Chapter One

EVIE

T he night closed in around me, and the trees that surrounded me blocked out the moon, adding to the claustrophobic atmosphere. I had never been much for close spaces or for the outdoors, but when your boss invites you to a leadership team building event as a way to grow your career, you accept. Sadly, I didn't expect that invitation to require me to be on my back, or my knees, but there you have it. So much for the mentor program at Johnson, Steinglass, and Wentworth. Guess I wouldn't be graduating from that program anytime soon.

Though, if I didn't find my way out of this dense forest, I wouldn't be doing much of anything except freezing my ass to death. Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration. It was late spring in Colorado and the temperature, while not comfortable, wasn't freezing. I'm sure I was close to the lodge where the leadership retreat was being hosted, though I was also sure I saw that same damned boulder at least three times already and didn't I step in that brook twice now? Too bad I lost my cell phone somewhere in my panicked flight. It had gps on it and could have helped me get home. But no, here I was, lost in the woods, no cell phone, no idea where I was, in the middle of nowhere.

Maybe I wouldn't freeze, but I might still die out here if no one found me. At least if I died, maybe the cops would take a hard look at my boss, Barry Johnson, the last person to see me alive. He certainly left DNA on my torn jacket I left behind when I refused his disgusting advances. He grabbed my jacket, trying to hold me, but that slippery puff jacket was easier to slip out of and leave in his slimy paws than risk whatever he had planned for me. So, when the search parties came looking, they'd find it and his DNA and give me some consolation from beyond the grave, or wherever I ended up. I only hoped that I would see it and enjoy it. Bastard.

Of course, who would look for me? I hadn't seen my parents in months, more than a year, really. They had divorced when I was eight and I spent the rest of my childhood and teen years being shuffled back and forth between their new families, never quite fitting in, never wanted by either of them, a constant reminder of the giant mistake they made in their first marriage. I drifted through college, staying under the radar, never quite finding my niche or friend group, and that continued today.

I'm sure a shrink would have a field day with the fertile ground of my past, my pain feeding a research article or a coffee klatch with other therapists. The last thing I wanted to do was to sit once a week and talk about my feelings with some stranger who would see me as something broken. Yeah, I knew my issues and had no doubt I could be lost in these woods and no one would come looking for months until my bleached bones were found.

With that final depressing thought, I stumbled over a root or something and fell to the ground. I swear, this forest was looking weirder and different from what I remembered. How far had I run? I wasn't an expert in the outdoors and to me, a tree was a tree, but these seemed different and even the night sounds weren't what I remembered.

A lone howl sounded from a distance, then another came closer and another and I froze. Did Colorado have wolves? Had I read about a release program to reintroduce wolves into the ecosystem? I scrambled to my feet and glanced wildly around me. The air was warmer suddenly. Not balmy by any means, but warmer. Was that the first sign of hypothermia?

A light flickered from up a small hill. Was it a flashlight or from a house? I didn't know, but I was all in on finding out. I scrambled up the hill, almost on all fours, exhaustion making my legs feel like rubber. When I got to the top, there was a clearing and I could see a fire in the center and a hulking figure sitting next to it. I was saved!

Judging by his shape, he was a big guy, large enough to ward off my mentor if he dared follow me this far, though Barry wasn't known for putting a lot of physical effort into anything, except chasing interns, apparently.

I pushed through the thick brush and stumbled slightly. "Excuse me? Hi, I think I'm lost. Do you think you can help me get back home?"

The figure turned his head and rose to his feet. My jaw dropped, and I fainted dead away.