Max’s eyes fluttered open. Isla was feeding and Trixie was snoring at his feet. Seb was beside him, eyes closed and head lolling forward with a little drool in the corner of his mouth. How long have I been on the floor?

His grandparents were slumped on the couch, and the older alpha was snoring. Do I still call them grandma and grandpa? Will they disappear from our lives?

Grayish light peeked under the drawn curtains as Max shifted his aching backside and tried to stretch his legs, but he disturbed his mate and the piglet. “Seb?” He nudged the alpha, who was moaning and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Ummm?”

“Isla needs changing.”

Seb nodded, and after kissing Max took his daughter and headed toward the nursery.

“And can you feed Trixie? Please?”

“Yeah.”

I hope he can stay awake long enough. I can’t do it. My legs won’t support my weight.

Arching his back, Max searched for Dray. A twisting sensation in his stomach had bile shooting up his throat. He swallowed. Until I get the final word, I will not be sick. Or cry. Or collapse.

A cup of hot tea was thrust into his hands.

“Thank you.”

The fragrant liquid burned his throat, but he didn’t care. I want to feel something other than despair. This is the first time I’m in charge of my destiny.

But destiny stared back at him with three sets of worried eyes. Seb, Trixie and even Isla sensed something was wrong as she hadn’t complained once during the night. Richard manipulated me my entire life. I was the marionette and he the puppeteer. You three are pure serendipity.

The omega inhaled Isla’s baby scent and tickled the piglet between the ears as he snuggled into his mate. Tony and Mary stirred. They’ve aged overnight.

But Trixie twisted away from Max and pricked her ears. Bad news? He strained to hear, but other than the animals stirring in their pens and hatchlings in their nest chirping for their mother, he heard nothing unusual.

The piglet scratched at the door, and the omega yelled, “Help me up, Seb.”

Max reached the door before his mate and wrenched it open. He hesitated. Walk through this door and life will be forever changed. For better or worse. Hugging Isla against his heart, he charged onto the porch.

Dray was opening a car door, but it was too dark to see inside. I’m sure there are two people. Seb’s hand slipped into Max’s and as the sun made its first appearance over the mountains, a tiny woman, wrapped in a singed shawl, stepped out of the back passenger seat.

An unfamiliar ache squeezed the omega’s heart as his breath emerged in long, shuddering gasps. As if in a trance, he handed the baby to his mate. My mother. He wiped the tears from his eyes. I want to see her.

Magda’s smile faded as Max stood firm, his feet unable to move. She glanced at a bruised and bloodied Nathan, who took her arm. But as the sun rose higher, it shone on mother and son and urged them forward.

Max charged toward Magda and bowled her over. The pair collapsed on the grass near where he had shot Richard’s bodyguard with the stun gun. “Mama!” The omega breathed in his mother’s aroma of softness combined with courage. He buried his face in her tangled hair and she kissed him repeatedly.

“Max.”

“Did I hurt you?”

“Never.” The little omega traced her hands over her son’s face and shoulders as if memorizing every part of him.

“Mama, is my name Maximus? Am I me or someone else?”

“Your father bestowed you with that name.”

“And I’m not a Sharpe. I want to…”

“Andrews. Max Andrews.”

“It’s cathartic to throw off that awful name and embrace my real one. I give you Max Andrews.” The omega bowed at his mother and she giggled. We have the same laugh. The omega turned his mother toward the light so it shone on her cheeks. “I am so sorry.”

“For what?”

“You were always there, cooking for me, telling me stories and making me laugh. But I didn’t give you the respect you deserved.”

Magda gazed into her son’s blue eyes. “You didn’t know who I was, and you loved me in your own way. I held back my emotions, fearing I would jeopardize my position and yours. And I thought by being his son, you would achieve great things—and you did.”

The little omega brushed hair from her son’s face. “You assumed you got your beautiful blue eyes from Richard. But your father, Matthew, passed them on to you. Each time I gazed at you, I saw him.” Kissing away her son’s tears, Magda whispered, “No more crying.”

Max blinked and eyed Dray and Nathan standing near the car. “Richard?”

Nathan shook his head. A sob from Mary had Max wondering how the elderly pair would cope with grief coupled with guilt. Two parents grieving, one celebrating and everyone burdened by guilt. Everyone traumatized for not doing more, loving more, questioning more.

“Your brothers…”

“I’m an only child, Nathan. No more talk of fakes. Let me introduce you to my real family.”

As Magda cuddled Isla, Max hoped the baby would be the salve that soothed everyone’s wounds. New life, innocent of mistakes and guilt, with the promise of what was to come. And gradually, as everyone confronts the past, chunks of guilt will be chipped away, and our burden lightened.

But while Isla gurgled at her grandmother, Tony and Mary disappeared into the house.

Seb hovered outside the guest room as Max knocked on the door and pushed it open. We need privacy but I have to be close to my daughter and mate. Tony sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands while Mary stuffed clothes into a suitcase.

“Grandma, what are you doing?”

The older woman whipped around, clutching a dress in her fist. “Max!” She outstretched her hand and then changed her mind and the garment fell to the floor. The older woman glanced at her feet and then to her mate. She tugged at her lower lip while her other hand twirled strands of hair.

“W-We didn’t know.” Grabbing his cane with trembling fingers, Tony stood and swayed as he tried to get his balance. Mary raced to his side while Max took the older man’s other arm.

“I’m so s-sorry.” The omega glanced at her husband. “You must blame us and you’re right. We should have questioned Richard more when he told us the story of his second omega dying and leaving him with a baby.”

“No!”

“But we’re not your family. We aren’t connected by blood. Our son stole you from your alpha father and essentially enslaved your mother.”

Yes and no!

“Don’t ever say that!” Max’s clasped one of each of their hands and brought them to his lips. “A family loves you unconditionally. And you never failed me.”

“But how can you look at us knowing what our son did?”

“I see two people who gave me the best times of my growing-up years. Family is not determined by blood.”