mouth licking teasingly at his cock.

Then came the soft, slick touch on his hole, as wet and teasing as Casey’s tongue. Adam twitched all over, his cock jerking in Casey’s grip. Casey laughed softly and licked his cock, flexing that feather-light touch against Adam’s ass. He didn’t push, didn’t even tell Adam again to relax, just stroked him there in sweet, tiny touches until Adam was shaking with anticipation and the odd pleasure of that strange, intimate caress.

He was just wondering whether he should ask for more, whether Casey was waiting for something from him, when Casey’s mouth finally closed over his cock and all Adam’s thoughts went wordless. Casey sucked him sweetly, hot and wet and tight, and the sudden surge of pleasure after several minutes of teasing brought him almost to the brink of coming right then.

Adam made a strangled noise that pitched up when he felt Casey’s finger press into him. It didn’t hurt, but it felt weird the way being penetrated always did. He felt almost dizzy with it, knocked slightly off his axis by the feeling of something inside.

But it was Casey, and that one finger just eased back out and back in, slick and painless and taking its time. Casey was patient and thorough, just touching and stroking over every millimeter of his rim, rousing an almost-ticklish pleasure that still felt weird but also, as it went on, really, really good.

Casey kept going for what felt like an endless time, working his finger deeper until Adam gasped and jerked at a sharp, electric burst of pleasure, there and gone. Prostate, his mind supplied helpfully, complete with anatomical diagrams; it wasn’t as if he didn’t know, but it had never felt like that before when anyone else touched him there. Only for Casey, only like this.

“More?” Casey murmured, breath warm and cool on the head of Adam’s cock.

Adam just nodded, because he was allowed to be greedy, just this once, as long as Casey chose to indulge him.

Then Casey’s mouth was on him again, and Casey was easing another finger into him—a little stretch and burn, but nothing like it had always felt before—and Casey’s mouth was on him again, and Adam couldn’t think. He could only feel, and all he felt was Casey driving him out of his mind. Casey on him, in him, clever fingers stroking him inside until he was gasping, moaning.

“Nobody can hear you,” Casey said at some point. “Make all the noise you want.”

Adam groaned just at the thought of it—they were safe and genuinely private here, and no one would know what he did or said or sounded like but Casey. Then Casey’s mouth was on him again, Casey’s fingers curling inside him, and Adam was clutching at the covers and chanting his name between curses and gasps.

This time Casey didn’t tease, and didn’t let up. He was sucking Adam’s cock, fucking Adam with his fingers, and Adam could feel himself being driven, every pulse of pleasure exactly what Casey wanted. It was still somehow a surprise when he came, his cock spurting in the heat of Casey’s mouth, his ass clenching rhythmically on Casey’s fingers, which felt a lot bigger than he knew Casey’s fingers to be.

Adam lay still, after, his brain as blank as the ceiling he was staring at. His whole body felt pleasantly limp, like he might melt into the bed at any moment. It only felt more right when Casey settled on top of him, like they so often slept, but propped up on an elbow so he could kiss Adam.

Casey tasted like sex—like Adam. That was so distractingly pleasing that it took another second for Adam to notice that Casey had finally taken all his clothes off, and was rubbing his dick against Adam’s belly, sliding on his sweat-slicked skin.

“Do you,” Adam mumbled, tipping back from Casey’s kisses. “I can—”

Casey stopped that question with a kiss, grinding down more firmly against Adam, and Adam figured that that meant Casey was already doing exactly what he wanted. Adam gave himself up to it, the rhythm of Casey’s hips and the thump of his heart and the bitter-salt taste of his kisses. His mind was fuzzy and blank, and he barely noticed when Casey came between them, only humming approvingly at the smell of sex and satisfaction and the way Casey went still over him, blanketing him.

He let himself sleep, then, and didn’t so much as move for the next fourteen hours.

The three days of surveying the Schulte pack outside of Bismarck passed in a strange haze. By now Adam could go through the motions of explaining the study and collecting questionnaires and DNA samples on autopilot—he’d spent a lot of time in the past month doing so while being wildly distracted by Casey.

Now he wasn’t distracted by anything in particular; his thoughts were just constantly overlaid with a staticky fizz of feeling, nothing he could put into words. Everything brought up memories of his dad, his papa, of the years when he’d thought he knew everything and had it so violently wrong.

When he managed to escape from all of that, he found himself worrying about Casey instead. He’d been quiet and strange ever since they came to Bismarck. Adam found himself oddly sure that it actually wasn’t his fault, that it wasn’t because of the way he’d let Casey take care of him, but his mind kept returning to that night anyway, searching for an explanation.

He’d missed something, but he didn’t know what. Casey still shared a bed with him, cuddled close as ever. He was still having dreams that woke him up three or four times a night, and Adam still woke and tried to comfort him when he did.

Casey didn’t tell him anything about what the dreams were, though. And Adam hadn’t woken up that night in the hotel. Had Casey had worse dreams? Nightmares?

Had he simply had time to think things over and reconsider what he was doing with Adam?

Between the natural end of their time together approaching and the things Casey had learned about Adam and his parents, it would be no surprise if he wasn’t reevaluating having anything to do with Adam in the long run. It was still too early to know whether he’d conceived as a result of spending his heat with Adam—and plenty early enough to take preventive measures if he chose to. Maybe he already had.

Or maybe he had some early sense—a subliminal change in his own body, something that no test would yet be able to detect—that he was pregnant. Maybe he was considering what to do about that, now that it was more a reality than a hazy possibility.

Maybe he was just tired, because he’d been sleeping badly for weeks now, traveling and doing unfamiliar work. Maybe he just wanted to go home.

“We could wrap things up quickly tomorrow,” Adam said, after their second day. “We don’t have to go pick up those outlying folks, I’ve already collected more data than I would ever have expected. We could leave early enough to get you back home to the Niemis by bedtime—you could sleep in your own bed tomorrow night.”

Casey just stared at him, seemingly uncomprehending, for several seconds, and then he looked away, shaking his head sharply. “No, we should finish it. And I...” Casey hesitated, but still didn’t look at Adam. “I was hoping we could go back to the Grays Inn when we’re done tomorrow, get a room there again.”

Everything in Casey’s body, from his heartbeat to the twist of his neck, screamed that that was a lie—or at least that Casey was concealing something. But if Casey wanted to go be private with Adam for one last night before whatever came next, then that was probably when Casey planned to tell him what was going on. There was no use demanding to know before then.

“If you want to spend the night with me, then I don’t care where,” Adam said, gentling his voice enough that Casey would hear him not asking.

Sure enough, Casey looked up sharply, his eyes searching Adam’s. Adam just looked back, letting his silence speak for itself.

“Okay,” Casey said, and then he took a step closer—not that there was all that much space between them, in this guest room in the Schultes’ Midwives’ House. “I’ll, uh—”

Adam closed his arms loosely around Casey and kissed him, soft, not pushing. Casey put up with that for a few seconds and then got his arms around Adam’s neck, pulling himself up against Adam’s body as he turned the kiss wet and filthy. Adam pulled Casey against him, taking Casey’s cue and pushing it back on him in a hard grip and rough kisses.

Casey didn’t let him falter after that, all through getting their clothes off and into bed. Casey would turn pliant unless Adam got gentle again, and then he would goad Adam into ferocity again. As long as Adam took charge, Casey yielded to him, sweet and easy in a way he’d never been, even in heat, which had only made him more demanding than usual.

The sex couldn’t help feeling good, and Adam couldn’t spare much attention to think while they were doing it. It was only later that he realized how much it felt like Casey trying to apologize for something—or trying to say goodbye.

The next day felt like waiting for a storm to break; Casey’s tension seemed to crackle over Adam’s skin like the promise of lightning in the air. The first rumble of distant thunder came while they were in the car on the way to the hotel.

“I keep having these dreams,” Casey said. “Do you remember... did Alpha say how many of my brothers they buried?”

Adam cut a wary glance over at him, but Casey was staring fixedly out the window, the day still just bright enough that there was no reflection to help Adam decipher that question. He answered only what Casey had asked. “Three.”

Casey nodded. “I can almost remember their names, it’s on the tip of my tongue. But I don’t think I had three older brothers. I think I had four.”

Adam fixed his gaze on the road. “You think that’s who’s following you?”

Casey shrugged, a rustle of coat and clothes. “He—maybe. I don’t know.”

Casey didn’t say another word the rest of the way to the hotel. When they got there he perched on the edge of the big bed—where Adam fuzzily remembered sitting down himself, in a state of total blank exhaustion, three days earlier. Where Casey had pushed him down, stripped him bare, and made love to him.

Adam went and crouched at his feet. “Casey? Please, what...”

Casey met Adam’s gaze for a few seconds, then looked down. “He said, I’m your. I think he was going to say, brother.”

“He—” Reactions surged through Adam, anger and fear and towering frustration. Casey flinched, and Adam struggled to steady himself, to speak calmly instead of shouting, to keep his hands on his knees instead of grabbing Casey and crushing him close. “You spoke to him. Here? Three days ago?”

“In the parking lot,” Casey said, as if Adam might have meant, on this spot. “He approached me—called me Katie. And I told him that wasn’t my name. I told him to back off. And he did, Adam. He didn’t—he didn’t do anything. He didn’t even say more when I told him to shut up. He let it go. He called me Casey. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?”

Casey met Adam’s eyes again, his expression pleading.

Adam couldn’t say, No, it means nothing. He couldn’t say, You don’t get to salvage anything from the wreckage. Not with his dad’s notebook still tucked into his bag and the memory of his father’s efforts still fresh in his mind.

“I don’t know what it means,” he said, carefully.

Casey looked away, his expression tensing not quite into a scowl, but not far off, either.

“Casey,” Adam tried, helpless to know what to say. He couldn’t pretend that this was entirely a good thing, not if the guy had gone to such lengths to get Casey alone, after stalking him for more than a month. But it was obvious that telling Casey that it was a bad idea wasn’t going to get him anywhere either. “Will you—”

A knock sounded at the door, a quick triple rap. Casey looked up toward it, his expression brightening, although he bit his lip uncertainly. He didn’t stand up, didn’t push Adam out of the way, but Adam knew that was only a minute’s grace.

“Please,” Adam said. “Please, Casey, at least let me stay while you talk to him.”

Casey looked startled, but his expression softened a little and he nodded. “I went with you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did,” Adam said, finally daring to raise one hand to squeeze Casey’s knee, mustering up a half-hearted smile. Then he stood and went to the door before Casey could get ahead of him.

The man waiting outside—a taller, broader, alpha version of Casey from the snow melting in his dark curly hair to the toes of his boots—frowned at the sight of Adam. That, too, was so exactly Casey’s expression that Adam was seized with an almost-fond urge to grab the alpha by his shoulders and shake him.

He settled for sticking his hand out. “Adam Vinick.”

The alpha looked from Adam’s face to his hand like he didn’t know what that meant, but after a few seconds he took Adam’s hand in a grip that was firm but not crushing. “Declan.”

Behind him, Casey made a tiny, startled noise. Declan’s gaze shot over Adam’s shoulder, and he took a half step in; Adam knew better than to stand between them right now and gave way, opening the door to let Declan through.

Casey stood a few feet back from the door with both hands pressed to his mouth, his blue eyes wide above them. Declan hesitated just inside, the door still open; he seemed transfixed by the sight of Casey.

“Declan,” Casey said, behind his hands, and then he was reaching for the alpha. Declan stepped in and swept him into a tight hug.

Adam turned away, pushing the door shut and locking it, and did not feel jealous. It would be absurd to be jealous. Just because until now he’d never seen Casey touch another alpha, never seen Casey able to—it would be absurd and horrible to be jealous now. He forced himself to look, just as they broke apart.

“Casey,” Declan said. “You—” he looked from Casey to Adam, and his gaze darted for just a second to the one large bed in the room. “Is this... your mate?”

Casey had shed his coat; the absence of a bonding bite on his throat couldn’t have been more obvious. Casey looked to Adam, biting his lip again, then said, “He’s my Adam.”

Adam had to look away at that, feeling a rush of warmth all out of proportion at that barely-a-declaration.

“And you are my...?” Casey prompted.

“Your brother,” Declan said. “Your oldest brother. I—I was old enough, Da asked me if I wanted to come or stay with the pack, and I... Moon, I’m so sorry, pup.”

Casey shook his head sharply. “If you’d come with us, you’d—the hunters—you wouldn’t be here now. So don’t apologize for that.”

Declan shook his head, looking hesitantly from Casey to Adam, and said carefully, “That’s... not what I’m sorry for, Casey.”

Casey frowned, and went to sit down on the foot of the bed, waving Declan to the nearest armchair. Adam sat down gingerly on the other side of Casey from him, not quite daring to touch.

“What do you mean?” Casey asked, when they were all settled. “What are you sorry for? It was hunters, Declan.”

Declan nodded, quickly and grimly. “I know. Our pack’s Alpha tracked you, once I told him you’d gone, but by then it was too late. You were all dead, he said. If I’d told him sooner, instead of waiting like Da asked me—I knew it was wrong, I knew it wasn’t safe. I knew the pack should keep together like the Alpha always said, but... I let Da convince me. And they all died.”

Declan fell silent, studying Casey, and then went on. “I thought you died. Our Alpha thought you were dead. Then he found out you were alive, traveling, and he told me where to find you, and...”

Adam’s stomach was tightening. Declan spoke with every sign of openness and sincerity, but that... that didn’t add up, not compared to what Alpha Niemi had done for Casey. How could it have been too late? How could Declan’s Alpha have given up without seeing every single body?

“Declan, that’s not—even if you were old enough to choose, you were just a kid yourself.”

“Twelve,” Declan said, and it sounded like a protest. “I was an alpha among the pack by then. I was old enough to know, Casey. I could have been old enough to have saved you, all of you, if I just had the courage to speak up sooner.”

Casey shook his head. “What the hunters did was the hunters’ fault, and what Da and Mama decided was up to them. We’re both here now, okay?”

Declan smiled a little sadly. “You, uh—Moon, you sound like her. Like Mama. She used to talk to Da like that sometimes.”

Casey smiled cautiously. “Do you... what was her name? I’ve been trying to remember, but...”

“Aislin,” Declan said. “It almost rhymed with yours. With what your name used to be,” he added hastily, when Casey frowned.

Casey shook his head and said, “Caitlin. Everyone called me Catie, but... Caitlin. With a C. I did know that much, when...” He covered his face, taking a deep breath, and Adam’s entire body hurt with the effort of not reaching out.

But when Casey lowered his hands, he reached over without looking, resting one hand over Adam’s. My Adam, he had said, after all. Adam tried not to smile, and didn’t let himself clamp his hand over Casey’s.

“And... and Da? And the boys?” Casey asked, his hand pressing down on Adam’s thigh as he braced himself.

“Da was Stephen,” Declan supplied. “They boys were Conor, Cam, and Aden. Did they—do you know—” Declan’s lips trembled, and even with as little clinical experience as he had, Adam could recognize a family member not wanting to ask, Did it hurt? Did they suffer?

“It was very fast, from what we know,” Adam said, putting firm confidence into his voice and not dwelling on how little anyone did know. “The hunters only kept Casey alive in captivity.”

Declan looked startled. “They—but—I thought you must’ve escaped when they attacked, Mama must have gotten you away. The—the Alpha said...”

Casey shook his head. “They, uh, they kept me for a while before I could escape. Wolf-shaped. I think that’s part of why I forgot so much.”

Declan shook his head slightly, his lips parted, looking dazed with horror. He would remember the child Casey had been then, how small and defenseless he was. After a moment Declan folded forward, pressing his face into his hands. Casey glanced over at Adam, obviously uncertain, and Adam shrugged and bumped Casey with his shoulder, a tiny push.

Casey squeezed Adam’s hand before letting go to reach for Declan; Adam was horribly relieved that he didn’t go for another hug, instead touching one of Declan’s wrists. “Hey, hey. I’m here. I made it. And I don’t even remember the bad parts. I’ve just been starting to get some good stuff back. Did—did you ever braid my hair for me, if it got messed up, so Mama wouldn’t scold me?”

Declan made a bleak almost-laughing sound and lowered his hands, but he looked more composed when he met Casey’s eyes. “Only about a thousand times. You were a little demon for losing your hair ties, and your hair was a whole thicket of demons.”

Casey smiled and ran a hand through his short curls. “Good thing I don’t wear it so long anymore, huh?”

Declan opened his mouth and stopped without speaking, a frown creasing his forehead. He looked away, then back to Casey, and said hesitantly, “You used to say that to me. That you wanted to cut your hair off, I mean. You said you wanted to wear your hair like mine. Mine and Aden’s—Da and Conor and Cam all wore theirs even shorter.”

Casey swallowed, and then said, sounding like he was picking his way over rotten ice, “Well, you were probably my, uh... my role model, for what it meant to be a boy. You were the oldest, and you paid attention to me, so... so of course I wanted to be like you. Not that that’s why,” Casey added a little sharply, as Declan started to frown again. “I’m a boy because I’m a boy, period. But you were what I knew about what that meant.”

Declan’s frown didn’t ease. “I... I always told you not to say that, that your hair was pretty and I’d fix it up for you, and when you were grown you’d be glad to have such lovely hair.”

Casey nodded, visibly struggling for a response. “That... sounds like you meant well. Did you... did anybody in the pack ever talk about how some omegas were boys? How they could be either, or something in between?”

Declan looked down at his hands, knotting them together. He shook his head a little. “That sounds like... our Alpha would say... that’s human stuff, all that modern...” Declan shrugged stiffly.

Adam breathed evenly and focused on Casey, who seemed to be remaining calm. “And what do you think, Declan? What do you think I am?”

Declan was silent for a moment, then shook his head. “I think you’re alive, when I thought you were dead,” he said. “I think I don’t give a hoot if you lived among outsiders all this time, and I don’t guess they could have raised you the way you would’ve grown up in the pack. You’re still my—” Declan swallowed effortfully and looked up, meeting Casey’s eyes. “My baby brother.”

Casey smiled, even if it was a little wobbly, and opened his mouth to speak.

Declan jumped in first, “And I know I don’t have any right to ask it, not after all this time and not when you—you don’t remember—but I have to ask anyway. Please, Casey. Please come home.”

Adam was on his feet before he’d even thought about moving, his hand on Casey’s shoulder. Casey looked up at him with an expression of pure, shocked fury and knocked his hand away. “Don’t you dare. Sit down.”

Adam just stood there for a moment, trying to master the drumbeat of no no no that his pulse had become. It took longer than it should have, and when he sat again every muscle was tensed, his hands locked in fists.

When he dared a glance at Declan, he found the alpha looking back at him, his expression chilly and controlled, as if the horror and the affection of a few minutes ago had never been. “If you’re not Casey’s mate, what business is it of yours? Casey does as he likes, doesn’t he?”

Adam ground his teeth together and Casey snapped, “Hey, you knock it off too. I do as I like, and I like Adam. Now what the hell are you asking me to do, exactly? I’ve got a life here, I’m not giving that up to rejoin a pack my parents died to get away from.”

Declan winced, his cool control weakening immediately. “It’s not like that. It’s home. But the pack has gotten pretty small—there was a sickness over the summer, and our midwife was one of those who died. Sorcha’s got a baby coming at the next Moon, and there’s no one to really help, not properly.”

Adam was starting to feel sick and scared as well as furious. There was no way Casey would say no to a request like that. Casey was frowning, looking down at his hands, thinking it over or just planning his next step.

Adam asked, as calmly as he could manage, “Where is home, exactly? The Niemis tried to find who Casey belonged to when they first found him, but they never found you, not if you thought he was dead for so long.”

And how, exactly, had they then found out that Casey was alive? If they were in touch with someone who knew about Adam and Casey’s road trip, wouldn’t that person have known of Casey’s existence all along? Maybe Declan had thought Casey was dead, but had this Alpha ever believed it?

And if he’d only told Declan the truth when Casey was within reach, what did he really want?

“We move around,” Declan said. “Wolves only den up in one place for pups; it’s humans who build walls and plow fields and plant their flags in a piece of ground. If Casey is willing, I can lead him back.”

Casey looked up sharply at that. “Only me?”

Declan glanced at Adam, then focused on Casey again. “Only pack. No outsiders. It’s how we stay safe. We weren’t always so careful, but after what happened to our family...”

Casey frowned. “But Adam’s a werewolf.”

“A werewolf who works for humans,” Declan said, keeping his tone mild. The words were enough. “A werewolf who works for the human government.”

“That’s—” Casey showed anger for the first time, but he stopped short, looking over at Adam.

Adam shrugged, finding he could play it cool when he was watching Casey be outraged on his behalf. “I told you. Some people worry.”

“But,” Casey said, and then he shook his head. “Okay. That’s what you want? For me to come with you, to help out the pack? Maybe give someone there some training, to get ready for the baby coming?”

Declan nodded cautiously, watching Casey for the catch.

“Okay,” Casey said again, more finally, and Adam almost felt his heart stop before Casey grabbed his hand and went on, “I need to talk to Adam about this. Alone. You’re asking a lot out of nowhere, Declan.”

Declan nodded quickly. “I know, I know. I’m grateful—we’re, the pack, we’re grateful—that you’re even considering it. I’ll, uh—”

“Can you stay nearby?” Casey asked. “If I come outside and call for you, will you hear?”

Declan nodded again, standing, and Adam stood too because he couldn’t have this alpha looming over him. Casey stood with him, stepping over to press against Adam’s side, and Declan just looked at them with an unreadable expression for a moment before he nodded, turned, and walked out.

The silence after the door closed was eerie. Declan’s heartbeat vanished, and there was no sound of footsteps, no sign at all that anything existed outside this room.

Adam curled a cautious arm around Casey’s waist, fighting the urge to crush him close, to beg him not to go. He couldn’t push Casey on this, couldn’t try to hem him in. That would only put Casey’s back up and make him that much more determined.

Casey took a step back, away from Adam’s arm, but caught his hand before Adam could take it back.

Adam knew what Casey was going to say as soon as their eyes met. “I’m going to go. You know that.”

Adam closed his eyes. “Casey, he—this Alpha, he left you with those hunters, if he even looked for you at all. He’s probably the reason your parents fled the pack in the first place.”

“I know,” Casey said. “But I got away, and he didn’t send Declan to snatch me, or come himself to drag me away.”

You haven’t told him no yet, Adam thought.

“And Declan—I know you got your hackles up, Adam, but he wasn’t lying. You heard him, I’m his baby brother, I’m all that’s left of his family. And he gave me time when I said I needed it. He listened to me about my name, about my pronouns, even though the pack sounds like it’s straight out of the dark ages. He’s not going to let anybody hurt me.”

Casey sounded as honestly certain of what he was saying as Declan had. He really believed that his brother wouldn’t let him come to harm, that he could trust Declan based on half an hour’s acquaintance and a share of DNA in common.

“Casey,” Adam said, helpless to convey the no no no no that was still echoing in every beat of his heart. “You—this is going to be dangerous, maybe—”

“If it’s dangerous for me, what about everyone else in that pack?” Casey said sharply, already digging his heels in. “Omegas, women, kids—if their Alpha is that bad, if they’re all being kept in fear of humans hunting them down—then they need more than just midwifing. They need someone to tell them there’s something else out there. I might be the only person who can do that, because I happen to have been born to them—you heard Declan talking about outsiders. They’re not going to listen to anyone else, or even let anyone else speak to them. And if I can help, I’ve got to help, Adam. I’m a midwife. This is what I do—it’s what I’m for. I’ve known that since before I knew anything.”

Adam nodded, knowing that was the argument he’d never be able to win. And he couldn’t—he could not look down to Casey’s abdomen and suggest that there was more than one person at stake here. There wasn’t, not yet, just a possibility that only existed as long as Casey chose to let it. All Adam could possibly convince him to do there was forestall the possibility right now, so Adam couldn’t use it as leverage.

“Anyway,” Casey added, offering a crooked smile. “I’ll have my phone, and no matter where this pack is staying there’s bound to be a pack I know not too far away. And it’s not like I’ll be defenseless, huh? I’ve been picking up bits everywhere we went; I’ve got enough wolfsbane in my kit to take out an entire pack of alphas.”

Adam forced himself to smile back, remembering the smell of wolfsbane in his dad’s lab, and then something occurred to him. Not an argument, really, but...

Adam turned away and knelt by his bag to pull out the notebook, still in its heavy, scent-blocking plastic bag.

“Oh,” Casey said, softer, when Adam stood up with it in his hands. “Do you want to—”

Adam shook his head and held it out. Still unopened, unread. “I want you to take it with you.”

Casey’s eyes went wide, and his hands stayed at his sides, making no move to take it from him.

“If you’re sure you can come home safe,” Adam said, shaking the notebook a little. “Then you take this with you and bring it back to me. Because this is just a thing, and you’re—” Adam’s voice cracked, and he couldn’t find words for what Casey was.

“Take it,” he repeated, pressing it to Casey’s chest. “Take it with you, and bring it back to me, if you’re coming back.”

He saw Casey waver. Adam saw Casey realize that he didn’t know, not for absolutely certain, that he would be able to keep a precious object safe. Adam wanted to push—wanted to shout—but he gritted his teeth and waited.

Casey’s eyes were sheened with tears before he ducked his head, taking the notebook from Adam’s hands.

Adam’s heart sank, physically aching as he realized that Casey was going to go anyway. Adam could shout and fight now, but he could only make Casey leave angry.

“Call me,” Adam said quietly. “Or text, or whatever. I... I can stay here, so I’m closer, if...”

Casey shook his head, still not looking up from the notebook in his hands. “You—I don’t know where we’re going. If you go home at least you’re close to an airport, right? And it’ll probably be a while. Weeks, maybe through the next Moon if that mother is going to need help.”

“Casey,” Adam said. “It’s gonna be empty moon in a week and a half, and then Solstice and Christmas. Are you gonna—do you think nobody’s going to come looking for you if you don’t go home for that? Or, hell, if they don’t hear from you within twenty-four hours and don’t know where we are?”

“I’ll tell them,” Casey said, shaking his head. “They pushed me out of the nest, they can’t complain about me taking a few steps on my own.”

This wasn’t a few steps, but Adam could feel the certainty radiating from every cell in Casey’s body. He wasn’t going to be able to argue with that; Casey wanted too badly to believe in Declan, to finally find out where he came from.

“Call me,” Adam said again, helplessly. “Day or night, if you need me or just need to talk. I’ll answer. I’ll come anytime, anywhere.”

He couldn’t offer what Niemi had, that he would come running to help, that he would bring force to bear. He doubted he could win a fight against Declan, let alone the entire pack that produced Declan—wolves living wild like that were doubtless the kind who valued and trained violence from childhood.

But that didn’t matter. Adam had spent his life hating alphas, but he was one anyway, and loving Casey had taught him more than he ever wanted to know about what that meant. If Casey called him he’d throw himself into anything, no matter how useless his efforts might be. He couldn’t say no. He couldn’t fail his—his Casey.

Casey nodded, and then lunged forward, pressing his face against Adam’s chest. Adam’s arms went around him tight, and when he pressed his face into Casey’s hair he could smell the fear that had otherwise faded out of Casey’s scent over the last couple of weeks. But resolve was twined right through the fear; everything Adam loved about Casey meant that he had to let Casey do what he thought was right.

“Promise me,” Adam whispered. “Promise, if you need me, you’ll call.”

“I promise,” Casey said, and then pulled back and gave Adam a quick kiss. “Close your eyes. Don’t watch me go. I’ll see you soon, I’ll text you. Nothing’s going to happen to me, Adam, They’re just a pack, they’re probably more like us than different when you get down to it. I just—I have to go. I have to know.”

Adam already had his eyes closed when Casey stopped speaking, but he tracked the little motions of Casey picking up his things. He listened to Casey’s heartbeat with all his attention until the door closed and Casey disappeared into the silence beyond it.