Isaac thought he knew betrayal when his pack chased him away from the only home he had ever known. Now he knew he was wrong.

Arlo was covering up something, whether it was his fiery habits or something else. Arlo was stabbing him in the back, then shoving him out onto the street in front of an oncoming bus. That was what betrayal was really like, pain and indignation followed by a devastating crash.

But, where to go from a crash, except up again?

As he stood there in the basement, his gaze wandered slowly upward, following the tangled web of pipes.

Moody followed his gaze. They were standing very close together, shoulders and hips brushing together. Rather than being distracting, the warmth of his presence was incredibly welcome. Before he ever really knew what he was doing, Isaac reached out and wrapped his arm around Moody’s waist.

The omega didn’t pull away.

When this is all over, I want to try to do things with you the right way. I’ll make up for my mistakes. And if you don’t want me, then at least we gave it a better shot.

Isaac closed his eyes, then opened them again. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what came next. This might well be the longest night of his entire life.

The most important night, and he was going to have to get through it after being Tasered five times. There had been one more time in the Ferrari on the ride here; he had no intention of telling Moody about that.

“I think I know where we are,” he said.

Moody made a small sound in the back of his throat. “What, you have the city so memorized that you can get around blindfolded?”

Isaac grinned. It felt so good to grin, to be doing something again. “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

“You’re so cliché sometimes,” Moody murmured. He sounded breathless, and a quick glance in his direction confirmed that his cheeks were flushed pink. The front of his jeans bulged outward in a gentle and pleasing manner. Clearly, he liked it when Isaac was being clichéd, in-charge and confident. “So, great navigator, where are we?”

“Easy,” Isaac said. “I don’t know exactly what all this machinery in here is for, but it looks to me like it involves pumps and water. All these pipes.”

“Brilliant deductions. I am very confident in you. Please continue.”

“I think we’re near a dock. Which means we’re somewhere along the bay, probably in a fishing area instead of a tourist one. Some of these boats are designed to take on a certain amount of water. It’s for buoyancy. Depth control. But once you get that water in, I don’t think you can push it back out. So, they need it pumped out.”

“That sounds like the most bullshit explanation I have ever heard,” Moody said. “Isn’t it just as likely that we’re just in the basement of some abandoned restaurant or something? Or an apartment? A resort?”

Isaac shrugged. “Whatever. The point is, I think we’re below the waterline here on this side. The ground slants. You can tell from the walls. Or, at least, we’re very close to the water. I don’t think they’re allowed to make a building like this without having two exits. If there’s a breach and one exit is inaccessible, there has to be another.”

Moody let out a startled, disbelieving little laugh. “And here I was thinking that we could just try to kick the door down.”

Isaac looked in the direction of the staircase. The door loomed at the very top, like a passive god standing over suffering peasants. Splotches of rust covered the surface. “It’s made of metal. And I heard it shut. The frame looks fine. And the locks look like new.”

“Newly-installed?”

“Or just made of something that doesn’t rust. I don’t relish trying to kick down an iron door.” God, how that would hurt right now. “And what if one of us loses our balance, breaks our neck falling down the stairs?”

“So, you want to take the other exit.” Moody crossed his arms, looking around the basement. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t see another door or anything.”

“Check out the ceiling. Maybe we’ll find something.”

Moody shrugged and moved off, craning his head backward to look up at the ceiling. He still had his arms crossed, though he didn’t really seem to be looking very argumentative. In fact, he looked amused. He probably imagined their search would turn up nothing, and they would be forced to go back to the door.

Isaac imagined kicking the door where it connected to the frame, trying to weaken the connection there. Or going for the doorknob, trying to break that to render the lock useless. But what if there were other locks on the outside they couldn’t see?

In a flash, he envisioned himself bouncing off the door, the shock reverberating through his body. Stumbling back, his foot meeting empty air. Arms pinwheeling, a rush of tingles racing through his veins. A quick moment of dread, then falling, tumbling, breaking something with a resounding crack. An arm or a leg would be devastating; what if it was his neck instead? His back?

Worse yet, what if the one to fall was Moody? He would refuse to just hang back while Isaac did all the work. If they took turns going at the door, there was still a chance something would go wrong.

“Hey!”

Isaac jerked out of his reverie and looked over at Moody, who was staring in his direction. “Find something?”

“Not yet. I just think you should be helping too, since this was your idea.” Moody gave him a small smile, clearly trying to let him know that he was teasing.

Smiling back, Isaac got to work. He went over to the far corner, looked up at the ceiling, and started walking.

For a few minutes, neither of them spoke. They combed the ceiling together, carefully inspecting for some sign of a hatch or trapdoor.

Just as Isaac was about to give up, since his view of the ceiling was now obscured by a dangling system of pipes, he heard a crow of delight coming from the other side of the room. He turned his head, feeling eyes on him.

Moody beamed, his eyes alight and spicy-sweet. “You smart fucker!” he cried, happiness threading through what might otherwise have been a sarcastic remark. “Come look at this!”

Isaac headed over, heart beating faster in his chest at the possibility of escape. “Well?” he demanded.

Moody pointed almost directly overhead. “There! Tell me what that looks like to you?”

Isaac looked. At first, he couldn’t see much of anything. Gray ceiling, a tangle of busted pipes that glistened with streams of slimy water. He squinted, and realized that what he had thought was a shadow from the pipes couldn’t actually be a shadow. Shadows were cast down, only slanting up when the light source was beneath. And since there weren’t any bright lights on the floor in here…

It was a square, about three feet by three feet, marked with a dark outline of a substance that might once have been paint. A small circle differentiated one end of the square from the other.

“It’s a hatch,” Isaac said. His voice trembled with excitement. He hardly dared to believe this was actually happening, that it was actually real. “Just like I said.”

“It reminds me of the pull-down ladder things that some houses have,” Moody mused. “To get into the attic.”

“It does,” Isaac agreed.

The ceiling was several feet out of reach even when he stretched his hand up.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Moody said. “Look.” He pointed at the little indented circle Isaac had seen. “Look, I bet that’s where the string came down so you could pull the ladder. But where’s the string?”

“Broken-off,” Isaac said. “Or taken off, when Arlo checked this place out to see if he could stick us here. Out of sight, out of mind. You’re going to have to stand on my shoulders.”

Moody laughed. He pumped his fist. “Yes! I’ve always wanted to walk on another person.”

Isaac laughed too, his heart feeling very full. “I said stand. But now that I think about it, we shouldn’t even need to do that. I’ll boost you up. You stick your finger in there and… stop laughing, this is serious.”

Moody chuckled. “I think I’ve got it. Let’s do it. On your knees, Isaac.”

Bowing mockingly, Isaac went down on his knees. His abused muscles throbbed but he gritted his teeth against the feeling. Tilting his face up, he gave Moody his best grin. “Your wish is my command.” He held out both hands, palm up.

“I should have just let you keep sitting over there, being depressed. You’re much more annoying when you’re playful.” Moody reached out, grabbed Isaac’s shoulders for balance, then stepped up into his hand with one foot, and then the other.

Wrapping his fingers around Moody’s shoes, Isaac said, “Coming up,” and stood as slowly as possible. Moody’s knees wobbled, his ankles trembling, and then his balance evened out.

“Okay, stop,” Moody said. His voice was tense. “I think I’ve discovered a new fear of heights.”

Isaac snorted, amusement and affection blending inside him to form something new and precious. Moody wasn’t all that heavy to lift, even in an awkward position like this. In fact, he rather liked it, having the other man completely dependent upon his support.

Maybe when we get through all this, I’ll carry you some more. Properly.

“Let me just…”

If he looked up, Isaac knew he would become unbalanced. He only stayed in the same position, staring intensely at Moody’s legs. The awkward posture hurt his back, and now his forearms were aching from Moody’s weight. From above came a series of scraping sounds, followed by an exasperated growl.

“How are things going up there?” Isaac asked.

“Damp,” Moody responded, sounding more tense than ever. “Can’t really get it. Hold on…”

Isaac waited a few more moments, then opened his mouth to suggest a different method, maybe it would be easier on both of them if Moody actually did get on his shoulders. A satisfied grunt interrupted him, and then Moody’s weight left his hands as the omega jumped out of the way of something flat and weighty coming right for him.

Acting on instinct, Isaac stumbled backward. He tried to rise up from the odd position he was in, unbalanced, and fell on his ass. A split second later, the end of a ladder crashed down right where he’d been standing, carrying with it an enormous cloud of dust.

Coughing, covering his mouth with his hand, Isaac stood up again. “My ass hurts.”

“Now you know how I feel,” Moody said, deadpan. He let out a laugh after a moment, then came over and wrapped an arm around Isaac’s waist. “But would you look at that?”

Isaac shivered as pleasure coiled low in his groin, like a snake about to strike. He looked at the ladder, their way out, and thought that it really wasn’t all that impressive for all the sound it had made coming down. There was no real substance to it, just thin metal slats on a rickety silver frame.

“You go up first,” Isaac said.

Moody held on tighter to him, looking up through the dark gap of the opened hatch. Isaac couldn’t pierce the shadows with his vision to know what the omega was seeing, if anything. “Why me?”

“Scared?” he teased, gently.

Growling low in the back of his throat, Moody pushed away from him and grabbed onto the frame of the ladder. The structure shifted and wobbled even with just that small amount of stress. “Of course, I’m scared. Just wondering why me.”

Isaac reached out, placed his hand on top of Moody’s, then pulled the omega to him. Their chests pressed together, their hips lining up in that perfect way which he had taken for granted in the past. Lowering his head, he went to kiss the omega… and reconsidered, and kissed his forehead instead. Keeping his lips there, he whispered, “I just want to make sure you get up there safely. I don’t want the ladder to break when I use it, and leave you stuck down here.”

Silence for a moment, then Moody said, “You could just leave and open the door from the outside.”

“What if there’s a padlock, or something I need a key for?”

“You could toss down some furniture or something for me to stand on.”

“What if the building above is as gutted as the basement?”

Moody scowled, his forehead crinkling underneath Isaac’s lips. “You’re postulating a lot of improbable scenarios, here. That’s supposed to be my job, thinking of things that will never happen.”

Even though he knew that wasn’t a jab aimed at him, Isaac winced anyway. “I just have to be sure, okay?”

Pulling away, Moody looked at him for a moment. He lifted up both hands, wrapped them around Isaac’s face, and held him in place while bringing their lips together. The kiss lasted only a moment, a glance of contact that was there and then gone just as quickly. “Okay,” he whispered, then turned around and started to climb up the ladder.

Every step he took caused a chain reaction of creaks and groans, the ladder bouncing and jostling beneath his body. Isaac winced again, bracing himself, at the ready to catch Moody if necessary.

Moody climbed higher, moving as carefully as possible. He muttered a curse under his breath every time the ladder settled into a new position, which meant he was letting loose with a constant stream of swears. And then he yelped, jerking his hand back and shaking it out.

Isaac stepped forward, reaching out to the ladder before thinking better of it. What if he touched the damn thing and it all fell apart? That would be just his luck. “Are you okay?” he called up.

Moody turned his head and scowled down at him, apparently forgetting his newfound fear of minor heights. “There’s no need to yell. I’m literally right here.”

“Sorry. Are you okay?”

“Just got pinched. Just a little more, though. I think I can make it. It seems like it’s going to hold.” Moody started to climb again, and his hand passed through the hole in the ceiling.

An unseen force snatched him up, dragged him kicking and screaming into the dark.

Blinking rapidly, Isaac looked again. Moody peered down at him from above the hatch, having safely arrived on solid ground.

Why did I decide to have an active imagination now, of all the possible times I could have used one?

“I’m in,” Moody whispered. “What now, Mission Control?”

Isaac forced a smile, aware of how uneasy it sat on his lips. The only thing which helped quell his sudden fear was the thought of Moody’s lips against his, guiding him to a place of warmth and safety. “What do you see up there?”

“It’s a big room. Full of more machine stuff. Lots of broken shelves and things all over the floor.”

Isaac came up to the ladder and placed his hand on either side of the frame. He really, really didn’t like the feel of the metal against his palm. If he had tried hard, he probably could have bent it with his bare hands. Hell, a random person selected off the street could probably bend it. “Do you see a way out? A door?”

“Um… Oh! Yeah!”

“Metal?”

“Wood,” Moody confirmed. “Looks like it to me, anyway. Want me to go check?”

“Wait until I get up there and then we can do it together.”

If the door was wood, there was a good chance it would have warped and grown useless over time. Even locked, it would be easy to force open.

“Whatever you say. Just, be careful on that ladder. It’s even worse than it looked.”

“Noted,” Isaac replied drily.

Still gripping the ladder, he lifted his foot and set it down on the first step. The frame creaked and jostled, then settled.

He hadn’t even put his weight on it yet.

This is not going to go well.

He knew exactly what was going to happen, but he had to try.

Leaning forward, he put more and more of his weight on the ladder. The metal bowed inward, and the entire structure shivered like a wounded kitten. Pulling in a deep breath, Isaac lifted his other foot and set it on the second step. His full weight was on the ladder now. The entire world hung in the balance.

Then, with a sound like shrieking train brakes, the ladder tilted, bent, and then completely broke off from the ceiling.

Isaac’s stomach wrenched terribly, a paralyzing sensation of the kind a person must experience when they realize they’ve missed a step on a staircase. Then, he was on the ground, hands and knees throbbing, the world an indistinct gray blur around him.

Only once the whole ordeal was over did he finally have a chance to gasp. Breath whooshed out of his lungs, then came back with a series of little gusts.

“Isaac!” Moody called, his voice edged with fear. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Not knowing what else to do, Isaac laughed. He withdrew his hands from underneath the ladder, then sat back on his knees. “I’m dandy. Think I need to lose some weight, though.”

Moody didn’t laugh. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you out. I’ll go around to the door and unlock it from the outside.” He drew back from the hatch.

A sudden cold fear gripped Isaac’s stomach. He stood, reaching up to Moody as if he could keep the omega from going anywhere. “Hold on. I don’t think you should go anywhere.”

For a moment, there was no sign of Moody. The fear clenched even tighter in his stomach, to the point where he thought he might actually be sick.

“Moody?” He hardly knew if he actually managed to get the word out or not, everything inside him was so tense. His voice seemed to shrivel before it even reached his lips.

Moody poked his head out over the empty space of the hatch again, his features hidden in shadow. He sounded annoyed, though. “What? I’m trying to rescue you.”

“I’ll get worried about you if you’re gone longer than five minutes. If you can’t get to the door by then, or get it open, come back here and we’ll figure something else out.”

“It won’t take that long, okay? Just sit tight. Don’t go anywhere.”

Laughing softly at his own joke, Moody receded from the hatch again. This time, Isaac heard footsteps and was able to follow their progress as they thumped across the ceiling. He lost track of them after a few moments, and then there was only the dripping of pipes.

The fear threatened to overcome him again, but he fought back against it and tried to breathe as calmly as he could.

The hatch from above provided no light at all, which meant Isaac was quite literally in the dark. He closed his eyes, trying to focus, to not feel as if the shadows were pressing in around him, choking him, invading his being.

Time dragged on. Even though wolves had an innate sense of the passing of seconds, Isaac had no reference down here. He was lost, floundering, adrift.

Suddenly, a scraping sound came from high over to his right. Opening his eyes, though it made no difference, he whirled around and stared hard in the direction. More scraping sounds, a series of muted clunks, and then the door at the top of the stairs opened. Faint moonlight and dull rays of neon orange filtered down the steps, illuminating only half of them before fading out. A thin silhouette stood in the center of the light, casting a long shadow.

“Isaac?” the silhouette said.

His paralytic state broken, Isaac charged over to the steps and bounded up them as fast as he possibly could. Holding out his arms, he grabbed onto Moody, picked the omega up, spun him around, and then set him back down on his feet. Their lips crashed together, a chaotic dance of tongue; Isaac pulled back, breathless, then picked Moody up again in both arms.

“Hey!” Moody said, laughing, looking startled. His lips were flushed pink from the force of the kiss. Gripping Isaac’s shoulders, Moody wiggled his feet to try and touch the ground again. “You’re happy. I get it! Put me down now!”

“I don’t think so,” Isaac growled. He pulled Moody against his chest, wrapped both arms around him, and kissed him again. His lips forced Moody’s apart, settling against them firmly to allow his tongue to slip inside that realm of heat and wetness. Fingers clutched at his shoulders, nails digging into him, not in denial of the embrace but in a spasm of pleasure. Moody’s tongue pressed against his, sweet and burning. Isaac played with him, their lips pressed together, no space between them at all until the very end, when they broke apart once more.

Isaac lowered Moody to the ground, though he didn’t let him go just yet. “Sorry,” he growled, not feeling apologetic at all.

Moody’s eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks. He sighed softly, then leaned very deeply against Isaac. “It’s okay. I’m sure you didn’t mean to.”

How can you keep making me laugh at a time like this, when it’s all so hopeless?

Moody was still looking up at him, his gaze intense and yet welcoming all at once. “What do we do now that we’ve escaped? It’s up to you. Whatever you want, I’m with you.”

For a moment, Isaac couldn’t respond. His throat was tense and tight with emotion at the power of those simple words. Whatever he wanted, Moody would be there. They could run away, start again, take a second chance on their relationship. As intense as their brief time together had been, Isaac couldn’t imagine how it would feel to go even deeper. This tenderness inside him, this affection, this attraction and lust, could it become love in a few months? A year? There was no telling where they would be in that time or what they would be doing. Still running, running forever? Or settled down, both of them working, struggling to eke out a living between the two of them?

He didn’t think it mattered anymore.

Lowering his head, Isaac looked deep into Moody’s eyes; which were not very moody after all, and which were quite sweet, and brought their foreheads together. Their noses touched and their lips grazed together, but he had no intention of jumping into another kiss. He just wanted to be close, in a position neither of them could look away from.

Moody returned his look and Isaac saw his own eyes, pale gold, and the outline of his face. And he wondered if this was how he looked to Moody all the time, if he had even really been aware of his own looks until right now. Perhaps not. He could learn to see the world in a new light all over again, looking through Moody’s eyes.

“I want nothing more than to just disappear with you.”

Moody flashed a handsome, crooked little smile, the sort of dreamy expression not even Edward of Twilight fame could hope to achieve. “We’ll run away to Rhode Island.”

“What’s there?”

“Fucking nothing. They’ll never suspect it.” Moody whispered the words, the sound of the wind whistling in his breath. His voice seemed to be more than just a means by which words were conveyed, as if the mere cadence of his speech could build worlds. “We’ll be the gay couple that throws the best parties.”

“I hate parties.”

“I know, but we’ll do it anyway because we want to fit in. And we’ll have jobs. I’ll be a poet and you’ll do whatever the hell it is that you’re good at. Advertising? You can sell my books. We’ll ride our motorcycles on the weekend, and drive sensible cars during the week. We’ll get married and everyone will come to our wedding. We’ll have kids and pretend that we’re adopting them instead of popping them out. And someday, when we’re discovered, it won’t matter anymore because we’ll be different people.”

Isaac could imagine each and every aspect of the daydream woven by Moody’s whispered words. They could do it. They could leave this life behind, take steps into the next one. They could have all the things they had denied themselves. “Would you really want to do that?”

“I don’t say anything I don’t mean.”

“Even the part about kids?”

Up until now, Isaac hadn’t ever thought about having a family. He imagined he might have one someday, but he hadn’t ever really considered it as something that might actually happen. It was like putting a human colony on the moon. It could happen, but the odds were against it right now.

Now that Moody had voiced the possibility, Isaac wanted it. He wanted to see Moody grow plump with their baby, until he looked fit to burst. He wanted to pick out little outfits and toys, decorate a room for their child. He wanted to see Moody holding a pup. Their pup.

“Well, unless you start using protection when you have sex with me, it’s going to happen.” Moody gave that little smile again. He looked very open, very warm… and also a little afraid.

And Isaac fell in love with him fully and truly in that moment, for that fear, because it meant Moody had doubts and was going against them in favor of what he wanted to happen. He wasn’t being held back.

Which means I can’t be held back either.

If he let this go, if he left for Rhode Island, or Idaho, or anywhere else, he could be happy. Yet, there would always be this little voice inside him, pondering over the events of the past. A tarnished spot on a perfect picture.

Isaac touched his lips gently to Moody’s, then shook his head, just once, very slowly. “I think we need to finish this. For good.”

Moody clutched at him, hands roaming up his back and then into his hair. “Good!” he said.

“Good?”

“I’d hate to fall in love with someone who doesn’t finish what they’ve started.” Moody returned the kiss from a moment before, igniting a curl of warmth inside Isaac, and then he pulled away. Just like that, the spell was broken and reality came rushing back in. “What’s the plan, Isaac? Where do we go from here?”

Isaac looked around, really noticing his surroundings for the first time. They were, as he had hypothesized, standing very near to the bay. The water glittered blackly, darker and more sinister somehow than the ocean he had come to know so well. All around them was a tangle of broken or decaying buildings. The road on which they stood ended abruptly at the water, then took a sharp turn off to the right, presumably wrapping around the area before eventually rejoining with the better areas of the city. Stairs led down to docks, which studded the surface of the bay like teeth; many of them were broken, tilting, collapsed, or just in an unusable state.

“No wonder Arlo brought us all the way out here,” he mused. “It wouldn’t have mattered how much of a fuss we made. No one’s around to hear.”

“If two wolves howl in a basement and no one is around to hear them, are they still captives?”

Isaac smiled grimly. “Right. I’m surprised he didn’t leave any guards.” A strange expression crossed Moody’s face, a sly, knowing look. “What?”

“He did leave a guard,” Moody said. He smiled, a secretive little grin which did handsome things to his features. “Fucking sound asleep right by the door I came out of.” Moody pointed in the right direction. “I knocked him around a little anyway, though. He never saw it coming. He’s unconscious.”

More warmth formed inside Isaac, a fire kindled and left to burn. His cock stirred around inside his underwear with a life of its own as desire flowed through his blood. He couldn’t have asked for someone more capable to be at his side right now. The effortless way with which Moody spoke of dispatching the guard only reaffirmed the depth of his newfound feelings.

“I guess I have to give him a little credit for having the guard,” Isaac said. “Not that it did him much good. Do you think Arlo returned home after dropping us off here?”

“Planning on paying him a visit?”

“That’s exactly what I want to do,” Isaac growled. “If he’s the arsonist, there has to be some sign of it where he lives. If we can find that evidence and show it to the pack, we’ll be good to go.”

Moody shook his head. “You think it’s going to be that easy?”

“I think we have to try. There’s nothing else I can think of. Can you?”

“I’m not doubting you,” Moody replied. “It’s the best course of action as far as I can tell. Do you know where he lives?”

“I know where he used to live,” Isaac growled. He clenched his hands into fists, anticipation raging through his blood. He had even more of a hard-on now, his desire mingling quite nicely with his eagerness to be done with this entire stupid charade. “He might have taken Lance’s Ferrari, but I’m pretty damn sure he didn’t take his house. So, we’ll start there. We’ve got enough time, I think, that if we’re wrong, we can try again.”

Moody looked up at the sky. “Better not wait around.”

Isaac shifted into wolf form without a word, dropping down lightly onto all fours despite his weight. He was more than twice the size of an average large gray wolf, and his abilities far outpaced that of the normal animal. Traveling in this manner would be quieter and faster than going around as humans, and his sharp senses could let them avoid any human they might cross paths with.

As an added plus, a wolf was much hardier than a man. The echoing throbs of pain throughout his entire body seemed much easier to handle in this form.

Moody also shifted, becoming a wolf with fur so dark brown it was nearly black. The sodium neon of the nearby streetlamp illuminated the brighter tones hidden in the depths of his coloration, red and gold shades like autumn leaves.

Oddly, he retained his chain necklace.

Most shifters were capable of transforming to animal forms and back again without shredding their clothes. Outfits, wallets, cell phones, typically came with the shifter and then reappeared again. There was no explaining this, not that there was much that could be explained about a shapeshifter in the first place. The only thing anyone could theorize was that the average person didn’t think of his personal belongings as being separate from his body, and therefore his clothes shifted with him.

Moody didn’t think of his chains as being part of himself. He was not the man he pretended to be, putting on that dour mask to protect himself.

Moody looked at him, twitching his ears forward. They were blunt and rounded, more like pup ears than that of a full-grown wolf. His other features were similarly omega-soft, delicate and undeniably cute. Small paws, slender frame, short muzzle. The top of his head hardly reached Isaac’s shoulder.

Isaac swept his tail around, brushing the long fur over Moody’s flank.

Moody looked at him a moment longer, gaze unreadable. Then, he bent his head down and shook until the necklace dropped off his neck, cleared his ears, and clattered to the concrete.

Shedding his former self.

Very poetic, Isaac thought, and grinned a wolfish grin.

He turned his back on the bay, pointed his nose in the direction of Arlo’s home, and took off running.