New York Times Bestselling Author

Chapter One


Kara Guthrie was going to die.

Her life in the last two weeks had been surreal, like one of those damn crime shows on TV, except it was happening to her.

Two weeks ago, she had a job and people at work she would’ve considered friends, even if they weren’t especially close and didn’t socialize outside the office. Her work as an accountant wasn’t something she loved, but it paid the bills. Her true passion was writing. She’d self-published three books so far, thrillers. They’d sold decently, considering she had no money for advertising and didn’t have time for social media.

Growing up, Kara was often told she was a nuisance, ordered to be quiet, to stop being so annoying. So she’d spent a lot of time alone, writing down her thoughts, living in fantasy worlds where everything always turned out okay and her characters were loved, smart, and pretty. She’d also spent much of her childhood outside, away from the house, in the woods or up in a tree, reading.

So finding herself in a tree now felt familiar, at least. Except this time, she wasn’t avoiding her estranged mother—who didn’t have one motherly bone in her body.

She was escaping the man who’d decided if he couldn’t have her, no one could.

He’d kidnapped her, beaten her, raped her, and kept her locked up in a cabin off the beaten path…basically, so no one could hear her scream.

Not only that, he’d taken her phone and texted her boss, telling him that she’d quit. Then informed her landlord she was moving out and had all her belongings brought to the cabin where she was held captive. In just two short weeks, her kidnapper had upended her entire life, destroying everything she’d worked so hard to build.

And then it started to rain—and didn’t stop.

The small creek that ran behind the cabin had overflowed its banks and turned into a full-blown river. Kara had no access to the Internet or a TV or even a radio, but she’d had a feeling the raging weather was a hurricane. Or at least something close to it.

Nolan Colins, the man who’d claimed she belonged to him, who’d refused to let her break up with him, apparently wasn’t home when the water began to creep into the cabin. At least, he didn’t respond to her frantic shouts and pounding on the locked bedroom door.

She had no idea where he’d gone, but the bastard obviously knew how dangerous the weather had become…and he’d left her in that cabin to die.

Kara was lucky to escape. Although, perhaps “lucky” wasn’t the right word. Because she’d been swept into the water that destroyed the cabin, then thrown around like a ping-pong ball in the middle of an ocean.

She’d managed to grab hold of a tree, but the rain and wind didn’t abate. In fact, it rained harder and the wind grew more ferocious as she held on tight to a thick limb. She’d had to climb higher and higher as the water rose at an alarming rate.

It was dark now, but she could still make out the raging river below, and she could definitely hear the scary-as-hell sounds of pounding rain, whistling wind, and the creaking of debris in the water. Her entire body was shaking, and she was terrified that she’d lived through everything she had in the last two weeks, only to die in the floodwaters attempting to rip the tree from the ground and whisk it, and her, away.

Kara’s entire body ached. Her hands were torn from grabbing onto a branch of this tree while tumbling through raging water hours ago, her muscles were fatigued, and she was freezing cold from the nonstop wind and rain. She so wanted to make it through this, if only to go straight to the police station and report Nolan. To make him pay for everything he’d done. So he wouldn’t be able to do all of it to another unsuspecting woman.

A noise somewhere above Kara had her instinctively tilting her head back to look into the sky. It was difficult to see through the rain and the darkness…but bright lights in the distance had her thinking for a brief, irrational moment that aliens had arrived to save her. At this point, she’d welcome that. Nothing could be worse than what she’d just experienced at Nolan’s sick, perverted hands.

But it wasn’t aliens. There were two helicopters approaching. They had bright spotlights they were using to search the water.

She waved frantically, hoping against hope they’d see her.

To her amazement, they did.

One of the choppers paused and hovered over the tree she was clinging to for dear life. The spotlight almost blinded her, and she dropped her gaze immediately.

A tiny bit of the fear she’d endured for the last two weeks faded. It didn’t disappear altogether, because she wasn’t an idiot, but she trusted whoever was hovering above her. She had no choice. She had no idea how the hell he or she might manage to pluck her out of this tree, but she had no doubt that her rescuers would figure it out.

She vaguely wondered what her rescuer’s name might be. If it was a guy, it was probably something super-manly…like Zane or Axel or Jax.

Making a mental note to use the names of her rescuers in her next novel—as the heroes or heroines, of course—she abruptly lost her train of thought when she felt the tree shudder under her violently.

One moment she was looking up at the helicopter, and the next she was in the water.

The water won the battle against the tree that had saved her. It felt as if it had literally been picked up by the roots and thrown into the frothy, raging floodwaters.

Kara had time to take one breath before she hit the water and went under.

 

* * *

 

Arrow “Chaos” Porter was shocked when he spotted the person waving at the helicopter from the tree. It wasn’t the fact that someone was stranded; they’d been picking up desperate people for hours. It was more that he wondered how the hell she’d ended up in that tree, in particular. It was smack dab in the middle of the rolling and dangerous floodwaters.

Chaos had no idea how she’d gotten there, but he was determined to get her out.

Because even as Edge and Casper maneuvered the chopper closer, so he could throw her the rescue harness, something clicked inside him. He didn’t know a single thing about the woman he was about to pluck from the tree, but with one look into her eyes when the spotlight shone on her upturned face…he instantly felt almost desperate for intel.

Name, history, likes and dislikes. It was visceral, this burning need to know her.

Nothing like it had ever happened to Chaos before.

Anxiety ramped up as he tore his gaze from hers and studied the water around the tree. Even in the dark, he could see that it was full of debris. Remnants of houses, trees, even cars were being shoved downstream at an alarming rate. It seemed as if nothing in the path of the river had escaped the wrath of the storm.

Just as the helicopter descended low enough for him to throw the harness to the woman, the tree she was clinging to lost its fight with the surrounding water. It seemed to rise up, hovering for a terrifying moment, before tipping forward and disappearing into the flood.

“No!”

The word escaped as a shout, and before Chaos could think about what he was doing, he’d ripped off the headset he was wearing to communicate with his teammates and jumped from the chopper into the waters below.

Casper was going to be pissed. Same with his other teammates. They’d been warned time and time again never to leave their helicopters. Night Stalkers were to stay with their choppers, no matter what. But Casper, the team leader, and Buck had both defied their training in the past.

Which was why there’d been such a renewed emphasis on not leaving the very expensive machines.

But Chaos wasn’t flying. He wasn’t acting as a pilot. And something within him was screaming to get to the woman. That there was no way she could survive being in that water without assistance.

Hell, it was likely he couldn’t survive either, but all Chaos could think about was going after her.

His mom was what many people would call a hippie. She lived in Maine, off-grid for the most part. Had a huge garden, animals, and she was an excellent hunter. She was also a big believer in karma and fate…and a sixth sense. She’d taught him from a young age to use all his senses, not just the five common ones.

Chaos honestly believed that’s what made him a damn good pilot. When the hair on the back of his neck stood on end, he listened.

His mom also swore that when he found the person who was the other half of his soul, he’d know. More than once, he’d asked her how. She’d always simply shrugged and insisted it would be a feeling of rightness deep in his core.

And amazingly, Chaos had finally experienced that feeling—as he’d hung out the side of the chopper a moment ago. When he’d seen the woman’s upturned face. The hope in her expression that rescue was imminent.

Which was why he didn’t hesitate to jump into the water. His team was going to be irritated as all get out, but they’d have his back. Of that, he had no doubt. They’d scour the area to find him. His only job was to get to the woman and get them both out of the water.

Easier said than done.

Because as soon as he entered the river, his body was immediately battered and thrown about. He couldn’t see more than a few feet in any direction. Debris smacked against him, turning his body around and around. He forced his head above the water and took a deep breath, desperately trying to spot the woman.

There!

He thought he saw her quite a ways ahead of him. It was hard to tell with the darkness and the water crashing over his head every few seconds.

Turning so he was swimming with the water instead of against it, Chaos kept his gaze locked on where he thought he’d last seen her, ignoring the debris that struck him along the way. His only goal was reaching her.

It worried him when her head appeared less and less frequently. He had no idea how long she’d been holding on to that tree, but she had to be exhausted.

Just when he thought he’d lost her, that she’d either gotten hung up in another tree or some other storm debris—or worse, that she’d lost the strength to fight the current—he saw her head pop up only a couple yards in front of him.

Adrenaline was already surging through his bloodstream, but with an extra burst of adrenaline, Chaos surged forward and reached for the woman. His hand closed around her forearm and he tightened his hold as the water angrily tried to rip her away. Pulling her closer and moving his grip to her wrist, Chaos did his best to serve as a buffer between her and the objects in the water all around them.

He felt something hit his back, but now that he had her, he wasn’t letting go. Glancing around, Chaos tried to get his bearings, but it was difficult with the water constantly washing over his head, with huge chunks of houses and cars in the churning water.

Using all his strength and his free arm, Chaos began attempting to move them out of the middle of the river, closer to one side.

How long they were washed downstream, he had no idea. All he knew was that his energy and strength were waning much faster than he would’ve liked. This wasn’t like falling out of a boat while whitewater rafting. This was literally a life-or-death situation.

The woman he was holding on to with a death grip wasn’t fighting him. In fact, he could feel her attempting to help move them out of the deadly floodwaters.

The odds were against them, Chaos knew that better than most. He’d been on plenty of search and rescue missions for people who’d been washed away in situations not nearly as bad as the one they were in, and who were found deceased weeks later.

Pushing that thought away almost violently, Chaos pressed his lips together in determination. He’d been through training for things like this. Blindfolded and strapped into the shell of a cockpit before being spun in circles, then dropped into a pool with the mission to escape before he passed out from lack of oxygen. He was a great swimmer. Those training drills hadn’t beaten him, and neither would this.

It was amazing how fast they were moving, the water feeling as if it was a living, breathing entity all around them. Chaos didn’t try to speak to the woman, it would be useless anyway, not with the roar of water and how often their heads were beneath the surface. And thankfully, she seemed to know what he was doing, because she still wasn’t fighting him. Wasn’t trying to get away from the stranger holding on to her tightly.

If she had, Chaos didn’t know what he would’ve done. There was no way he’d be able to hold her if she decided to rip herself out of his grasp.

Ever so slowly, they made progress. But it was costing Chaos. He was doing his best to keep his body between the woman and the debris, but it was taking all his strength. His back and legs ached, and he had no doubt he’d be covered in bruises and cuts by the time they made it out of this nightmare. He hadn’t removed his boots and his feet were acting like anchors, trying to drag him under the water, but he ignored the feeling and kept pushing his body harder and harder.

Then, out of the blue, the river suddenly calmed just enough for Chaos to see a bend in the trajectory of the flow ahead of them.

That was their chance. The turn would slow the water even more.

But it would also push debris against the edge of the bank, where they needed to be in order to escape.

Increasing the speed of his kicks and the movement of his free arm, Chaos desperately made for the bend. There were dozens of tree trunks already piled up in the turn, and if he could grab on to one, they had a chance.

It was a risky move. Another tree, or a damn house, or a car could slam up against them as they attempted to pull themselves out of the water. Or the mud could suck them down and suffocate them.

There was no choice though. They had to get out of the flood before the water itself killed them.

Aiming for a tangled pile of trees he could just see in the darkness, Chaos felt the woman doing her best to help propel them out of the current. Her assistance was both welcome and useful. They were going to make it!

Just as his hand closed around a branch, that sixth sense that had saved him more than once roared to life.

Glancing behind him, he saw a pickup truck swept along by the floodwaters, racing straight toward them.

There was no way to avoid it. But he could get the woman out of the way before it hit.

Using the last of his strength, Chaos pulled the woman toward the tree and shoved her as hard as he could upward. Thankfully, she seemed to be ready for the move, because she scrambled up onto the pile of trees just in time.

Chaos let go of the woman just before the truck careened into the mass of trees.

The pain from the metal smashing him against the barrier took Chaos’s breath away. He forced himself not to panic even as pain blossomed in his chest. Thankfully, the truck hadn’t pinned him against the trees under the water, and the tangle of limbs themselves had some give, bending with the impact and most likely saving his life.

The truck seemed to bounce off him before its back end swung around, and it was once more swept along with the current.

His head popped up, and he felt that same current trying to steal him away with the truck. Chaos’s hand reached out and he desperately tried to get a grip on something, anything, that would prevent him from being washed away. He was able to snag a small branch on one of the trees, but his strength was waning. It was difficult to take a deep breath—damn truck had probably broken or cracked his ribs—but he refused to give up. Not when he’d come this far.

Still, the water was winning. Pulling at his legs as if determined to suck him back into the raging flood. His boots felt as if they were filled with lead. His flight suit weighed him down further, saturated with water. His hands hurt, his ribs hurt…hell, everything fucking hurt.

But if he died, if the water won this battle, he’d be okay with that, knowing he’d saved the woman.

Just as Chaos’s grip around the branch slipped, he felt the most amazing thing.

Fingers wrapping around his wrist.

Opening his eyes, blinking away the water, he saw the woman he’d been so desperate to save, crouched on the trees and holding on to him, her grip tight.

Even though it was dark, he could still see that her eyes were a bright blue, piercing in their intensity. Her mouth moved, but he couldn’t hear what she was saying. Her soaked hair hung in her face, pieces clinging to her cheeks, and her brows furrowed as she leaned farther and grabbed his arm with her other hand, pulling with all her strength.

Renewed determination filled Chaos. He kicked his feet and did his best to fight the current to bring himself in alignment with the trees. Painstakingly, with the woman’s grip and his own brute strength, Chaos was able to pull his upper body onto the trees. His legs still dangled into the water, and he was well aware he needed to get them up and out of the way of anything else that might slam into the barrier. But he was officially out of energy. He couldn’t seem to make his legs obey the commands his brain was giving them.

Lying there, with his body half in and out of the water, Chaos closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. He fucking hurt. So much.

“You need to get up farther!”

It was the first thing he’d clearly heard the woman say, but Chaos couldn’t open his eyes to reassure her. To tell her he’d move in a moment. His body began to shake. The adrenaline dump…from his injured ribs, from the effort it had taken to get them out of the current, from the pain of objects pelting his body in the water.

He just needed a second to regroup. Then he’d move. Get them off these trees and onto more sturdy ground.


 

Keeping Kara

July 7, 2026

Saving her once was a job; saving her twice is his destiny.

Kara Guthrie never thought she’d meet Mr. Right while clinging to a tree, in the middle of raging floodwaters, during a freaking hurricane. But you can’t pass up a guy who not only rides to the rescue in a helicopter—but jumps into the water when you’re swept away by the current. Kara may have serious trust issues with a capital T, thanks to her last boyfriend, but Arrow is proving patient enough to help her overcome them, one at a time.

Arrow “Chaos” Porter never expected to meet his soul mate during an op, but his mother always said that when he finds The One, he’ll know. And when the spotlight on his chopper shines on Kara, the sixth sense he’s relied on for countless missions goes crazy. Letting her drown in a flash flood isn’t an option. And after learning what she’s suffered at the hands of her ex, he doesn’t need his gut to tell him she’ll be safer with him, in Norfolk.

In her new town, surrounded by her found family, and falling harder for Arrow every day, Kara has never felt happier, more loved, safer. But someone is watching and waiting. Someone who thinks Kara is his…and if he can’t have her, no one can.