“Are you sure you don’t mind closing this soon?” Amber asked worriedly as she waited by the perfume counter Max was restocking.

“I’m sure. Go on, have fun on your date,” he said, waving her off. “But I expect a full report tomorrow at lunch. Might as well live vicariously through someone else’s social life.”

The female beta laughed. “You know, the manager of that sporting goods store next to us is always checking you out.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever decide I feel like faking an interest in rappelling equipment,” he said dryly. “Have a good night.”

“You, too!” Amber called. The bell chimed as she left and Max made a mental note to run and lock it as soon as he finished loading in the new fragrance samples. It was still five minutes before closing, but the store had been torturously slow all day and he couldn’t imagine any stragglers coming in with the weather being as nasty as it was.

He loved Buffalo, if only because it wasn’t his old town, but the weather was starting to get to him. Sometimes he wondered why he stayed in the area at all, when the chances that his son was still anywhere near upstate New York were slim to none. John had warned him that most parents who brokered an illegal adoption moved at least a state or two away. The local government offices had a hard enough time keeping t rack of people who lived there, and a bit of distance was usually all it took to muddle things enough for their peace of mind.

Max found himself wondering whether Chris was still furious about the fact that he hadn’t been able to force Max to sign their child away legally. For a man like him to have to lower himself to breaking the law to protect his precious reputation, it must have felt like a concession he’d never imagined he would have to make. The Alpha was used to getting everything and everyone he wanted without an effort. He’d gotten Max easily enough, with his charm and intimidation, and all it had taken was alienating him from his parents to ensure that he wouldn’t have anyone to turn to for help.

It had been twelve years, but Max still felt like the scared teenager he’d been the first time Chris had threatened his life. The Alpha had tried to force him to terminate the pregnancy in the beginning, but once he’d realized that wasn’t going to work, he had shifted back to the superficial charm that had lured Max into his web in the first place.

Looking back, Max knew he’d been a fool, but he’d also been in love. It didn’t matter that his heart beat for the devil himself. Back then, he’d wanted to believe that Chris was going to make good on all his promises of whisking Max away to live somewhere as a happy family. That he was really willing to risk his reputation by claiming the omega he’d pursued so relentlessly, until the consequences of their affair became tangible.

A vial slipped from Max’s hand and rolled underneath the counter. “Shit,” he muttered, bending down to reach for it. His fingertips brushed the glass as the familiar sound of the bell chiming over the door drew his attention and nearly made him hit his head on the top shelf.

“Sorry,” he called, “we’re closed!”

There was no reply, so he gave up on hunting the vial and pulled himself up on the counter. When he found himself face-to-face with the Alpha who haunted his every nightmare, he dropped the box of samples he was holding and the vials clattered to the floor, some bouncing off the tile while others shattered into a puddle at his feet that clouded the air with their mingled stench.

“Chris.” The name came out with all the breath in his lungs. He couldn’t bring himself to blink or move or scream. He was the deer and Chris was the headlights.

“Clumsy as ever, I see,” the Alpha said coldly, keeping his unblinking gray eyes on Max. His hair was a bit grayer at the temples than it had been, but while he’d looked old enough to be Max’s father during their brief and ill-fated relationship, he hadn’t changed much otherwise.

“You can’t be here.” The words came out so much fainter than he wanted them to. There was a button under the counter by the cash register, a silent alarm that would call the police if he could just find where it was…

“I wouldn’t do that,” said Chris. “After all, I know most of the police in this town. How do you think I found you here?”

“What do you want?” Max gritted out. When he’d run from Chris, he’d known it was only a matter of time before the Alpha found him. When months had turned into years without harassment, he’d assumed that Chris had finally grown tired of him and Max had kept up his end of their unspoken bargain. He hadn’t reported Chris, because he’d known that the moment he did, the discrediting would begin and he’d never stand a chance at finding his son.

“I just came to check on you. It’s been a long time,” he said, his tone softening. Anyone else might have sounded worried, but he just sounded predatory in a different way. As he reached across the counter to caress the omega’s jaw, Max’s skin crawled, but he forced himself not to push him away. “I’m glad to see you’re not working at that ruthouse anymore. It was always beneath you.”

Max clenched his jaw. He knew better than to think Chris was giving him a compliment. It was just a reminder that Max only had the independence he’d been enjoying for twelve years because Chris allowed it. A reminder that it could all change, even now. That Max could never put enough time or distance between them to matter, especially not if he talked.

“You should tell your parents,” Chris continued. “I’m sure they’d be relieved to know their son isn’t a whore anymore.”

“I think you should leave,” Max seethed. He could barely see straight through his anger and terror. Sometimes he felt like all the passion and infatuation he’d once felt for the man in front of him had turned sour with Chris’ betrayal and remained within him in equal measure.

“Don’t be like that. Not when you’re the one who got my attention.”

Max frowned. “I didn’t —“

“The private eye?” Chris challenged. “He’s not as smooth as he thinks he is. Start pulling the right strings and the wrong people notice. That’s how a spider web works.”

Max swallowed hard. “He wasn’t looking for you.”

“Oh, I know exactly what he’s doing. He’s looking for your precious Gavin.” The bitterness in his voice made every hair on Max’s body stand on end. “You know, a weaker man might be jealous. If you’d loved me half as much as you loved that brat, we might’ve stood a chance.”

Max swallowed the bile rising in his throat. The most twisted part of it all was that he had loved Chris with his whole heart once. He’d seen the age difference between them as an obstacle to their star-crossed romance, and not the predatory fixation he could recognize it as now.

“I did love you.” The words were bitter in his mouth, like poison. “I loved you enough to be the secret you kept in the shadows, and if you’d asked anything else of me, I would have done it without a second thought.”

“You were seventeen,” Chris growled. “You weren’t ready to be a parent, and it would’ve been the end of my goddamn career.”

“That didn’t stop you from impregnating me, did it?” Max cried. “I was old enough for that in your eyes.”

Rage lit up the Alpha’s eyes and for a moment, Max saw that look. The one that always came before Chris hit him. He glanced up toward one of the security cameras on the ceiling and seemed to decide it wasn’t worth it. “Call off your dog, Max. I’d hate to see you end up on the wrong side of a prostitution investigation.”

Max frowned. “I don’t do that anymore. And even when I did, I worked at the ruthouse. It’s legally sanctioned, remember?”

Chris smirked. “Your word against mine, dollface. Not much of a stretch to think a common whore would stoop to moonlighting now, is it?” He paused, glancing around the store. “Of course, it wouldn’t take a formal investigation to put an end to your career at a place like this. I’m willing to bet all it’d take is a call to the right people.”

The Alpha opened the door and the sound of the bell chiming made Max’s stomach churn. “You enjoy the rest of your evening, now. I’m sure we’ll run into each other soon.”