“What makes you think it’s a tri-mate bond?” Tracy asked, stung by Gabe’s fairy tale comment but not sure why.

“It isn’t real!” Nick’s voice was urgent and he grabbed Tracy’s hand.

“Mrs. Warden, I’m Tracy’s anchor, nothing more. Nick is her mate.” Gabe struggled for calm.

“You know that’s a lie.” Lia’s voice was calm and sure.

“Enough! What the heck makes you think so?” Tracy’s frustration was clear as she chewed her bottom lip. Her grandmother was up on that kind of stuff. She was an elder and knew the old ways and all of the metaphysical stuff that always made Tracy tune out. Cade always listened to it though, and one look at his face had Tracy more than a little freaked out.

“You three need to work this out in private.” Nick’s mother turned to Tracy. “Honey, I’m sorry about all that happened here tonight. There’s an awful lot of Alpha in one small space. I’d like to ask that you give us another chance after you, Nick and Gabe work all of this through.”

“What is going on?” Nina murmured to Lex.

“I’ll explain later.”

“You need to control your mate!” Sarah said around Ben.

“And you need to shut the f**k up! Get over it already, Sarah. You can’t have them both. Nick is my mate. I’m not giving him up.” Tracy wanted to smack the other woman. Nothing worse than a phony.

“You think he’d choose you over me?”

Fury roared through her. The very idea that anyone would challenge her for Nick filled her with murderous rage. “I think he has already, Sarah. But let me give him another chance.” Tracy turned to Nick. “I know this night has been chaotic and upsetting so I’m giving you a chance here to walk away. If this tri-mate bond stuff is true, we’re in for a bumpy ride. I love you enough to set you free. Supposedly there’s some kind of spell that can sever the bond. We can investigate if that’s what you want. But I can’t have this up in the air. You need to choose and be clear about it.” Tracy loved him so much she ached with it. But she loved him so much that she never wanted him to be with her with another woman in his heart either.

“There’s no choice, Tracy. I made my choice in that maze. You’re my mate. Period. I’m deeply ashamed of my brother, his mate and this Pack right now.” He turned to Sarah. “I don’t know what to say to you, Sarah. I’ve considered you my best friend all these years and now it feels like a lie. You’ve changed and I can’t believe I haven’t noticed. And Ben, this whole mess tonight was you. Your lack of leadership when it counted. And now it’s yours to clean up. If you ever touch my mate again in anger, I’ll kill you.”

Ben stepped forward and the males in the room all started growling. Tracy sent a look to Nina, who appeared ready to tear Sarah’s head off herself.

“I’m your Alpha, Nick. And your brother. Be careful how far you push my largesse.”

“No, Ben. You should be careful. Because we both know that I could take you if I chose.”

“Nick!” Sarah cried out and tried to get to him but Tracy stood forward and narrowed her eyes.

“What did I tell you about trying to get around me to him?”

Sarah halted, her eyes unsure.

“Enough! Ben, stand down! You’ll not tear this Pack apart like this!” Nick’s father shook his head before looking at Nick. “And you! Nick, don’t say something you can’t take back. I know this night has been upsetting and you have reason to be angry. But go home. Take Tracy and Gabe and deal with the tri-mate bond issue. Then we’ll all deal with this mess.”

“Good idea.” Cade unclenched his hands and rolled his head on his neck to loosen up.

Tracy took Nick’s hand. “Come on, babe. Let’s go before this gets any worse. Please.” She didn’t want to beg but she would. She was seriously concerned about what would happen if they stayed any longer.

“This isn’t over, Ben. There’s an accounting to be had.” Nick turned, put an arm around Tracy, looked at Gabe and gestured toward the door with a jerk of his head.

The Cascadia wolves in attendance caught up with them in the driveway.

“Tracy, I don’t want to leave you here in the midst of this mess,” Lex said, looking very agitated. Nina was stroking her hands down his back, trying to calm him down.

“I appreciate that you care about your sister’s well-being, Lex, but she’s my mate. I’ll see to her safety.

You should all probably go, though. Your status is going to be a point of contention and I don’t want any of you to be insulted or threatened.”

“Oh god, can we just go home? Seriously, I am going to fall over in about five minutes. Nina, will you keep Milton for a while? I’m sorry to do this and I miss him but I don’t have a place to put him and…”

Tracy’s voice broke and Nina hugged her tight, assuring her she’d take care of the dog and ease back on the tofu corn dogs too.

Tracy’s adrenaline was going to crash, she felt emotionally exhausted. She knew her grandmother was right. Knew why she’d been so intensely affected by Gabe when they bonded earlier. He wasn’t her anchor, he was her mate. And that comforted her and filled her with joy at the same time as it scared the hell out of her. The ramifications of dealing with two very alpha werewolves and different Pack ranks and whatever the hell was going on in Pacific were mind-boggling.