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CHAPTER 1

Southeast Alaska

Early autumn

A long the Tongass Narrows, the cruise ships that plied Alaska’s Inside Passage and spilled tourists onto the docks at Ketchikan were gone with the season The harbor was quiet, the fishing boats at rest in the Basin The souvenir shops on the boardere closing their doors

Dead salrueling race to reach hoed on the remains

Behind the town, and the highway leading up the coast, evergreen-cloaked ainst the sky On the narroland that skirted the water, cluold Alder, dogwood, and mountain ash lent the scene rich hues of bronze and crimson

Fall in Alaska was a ti beauty But that beauty was lost on Eh the deep-shadowed forest, only one thingalive

Run! The word shrilled in Eh thestu lied her feet

Run!

Again and again, she’d tripped and fallen Her hands were scratched and bleeding, her jeans ripped, her thin sneakers soaked Her breath caasps But she mustn’t stop, not even to catch her breath or to ease the ripping pain in her side

If Boone caught her, he would kill her—or make her wish he had

When Boone Swenson had proposed, teeks afterher at a church dance in Salt Lake City, Emma had felt like the heroine of a romantic novel The prospect of a life in wild Alaska with the rugged man of her dreams had swept away a lifetime of caution By the time she’d discovered the truth, it was too late She was trapped in a night

Through the trees behind her, she could hear the hellish baying of Boone’s dogs as they followed her scent The two surly wolf hybrids were probably on leashes Otherwise, by now, they would’ve raced ahead of their ht her

If—or when—they found her, would Boone turn the her back to the trailer for his version of a honeymoon?

Boone was unpredictable She’d already learned that But one thing was certain Given what she no about hio free

Her ankle twisted on a root A hot pain flashed up her leg Teeth clenched, she ran on, dodging through the shadowy undergrowth Giant spruces and heh branch A jay screeched an alarns of her presence that Boone would recognize

Why go on, you fool? The voice in her head seemed to o—no road, no neighbors, no food, water, or shelter You haven’t got a chance

Refusing to listen, Es quivered with every step

The sinking sun cast fingers of light through the treetops So help But so told E darkness, her waning strength, and the dogs, there was only one way this chase could end

It’s over, the silent voice argued Boone doesn’t want you dead He wants a wife Give up and go back with him You can always escape later

But giving up was not an option, E She would run until she dropped And when she could run no ht

The trees were thinning now, giving way to braed leaves and spines that burned like fire to the touch Beyond the trees, she could see an open bog, dotted with pools of dark water Muskeg—that hat Alaskans called places like this, where layers of rotted vegetation, laid down over decades and centuries, clogged the growth of everything but sickly-looking rass, and a feisted trees that would never grow tall

The bog was about half the size of a football field Going around it, or veering off in another direction,the road, a straight ard dash across thewould be the shortest way

She could hear the dogs getting closer Fueled by terror, Eth and burst into a headlong sprint