A voice was shouting.

“He can’t be here!”

It wasn’t Bailey’s. It wasn’t anyone from my pack. It was someone else.

The voice sounded faint, distant, detached. But I didn’t like the tone of whoever it belonged to.

My head was full of fuzz. My eyelids were cement drapes that seemed impossible to move. Something was jabbing into my shoulder blades. I shifted uncomfortably.

I was on a couch—an old one. It was a spring digging into my back. My arm was throbbing.

A fight…I thought. I was in a fight.

Grunting, I managed to slide myself up into a semi-seated position, but my eyes were still heavy.

“You called the ambulance, didn’t you?” That was Bailey’s voice!

“Fuckin’ right I did!” The other voice replied. “And I called Corey too!”

“What!?” Bailey shouted back. “Why!?”

Corey...that’s right.

Corey was the bastard I’d been in the fight with back at his house. The way I’d left him, he’d be needing an ambulance more than me.

Summoning all my strength, I was finally able to open my eyes and found myself in a grubby living room. Beer cans lay on the stained carpet beside me. Bailey was standing in the middle of the room arguing with a trashy-looking man wearing a once-white tank top.

“Because I fucking sold you to him, you moron!” The man snapped.

Is that his father?

“How could you do that to me!?” Bailey screeched. The pain in his voice hurt my heart.

“Ahhh, shut up,” the man groaned, waving his hand in the air. “It makes no difference. You’re going back there anyway soon.”

“Bailey,” I groaned, swinging my legs to the floor.

“Juan!” Bailey gasped, racing to my side. “Don’t move too much. You lost a lot of blood. I brought you back here to my foster dad’s house. But the ambulance is on the way.”

“Mmmm, fuck,” I groaned. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry!” he said with such kindness that it almost pained me. He pressed a hand against my thigh and I sniffed the air and took his scent deep into my body. His touch was warm and full of love, feeding me strength through our bond.

“I was trying to take you home with me,” I groaned.

“And you can,” he replied. “After we get you to the hospital.”

“I don’t need the hospital,” I growled, sitting up, feeling my strength start to return to me. I’d heard of studies that showed premature infants in the hospital improved more quickly when held or touched than those that did not, and couldn’t help but feel that something similar to that was happening to me as Bailey touched me.

“See?!” Bailey’s foster father laughed. “He’s a fucking nutjob! Doesn’t need the hospital!”

“Shut up!” I roared. The volume of my voice surprised even me. I didn’t have time to process what had gone on between him and Bailey, but I was sure their relationship was anything but good. If it was true, that he had sold Bailey to Corey, then this man was pure evil.

His foster father looked visibly shaken. He was an alpha, I could smell his stench from where I was, but he was a mangy old man and he knew it. He would be no match for me, even in my current state.

“The ambulance will be here soon,” Bailey assured me, gently rubbing my arm with his hands. His touch was like magic to me, and I felt my strength beginning to return.

“Water,” I grumbled, licking my lips. I felt like I’d spent an entire day in the heat and all the moisture in my body had been sucked from my flesh. Probably a result of the blood loss.

“Of course!” Bailey replied, leaping into action. He rushed into the kitchen and I heard him fill a glass. Within seconds he was back at my side lifting it to my lips. “Drink.”

I opened my mouth and gulped down the entire glassful in seconds. “More?” he asked. I nodded quickly.

He headed back to the kitchen and brought me back another glass. This time, I was able to take it from him and drink it myself. Slowly but surely, I was getting my legs back under me.

Then, the sound of an engine outside.

“That must be the ambulance!” Bailey gasped, leaping to his feet.

“Without sirens!?” I asked suspiciously as he rushed to the window. The blinds snapped as he spread them open for a better look. When he saw whatever was out there, he instantly jumped back in fright.

“What?” I hissed. “What is it!?”

I asked, but I already knew: it was either Corey, someone in his family or someone hired by his family to come after us.

“S—someone in a black sedan!” Bailey whispered as he backed away from the window.

“Corey,” I muttered, getting to my feet. “Where’s the back way out!?”

“Here!” Bailey replied, tugging at my arm. I turned to go, but out of the corner of my eye, I spied his foster father heading for the front door.

I lunged at him and caught him in the throat with the back of my hand. It wasn’t a strong enough blow to do any real damage, but it was enough to send him toppling over with both hands clutching his neck. He’d be down for a few minutes and even if they were able to make their way inside, he wouldn’t be talking to them.

“Come on!” Bailey whispered as he pulled me down the hall. He found the back door and tried to shoulder it open, but it stuck against something. He tried again but bounced off it like a football thrown against a wall.

“Let me,” I muttered, moving him aside. I lunged forward and drove my shoulder against the old wood. It splintered and fell out into the back parking lot, kicking up a cloud of dust as it fell. “Where’s my truck?”

“Over here!” He pointed across the dusty lot to my truck, parked next to an old blue dumpster. My body was shaking. I wasn’t in good shape, but the combination of Bailey’s strength and the pure adrenaline rush pumping through me was enough to keep me going, at least for the time being.

We reached the truck and I tugged the driver’s side door open.

“I’ll drive!” Bailey told me.

“No, I got it—” I started to say.

“No, you don’t!” he replied firmly. “We almost crashed last time you passed out.”

“I got it!” I growled.

“Juan!” he cried out. “You saved me from Corey. That’s the only reason I’m here now. Let me take it from here.”

He was right. It pained me not to be in total control, but he was right. If I passed out on the highway we’d be in big trouble.

“Okay,” I replied, giving in and moving around to the passenger side. Bailey hopped in and started the engine.

“Okay, big boy,” he said with a smile as he slammed the gas pedal down and spun out of the parking lot. “Where are we headed?”