"Hey."
I come down the last two stairs. Malcolm is already in the kitchen doorway with a mug in each hand, reading the room. Finn appears behind him. Rhys materializes from the hallway, which he tends to do—he moves for a man of his size and sometimes I don't realize he's joined a room until he's already been in it for a while.
"Living room," Alex says.
We settle. Finn drops down on my left. Rhys takes the other side of me with the careful deliberate way he always arranges himself near me, making himself smaller than he is. Malcolmtakes the chair nearest the kitchen. Alex takes the armchair closest to the door.
Chase stops when he reaches the living room entry.
Drake is by the window, up and moving, still pale and too thin but present. He's sitting with his elbows on his knees, brow furrowed at Chase's face, recognizing him without knowing what to make of his presence here. He doesn't ask.
Malcolm growls. "He can leave."
Chase holds a hand up. "It's fine. He's not Ragon's anymore, it doesn't matter if he hears this."
He sets his jacket over the back of the armchair and sits. "I'll get to the point. I have news."
The word does something to the air in the room and Finn's hand finds my knee before I've noticed him reaching.
"The registry is holding a hearing tomorrow."
Silence.
"You know I've been building the case for months," Chase continues. "The nest destruction, comfort bans, the kneeling. Recordings Jasper took inside the house and Arden's clinical documentation. It's substantial. More than substantial."
"You think you'll win," Alex says.
"I think the evidence will speak for itself. Even if the board doesn’t want to listen." Chase pauses. "But I need to be honest with you about a risk."
The room shifts.
"Ragon knows about your flag, Alex. He's known since Vee left. He wanted to report you. The only thing stopping him is that reporting you means the registry investigates how Vee ended up here, which leads to the heat abandonment, which destroys him."
"The chokehold," Finn says quietly.
"The chokehold," Chase confirms. "Right now it's holding. Neither side can move without destroying themselves. Buttomorrow, if the board rules against Ragon, he loses everything. Custody. His omega. His reputation. At that point he has nothing left to protect."
"So he might talk," Malcolm says.
"He might. He could stand up in that hearing room after the verdict and tell the board that a flagged alpha has Vee. Out of spite. Out of grief. Whatever he has to do to make sure we lose too."
Silence.
"What happens if he does?" I ask.
Chase is direct. "Alex gets investigated. Possibly arrested. Vee gets pulled into registry custody. The cabin isn't connected to Alex's name, so they'd have to find you first, but Ragon could motivate them to start looking."
"Then we run," Malcolm says. Immediate. No hesitation.
"And go where?" Alex's asks, the pack lead calculating.
"Anywhere. Before they get here. Take Vee and disappear."
"Malcolm." Alex shakes his head. "Running makes me a fugitive. That doesn't help Vee. That makes her life worse."
"Staying and letting them arrest you doesn't help her either."
Chase holds up a hand. "If Ragon talks, the first thing they do is file paperwork. The registry moves slow—that's the one advantage of bureaucracy. It would take them days to act on it, maybe longer. I'd know before they moved. I'd get word to you."
