Dear Author, I almost made it. I wasn’t a mile away from the edge of pack territory, but he managed to catch me. Now I’m pressed against the cold cement walls of this last hiding place. I can feel his heat behind me, his heavy breath on my neck. I absorb the pain as he wrenches my arms high up my back, immobilizing me. I wait for punishment. I’m so tired; I let my body relax into the inevitable. Running had been my last attempt at freedom. It’s been so long since I was free. Most of my life has been spent under the power-mad control of one Alpha or another, the curse of being an Omega. Everyone wants to own you, control you… use you. The image of the man behind me standing over my last Alpha, covered in his blood, eye’s glowing with battle rage; flashes through my head. That was only two days ago. In the chaos that followed, I managed to slip away. I hadn’t been out of the Alpha’s house in two years. I had hoped that no one in the pack would even remember my existence. The hard press of muscle, the scent of blood and power coming from the man behind me smothers my hope. I breathed in the scent of my new reality… Photo Description: A young, dark-haired man is pressed up against a concrete wall, face first. He’s held there by a taller man standing behind him, who leans into him possessively and has a hand on his forehead. The young man has his head tipped back and his eyes closed; the man behind him has an ambiguous expression that might be anger. This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love is an Open Road" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story. This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.