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Tara’s hands trembled as she packed her few belongings in her duffel bag without making too much noise in the small trailer. A generous gift from a generous man. She hated to let him down. Maybe she’d brought danger to his door, but the man knew how to take care of himself, and she would cause further risk to his life if she stayed. Or if she tried to contact him tonight. She’d leave him a note—a quick email scheduled to send after she left—explaining that Grant McCall wasn’t who he claimed to be.

She secured her duffel and laptop. Flipped off all the lights inside and outside of her trailer. Darkness prevailed. When she peeked through the window, she could barely make out the silhouettes of the dense trees in the thick canopy of the forest. Tara waited and listened.

Let Grant think she was asleep. Let him think he had more time with her. Though she wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. He’d found her. She wished she hadn’t welcomed him into the clinic—the moment they’d shared with Shane had connected them inexplicably. At least for her part, and that had wrong written all over it. Grant was dangerous.

The big questions—who was he? Who did he work for? Had he been one of the mercenaries to slaughter the villagers before razing it? The thought of his involvement in that way troubled her. She hated being so paranoid, but the events in Africa had changed something deep in her core. Altered her forever.

If only she could trust the man. The way he’d looked at the wolves—she’d come to think of them as her wolves—touched her in some obscure place in her heart. A place she hadn’t known existed. But Grant had been a wolf—hunting her, seeking her out until he’d found her. She’d been his prey.

She had to be smart in order to escape. To survive.

Slowly. Carefully. She exited her trailer. She couldn’t afford to make even one sound. Unless he was watching her with night vision goggles—and that could be the case—he wouldn’t see her leaving. Her biggest problem was that she couldn’t see either, and had to trust her memory of the layout. She crept through the trees on the soft pine needles, appreciating their cushioned silence. As she traveled around the habitats, she hoped the wolves wouldn’t decide to howl or draw attention to her. She made it to the edge of the compound. Earlier in the day she’d parked one of the jeeps just outside, and fortunately no one had taken notice yet. There wouldn’t be any reason to check on the vehicles.

Once outside of the compound, she breathed a sigh of relief. Except she wasn’t out of danger yet. Far from it. She had no other plan than to escape Grant’s presence. How he’d discovered her she had no idea. She’d have to do much better next time, which meant staying somewhere with zero links to her life or her past, or that of her father’s.

Could she even find that place?

With no real cash. Five hundred dollars wouldn’t sustain her for more than a few days.

Tara quietly set her duffel in the passenger seat of the jeep. Night sounds surrounded and comforted her. This part of Oregon was well off the beaten path. Good for the wolves. Good for people like Tara who needed to get lost. Hiding here only worked if nobody cared to find you.

She searched for the key beneath the floorboard mat and found it. Slipped it into the ignition. The biggest risk she would take tonight would be starting the Jeep. It didn’t always cooperate.

A hand pressed against her mouth.

Tara screamed, but the sound was muffled. She struggled. Fought the strong arms that had so quickly wrapped around her.

“Shh.” The voice said in her ear. “Shh, Tara, it’s me.”

Grant? The man she was trying to escape? Why would that comfort her?

“I’m going to remove my hand, but promise me that you won’t scream. It’s imperative.”

She nodded vehemently, but he still didn’t release her.

“I don’t believe you,” he whispered. “This is what you need to understand. You’re in imminent, grave danger.”

Tell me something I don’t know! She squirmed and tried to break free. Reached for her knife. He clenched her wrist, while keeping a hand over her mouth. Forced his lips to her ear again. “Not from me. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help you.”

“What?” she mumbled against his hand.

“I’ll answer all your questions, but we have to get out of here now. They’re coming for you.”

Then he slowly dropped his hand. He’d raised too many questions, ignited too many fears and now Tara was afraid to scream.

The sound of vehicles approaching the compound from the two-mile-long dirt road leading into the sanctuary drew her attention.

“Let me drive.” Grant tried to position himself in the driver’s seat.

She shook her head. “I know how to get out of here.”

He tossed her duffel into the backseat and took up the passenger seat. “Fine, but if it gets messy don’t blame me if you can’t handle it. Take that backroad up into the mountains. I think that’s our only choice now.”

“It’s a dead end.”

“I know.”

Her heartrate ramped up. She started the Jeep. Took off.

“I’ve been scouting out an escape ever since I spotted someone watching from outside the compound.” He yelled over vehicle’s noisy exit. “I’m not sure if taking the Jeep is the best option. We could have remained hidden longer on foot. But get us up on that ridge as fast as you can. Take us as far as you can.”

“What about Matthew?”

“I explained everything to him tonight. Then I went to get you, and you had already gone.”

“But you beat me to the Jeep.”

“I took the direct path.”

“I don’t understand. Why are you here? How do I know if I can trust you? Who are you?” A thousand questions raced through her mind at once as she pushed the Jeep faster and harder up the steep rock-laden incline with only the moonlight to guide her way.

“I’ll explain everything in good time, but right now, we have to get away from these guys.” The wolves howled somewhere below them—did they sense the danger? Would these men hurt her wolves?

“Who are they?”

“Tara, you’re the only person who can answer that.”

The Jeep came to a crunching halt. High-centered.

“Come on.” Grant hopped from the vehicle. “We’re on foot now.”

He didn’t know how many men had come for Tara and hoped it wasn’t a small army, but they could be crawling up this mountain by now to search for her. He was more than glad he’d decided to confide in Matthew—a brother-in-arms—about the danger she was in. He had suspected he might need Matthew’s help in convincing Tara to trust him.

Before he and Matthew could explain who he was, things had escalated. Six weeks ago when he’d discovered she had survived, he’d started his search for her. He hadn’t expected his mission parameters would change into one of a self-imposed protector. But to get to the bottom of this, to find the truth, Tara had to survive to tell her story.

After seeing her with her wolves, he knew beyond a doubt she couldn’t have been complicit in the demise of the village. No one with a heart as big as hers could have been involved in such a deadly deed. She’d gone there to help. And now look what had happened. She might end up paying with her life.

Shouts below brought his focus back.

He helped her quickly grab her things. Fortunately for the both of them, her experience with the WHO had taught her to travel lightly. Gripping her hand, he led her over rocks and boulders, caught her when she tripped. Bit back his pain when he fell, his kneecaps hitting the rocks. If they could make it over this ridge, they might remain undetected and escape. Otherwise, the men after her could be using the same technology that Grant used—even bare minimum, it was enough to spot their heat signatures and catch them escaping in the Siskiyou Mountains.

Tara breathed hard behind him.

He tugged her with him next to a large boulder—a scenic viewpoint in the region. Together they slid to the ground.

“Can we rest?”

“Not for long.” He twisted around and onto his stomach, and peered through night vision binoculars.

“This is what I want you to see.” Tara positioned herself next to him, her body solid and warm. He ignored the attraction that pinged through him.

She looked through the binoculars. “I see…I see three men in tactical gear. They’re in the compound. But I don’t see Matthew. He must be hiding.” Cal lived off property so Matthew was her main concern. “How did you convince Matthew?”

“I told him I’d seen activity. I showed him video from the cameras I installed outside the compound.”

She sucked in a breath and pulled her gaze from the binoculars. “You did what?”

“It was just a precaution, but it paid off.”

“I have a hard time believing that Matthew didn’t come over directly to tell me all of this himself.”

“Matthew and I each had our tasks in order to keep you safe. He understood we were out of time. You had been discovered. They were coming for you. I admit, I was caught off guard. I thought I had time to gain your trust and then tell you. These men showing up like this raises a lot of questions.”

“That still doesn’t explain why Matthew wasn’t in the Jeep with us.”

“He wanted to give you the best chance to get away and planned to distract them.”

Tara shoved him. “What do you mean?”

An explosion outside the compound resounded from below.