Evan looked around him as he stepped back inside the house.

“Seems the coast is clear,” he said resting against the wall. “It’s early, so you should be able to make some good headway before dawn.”

I nodded, grateful to have him on my side.

“Will you tell Sam that I said thank you and goodbye?”

He nodded.

“Of course. Don’t worry about that. You both need to go. That man of yours needs a proper doctor. Go now while there’s no one about.”

He took a step closer to me and lowered his voice.

“Whatever you do, be careful over there in the city. Keep that wolf under control.”

I rested a hand on his shoulder thankfully.

“I will. I have the pills. I’ll keep it hidden and make sure I protect this place.”

Max entered the room and smiled queasily at us both.

“Still not right?” I asked, reaching my hand out towards him. He took it and frowned.

“I still can’t keep anything down, but it’s okay. Once we get to New York, I’ll book an appointment and have some tests. Right now, I think I just need to go back to sleep.”

I watched the pale grey of his face, and Evan raised his eyebrow at me.

“And there’s no chance that you could be…?” he began, but Max shut him down immediately.

“No. Nope. I’ve been taking hormone injections since I first went to New York, and I’ve never missed a single one. There’s no way.”

He looked at us both.

“Honestly,” he insisted. “It’s probably just a combination of the water over here and the smoke inhalation.”

He walked up to Evan and grabbed his hand in a handshake.

“Thank you for risking everything by taking us in. I… we really appreciate it. I really hope everything works out for you.”

He gave a brief smile. Something I hadn’t really seen him do since we all had abandoned him.

“You’re welcome. Take care and stay safe.”

Max nodded as he left the house and made his way to the car.

Evan stared at me hard.

“And you’re sure this will work? You, an Alpha wolf in secret, living with a human Omega?”

“Shhh!” I hissed, checking through the doorway to make sure he was gone. “Of course it will. It has to. I’m not going to let him walk out of here alone. Not again. Not when I’ve just got him back!”

Evan pushed the door closed slightly.

“Do you really think New York City is the best place for you? I swear, I knew a few people who’ve gone there, and…”

“…never come back,” I finished. “Yes, yes… I’ve heard about them too, but it’s all shit. Don’t you get it? They feed us this crap to make us stay!”

He shook his head.

“Look at me, Lewis. I’ve got no reason to hang around here apart from my family’s grave. You don’t think I would have fucked off outta here if I could? I knew a few guys from the town across who thought they could hack it. All it takes is just one switch and….”

I took a deep breath that stopped him mid-sentence, and he lifted his hands up in defeat.

“Fine, okay? Fine. I know I’m not going to change your mind, but just keep to yourself. Keep your head down.”

He ripped the end off an empty envelope on the side table and scribbled something on it.

“My number,” he said, handing it to me. “If anything happens at all, call me.”

I took it from him and looked at his familiar handwriting. Guilt swallowed up my ability to speak.

Here he was, doing everything he could to keep me safe, risking the little that he had left to protect my lover and me.

Once upon a time, he’d been my best friend. He’d been the one person that I could tell anything to. We’d run through the forest with our new wolves erupting at full speed, yet now we barely knew each other.

I watched in silence as he opened the door and allowed me to go through it first.

We walked round to the back, still in silence, where Max was waiting in one of Evan’s cars from the Grayson garage he worked in.

He opened the door for me, but before I got in, I stopped and turned to him.

“This can’t be the last time I see you,” I said seriously.

He shook his head.

“It won’t be, but your main priority right now is to get that man to a doctor.”

He gestured to Max lying across the backseat with his eyes closed.

He was right. Max was the reason I was risking it all. He made everything worth it. Worth the fight and worth the risk. The sooner we left Grayson, the sooner we’d be happy together. I thought of being with him in New York, walking the streets holding hands and not having to hide away in seedy motels.

It was everything I wanted, and it was more than enough to keep me going.

I wasn’t going to give up until we were safe.

Evan hit the top of the car and stepped back.

“Right, drive safe now!”

“I will. Thank you again,” I said. “But before I go, I have to ask… why?” I folded the paper he’d given me into my pocket. “Why risk it all for me?”

We both jolted upright at the sound of movement in the trees around us.

Evan turned to look at me.

“Because without our pack, Lewis, we’re nothing. Now go!”

He didn’t need to tell me twice. I closed the door and sped off as fast as I could without looking back.

It was goodbye to Grayson and goodbye to the family and friends that I’d grown up with my whole life.

I was on my way to start over with Max. This was going to be the start of our second chance.

We arrived at Max’s New York apartment block the next day. I pulled up outside the building and shut the engine off. He stirred beside me and opened his eyes.

“We’re here,” I whispered into the dark car. “Only took us forever to get here.”

He laughed wearily and pushed himself upright.

I could tell by the look in his eyes, even in the darkness, that he was happy to be home. Happy to be out of that hellhole.

We’d made it out unscathed, and even though his place was nothing compared to the mansions we lived in back in Grayson, somehow it felt safe.

We both got out the car, and I followed him up the steps with my bag.

“What are the odds that your flatmate’s home?”

Max pressed the buzzer to his flat. He’d lost most of his things in the fire, and everything rested on a man named Jim opening the door.

We waited. He pressed the buzzer again and stepped back to look up at the window.

“The flat’s dark,” he said, looking back at me. “He’s either passed out or out out.”

“Out out?”

Max nodded.

“He loves a party. Maybe we should head back to the car and wait?”

I looked up and down the dimly lit street. Sitting in a car on an empty New York street didn’t satisfy me, nor did I want Max to sleep another night upright, not with the pain in his back he’d been getting the whole journey.

“I’m taking you out of here,” I said, throwing my bag in the back. “We’ll figure this out tomorrow and you can grab your stuff then.”

He got into the car and watched me scroll through my phone to find an address and directions.

“Where to, then?” he asked.

“Somewhere a bit more special. It’s our first night of freedom together. Let’s do it in style.”