Naked, I parked the car by the side of my parent’s garden, and my uncle Fredric came out from behind the bushes, looking up and down the road followed by Samuel.

“Where is he?” he asked, ignoring my state of undress. He knew it only too well; he’d been like me once, wanting to be free from the community.

I got out of the car and opened the back seat to where Max was laying across it, stirring and murmuring.

He looked at the wound on his leg.

“Did you pull him out?” he asked.

“Yes, kind of. I had to get him onto my back somehow.”

“Did anyone see?”

“No… I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“God, Lewis. Don’t get sloppy. Do you know what they’ll do to me if they catch you and find out I’m helping you?”

“They won’t know. Come on, is he okay or not?”

He held his wrist searching for a pulse.

“Get him inside the garden house. I need to check him over first before you leave.”

We both lifted him and hurried though the side gate, making sure to keep out of sight.

“I think he’s going to be okay,” he said reassuringly after we had him laid out on the sofa. “He’s had a close shave, and a night’s observation in the hospital can’t do any harm.”

“I don’t have the time,” I responded regretfully. “We both don’t. You know what happened. They’re after him, and I can’t risk any more mishaps. I need to get him out of here.”

Uncle Fredric nodded.

“You know they’ll be hot on your tail. You won’t last the night on the road with him.”

I knew that. I knew that the minute they realized I’d run away with Max, they’d hit the road and follow us. We didn’t stand a chance.

I glanced at Samuel who nodded.

“Pops, we’ve got it under control. They’re going to hide out at the Bayland place until things die down.”

He snapped his head up and looked at us both.

“With the Bayland boy? Are you insane? Your father had him cut off from the rest of the pack! Can you even trust him? Trust that he won’t destroy you the minute you step foot inside that place?”

Samuel rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Listen, I’ve kept in contact with him over the past couple years. We’re good. He’s good. He owes me and that’s the one place the rest of the pack won’t even go near to look for Lewis or Max. It’s their only chance.”

Uncle Fredric sighed and stared at both of us long and hard, shaking his head.

“Fine. Fine. Just don’t let your guard down and keep your wolf instincts up.”

“I will.”

After a few more checks, he helped me carry Max to the car and rested a hand on my door as I got in.

“You know, Lewis, I’m a doctor, not a family therapist, but your father means well. Don’t be so hard on the guy. I know you’re more than old enough to make your own choices, but just remember who you are when you’re in New York. Remember that we’re different to everyone else, and as much as you may feel you like this guy, don’t let that make you forget where you’ve come from.”

I heard his words, and in some way I agreed, but nothing neither what he nor anyone said was going to make me change my mind, and as I started the engine, I felt the heavy burden that I’d been carrying around with me lift slightly.

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small plastic bottle, handing it over to me.

“What’s this?”

“They’re pills. If you take one every time you feel your animal energy building up too high, it should suppress it.”

“But, where did these…?”

“Shh,” he silenced me. “Don’t ask questions. These were developed for many reasons, including those of our kind that get hospitalized. You’re going to need them where you’re going, just in case you… you know, forget…”

“Thanks Uncle. I’m not going to forget. I promise. You understand that I have to do this. I have to leave here tonight with Max.

“I know.”

There was a bang further up the road that made us all look up, alert. The wolf poised in us.

“Go,” he said, squeezing my arm. “Get out of here quickly before they realize he’s gone and come after you.”

He went to close the door, but I stopped him.

“What about you guys? Will you be okay?”

He nodded.

“Just go. Don’t worry about us Lewis.”

He closed the door, and I pulled away from the curb quickly. Just a little while left to go, and I’d be free—we’d be free—and nothing made me happier than that. I had Max with me, and we were going to start our life over in the city. I got to experience everything I possibly could with the man that deep down I’d spent ten years waiting for, and I couldn’t have been happier.

We arrived at the Bayland house several minutes later on the very edge of town.

I remembered playing there as a child with my cousins and Evan.

It’d been a happy place, full of happy memories, full of his parent’s love and devotion.

What had happened there had shocked the town, and slowly, one by one, no one had wanted anything to do with him. Just like that, the young man I’d once called one of my best friends, was dead to me. I’d turned my back on him when he’d needed me the most, yet here I was, expecting him to save my life.

I got out of the car and helped Max out, and together we made our way up the stone steps to the door.

Everything about the house was overgrown. The plants had wormed their way into the brickwork, and what once had been Mrs. Bayland’s pride and joy now resembled an abandoned drug den.

She’d have been horrified to see it in such disrepair.

I took a deep breath and knocked.

Max lifted his head and looked around us.

“Where… are… we?”

“A safe haven,” I whispered, looking around us, making sure we hadn’t been followed. Hurry up and open the door, Evan, I thought as I pressed the bell twice.

I heard rustling and braced myself for whatever he was going to throw at me.

I didn’t blame him for hating my family or me. We deserved it. We deserved his disgust for disowning him.

He opened the door slowly and peered out at us, looking at Max first and then me.

“Hi,” I said resting my arm against the doorframe for support. “Samuel said…”

“Come in,” he interrupted stepping aside, and just like that, we entered.

He closed the door behind us, and for a moment the hall was lost in darkness until he turned the light on.

Without speaking, he helped me with Max’s other side and guided us up the stairs one of the bedrooms.

I removed his shoes and trousers and tucked him under the covers.

“I’m just going to be downstairs,” I whispered, kissing his forehead. “I’ll be back, I promise, and I’ll spend the rest of my life looking after you.”

Evan cleared his throat in the doorway, and I stood up. The moment was over.

We went back downstairs together in silence, and I followed him into the dimly lit lounge. There was a fire roaring in the mantelpiece and a film playing on his laptop.

“Thank you,” I said, staring at the dancing orange flames. “I mean, thank you for saving us. You didn’t have to after everything and…”

“It’s okay,” he said gesturing to a chair. “Sit.”

I lowered myself down slowly and he copied.

“I just want to apologize for…”

“Don’t,” he interrupted shaking his head. “You did what you had to do, right? For your family, for the people you love.”

“I know, but it wasn’t right.”

He didn’t reply, and instead he closed the lid of his laptop and brushed imaginary dust off the arm of his chair.

He looked weathered and beaten, and all the years living alone and on the edge of society had made him wary of people showing any remote sense of kindness.

I watched him get up and cross the room to the window. He shifted the curtain slightly to look out of it.

“Your keys,” he said holding his hand out behind him.

“Uhm…” I patted down my pockets until I had them and got up to pass them to him.

“We have a large empty shed out back. I’ll park your car there before anyone notices it outside.”

In all my haste to get Max off the road, I hadn’t even given much thought to my car outside.

Evan walked past me and headed out the door, but I grabbed him by the shoulder and squeezed it as affectionately as I could.

“Thank you,” I said firmly. “Thank you for this, I mean it. But I have to ask, I need to know, why?”

He looked back at me and a moment went by before he spoke.

“Because I know, deep down, you’d do the same thing for me.”

With those words he left, and I sunk back down into the chair, the severity of the situation I found myself weighing heavily on my mind.

The next morning, I came up behind Max as he stood on the back porch, staring out at the lush greenery of Evan’s garden.

“Everything okay?” I asked, putting my arms around his waist. He nodded.

“Just trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing out here. This place used to be home, but now, I’m just here hiding away from the world, and I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

I turned him round to face me.

“Listen, you’re here because there was a part of you that knew what we had wasn’t over yet. Part of you was curious, and right now, being here is what’s keeping you safe.”

“But how did everything suddenly get so dangerous?” he gestured around him. “I mean, it’s no joke. I’m here because being out there could likely kill me. Why is it that your friends and family want me out of your life so badly that they’re potentially willing to burn me to death?”

I shifted uncomfortably. His question was valid. More than valid. He wasn’t stupid because he knew that something was up. Of course, it was suspicious that my parents were that desperate to get rid of him that they’d pay his to leave the only town they’d known.

It didn’t add up, and he knew it.

“Max...”

He shook his head.

“It’s okay, it’s fine. I’m just on edge. I’m out of my depth here, and I hate feeling like I’m drowning.”

I took his face in my hands and closed the space between us.

“Whatever’s happening here in Grayson won’t change anything between us. I’m here, aren’t I? I’m not going anywhere.”

He looked away momentarily, but I brought his face back to look at mine.

“I mean it, Max. They can try all they want to separate us, but I won’t let that happen. Not again.”

I pulled his head towards mine and kissed him, pressing our lips together. We’d been faced with so much drama that I’d almost forgotten what it was like to be wrapped up in him.

My fingers found the edge of his jumper, and I lifted slightly to get a feel of his soft warm skin underneath.

Uncontrollably, a low growl escaped my lips. Fuck. The wolf in me wasn’t going to ignore my heightened emotions. I pulled back urgently, my eyes wide with the threatened transformation.

“Go inside!” I said to him quickly, unsure if I was going to be able to pull it back from the edge. It might have been slightly dramatic, but I’d learnt not to risk it. Not to ever take the chance.

“Lewis?” he asked confused. I saw the concern on his face.

I stepped back away from him, trying to make my way down the steps and as far from him as I could, but he grabbed hold of my hand.

“Hey! What’s wrong?” He pulled me back to him, still concerned, “You’re not feeling overwhelmed, are you?”

I hated lying to him, but I nodded quickly, my mouth too dry to say any words.

I expected him to let me go, but instead he wrapped his arms around me and held me firmly against him.

I swallowed hard and focused my attention on a potted plant by the back door, watching the leaves slowly swaying in the breeze and using it to regulate my breathing. In and out. In and out. Keep that wolf back. Don’t let him show. In and out, Lewis.

I felt the animal inside retreating, and I let out a deep breath. Max felt it against him and pulled away.

“Feel better?” he asked.

“Ugh... yes. Thank you.”

He smiled and took my hand, pulling me through into the house.

“Maybe you need to rest,” he said, turning to me. I allowed myself to be pulled up to the attic room that we were using as our base, and as I passed the bedrooms, I saw Evan watching us from the doorway of his suite. I knew what he was thinking. A relationship between an Alpha wolf and a human Omega was a recipe for disaster. I knew that much, but there was something about Max that I couldn’t give up

Not again. Not when I’d just got him back.