Homeless and hiding from his mother's abusive boyfriend, Davie -- along with his friend Grey -- accept an offer to move to a safe haven called the Encampment. Owned by Slade, and overseen by Maddox, and Ran, it's a well-protected site in the mountains for endangered street kids. Among the present residents is the very taciturn loner, Vin. To everyone's surprise, Davie and Vin become friends of a sort.<br><br>Soon after arriving, Davie discovers there is more to the Encampment than it appears at first glance when Ran, with Vin's help, begins training him in various forms of self-defense.<br><br>Davie finds out why when Slade sends him and Vin on an assignment to stop a vicious gang of slavers preying on homeless teens. From there things get interesting, to say the least, as the two young men try to survive while dealing with their growing attraction for each other.

The Encampment

“Davie…” Vin retorted. “I’ll be fine. Yeah, my ribs hurt but each day they get better. By the time we’re out there I’ll be, well, almost back to normal. I should know. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me.”


Puffing out a breath, Davie nodded. “I guess I have to take your word for it.”


Chuckling, Vin replied, “You don’t have much choice, do you?”


Sunday morning Davie and Vin packed everything they owned into backpacks—one for Davie as he hadn’t amassed much since his arrival at the Encampment other than the few pieces of clothing from the room in the laundry cabin. Vin, having been there for a year, had almost twice as much. Ran had come by soon after they finished breakfast to give each of them a nice pair of jeans and a new T-shirts because, as he pointed out, “You’ll raise a lot of eyebrows getting on the plane looking as if you’ve spent a month living on the streets.”


“We’re flying? Okay, yeah, dumb question.” Davie rolled his eyes.


Chapter 38