Page 8 of Defiant Hearts

As she stepped into the trees she planned to disappear into, she turned to survey the small clearing one last time, checking to see if she’d left anything besides her tent.

Then she saw the little plastic container sitting on the bank of the stream where she last washed.

Dammit. Her homemade body wash.

Weeks of trial and error had gone into that jar—ash for the lye and crushed berries and flowers to create a scent that didn’t smell like she’d rolled around in a compost heap.

It made her feel almost human, or at least clean-ish, which on the mountain counted as a luxury on par with a five-star spa.

She took a hasty step forward, but the voices stopped her in her tracks. Closer now.

Gulping down a cry, she walked away from the bodywash, regret turning her tongue salty.

Months of living up here gave her plenty of time to find all the best hiding places. The hidey-hole she had in mind was a quarter mile off, just a shallow overhang tucked into the rock where she retreated when the weather turned to snow and later in the season to heavy rain. It was small enough that she had to duck and crawl the last few feet to reach it, but she could disappear inside the mountain.

She only hoped some beast hadn’t taken over the cozy retreat since last time she used it. At this point, she’d rather cohabitate with a mountain lion than face down her ex.

The terrain wasn’t kind. Loose shale shifted under her boots no matter how carefully she placed them, and every small clatter sounded like a gunshot in her ears, even though she knew better.

Sound didn’t carry that much across broken terrain, and the men were still too far off to hear a pebble skitter. But knowing it and believing it were two different things when her pulse wouldn’t slow down.

As she walked, she constantly threw glances over her shoulder, but soon the voices faded from her hearing. She didn’t let down her guard until she reached the overhang. She crouched before the entrance and sniffed—animals all had a pungent smell up here—but it only smelled like cold stone and the musty scent of darkness.

Right now, it was the safest place on the entire mountain.

Breathing hard, she crawled inside, ignoring the sharp pain in her back. She wedged her pack against the wall and hunkered down in the narrow space with her knees drawn to her chest.

She went still. And waited.

For a long time, she only heard the wind hissing past the opening of her shelter. The voices didn’t grow louder, but that didn’t stop her mind from wandering.

She thought about the life she should be living now. She’d be in one of many hotel rooms the company she worked for put her up in. Or better, a decent Airbnb with a clean bathroom and plenty of hot water and a bed that wasn’t a thin cloth on the ground.

She thought about ordering food from a menu rather than selecting from a handful of supplies she had left. And a mirror. Oh god, she didn’t even want to see what she must look like after two months of rough living.

She wished for clean clothes that didn’t smell like woodsmoke and sweat no matter how many times she rinsed them in creek water. Or a toothbrush that wasn’t worn to nubbed bristles. Small things she never would have counted as luxuries before, back when she didn’t realize how grateful she should be.

Most of all, she thought about sleeping through a whole night without keeping one ear peeled for strange footsteps.

None of those things would ever be within her reach again until this was over, one way or another. Some days, the distance between the life she’d had and the one she was living now felt too wide to ever cross again. On those days, she considered staying on the mountain no matter what happened.

One tear slid down her cheek, hot and sudden, and she scrubbed it away with the back of her wrist.

Feeling sorry for herself wasn’t going to fix her situation.

It hadn’t fixed a damn thing in the two months she’d spent surviving nights just like this one. And she didn’t have the luxury of being sad now, crouched in a hole in the rock while strange men who sounded far too much like military for her peace of mind moved through the woods nearby.

Because she had every reason in the world to believe they were looking for her.

She wiped the back of her hand over her face again and forced her breathing to slow. After a long time, her hands stopped shaking.

Whatever was coming, she would survive it.

She just had to stay hidden long enough to find out who was on the mountain before they found her first.

Chapter Three

The fire crackled, spitting sparks into the dark. Wyatt sat just outside the ring of light and the sound of his teammates laughing about things he’d already stopped listening to.