Gage’s foot hit a pit in the ground—his leg tensed, a muscle spasm, and his knee locked up, taking him down. He hit the ground hard and clamped his knee with both hands, gritting his teeth. He’d fallen so hard he’d knocked his damn kneecap out of alignment. He slowly bent and extended his leg, trying to force the cap back into place.

“Mother fucker!” He knew better. It’d been a rookie mistake bounding toward a sound without checking the surroundings or terrain. He was too busy thinking about losing Chloe, and now he was losing the little girl he was supposed to be looking for.

He needed to get it together. Now.

Using his knife, he made a small cut in his pants so he could reach in and squeeze both sides of his kneecap, angling it just right…pop!

Gage hissed, but his knee was back where it should be. Deep breath and a “thank God” later, he was up and walking. Sore and with a limp, but he’d worry about that later.

He called out again. “April? Can you hear me? Say something, honey, so I can find you.”

“H-help,” a soft voice squeaked out. Gage moved toward the sound, and in twenty paces, he found the small girl with her knees pulled to her chest, crying next to a tree.

Relief enveloped him. “April.” He crouched next to her. “My name is Gage. Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. “No. I can’t find my mom, but she’s looking for me. I heard her earlier, but I couldn’t find her.”

Gage nodded. April must’ve run off, and her parents went looking for her and got themselves lost as well. Which meant they could be anywhere and were probably split up.

“Do you remember the last time you heard your mom’s voice? Was it recently?”

She shook her head. “It was a long time ago.”

And Gage had been yelling and gotten nothing from either parent, which meant they were out of earshot. But he had to get the girl back and checked out.

“I’m going to take you to the doctor, okay?”

Her eyes widened. “But my mommy and daddy!”

“I have a lot of friends looking for them right now. We need to make sure you’re okay.”

April hesitated, then nodded.

He radioed his team. “Found the girl. Require a medic once we reach the campsite. On the way back now. Status on male and female adults?” He said it lightly so April hopefully wouldn’t worry.

His radio rang out with the crew leads.

“Nothing yet.”

“Nothing.”

Jesus. What good would it be to save the girl if he couldn’t save her parents, too? Gage picked her up and stood—his knee screamed with pain. He knelt back down and cursed.

“Don’t leave me,” April whispered. “Please, don’t leave me.”

He brushed his hand against her face. “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.”

Gage needed to get April to the hospital, then go back out there to help find the parents.

After a half hour walk back to the main site, darkness had fallen and East was waiting with another medic and ambulance to see to the girl.

He set the girl down, and the medic looked at her while East checked out Gage.

“Jesus, we need to get you to the hospital.” East examined his leg and the hole he’d cut in his pants to get to his knee. Which was now settling with a nasty bruise over it.

“It looks worse than it is,” Gage said.

East crouched down and lifted his pant leg. “You could have a major tear in your ACL,” he said. “Come on, you’re going to need X-rays.”

“I’m good,” Gage insisted. “My damn knee just comes off the track now and again.”

“Which is not normal,” East said bluntly. “So go get it checked out.”

“Can’t,” Gage said. “The parents are still missing.”

“And there’re teams searching. Including the one you trained yourself. You have to get this looked at. I don’t know how you’re walking right now.”

“No.”

“Soon as it’s checked out, you can come right back to the search, assuming you can walk. Getting yourself lost and hurt out there isn’t helping anyone.”

Gage sighed. Truth was, it’d help to get his knee wrapped, because it was starting to hurt like a motherfucker. “One hour, max.”

“Let’s go, smart-ass, before I cut off your leg just to spite you.”

As the adrenaline wore off a few minutes later, the pain hit hard, radiating up and down his leg. East was right—it was a good thing he hadn’t gone back out into the woods. Maybe it was worse than he’d thought.

“No, no, no, that son of a bitch, no.” Chloe hustled through Beaufort Medical Center, her dress constricting and her hair falling from the fancy updo. People would arrive at the restaurant in an hour for the twentieth anniversary event.

She should have been there. Her restaurant, the town, her mother’s memory—they were all depending on her. Instead, she was running down a hospital hallway, her heart beating in her throat with worry.

East had called to tell her Gage had been hurt on a mission and was in the hospital. Then the call dropped before he could finish, but that information alone was enough to steal the air from her lungs.

He had to be okay. Had to be. She’d kick his ass if he wasn’t.

He was all she cared about. And she prayed with every step she took that he was okay.

“Please…please…” She rounded the corner and found his room. Chloe burst through the door and found him sitting on the side of the bed as a doctor wrapped up his knee.

Gage’s eyes widened. “Chloe? What are you doing here, sweetheart?”

How dare he act so casual? She glanced at his knee, then at his whole leg. He was okay. He was alive. He was hurt, but alive.

She sighed a breath of relief. “East called me and said I had to get here right away. He said you got hurt, and the call was over before he could tell me how bad, and…I was afraid you were…”

She glanced at his knee again as the doctor finished wrapping it.

Gage frowned. “Doc, can you give us a second alone?”

The doctor looked at them both and must have seen something he didn’t want to get in the middle of. “Two minutes. I need to get you a shot of cortisone.”

Once the doctor was gone, Chloe couldn’t help herself. She grabbed Gage and held him close. “You’re okay?”

He held her tightly. “Yes.”

But she pushed against his chest and backed away, shaking her head. “I was so worried you were hurt. Or worse. Maybe even…” She couldn’t finish the thought.

“I’m fine,” he insisted. Part of her wanted him to tell her she was silly. Stupid. He was fine and he was here and he was never going to leave her again. But his eyes were distant, like he didn’t see her at all. His mind was elsewhere. “I have to go.”

“What?” she asked. “You’re hurt. Where are you going?”

“Back out.” He stood and snatched his clothes off of a nearby chair.

Chloe couldn’t believe her eyes. Was he serious? “You can’t go back out.”

“Yes I can,” he snapped. “There are still two people missing.”

She’d never heard his voice so gruff before. “Still? Meaning you found someone already?”

“The little girl. But her parents are still out there.” He shoved his bad knee into one of the dirty, ripped pant legs.

The stupid heels digging into her pinky toe and the flowy dress she’d gotten for the occasion felt silly now. She was standing in lace and silk and had never felt more scared in her life.

“Gage. I know you care about me. But you have to take care of yourself, too.”

He wasn’t listening to her. He tore off the gown and yanked his T-shirt on.

“Gage,” she tried again, moving toward him. “You’re scaring me. I thought everything was back to normal. Completely. And then I get a call and hear you’re…” The truth hit her so hard that she felt it like a smack to the face. “I love you,” she whispered.

“What?” He cupped her shoulders and pulled her back enough to look into her eyes.

“I love you,” she murmured, fighting back tears. “You have to be okay.”

He shook his head and broke eye contact. “I love you, too.” He kissed her cheeks, and then he stepped away from her. “But I have to get back out there.”