Chapter 465

Leah felot the burn radiating through her thighs as she trudged up the steep wooded slope. A few yards ahead, Kai led the way up the same uneven path, his long dark hair blowing behind him in the warm breeze. He showed no more strain climbing this ridge than if he had been strolling along a flat sidewalk back in San Diego. Of course, if they were strolling along a sidewalk back home they would probably be holding hands or walking arm and arm, but this was neither the time nor the place for such romantic pleasantries.

Kai’s bare feet made no sound on the loose dirt of the narrow path, and they gripped the uneven surface even better than Leah’s rubber-soled hiking boots. Behind her, Leah could hear the soft footfalls of the half-dozen Marines her father insisted accompany them on any hunting trips. The squad was led by a veteran sergeant named Watson who had ventured out of the city with them a number of times before.

She guessed the soldiers felt little more