Page 1 of Moon Destiny

CHAPTER ONE

BROOKE

“Isn’t this great?”

I looked up from tying my shoe to find my boyfriend, Alex, gazing at a waterfall.

Another waterfall. One of about two dozen we’d seen since we started hiking three hours ago.

He turned—and for a second he looked confused when I wasn’t right behind him. Then he spotted me kneeling on the side of the path. The confusion in his blue eyes cleared, replaced with mild exasperation. “Laces again?”

“Yeah.” I stood and injected levity into my tone. “You should have told me to bring boots.”

He smiled, and relief washed over me because I’d intended him to. He’d only warned me ten times or so that the Columbia River Gorge was “no place for Nikes.” I should have listened, of course. Alex knew what he was talking about. He loved this stuff—hiking and wildlife-watching and cooking hot dogs over an open fire while my eyes watered uncontrollably from the smoke.

He came to me and smoothed a strand of hair off my sweaty forehead. “Next time,” he said softly, “I’ll take you shopping and buy you a pair.”

My gut clenched. I’d agreed to this trip because I was pretty certain there wasn’t going to be a next time. Alex and I had such busy schedules it was almost impossible for us to find a night we were both free for dinner, let alone a serious discussion about the future of our relationship. Some of that was my fault. After five years covering the community interest beat at the Seattle Dispatch, I was finally on the brink of doing actual journalism. The paper’s investigative reporter was retiring and the managing editor had told me the job was mine if I wanted it. So I’d been working my butt off to prove I was up to the task.

Alex’s job as an engineer was just as demanding. He spent his days in construction trailers and boardrooms, and his work frequently took him to job sites around Washington and Oregon.

The trip to the Gorge had seemed like a good opportunity to force us both to slow down so we could talk—and hopefully part ways as friends. We’d drifted apart over the last six months, and I was positive he felt it as much as I did.

But the way he was looking at me now, it seemed I’d read everything wrong. He and I weren’t on the same page at all, I realized with a sinking feeling.

A breeze stirred, tugging at my ponytail and sending more loose hair across my face. He pulled a piece away from my lips, and his eyes dipped to my mouth.

Mild panic bolted through me. “Alex—”

“I always forget how fragile you are.” He brushed a knuckle over my cheek.

I felt my brows pull together. At five-ten, I was hardly fragile. I was no match for his ripped physique, but I did pilates four times a week. I could keep up with him when he bolted up a mountainside so he could admire a view or check out a weird-looking plant. And I’d been a good sport over the past two days, accompanying him on numerous hikes even as I longed for my comfortable apartment with its indoor plumbing and refrigerator stocked with food that didn’t come out of a tin can.

He dropped his hand and adjusted his pack on his shoulders. “You think you can go another mile? There’s an overlook up the trail just a bit. My dad used to take me there as a kid and I wanted to check it out.”

I pushed down a sigh. “It’s really just a mile?”

“Promise.” He held up three fingers in a Boy Scout salute, an equally boyish smile on his handsome face.

My heart squeezed. Dammit, this wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d thought. “All right.” I glanced at the sky, which was stained dark orange with the setting sun. Shadows had already fallen over the cluster of trees next to the trail, making it difficult to see inside the forest. “But I want to make it back to the campsite by dark. It’s supposed to rain tonight.”

“Deal.”

We continued up the trail as the sun sank below the horizon. The breeze picked up again, this time sending a rush of cool air swirling around me, and I shivered despite the sweat soaking my tank top under my pack. The Gorge was one of Oregon’s biggest travel destinations, but we hadn’t seen a single soul since we set out. With the sky turning purple and the trees soaring around us, it was easy to feel like we were cut off from civilization.

I gripped the straps of my pack more tightly and cast a look around the woods as nerves prickled down my nape. In a bid to stop myself from worrying, I’d deliberately avoided reading about what kinds of wild animals lived in the Gorge—a decision that seemed stupid in retrospect.

“Were you ever in the Boy Scouts?” I asked Alex. Maybe talking would keep my mind off the encroaching darkness…and all the creatures poised to eat us.

Stop it, brain.

Alex shot me a quick smile. “Naw. Dad never had time for that kind of stuff.”

“Too busy with work?” I knew Alex’s father owned a security company, but I wasn’t sure what, exactly, he did. I didn’t know much about Alex’s family at all, actually. His mother had passed when he was a child and he didn’t have any siblings. Beyond that, the Daltons were a mystery—and Alex seemed determined to keep it that way.

“Yes,” he said. “Work and other stuff.” Before I could press him, he gestured me forward. “Let’s pick it up a little so we’re not out here after sunset.”

It was too late for that, I thought with another glance at the trees. I walked more quickly, my mind buzzing with questions. This is part of the problem. Our problem. He wasn’t open with me. I didn’t expect him to spill all his secrets, but he could be so damn evasive. After two years of dating, I still hadn’t met his dad—or any family members. I hadn’t thought much of it at first, but as our relationship had grown more serious I’d started to wonder if something was wrong. Then, around six months ago, Alex had started spending a lot more time at his dad’s place in rural Washington—sometimes making the three and a half hour drive from Seattle twice a month.

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